Parallelism in a Series

Question

Hello,

Statements below are taken from Veritas Prep Pg 78 and Pg 75 respectively. Can you help me reconcile both of them?

Statement 1: Correct: On his recent European vacation, Clark visited Spain and France, and spent an afternoon in Belgium.

Statement 2: Commas should not be used when linking together two subordinate clauses, phrases, or words with a coordinating conjunction.

In my view, the st 1 should read-
"On his recent European vacation, Clark visited Spain and France and spent an afternoon in Belgium" <No comma after France>
OR
"On his recent European vacation, Clark visited Spain and France, and he spent an afternoon in Belgium" <Independent clause after comma with coordinating conjunction>

KarishmaB · Answer

You should not use "only" comma to join clauses. You need to use a conjunction too. Also, you should not use a comma when joining simple words with a conjunction such as "bread and butter".

The original sentence does not use a comma to join two clauses. It uses the co-ordinating conjunction "and". The comma is used to give a pause between the two clauses. Also, it makes sense to use a comma before the last item in a list when the items are complex.

- Clark visited Spain and France
- Clark spent an afternoon in Belgium

You will join these two clauses using "and" and use a comma before "and".

Parallelism in a Series

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