0

Should there be a comma before "and" in the sentence below? The reason why I ask is because I think that the sentence below has committed a comma splice, but I am not completely sure. Can someone please explain to me why there is a comma in front of "and".

Birmingham lighted a runaway fuse, and as fast as the headlines could record them, demonstrations exploded all over the country...

jxh
  • 10,463
Victor
  • 189
  • 1
    That’s perfectly normal. You have two independent clauses separated by a coördinating conjunction and a comma. – tchrist Aug 18 '15 at 02:16
  • Is "and as fast as the headlines could record them, demonstrations exploded all over the country" in this case treated as an independent clause? – Victor Aug 18 '15 at 02:25
  • 2
    Yes, it is an independent clause. The sentence, in my opinion, is not a good one. It lacks clarity. A better rendering could be, "Birmingham lit a runaway fuse, and demonstrations exploded all over the country as fast as the headlines could record them." (At 2AM, that sentence is the best I can come up with!) – rhetorician Aug 18 '15 at 05:56
  • @rhetorician the original sentence has "lighted." That isn't correct, is it? I think it should be "lit" as you wrote it. – michael_timofeev Aug 18 '15 at 15:06
  • @michael_timofeev: Lighted or lit: which is correct? Both! See this web site: http://grammarist.com/usage/lighted-lit/. See also this ngram entry: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lighted%2Clit&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=5&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Clighted%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Clit%3B%2Cc0. Don – rhetorician Aug 22 '15 at 00:04

1 Answers1

0

Because both sentences can stand independently, a comma is required before the conjunction.

Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm

Tyler Kropp
  • 476