Hi friends and welcome to another lesson. Well are you someone who writes a lot emails,
reports, documents and well sometimes you stretch your sentences a bit too long. If
you are one of them, then lesson is for you. So in today's lesson we are going to look
at how to use a comma, okay before and. Hmm, a little weird, a little strange. Do we even
use a comma before and? Well for those who didn't know, I have news for you and that
is yes, we do and for those who know that we do use a comma but area little confused.
Well hold on and let's start the lesson.
Do we even use a comma before and? Well for those who didn't know, I have news for you
and that is yes we do and for those who know that we do use a comma but area little confused
well hold on and let's start the lesson. Now when do we use a comma? If I have a sentence
that says, John took piano classes for 16 years and today he is a great performer. Now
in such a sentence I would put a comma before and. Now if you are going to ask me why? I
have something to tell you. John took piano class lessons for 16 years. Now if you see
this part of the sentence. It's an independent clause. So what's an independent clause? An
independent clause is a sentence where there is a subject and there's a verb and the sentence
can stand alone, independent, right. So even if I stop at John took piano lessons for 16
years, it makes complete sense in itself. Okay but I'm coordinating it with another
clause, that says and today, remember I have put a comma before and. and today he is a
great performer. Now this is also an independent clause, okay. That means it has a subject
and verb and it can stand alone. It has a complete meaning in itself. So today he is
a great performer. Alright, so what most people would do when they confused is, put a full
stop and start a new sentence. But well you can join two independent clauses, two clauses
that can stand alone by themselves by putting a comma before and. Now a similar structure,
if I say John took piano lessons for 16 years, Okay and today is a great performer. So fine
this can stand by itself but if you see the other part of the sentence, today is a great
performer. Does this make sense? No what do you mean by today is a great performer? The
subject is missing. So when the subject is missing, you can just put and today is a great
performer. alright, so this is not an independent clause
and so you do not use a comma before and. whereas there are two independent clauses,
they both make complete sense in itself but when I coordinate them, I join them I put
a comma before and. Alright so remember when you are confused, do I have to put a comma
before and? Put this to test and you will have your answer.
Let’s take another example. The storm damaged the city. Okay now supposing I stop here and
I tell you, hey you know what the storm damaged the city. Is this is an independent clause?
Yes because it has a meaning in itself. Okay and now let's see if there is another independent
clause and then we could decide whether we should use a comma or not. And many people
were left without electricity. A casual sentence, many people were left without electricity.
It's independent, does it make sense if I tell you, many people were left without electricity?
Yes it makes sense because it's got a subject, it's got a verb. So what happens is you have
two independent clauses, you have and joining them. But remember, you always use a comma
before and because two sentences that make complete sense by themselves are coming together
with the help of and but don't forget to put a comma.
Okay now the similar one, the storm damaged the city and left many people without electricity.
The storm damaged the city, fair enough. Now if I say left many people without electricity.
Is it a sentence by itself? No. there is no meaning. I mean if someone told you left many
people without electricity. No sense. So this is not an independent clause, okay and so
you do not add a comma before and. So you don't to add a comma before and. so the rule
is, yes when do we use a comma before and? When you have two independent clauses again
I'm saying independent clause means a sentence with a subject and a verb, they are independent,
they can stand alone with full meaning and make sense. When you join them, there are
times in reports and emails you need to complete that thought. Remember you use a comma before
and. But when they are not independent clauses, there is no subject and a verb in the second
part; you do not use a comma before and like these sentences. So rule 1 remember use a
comma before and when you have two independent clauses coordinating or you joining them together.
Now the second usage when you talk about 3 items in a sentence or three things. You use
a comma just before the last item. So and before the end. Okay the song was composed
by Harry, he is the first person or thing we are talking about, in this case he is a
person. Lara, now and Sarah. Now a lot of people would debate and say, her we don't
need to use a comma before and. Well there are a lot of people who are not comfortable
doing it but grammatically and in the sentence formation sense, you need to use an apostrophe
before and when there are three items or three things or three people you talk about in a
sentence. So remember when you are talking about your colleagues, you are drafting a
report, may be giving credits in your presentation and Sarah, a comma before that.
Okay and let's take another example, the meal consisted of okay, so let's see how many things
we are talking about? A soup, that's one, two - salad, okay and macaroni and cheese.
Now this is a little different. We have, okay. When two words, are used together always or
they come in a pair and they always come with and like macaroni and cheese, jeans and a
t-shirt, yeah. You still use an apostrophe. You count this as the third thing that we
are talking about and you still use a comma not an apostrophe. you still use a comma before
and. Okay so rule two is, when you have three things or people that you talk about or you
write, especially when you write, remember you use a comma before the and of the third
item. Even if you have them in pairs, they always come with and, remember use a comma
don't forget, these two simple basic rules when you are writing and when you need to
use a comma before and.
Okay friends this brings me to the end of this lesson. I do have a small test for you
to see whether you have understood when to use a comma before and. do put in your scores
and I'll be back soon with a new lesson. Till then take care and bye.