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Should there be a comma before "and" in the sentence below? The reason why I ask is because I think that the sentence below has committed a comma splice, but I am not completely sure. Can someone please explain to me why there is a comma in front of "and".

Birmingham lighted a runaway fuse, and as fast as the headlines could record them, demonstrations exploded all over the country...

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    That’s perfectly normal. You have two independent clauses separated by a coördinating conjunction and a comma.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 2:16
  • Is "and as fast as the headlines could record them, demonstrations exploded all over the country" in this case treated as an independent clause?
    – Victor
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 2:25
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    Yes, it is an independent clause. The sentence, in my opinion, is not a good one. It lacks clarity. A better rendering could be, "Birmingham lit a runaway fuse, and demonstrations exploded all over the country as fast as the headlines could record them." (At 2AM, that sentence is the best I can come up with!)
    – rhetorician
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 5:56
  • @rhetorician the original sentence has "lighted." That isn't correct, is it? I think it should be "lit" as you wrote it.
    – michael_timofeev
    Commented Aug 18, 2015 at 15:06
  • @michael_timofeev: Lighted or lit: which is correct? Both! See this web site: grammarist.com/usage/lighted-lit. See also this ngram entry: books.google.com/ngrams/…. Don
    – rhetorician
    Commented Aug 22, 2015 at 0:04

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Because both sentences can stand independently, a comma is required before the conjunction.

Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm

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  • The 'rule' is not hard and fast, as the balanced linked article at the duplicate says.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 17:01

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