Comma needed or not? [closed]

Question

I was reading an article and found the below sentence:

I met Ruhail through Facebook last year but I hadn’t saved his number as I didn’t want my parents to know.

I believe the author missed commas at two places- one before but and second before as.

I met Ruhail through Facebook last year : This is an independent clause followed by this sentence, "I hadn’t saved his number as I didn’t want my parents to know.", which has two independent sentences and a comma should be placed before as.

In my view the correct sentence should be this one:

I met Ruhail through Facebook last year, but I hadn’t saved his number, as I didn’t want my parents to know.

Secondly, what type of sentence is this? Can I call it a compound sentence ?

Answer 1

To answer your first question, the commas that you suggested are correct, though the second comma I would consider optional. As you said, a comma should always appear before the coordinating conjunction "but" if it precedes an independent clause. Though there is no hard and fast rule about a comma preceding a phrase, it does sound better before the "as," too.

Secondly, the sentence would be considered compound-complex, because "as I didn't want my parents to know" is a dependent clause that includes a verb. It would be a compound sentence if it were deleted.

Hope this helps!