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Here is an example from Longman dictionary,

We are new to the London area, and would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others.

My question is that since the second clause "would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others" is a dependent clause, why add a comma before "and"? From my understanding, we do not use comma before a coordinating conjunction if it precedes a dependent clause.

I feel it's correct to write like this:

"We are new to the London area and would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others."

OR

"We are new to the London area, and we would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others."

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  • If you prefer a pause there, feel free. I would, most days. Minus the comma it sounds rather brusque, uninviting. With the second subject, perhaps a little ponderous.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 14, 2021 at 14:05
  • This question is relevant as far as punctuation before "and" english.stackexchange.com/questions/30516/…
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jun 14, 2021 at 14:17
  • A clause has a subject. The phrase would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others does not contain a subject. It is therefore not a clause, dependent or otherwise.
    – phoog
    Commented Jun 14, 2021 at 17:31

1 Answer 1

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There are no dependent clauses in that construction (ignoring the ones headed by like...,to eat... and to visit...), but there are two coordinations:

We [[are new...][and [ would like to [[eat in restaurants][or [visit pubs]]] with others ]]] .

are new to the London area and would like to ... with others

eat in restaurants or visit pubs

The comma in the sentence makes sense as it marks off the two elements of the first coordination.

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3
  • Can we consider "would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others" as a dependent clause, since there is no subjuct?
    – Victor.C
    Commented May 21, 2020 at 8:53
  • 2
    No, there are three clauses which have We as subject, all in coordination. Think of it like a math problem: We * [ are + [ eat + visit] ] = [ We are + [ We eat + We visit ] ]. The We distributes to all three clauses equally. The coordinates which are at the same level may be swapped around without affecting the sense of the sentence much.
    – DW256
    Commented May 21, 2020 at 9:14
  • Yes; 'He eats and leaves' has a compound predicate, equivalent to there being two independent clauses as in the compound sentence 'He eats and he leaves'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 9, 2022 at 15:15

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