Asked by dsfs
According to Strunk, what is the correct way to punctuate this compound sentence?
“Tony cooked dinner and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad but Mike just ate.”
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
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According to Strunk (The Elements of Style), use a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins independent clauses. Each of the conjunctions here introduces an independent clause, so the correct punctuation is:
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
(Shorter modern usage sometimes omits the first comma, but that departs from Strunk’s rule.)
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
(Shorter modern usage sometimes omits the first comma, but that departs from Strunk’s rule.)
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