[RonBee]

Originally Posted by Domaren

* In any case, you lost your balance, and you hit your head on the fertilizer box right in front of you.

The second comma in the above, I would humbly suggest, is altogether unnecessary. The introductory phrase "in any case" is rightly followed by a comma. "You lost your balance", however, is not a paranthetical expression within the sentence. It is key to the contents of the sentence. "In any case and you hit your head...." just doesn't work!

If the second comma is there to separate the clauses as a list, it is still incorrectly used. The "and" should not generally be preceeded by a comma, only replaced by a comma in lists of three items or more, save for the final remaining "and". i.e. "long and thin and bright" becomes "long, thin and bright".

In addition, the author would do well to remove the redundant "you" that preceeds "hit". Three "yous" in a sentence is inelegant at best. The sentence should read as follows:

* In any case, you lost your balance and hit your head on the fertilizer box right in front of you.

The original sentence is punctuated appropriately, but the revision is perhaps an improvement.

Did you say "and" shouldn't be preceded by a comma? What about:

• Mary detested John, and she also detested Bob.

Eh?

:)