0
English 1b3 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Joining two unrelated main clauses with a conjunction

Q1/ Should I separate the first two independent clauses with a comma or join them with 'and'? It seems to flow more naturally with a comma and 'and', but because they are unrelated (one is an apology and one is thanking) it seems wrong to join them together.

Q2/ Which version is best?

a) Sorry I haven't been in touch, and thanks for sending through all those videos of your new baby. How has your summer been?

b) Sorry, I haven't been in touch, and thanks for sending through all those videos of your new baby. How has your summer been?

c) Sorry I haven't been in touch. And thanks for sending through all those videos of your new baby. How has your summer been?

d) Sorry I haven't been in touch. Thanks for sending through all those videos of your new baby. How has your summer been?

Thanks a lot
  

Top answer

A and D are best. A is a bit more casual.

— Clive

  • A and D are best.
  • A is a bit more casual.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

5 Answers
0
A and D are best.
A is a bit more casual.
0
0
I agree with Clive. But, I definitely will not use " through " in the sentence. Perhaps "Thank you for sharing the videos of your new baby with me ".
0
0
Thank you, Clive and Grammarfreak. So am I correct in saying that in informal contexts it is both common and acceptable to join somewhat unrelated independent clauses by and, rather than separate them with a comma? Obviously it depends on just how unrelated the main clauses are, but hopefully you can still give me an answer here.
0
0
This is my opinion. The use of unrelated "and" to join two separate events or clauses is much like when someone is using " you know ", or " like " to fill the gaps in a dialog. I prefer using a period to close one event or thought. In informal writing, I suppose most people you run into everyday are not grammar-critical enough to give you a bad time for using an "and" for that purpose. I am speaki
0
0
Yes, this is what I was after. Thank you. Emotion: big smile
0

Related Questions