It’s the holiday season, and although Santa Claus is commonly seen at this time, this post is about a different kind of “claus”—an independent clause—and an error I commonly see.
If two independent clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction, a comma is needed before the conjunction.
What’s an independent clause?
It’s a group of words that can stand on their own as a sentence; it includes a subject and a verb.
What’s a dependent clause?
It’s a group of words that can’t stand alone as a sentence; it does have a subject and a verb, but it doesn’t express a complete thought.
What’s a coordinating conjunction?
It’s a part of speech that connects words or phrases that have similar content. These are the most common coordinating conjunctions: and, yet, but, for, or, so, nor.
Here’s an example of two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and):
Santa lives at the North Pole, and he has eight reindeer.
A comma is needed before “and.”
Here’s an example of one independent clause and one dependent clause joined by a coordinating conjunction (and):
Santa lives at the North Pole and also has eight reindeer.
A comma is not needed before “and” because “also has eight reindeer” isn’t an independent clause.
Although Santa may not mind whether you follow grammar rules, your readers will. Not using a comma before a coordinating conjunction separating independent clauses creates a run-on sentence—and that creates confusion for your readers.
