Comma before “and” when followed by either hopefully or “then”

Question

There should be a comma before and when used to connect to independent clauses. This is a basic rule that I always try to follow.

However, I’ve noticed that the rule is often ignored – even in formal writing – when and is followed by either then or hopefully.

For example,

I will review your suggestions and then I will add my comments to the document.
We should definitely stay in touch over the holidays and hopefully I will be seeing you in the office in January.

Is it correct to omit the comma before and in these two sentences?

And if it is, can you please explain why!

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

AnonymousThere should be a comma before 'and' when (it is) used to connect two independent clauses. This is a basic rule that I always try to follow. And you can continue doing that. But since commas are only very important when their presence or absence affects the meaning, it is not surprising that they are not always used as you use them.

However, I’ve noticed that the rule is often ignored – even in formal writing – when and is followed by either 'then' or 'hopefully'. Speaking of important things, your absence of highlighting 'then' makes me have to do more work to know if you meant 'either then' or 'then'. You always have to higlight words that you are talking about.

For example,I will review your suggestions and then I will add my comments to the document. I can't think of a reason that certain words following 'and' would be more likely to be assoociated with the absence of a comma.
Maybe there is no comma before 'and' in the above sentence because both clauses have a common subject. But that's only a guess.

We should definitely stay in touch over the holidays and hopefully I will be seeing you in the office in January. I would use a comma before 'and' in that sentence.
Is it correct to omit the comma before and in these two sentences? Maybe it's not strictly correct, but it's not a big problem and what can we do about it anyway?
I purposely omitted a comma before 'and' in the previous sentence because having one there would interrupt the sentence too much.

The fact is that people vary in their use of commas. Some use more commas than others do.

Comma before “and” when followed by either hopefully or “then”

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