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Could you please give advice on whether a comma is needed before the and in the following sentence? And if it is, why?

This autistic dance group has made history at the European championships, and now they want to change the way we all see young people with autism.

Edwin Ashworth
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Goldenboy12
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  • That the "authority" in the link can’t tell the difference between a compound sentence and a compound verb doesn't add weight to its opinions. – KarlG Jun 11 '18 at 21:35
  • @KarlG 'That the "authority" in the link can’t tell the difference between a compound sentence and a compound verb doesn't add weight to its opinions.' Would you care to spell that out? 'He left the house and then he went home.' is a compound sentence where the independent clauses have the same subject. 'John left the house, and then Jill followed.' is a compound sentence where the independent clauses have different subjects. A compound verb is for example 'kick-start' or 'blow-dry'. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 11 '18 at 22:51
  • @EdwinAshworth: compound predicate then. He bought a new car and drive it home. – KarlG Jun 11 '18 at 23:15
  • @KarlG Your erroneous comment comes across as being a dire example of hypocrisy. I suggest you delete it. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 15 '18 at 17:50

1 Answers1

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You could write:

This autistic dance group has made history at the European championships. Now they want to change the way we all see young people with autism.

This hasn't altered the meaning of the sentence. By combining the two sentences into one sentence with your conjunction, the comma can be seen as politeness to your reader, as expecting them to read:

This autistic dance group has made history at the European championships and now they want to change the way we all see young people with autism.

can be seen as a bit of a challenge!

JMP
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  • Would you say a comma is optional or mandatory in the sentence? – Goldenboy12 Jun 12 '18 at 16:28
  • @Goldenboy12; the sentence itself isn't mandatory, so the comma can't be. I personally would use a comma. Or two sentences, but not one long sentence. – JMP Jun 12 '18 at 17:27