Comma help

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Isabelnewth
Posts: 304
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:15 am

Comma help

Post by Isabelnewth »

A. The happy truth is that we can go on enjoying olive oil, with no worries at all about accidentally creating trans fat.
or
B. The happy truth is that we can go on enjoying olive oil with no worries at all about accidentally creating trans fat.

I prefer B. Is this a rare case when a comma is considered optional by CC? Or should I play safe and put it in? Any opinions?

Cheers.
SJHillman
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:32 am

Re: Comma help

Post by SJHillman »

I think A is correct because the first half can stand on it's own as a sentence. The comma acts as a conjunction, joining the second half to the first half. Of course, I could be wrong on it, but that's the rule I go by when I'm not sure. I would go by the overall context of that paragraph. If it has shorter sentences before and after that one, I would not use the comma because I think that would give it better flow; if the surrounding sentences are similar in length or longer, I would keep the comma.
Tster
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 6:16 am

Re: Comma help

Post by Tster »

SJHillman wrote:I think A is correct because the first half can stand on it's own as a sentence. The comma acts as a conjunction, joining the second half to the first half. Of course, I could be wrong on it, but that's the rule I go by when I'm not sure. I would go by the overall context of that paragraph. If it has shorter sentences before and after that one, I would not use the comma because I think that would give it better flow; if the surrounding sentences are similar in length or longer, I would keep the comma.
I agree. I also like commas to split things up (the amount of times I've struggled to read sentences because I can't understand which clauses are which)...
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