Commas! Series: #1 The Compound Sentence Comma

[seaislewitch]

Commas! Those little buggers that give most of us a lot of trouble. Using Harry Potter characters, I'll attempt to make some comma rules easier to remember by simplifying them and foregoing the jargon.



#1 The Compound Sentence Comma

Compound sentences

This is a simple equation I made up:

Subject/verb = OTS (one true sentence *g*)
OTS, and OTS = compound sentence

Here are two complete sentences:

Snape brewed the potion.
(Snape/brewed = OTS)

Hermione labeled the bottles.
(Hermione/labeled = OTS)

To put Snape and Hermione together, just add a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Snape brewed the potion, and Hermione labeled the bottles.
Snape brewed the potion, but Hermione labeled the bottles.
Snape brewed the potion, so Hermione labeled the bottles.

(Snape/brewed = OTS)
(Hermione/labeled = OTS)

Non compound sentences

No comma is needed because these are not compound sentences:

Snape brewed the potion and labeled the bottles.
Snape brewed the potion and then labeled the bottles.

(Snape/brewed = OTS)
(labeled ≠ OTS)

Recap of compound sentence commas

This is a compound sentence and needs a comma:

Snape brewed the potion, and then he watched Hermione label the bottles.

(Snape/brewed = OTS)
(he/watched = OTS)

This is not a compound sentence and does not need a comma:

Hermione labeled the bottles and watched Snape brew the potion.

(Hermione/labeled = OTS)
(watched ≠ OTS)

There are always exceptions to any rule, but I'm more interested in showing some main examples. (This is obviously not meant for experienced writers or teachers, but feedback by such experts is welcome.)

BTW - I wanted to add that missblane and vaughn7272000 helped me learn this stuff when I was a newbie.