0

Grammarly thinks it's wrong to put a comma before the word because. Is that true?

On the other hand, it thinks it's wrong to put a comma before the word 'but'. Is that also true?

Examples:

I'm not aware of any spelling mistakes, because the title that I can see doesn't have any.

I'd like to ask something, but I'm reluctant to do so.

Community
  • 1
Sophia
  • 41
  • This question belongs on our site English Language Learners. Ask your question here: https://www.ell.stackexchange.com – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 16:59
  • 1
    You need to give us full examples. – tchrist Dec 17 '18 at 17:05
  • @tchrist how do you feel about migrating this to ELL? – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 17:06
  • Note that the title is misspelled. The word is "comma" not "coma". – chasly - supports Monica Dec 17 '18 at 18:19
  • @tchrist it's fine. Great job Glorfindel – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 18:33
  • Example 1 I'm not aware of any spelling mistakes, because the title that I can see doesn't have any. Example2 I'd like to ask something, but I'm reluctant to do so. – Sophia Dec 17 '18 at 19:17
  • You can't see any mistakes because a moderator edited your question. – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 20:02
  • OK, thank you, Moderator, and thank YOU for pointing that out to me. Remind you, I've given the sentence as an example for my question. Any answers would be welcome. – Sophia Dec 17 '18 at 20:10
  • If it's Free Grammarly, don't trust it. Free Grammarly thinks Spaghetti and meatballs are my favourite dish is correct. – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 20:48
  • @Lordology In general, algorithmic corrections in English can be far off; imagine it trying to correct colour to color. Unacceptable. ;) – A Lambent Eye Dec 17 '18 at 21:14
  • Lambent, are you stalking wherever I've posted? ;-) – Lordology Dec 17 '18 at 21:15
  • @Lordology One does not know what the lambent eye sees... I find it a little harsh of you to dismiss the question a beginner's mistake though. They're unlikely to be a beginner based on their sentence structure and there are many questions concerning commas in EL&U as far as I've seen. It's good to see you testing the bounds of the moderating system though. (PS: Don't forget to tag me when writing to me, I came across your last two comments per chance.) – A Lambent Eye Dec 17 '18 at 21:31
  • @ALambentEye Trust me, my request it wasn't as harsh before a moderator edited it... – Lordology Dec 18 '18 at 07:13
  • 1
    @Sophia On Stack Exchange, please add examples directly to the question using the [edit] link. Comments aren’t technically treated as part of the question. The site encourages editing to improve the question so long as it doesn’t invalidate existing answers or change the intent of the original poster (in this case, yourself). – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 13:38
  • It may be worth taking a look at the question Using a comma before "but". – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 14:35

2 Answers2

2

These are really two different questions—I'm only going to spend time on the issue of commas with because. (You should ask a separate question for the case of but.)

It depends on the context. Sometimes you need a comma and sometimes you don't.

Here's an excellent example and explanation from The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ blog:

Q. When do you use a comma before “because”? I feel that I never need to put a comma before “because” because any information after it is necessary. What are your thoughts?

A. I disagree. Here’s the old example that comes to mind:

He didn’t run, because he was afraid.

He didn’t run because he was afraid.

In the first sentence, “because he was afraid” isn’t necessary; the main thing is that he didn’t run, and the reason is incidental. The second sentence, which omits the comma, is unclear. It might mean that he ran, but not because he was afraid. To prevent confusion, sometimes you need the comma. For more examples, see CMOS 6.31.

To expand on that:

He didn't run, because he was afraid.

This means that the reason he didn't run was that he was afraid.

He didn't run because he was afraid.

This could be interpreted in a couple of ways:

  1. The reason he didn't run was that he was afraid.
  2. He did run but it wasn't because of fear—it was because he saw somebody break into his car and start to drive it away.

Without going into any detail, you can refer to Daily Writing Tips on the use of commas before but. However, the short answer is a particular construct will determine whether or not a comma should be used.

Postscript: This answers the question as it's currently written—which is interesting in terms of general grammar. But I have just noticed that you provided more information in comments below the question. If the question is edited to only be about those two sentences, then it turns it into one of proofreading, which is not really appropriate at any site . . .

Community
  • 1
Jason Bassford
  • 38,040
1

According to grammarbook.com, both examples require a comma:

Rule 3b. In sentences where two independent clauses are joined by connectors such as and, or, but, etc., put a comma at the end of the first clause.

An independent clause is a 'sentence' in a sentence which can exist on it's own, in this case

I'm not aware of any spelling mistakes. The title I can see doesn't have any [mistakes].

I'd like to ask something. I'm reluctant to do so.

Community
  • 1
A Lambent Eye
  • 1,551
  • Because is a subordinating conjunction. When its clause comes after the main clause, a comma is rarely used. – KarlG Dec 18 '18 at 01:48
  • Stack Exchange is an attempt to build a Q&A database. As such, instead of answering based on comments, it is better to first edit the question to include the comments so long as it preserves the OP’s intent and so long as the change doesn’t invalidate any existing answers. The edit trail is preserved, so anyone can check the original if they wish. – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 08:08
  • @Lawrence Like so? – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 10:09
  • I had in mind the editing of the question itself, but your revised answer suits the Stack Exchange format much better than it did before. Thanks for participating. :) – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 13:24
  • @Lawrence Ah, I did edit the question, but it probably needs to be approved since I don't have, what was it, 2k?, reputation. – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 13:26
  • Regarding the content of your answer: there are exceptions to many grammar ‘rules’. Here’s a counterexample to the purported Rule 3b: “I didn’t find any mistakes.” and “I might have missed one.” are both sentences, but turning them into independent clauses and joining them with a but doesn’t require a comma: “I didn’t find any mistakes but I might have missed one.” – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 13:32
  • @Lawrence I agree, but I couldn't find any confirmation, so I didn't add it to my answer. I would probably require more research to be confident in my answer. – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 13:35
  • On one hand, the question is too broad as it currently stands. Fundamental questions such as this tend to look deceptively simple and yet have lots of nuanced cases to consider. On the other hand, Jason Bassford’s answer manages to cover sufficient ground that I’ve upvoted it. – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 13:47
  • I missed this comment earlier. I’ve had a look and don’t see your edit to Sophia’s question. Apologies in advance for asking a basic question, but did you click the edit link on the question itself? Each answer also has an edit link - they’re all different. – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 14:16
  • @Lawrence I'm quite sure I did, I've done it again. – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 14:31
  • Maybe it’s because I’m viewing this from a phone. There’s also been a major overhaul of the user interface. I’ll leave this to those with desktop access to look at. Apologies for getting you to go through the exercise twice. By the way, once you get to 2000 rep, you’ll be able to edit directly. – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 14:39
  • @Lawrence No worries, I couldn't see it in the timeline either. – A Lambent Eye Dec 18 '18 at 14:40
  • I’ll flag a moderator to take a look. – Lawrence Dec 18 '18 at 14:47
  • 1
    I see two suggested edits by @ALambentEye to the question. One was approved in review and the other rejected. The rejected edit was the attempt to add examples to illustrate the Grammarly problem the asker was having. I can see their point -- in this circumstance we probably want the asker's exact Grammarly input. – MetaEd Dec 21 '18 at 00:22
  • Note I can see from the comments that the edit was, in fact, adding the asker's exact input, but the reviewers may not have seen those comments in review. – MetaEd Dec 21 '18 at 00:23