Commas (,) and But (Week 6 Reflection)

 Commas (, ) and BUT

When Is It Necessary To Use a Comma Before or After But? 

Co-ordinating Conjunctions - Fanboys Poster | Teaching Resources

English is not an easy language to master. There are literally thousands of rules pertaining to the way English should be used correctly.  Regardless of the purposes, native and acquired English speakers cannot remember and apply all of the rules pertaining English language.  Whether or not native and acquired English speakers use descriptive or prescriptive language to communicate, they will make mistakes at some points due to its orthography, syntax, pronunciation, and semantics.  Geographic regions make it harder to use English grammar correctly. With two main English types-American English and British English, there are also other English varies such as Indian English, Canadian English, Australian English, Philippine English, Malaysian English, Scottish English, and South African English. With different English varieties, native and acquired English speakers may not use English in the same way. For example, they may use "but" and "comma" differently. According to Weinstein and Finn, writers need to use a comma (,) "before a coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) that joins two independent clauses" (p. 28). They also stated that writers "use commas to separate items in a series of items" (Weinstein and Finn 28).  However, users in different geographical regions may not use commas to separate items in a series of items in the same way as American English speakers.  The following examples illustrate differences in how English speakers and writers use "comma" and "but":

Example #1: George traveled to Spain, France, and Germany.

Other writers in different geographical regions may use as "George traveled to Spain, France and Germany."

Example 2: "I was disappointed today in Dakota and you and I need to rethink where to go from here" (Weinstein and Finn 32). (Question 1)

The above sentence may be confusing to other readers, listeners, or viewers.  If readers or viewers do not read or think carefully, they may think the speaker is angry or mad at two people (Dakota and you) because there is an absence of a "comma) before a conjunction (and).  However, in this situation, the speaker is angry at just "Dakota." Thus, grammatically and prescriptively, the speaker should write the sentence as "I was disappointed in Dakota, and you and I need to rethink where to go from here."

Example 3: Coach Simone said Taylor was having a hard year.

The above statement was not written correctly. It should be written as:

 Coach Simone, who was having a bad year, said that Taylor was having a bad year.

 I used two commas to indicated the Coach herself was actually having a bad year instead of Taylor.

Example 4: "You need to finish your study but you have to write a thesis." 

My pessimist made this statement. My pessimist friend ordered the information based on what he thought I should do, and my pessimist friend also expected me to do a follow up.

Example 5: Lincoln lost more elections in his life than he won.

                   He won the presidential elections of 1860 and 1864.

Revision:

a) Lincoln lost more elections in his life than he won, but he won the presidential elections of 1860 and 1864.

b)  He won the presidential elections of 1860 and 1864, but Lincoln lost more elections in his life than he won.

With two different revisions of how the conjunction (but) is used with a comma, the first revision (Revision A) makes better sense with a direct subject of "Lincoln" and follows with a pronoun antecedent. 

Work Cited:

Weinstein, Lawrence and Finn, Thomas. Grammar Moves: Shaping Who You Are. Pearson Education, Inc. 2011.

Using Comma and But

Hau

 

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