comma or not

Hi there,

Can anyone help me with the following sentence? Although some have given me explanations, I still don't understand why there is a comma before 'though'? Then when we should and should not put a comma before the words 'although', 'though', 'because' when they are placed to join two sentences together. Please help.

Thanks in advance.

Aspiring to be an advanced knowledge economy, Beijing needs the great majority, if not all, of our students to success, academically and professionally, though individuals may attain achievement at differeent paces.

Simon

Hi there

So do you mean in normal situations, the comma before 'though' should not be there. Since there are several phrases in the sentence, it is better to separate them by using a comma.

Simon

You should put a comma before "though," because the words following it is an independent clause (it has both a subject and a verb). However, the sentence, overall, is incorrect because it's a type of run-on called a comma splice.