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This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud, but regardless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic.

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This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud, but, regardless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic.

Are both correct?

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    "This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud but, regardless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic." Because "regardless" is a parenthesis and there is no comma needed except to set it apart from the main sentence.
    – MetaEd
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 3:17
  • @MetaEd Replacing 'regardless' by the more natural-sounding 'nevertheless', I'd say that This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud, but nevertheless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic. is arguably acceptable to echo how one would read this. I've certainly come across a recommendation that zero punctuation be considered on certain occasions for parentheticals, and this might seem a further sensible stretching of the rules.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 16, 2019 at 15:19
  • @MetaEd Interesting, because there is no way I would ever do it that way. The break before but is the more important one, and if I was going to set the parenthetical off with a comma after but, I would use a semicolon before but. But I would normally do as in OP's first example.
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Jun 16, 2019 at 15:20

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No, both aren't correct (a generally meaningless term when applied to punctuation: only incorrect works), but they're both acceptable to someone or other. What's correct here depends on who's making the judgment. Comma rules are amoebic and amorphous. They vary with the writer, the editor, the style manual, and the linguist/grammarian/English teacher who looks at the sentence.

This, of course, wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud, but, regardless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic. [OK]
This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud, but, regardless, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic. [OK]
This, of course, wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud; however, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic. [OK and better]
This of course wasn't the only functionality that came with iCloud; however, developers weren't exactly enthusiastic. [OK and better]

See this for so-called comma rules. Not everything is clear, but it's a generally very good analysis of how to use commas. Don't take the names of the comma types seriously unless you want to be confused. Just look at how Trask uses them and what he says is proper use.

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    I think your claim that “comma rules are amoebic” (ie, relating to, or caused by an amoeba) is incorrect.
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 3:59
  • @jwpat7: Why? They make as much sense as the world's #1 amoebically induced condition: amoebic dysentery, & the end result (pardon the pun) is olfactorily and structurally isomorphic writing, IMHO. :-)
    – user21497
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 4:19
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    +1 Beautiful answer. @jwpat7 You are viewing this use of "amoebic" in an exceedingly narrow and very literal interpretation. One of the wonderful things about English, however, is the potential to use words in creative ways, and Bill Franke has come up with a colorful, inventive use of the term "amoebic" here. Think of how amoebae exhibit continuously and elusively mutating shapes, and you'll get an idea of what Bill means with regard to comma rules.
    – John M. Landsberg
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 6:07
  • @JohnM.: Thank you, John. Just so. As Lakoff and Johnson's title says, Metaphors We Live By.
    – user21497
    Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 6:42
  • ... But only some amoebas are life-enhancing (probably the ones who prefer to be called amoebae aren't).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 16, 2019 at 15:13

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