Commas – Independent Clauses and Coordinating Conjunctions

Let’s start with the obvious questions: what is an independent clause and what are coordinating conjunctions?

Independent Clauses

Independent clauses are groups of words that could be complete sentences.  They must have a subject and a complete verb:

He walked into the room.

She left.

My wife is in my heart.

My son is in my wallet.

The Dallas Cowboys will not win the Super Bowl next year.

The team will still be considered America’s team.

Coordinating Conjunctions

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English.  These seven can be remembered by the mnemonic “f.a.n.b.o.y.s.” (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so):

F.or

A.nd

N.or

B.ut

O.r

Y.et

S.o

Joining Independent Clauses

When you have two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, you place a comma after the first independent clause but before the coordinating conjunction:

He walked into the room, and she left.

My wife is in my heart, but my son is in my wallet.

The Dallas Cowboys will not win the Super Bowl next year, yet the team will still be considered America’s team.

Compare this use of a comma with my previous entry.

Resources

The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin explains well how to join independent clauses.  Towson University has a good page on the general use of coordinating conjunctions.  Concordia University explains the differences between phrases and clauses and between dependent and independent clauses.

Karyn Hollis from Villanova University and Quia have good quizzes.