Connections, Conjunctions, and Commas

Conjunctions connect. The two-word sentence that begins this short paragraph and this blog should help you remember the purpose of conjunctions. You can use conjunctions to connect words, phrases, or clauses.  In some instances, you’ll need commas along with conjunctions, not always though.

If a sentence has double subjects, double verbs, or double adjectives, etc., commas are not required, as you can see in the next sentence:

“The dude and dudette (double subject) smiled and talked (double verb) about the grand and glorious (double adjective) waves.”

There is no reason to put commas between the doubles since the conjunctions alone tell us they are connected.

If I had written the example sentence with more than two of each (subjects, verbs, and adjectives), I would also use commas to connect the words in each list along with a conjunction to indicate where the list ends, right before the final word.

A few grammarians disagree, saying we don’t need a comma before the last word in a list, but most say we do need the comma for clarity. With several subjects, verbs, and adjectives, the sentence reads as follows:

“The dude, dudette, and their friend smiled, talked, and laughed about the grand, glorious, and perfect waves.”

Conjunctions also connect phrases. For instance, the conjunction but  connects two adverb phrases that signify time in the following sentence:

“Before going to the beach but after realizing he’d forgotten his board, the novice surfer decided to head home to start the day completely over.”  

Again, I do not need a comma to separate the two adverb phrases. The one comma in the sentence indicates a long introductory phrase (“Before going to the beach”), another use of commas entirely, another blog perhaps.

When conjunctions connect two simple sentences, AKA independent clauses, to form compound sentences, commas have to be added. Each simple sentence could stand alone, totally independent, not needing other parts of speech as support; but using a conjunction to join the two defines the sentence as compound, like this one:

“The surfer who had forgotten his board felt embarrassed, and he looked nervously at the dude and dudette as they went on and on about the grand and glorious waves.”

A comma before the conjunction is essential to connect – and separate – the two independent clauses. If you don’t use a conjunction between two simple sentences, you’ll wind up with a comma splice, an entirely avoidable mistake.

In addition, each of the conjunctions {FANBOY (for, and, nor, but, etc.)  } has a meaning of its own. If a writer chooses the wrong conjunction, logic and meaning may suffer.

If I write that the surfer headed to the beach but planned to surf, the sentence does not make perfect sense; however, the sentence does make sense if I write that the surfer headed to the beach and planned to surf.

I bet the next time he decides to surf, he’ll put his board in the wagon before leaving and then enjoy the grand and glorious waves, just like the dude and dudette.

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! ‘Til then, hang ten!