Commas and "but"

Question

I was always taught that one of the primary uses of a comma is for when you're divvying up unnecessary parts of sentences (I'll just go ahead and assume that was right). So, when I'm constructing sentences I will read the sentence without the sections that have been sectioned off by commas and, if it makes sense, I will proceed on to the next sentence.

One thing I have noticed, though, (particularly with the word "but") is that people tend to construct certain sentences like this:

"I'm not particularly one for this type of music, but I love this song."

Now, in this case, the first part of the sentence is the unnecessary part. So, without the first part, it would read:

"But I love this song."

This obvious makes no sense, as it is out of context and was not a reply to anything. Were it me, I would have constructed it like this:

"I'm not particularly one for this type of music but, I love this song."

This way, without the first part it would read

"I love this song."

which, obviously, makes more sense.

So, which way of constructing the sentence is "right"?

So, in your new construction, if you remove the bit after the comma you have a sentence ending in but. Does that make sense? — Matt E. Эллен, May 16 '12 at 19:02
The rule is fine, I don't see why it isn't. OP has a different issue. — Kris, May 16 '12 at 19:44
To the extent that the rule is fine, it doesn't apply when the "unnecessary part" is a complete sentence. One use for commas is to set off a parenthetical inside a thought. Another use for commas is to join two complete thoughts with a conjunction. These two different uses have different rules. — David Schwartz, May 16 '12 at 20:08
I’m right with @JSBⰀⰐⰃⰔ on this: Give a, citation for this, soi-disant rule or, it doesn’t exist, anywhere that, matters. — tchrist, May 16 '12 at 20:48
@Lewis: Why don't you undelete your answer? It is the correct answer. If you for a down-vote, who cares? Everybody gets down-votes all the time, it's no big deal. — Cerberus - Reinstate Monica, May 16 '12 at 21:13
I don't have a citation - as I said, it was what I was taught in school. Why has my question been down-voted? What's wrong with it? — mythofechelon, May 16 '12 at 22:37
@Ben Hooper - You are right. I deleted my correct answer after that the little oligarchs down-voted it 3 times. I think that one of this people has also down-voted your question. It is clear that this votes are abusive or, with an euphemism, random; the little oligarchas shoul be removed from ELU. — , May 17 '12 at 02:31
@Lewis Carroll Yeah, tends to happen a lot on these StackExchange sites.. It's putting me off using them, to be honest. — mythofechelon, May 17 '12 at 07:58
@LewisCarroll, I didn't see your answer, but if Cerberus thinks it was the right answer, it probably was. You can always flag an answer and ask a moderator to be sure that there wasn't "malicious downvoting" going on. Also, check your answer for typos and errors; sometimes people just want you to clean it up a little and then will upvote it when you do. Please don't be discouraged or deprive the OP of a correct answer. — JLG, May 17 '12 at 14:13
@JLG - tank you jlg and cerberus for your encouragements. I'm going to undelete my answer. — , May 17 '12 at 20:06
@LewisCarroll: I have only ever seen one down-vote on your answer. It says "+3 / -1". — Cerberus - Reinstate Monica, May 18 '12 at 23:20
Can you try using yet instead of but. You can begin a sentence with yet, and yet can also be used in place of but. — Adam Mosheh, May 23 '12 at 18:51
@JSBձոգչ - Is a student responsible for the errors of his/her teacher? — Adam Mosheh, May 23 '12 at 18:56

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

4

When independent clauses are joined by and, but, or, so, yet, or any other conjunction, a comma usually precedes the conjunction. If the clauses are very short and closely connected, the comma may be omitted unless the clauses are part of a series.

"We activated the alarm, but the intruder was already inside."

The Chicago Manual of Style (6.28)

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered May 16 '12 at 19:06

"a comma usually precedes the conjunction". So my sentence would be the correct one? – mythofechelon May 16 '12 at 19:16
"When independent clauses are joined by and, but, or, so, yet, or any other conjunction, a comma usually precedes the conjunction" so "I'm not particularly one for this type of music, but I love this song." is correct, albeit the first thing to say is that punctuation is a typographical convention rather than a matter of grammar. – May 16 '12 at 19:25
Hi @LewisCarroll - If you are quoting a source, please note that you can use the blockquote (Ctrl-Q, looks like a quotation mark) format. This is important so it is clear which part is from the reference and which part is your own. For instance, I formatted your answer above, but since I don't have the reference available, I cannot tell for sure if the example sentence is your own or also part of the CMOS quote. – aedia λ May 16 '12 at 19:27
Hey little oligarch, see here http://english.stackexchange.com/users/21032/lewis-carroll?tab=votes&sort=downvote and learn! – May 16 '12 at 19:34
Oh, "precedes". Sorry, I kind of skimmed over that. Oh.. Hmm. That doesn't really made sense to me, but okay.. – mythofechelon May 16 '12 at 19:52
@LewisCarroll: I'm not sure what you mean by 'oligarch' (for the record I didn't downvote) – Mitch May 16 '12 at 19:55
Apparently your answer is right, so I'll accept it. I still don't understand why so many people have down-voted my question, though. It's really putting me off of SE sites. – mythofechelon May 18 '12 at 14:57
You are right, but I cannot talk about this because the moderator has sent to me a warning to reduce me at the silence. EL&U is becoming as it was in the East Germany, when the STASI (which was widely regarded as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in the world) executions were carried out in strict secrecy. @Ben Hooper – May 18 '12 at 15:28

Commas and "but"

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