Is the following sentence missing semicolons or commas? If so, where?: Mark played the viola professionally for many years and he now conducts a community orchestra.

1 Answer
Mar 26, 2016

A comma is needed before and .

Explanation:

When to put a comma?

1st rule is to remember FANBOYS which stands for For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So. These are the coordinating conjunctions.

From the given sentence, there is a coordinating conjunction and.

2nd rule is to check if what comes after any of these coordinating conjunctions is a clause. A clause has a subject and verb on it.

From the given sentence, the subject after the coordinating conjunction and is he and the verb is conducts.

3rd rule is to put a comma before the coordinating conjunction if it is followed by a clause.

When to use a semicolon?

A semicolon is a softer version of a period. What does it mean? It means that you can use a semicolon in place of a period but only to a closely related two sentences.

From the given sentence, since the two sentences are closely related, you can also use a semicolon on it.

Here's how: omit the and.

Mark played the viola professionally for many years. He now conducts a community orchestra.

Mark played the viola professionally for many years; he now conducts a community orchestra.

See the difference?

I hope this helps.