Commas in conjoined sentences Copy

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Conjoined sentences are sentences that include a conjunction to glue together what could have been two separate sentences.

I have cleaned the whole house. 

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She is still working her way through the ironing mountain.

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I have cleaned the whole house, but she is still working her way through the ironing mountain.

But is the conjunction and there’s a comma ahead of it.

Commas are not always needed in conjoined sentences, especially when they are short. Here, ‘and’ is the conjunction.

I cleaned and she ironed.

If you have two independent clauses joined by a comma, rather than a conjunction, this is called a comma splice. Comma splices are to be avoided!

Comma splice example:

I love apples, I love bananas too.

Comma splices are easily avoided.

I love apples, and I love bananas too.

I love apples; I love bananas too.