Is Comma necessary to join independent clauses ?

[goelmohit2002]

Hi All,

Can someone please tell is it necessary to use comma in GMAT to join independent clauses. For e.g. can someone please tell which of the following two(or both) are acceptable usages in GMAT ?

A) Earl walked to school, AND he later ate his lunch.( There is a comma)
B) Earl walked to school AND he later ate his lunch. ( There is "no" comma)

Thanks
Mohit

[selva.e]

i like Ron's explanation abt this topic in the following link
og-verbal-review-54-t1644.html

[goelmohit2002]

Hi Selva,

Thanks. I looked into the post of Ron...actually that post of Ron is for separate topic i.e. Essential and Non Essential modifiers...

The current topic under discussion is different....

Do we need to have comma for connecting independent clauses.

Thanks

[d_taneja]

Hi Mohit.

Correct usage is with comma.. In short

IC.IC
IC;IC
IC,<conjunction>IC (conjunction --> And, For, Nor, or, yet, But, As, So)
DC,IC
IC DC
IC;<Independent marker>, IC (IM --> Thus, consequently, hence, moreover, nonethelss etc)

[goelmohit2002]

Thanks a lot d_taneja.

[RonPurewal]

Hi All,

Can someone please tell is it necessary to use comma in GMAT to join independent clauses. For e.g. can someone please tell which of the following two(or both) are acceptable usages in GMAT ?

A) Earl walked to school, AND he later ate his lunch.( There is a comma)
B) Earl walked to school AND he later ate his lunch. ( There is "no" comma)

Thanks
Mohit

try reading this post:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/federal-ince ... tml#189732

this topic is addressed there in considerable detail.