[General] I am trying to teach

[DANAU]

Hi.

The sentences below is taken from the book Gwynne's Grammar.

#1--I am trying to teach you English Grammar, you are not trying hard enough to learn it.

#2--I am trying to teach you English Grammar, you are not trying hard enough to learn it, and we are both getting fed up.

My understanding on the use of comma is as follows:

- no comma should be used to join 2 independent clauses.

- only in very rare cases when there are 3 very short independent clauses with the same grammatical subject that comma is allowed.
E.g. He came, he fought, he overcame.

In the book, the author indicates that #1 is incorrect, which is rightly so given that it is a comma splice.
But the author says that #2 is correctly constructed as it is considered as Oxford comma.

I am confused because I thought the rule of comma spice should also apply to #2 and I would have constructed the sentence as follows:

"I am trying to teach you English Grammar, but you are not trying hard enough to learn it, and we are both getting fed up."

 

[teechar]

"I am trying to teach you English Grammar, but you are not trying hard enough to learn it, and we are both getting fed up."

I agree with you. This is much better, but there's no need to capitalize "grammar".

 

[emsr2d2]

Is "grammar" really capitalised in the book?

 

[DANAU]

Hi emsr2d2.

It’s my error; the word “grammar” is not capitalised in the book.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi.

The sentences below is taken from the book Gwynne's Grammar.

#1--I am trying to teach you English grammar, but you are not trying hard enough to learn it.

#2--I am trying to teach you English grammar, you are not trying hard enough to learn it, and we are both getting fed up.

My understanding on the use of comma is as follows:

- no comma should be used to join 2 independent clauses.

You can join them with a comman and a conjunction. I used but above.

- Only in very rare cases when there are three very short independent clauses with the same grammatical subject is a comma allowed.

That's not true. Commas should always separate independent clauses.

E.g. He came, he fought, he overcame.

In the book, the author indicates that #1 is incorrect, which is rightly so given that it is a comma splice.

That's right. It needed a conjuction.

But the author says that #2 is correctly constructed as it is considered an Oxford comma.

The author is not being clear. With no conjunction, Oxford isn't relevant unless there's a conjunction. This is an Oxford comma: He came, he fought, and he overcame.

I am confused because I thought the rule of comma spice should also apply to #2, and I would have constructed the sentence as follows:

"I am trying to teach you English grammar, but you are not trying hard enough to learn it, and we are both getting fed up."

Aha! You're thinking what I'm thinking! (By the way, the second comma in that sentence is an Oxford comma.)

I like Oxford commas. Some people don't. The important thing is to be consistent. Within a text, either always use them or never use them.

 

[jutfrank]

The author is quite right. The idea of sentence #2 is that there are three things happening simultaneously. That's why it's not a comma splice.

Your inclusion of but is grammatical and logical too, of course, but changes the meaning of the sentence significantly in that it introduces a logical relationship between the first utterance (I am trying to teach you English grammar) and the following two utterances that simply is not there without including but.

Here's another sentence that also lists three simple utterances connected with commas. The idea is simply to say that three things are happening together:

I'm drinking a hot cup of tea, my wife is lying next to me, and the kids are fast asleep.

The author's point is that you can use commas like this when you're listing three or more things but you can't with only two things, because then there would be a comma splice.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Right. If there are only two, use a conjunction. And, or, and but are the most popular.