Deleted Post Forum

[Marlin88]

Deleted for content.

[kaiser]

Hello all, I'm working on my PS and I need help decided whether or not to use commas in 3 sentences. I wrote them below but changed the actual names from my real PS. Any help is appreciated.

1. "I had three weeks to use my leadership skills to find a way to replace the lost volunteers, or Caring for Capetown was going to be a failure."
- Should there be a comma between "volunteers" and "or"..?

2. "This experience taught me two valuable lessons: always prepare for unexpected problems, and delegate tasks in order to precisely attack the most important issues."
- Should there be a comma between "problems" and "and"..?

3. "Additionally, I wish to practice law in the state of Minnesota following law school, and an UM law degree would provide unparalleled career opportunities for me within the state."
- Should there be a comma between "school" and "and"..?

Thank you!

1. Yes, use a comma. Without it, the sentence would read as if you had a choice as to how to use your leadership skills, with choice 1 being replacing the lost volunteers, and the word "or" would indicate that there was an alternative option as to how you could use your leadership skills. The comma breaks it up appropriately. (No one would actually make the mistaken interpretation I am describing here, but its technical accuracy we are striving for)

2. Yes, use a comma.

3. This one is more questionable. Depends on how the sentence "reads" and I'd imagine people read it in different ways. I personally didn't pause at the point where you put the comma, so I wouldn't have put one there.

[subtle]

Uhm. I realize that this post was deleted, but the second example should NOT have a comma before "and." You would only use a comma if and introduced an independent clause. Three NEEDS a comma for this reason. Contrary to what Kaiser said, commas are not used simply because you paused when you read it.

[CanadianWolf]

Agree with subtle.

[Marlin88]

No worries, I ended up switching the sentence around anyways so it ended up not being an issue. Thanks for your help though.