Using Resources and Reference Materials for Editing
Question 1 • DBN LA 6-CR
According to Strunk, what is the correct way to punctuate this compound sentence?“Tony cooked dinner and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.” “Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad but Mike just ate.”
Answer
A
“Tony cooked dinner and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
B
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
C
“Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad but Mike just ate.”
Explanation
Each part—“Tony cooked dinner,” “I made the salad,” and “Mike just ate”—can stand alone as a complete sentence. Strunk’s rule calls for a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins independent clauses, so commas belong before both “and” and “but.” The correct punctuation is “Tony cooked dinner, and I made the salad, but Mike just ate.”
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