By Punctuation, Commas

You have problems with spacing around punctuation, and you have spurious double spaces in a number of places. I have corrected these below. The other changes that I made to the date formats are not because what you had was wrong, but just to make them all consistent. Dear colleagues, This...

.It requires a comma in order to subordinate the second 'and'. My remark is not contradicted by the guidelines you quote (which I heartily agree with). Good punctuation is not as easy to learn as you seem to think, bhikkhu.

Hello Mister Micawber,I have recently found out the rule of commas in the 'Guide to Grammar and Writing' is contradicting your remark, ' the second requires a comma between independent clauses'. When a coordinating conjunction connects two independent clauses, it is often (but not...

Hello,Sentence A. How do I avoid heavy punctuation?Sentence B. How do I distinguish obligatory punctuation from optional one, especially a comma?Thank you.With best wishes.

.Neither of the rules you suggest is absolute; both are merely guidelines. Much depends on the writer, the publishing house's punctuation rules, the complexity of the sentence, and the variety of English.

Hello,Could you tell why the following words 'then' have no commas immediately after them? Are they not connective adverbs and why does Sentence B have no punctuation between independent clauses? Sentence A. Why don't you hire a car? Then you'll be able to visit more of the...

Hello RonBee,I would like to thank you for your suggestion. However, do you mean that your sentence below is also in informal writing? In formal writing, 'Thus' and 'then' are always followed by commas, am I right?Thus it would be: "He usually has a shower; then he has a...

Mister Micawber is right. Also, use a semicolon in the first sentence only if you don't change the text. Thus it would be: "He usually has a shower; then he has a shave and brushes his teeth."~R

.He usually has a shower, and then he has a shave and brushes his teeth.He usually has a shower; then, he has a shave and brushes his teeth.This is a mundane description of a daily activity. The semicolon and subsequent comma in the second sentence break the sentence into formal segments that do...

Hello Mister Micawber,I would like to thank you for your comment. Could you elaborate on the awkwardness of my punctuation, please?Is the matter a rule of grammar rather than a form of awkwardness? Well, I have found 'and then' is a complex subordinator under 'Coherence: Transitions...