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13 Aug 2014, 02:48
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I STUDY hard BUT TAKE breaks.
I STUDY hard, BUT I TAKE breaks.
Can somebody explain me the rules/grammer behind these two correct sentences? What If a comma is added before but in 1st sentence?
I STUDY hard, BUT I TAKE breaks.
Can somebody explain me the rules/grammer behind these two correct sentences? What If a comma is added before but in 1st sentence?
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13 Aug 2014, 16:07
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manish2014
Dear manish2014,
I'm happy to respond.
First of all, the GMAT SC does NOT test punctuation. It's very important to realize that you will not see splits in which purely punctuation is tested. Hence, the difference in these sentence, with or without comma, is not inherently a GMAT SC issue.
There's not a black & white mathematical answer to what you are asking. It's a judgment call, and to some extent, one might say it's a matter of taste.
The first sentence has verbs in parallel. With verb in parallel, we typically don't use commas unless the two predicates are so long and cumbersome, especially with modifying phrases & clauses, such that we need the comma for clarity about the overall structure of the sentence. How long do the two predicates have to be before a comma is justified? That is very much a judgment call --- there's no exact answer to that question. Here, the sentence is obviously very short and very simple, so almost everyone would recommend against a comma. It's important to recognize --- putting a comma in this sentence would be discouraged, it would be in poor taste, but it wouldn't be clearly and unambiguously wrong.
The sentence sentence has clauses in parallel. Generally, if we have clauses in parallel, we tend to separate them with commas, although again, everything is so short and so simple in this sentence, arguably it would be perfectly fine without the comma. This sentence could go either way.
My friend, I think you need to be reading. You cannot master GMAT SC by assembling some mythical "complete set of rules" for grammar. Grammar is not like mathematics --- you can't encapsulate everything in rules. You have to develop intuition for the "feel" of the language, and you only do that through the hard work of reading. If you are not a native English speaker, I would recommend reading for at least an hour a day, over and above any time spend on specific preparations for the GMAT. For suggestions on what to read, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/
Does all this make sense?
Mike
14 Aug 2014, 01:53
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Sentence 1:I STUDY hard, BUT I TAKE breaks.
Comma is used in the above sentence as separator: two main clauses are joined by comma + coordinating conjunction (BUT).
The sentence without comma can be written without repeating the subject as the subject of both verbs is "I".
Sentence 2: I STUDY hard BUT TAKE breaks.
Sentence elements are perfectly parallel in both sentence.
Wrong construction: Use of comma + coordinating conjunction (BUT) without subject in the second clause
I STUDY hard, BUT TAKE breaks.
Comma is used in the above sentence as separator: two main clauses are joined by comma + coordinating conjunction (BUT).
The sentence without comma can be written without repeating the subject as the subject of both verbs is "I".
Sentence 2: I STUDY hard BUT TAKE breaks.
Sentence elements are perfectly parallel in both sentence.
Wrong construction: Use of comma + coordinating conjunction (BUT) without subject in the second clause
I STUDY hard, BUT TAKE breaks.
