Do Not Put Commas Before Compound Predicates! D:< (Tips and Such.) BY LEXUS R AND DYLAN W! (PERIOD 2)
Independent Clause: A clause with a subject and a verb, that can stand alone as its own sentence. Ex. "{She loves to run and does it often.}" Ex. 2. "{He does not like to shop} but has to." The pink words are subjects, and the green words are verbs. The words in {} make an independent clause, and they can stand alone as their own sentence.
Compound Predicates: Two or more verb phrases (predicates) joined together by a FANBOY (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet.) Ex. "{She loves to run and does it often.}" Ex. 2. "{He does not like to shop but has to.}" The verbs both share the same subject, and they are in the same independent clause. The words in {} make an independent clause. The predicates are in purple.
When to not put a comma: Before the second predicate in a sentence with a compound predicate in an independent clause. Ex. Right: “She loves to run and does it often.” Wrong: “She loves to run, and does it often.” Ex. 2. Right: “He does not like to shop but has to.” Wrong: “He does not like to shop, but has to.”
Compound Sentence: A sentence with two or more independent clauses. Ex. "{She loves to run}, and {she does it often.}" Ex. 2. "{He does not like to shop}, but {he has to.}" Both sentences have two independent clauses, connected by a subordinating conjunction. Independent clauses are in {}.
When to put a comma: Before the second predicate in a compound sentence with two subjects Ex. Right: “She loves to run, and she does it often.” Wrong: “She loves to run and she does it often.” Ex. 2. Right: “He does not like to shop, but he has to.” Wrong: “He does not like to shop but he has to.”
Subordinating (Dependent) Clause: A clause with a subject, verb, and subordinating conjunction, that cannot stand alone as its own sentence. Ex. [Before the game started], {I ran home}. Ex. 2. {We went to the store} [after we left the concert]. The words in [] make a subordinating clause. The words in {} make an independent clause. The words in pink are subjects, the words in green are verbs, and the subordinating conjunctions are blue. If the sentence starts with a dependent clause, it needs a comma. If the dependent clause is at the end of the sentence then it doesn’t need a comma.
Bibliography! Driscoll, Dana, and Allen Brizee. "Extended Rules For Using Commas." OWL At Purdue . Purdue University, 20 July 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/>. "Language Handbook." Elements Of Literature . Third Course ed. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2005. 1062-063. Print. Peck, Frances. "The Comma." The Writing Centre . University of Ottawa. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/comma.html.