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Does anyone know where a comma should go in the following sentence? Sentence: I walked to school and when I got there I saw a big cat.

Examples:

  1. I walked to school, and when I got there, I saw a big cat.
  2. I walked to school, and, when I got there, I saw a big cat.
  3. I walked to school, and when I got there I saw a big cat.

Which are correct?

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  • They are all grammatical. It's a matter of style.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 16:14
  • 2
    It's not just a matter of style. The placement of the commas affect the emphasis of the different phrases and the overall meaning of the sentence. I liked this question as a starting place for figuring where one would want commas: english.stackexchange.com/questions/324338/…
    – Val
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 17:15
  • Version 2 is generalizably correct, by which I mean that its comma structure would remain correct even if the individual clauses ("I walked to school", "I got there", and "I saw a big cat") were replaced with longer and more convoluted clauses. Versions 1 and 3 and also a version with no commas at all are correct in your example, but only because the brevity of the three clauses allows deletion of commas.
    – Andreas Blass
    Commented May 21, 2020 at 3:42
  • It seems that you're going to get advocates for any of the three options because there are no universally understood rules for the placement of commas. My recommendation is to find the style guide (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style) most relevant to the subject matter of the piece you are writing and go with that.
    – Jeff Semmens
    Commented May 21, 2020 at 16:29

1 Answer 1

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No comma at all is absolutely necessary in that sentence. Some grammar guides advise against using a comma when two clauses that could be sentences by themselves are joined with the conjuction "and." Some prescribe it (including Grammerly and Purdue OWL websites, to pick two). I would allow it either way. However, I would also drop the repeated subject "i" if I left out the comma:

I went to the store and came home with a new hat.

I went to the store, and I came home with a new hat.

The only sentence of the three that seems wrong is number 2 -- but only because at the present time, commas are less likely to be used than they were 50 or 100 years ago. At one time, additional punctuation was common. Now, many commas that would have been used previously, and which are not incorrectly placed, are omitted as unnecessary.

Look at popular writing, such as news and feature articles, to see the less-is-more trend in punctuation.

Or

Look at popular writing such as news and feature articles to see the less-is-more trend in punctuation.

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    and if reading a digital form of news or feature article recently, you may have noticed that even proper spelling is on a less-is-more trajectory.
    – lumbrjak
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 18:47

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