[Grammar] Punctuation in case of and.

[saloom2]

Hello everyone,

I was playing Football yesterday, and my sister was cooking dinner.
I was playing Football yesterday. And my sister was cooking dinner.

I know While is far more appropriate than and here, but I want to know whether these two sentences are right or not? And if they are true, which one is more formal?


Thanks. I appreciate it.

 

[Grumpy]

I am not a grammar czar, but here goes...

I would not agree that while is "far more appropriate", unless you were trying to make a point about the relative timings of the two events. Hence, "I was playing Football yesterday, and my sister was cooking dinner" is perfectly normal and appropriate.

Your second version: " I was playing Football yesterday. And my sister was cooking dinner" is a bit more unusual. One does not routinely start a sentence with "And", unless one is making a specific comment: separating the two statements to achieve an effect. Reading this would make me think that there was something out of the ordinary about your sister cooking dinner: perhaps she resented doing it because she wanted to play football too?

By the way, one does not normally spell "football" with a capital "F".

 

[saloom2]

Umm so It's unusual, or un-natural to be more specific. The sentence should have been: I was playing football. And my sister was cooking the dinner, she was resented doing it because she wanted to play football too?

 

[Grumpy]

Umm so It's unusual, or un-natural to be more specific. The sentence should have been: I was playing football. And my sister was cooking the dinner. She resented doing it, because she wanted to play football too.

I wouldn't even say it's un-natural. And it's becoming more common, like starting sentences with "But". Feel free to do so when there's a good reason. But don't overdo it!