Comma Before But

Deciding whether to put a comma before or after but in a sentence is hard for a lot of writers, but it doesn’t have to be for you!

When Do You Need a Comma Before But?

You should put a comma before but only when but is connecting two independent clauses.

I would go for a walk, but it’s raining outside.

How do you know you have two independent clauses? First, look at the words before but: I would go for a walk. Then look at the words after but: it’s raining outside. Both of those phrases could stand alone as complete sentences. That means they’re independent clauses, so you need to use a comma before but. When you don’t have two independent clauses, leave the comma out.

I would go for a walk, but for the rain.

This time, but is connecting an independent clause to a dependent clause. How do you know? Look at the words after but: for the rain. That phrase can’t stand by itself as a complete sentence, which means it’s a dependent clause. Therefore, you shouldn’t use a comma before but.

I would go for a walk but for the rain.

Here are a few more examples of when you should and shouldn’t use a comma before but in a sentence:

The dog is young, but well trained.

The dog is young but well trained.

Grammar is boring, but necessary.

Grammar is boring but necessary.

The dog is young but he’s well trained.

The dog is young, but he’s well trained.

Grammar is boring but it’s necessary.

Grammar is boring, but it’s necessary.

By the way, this comma rule applies to all conjunctions, including and, or, and so.

Do You Need a Comma After But?

If you’re wondering whether you need a comma after but, the answer is that you probably don’t.

The only time you need a comma after but is when it is immediately followed by an interrupter. An interrupter is a little word or phrase that interrupts a sentence to show emotion, tone, or emphasis. You should always use a comma before and after an interrupter.

But, of course, it’s not safe for Spot to go outside on his own.

In the sentence above, of course is an interrupter. You could take it out of the sentence without losing any meaning. The only reason it’s there is to emphasize the obviousness of the statement. If your sentence happens to place an interrupter directly after but, then go ahead and use a comma. Otherwise, you don’t need a comma after but.

6 Fictional Presidents Who Were Great Communicators

Happy Presidents’ Day! On this day when the United States honors their commander in chief, we thought it would be fun to look at the fictional portrayals of this office throughout pop culture history. We’ve found that many presidents from books, television, and film were excellent orators, and some may have surpassed even the most loquacious POTUS of their age. Here are some of our favorites, and we want to hear yours in the comments.

1 President Jed Bartlett

President Bartlett will always have a warm place in the American television universe as a warm, reasoned leader. Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, created the “walk and talk,” which President Bartlett executed beautifully throughout the series. With Sam Seaborn’s help, he also was a powerhouse of an orator, with several powerful addresses to the (fake) American people on the importance of democratic freedoms.

2 President Douglass Dilman

via GIPHY

You can’t argue with James Earl Jones’s powers of speech, and his powerful portrayal of the first (fictional) black president is powerful. The scene in which his character has his first press conference is especially powerful, and shows the understated power of President Dilman’s oration.

3 President Mackenzie Allen

Who doesn’t love a good presidential drama (that’s heavy on the drama)? The first (fictional) female president was also a very direct, occasionally blunt straight shooter.. Geena Davis’s no-nonsense approach to communication should be a model for straight-talkers everywhere.

4 President Thomas J. Whitmore

This speech has become so famous with sci-fi fans that its only near rival is a similar speech from Armageddon, which pales in comparison to President Whitmore’s gravitas. Although the president is not the main focus of Independence Day, he is quite the motivator.

5 President Francis Underwood

via GIPHY

Although Kevin Spacey’s president in House of Cards is undoubtedly diabolical, he’s also great at communicating with an audience. Whether he’s making a speech to accept a presidency he wasn’t elected to or breaking the fourth wall to address his Netflix viewers, President Underwood can command a room.

6 President David Palmer

President Palmer’s voice is one of the most authoritative on this list, and his question, “Is my voice shaking?”, will give you chills. Although 24 skews dramatic, the level of “candor and clarity” Palmer keeps throughout the series is impressive.

Who are your favorite fictional world leaders? Post your favorites in the comments below.

Make Up Your Mind, English! Conscious vs. Conscience and Unconscious vs. Unconscionable

English is anything but a straightforward language. Words that look alike but actually mean something slightly different are a common source of confusion. Take conscious, conscience, unconscious, and unconscionable. All are derived from the same root, so it’s natural to assume that the first two are the opposite of the last two. But use them interchangeably like this and you are likely to confuse (and possibly amuse) your listeners.

Conscious means “aware or alert.” This word can be used to convey a fundamental biological state (“Hey, I’m awake!”), or it can be used to describe a bit more than just basic awareness:

He was conscious of the fact that nobody was talking to him.

The opposite of conscious is unconscious. And, like conscious, unconscious doesn’t have to relate to awareness or lack thereof. In fact, you can be wide awake but also unconscious, or unaware, of something:

New to the country, Fred was unconscious of the etiquette and began eating before the main host.

Now, conscience doesn’t describe your level of alertness, but instead your inner voice, the one that guides you between right and wrong—the proverbial angel on one shoulder winning out (ideally!) over the devil on the other.

She could have easily pocketed the fresh $20 bill, but she was guided by her conscience and told the waiter that there was money hiding under a napkin.

Something that is unconscionable, on the other hand, is not guided by morality but by an utter lack of it. In other words, an unconscionable act is one that is so unethical that, for many, it is unthinkable.

The harshest forms of punishment tend to be reserved for the most unconscionable acts.

Unconscionable has also taken on another meaning over the years, one that doesn’t relate to conscience. Something that is unconscionable might also be unreasonable or excessive. There doesn’t necessarily have to be any ethical violation.

Many believe that paying 50,000 per year in college tuition is unconscionable.

As long as you’re conscious of the differences above, you don’t have to knock yourself out or bother your conscience to figure out which of these four words to use.

Examples

“What she has said is unconscionable, and ‘hurtful’ barely scratches the surface.” —Slate

“Popes do not endorse political candidates, though he urged Catholic voters to ‘study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience.’” —Associated Press

“Cognitive science backs up the ancient Indian philosophy that we’re conscious even in deep sleep.” —Quartz

“Your brain can be tricked, and some of the best tricks are the unconscious kind that influence your thinking without you ever realizing it.” —Forbes

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This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GRE expert at Magoosh, a leader in GRE prep. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

Are You a Word Nerd?

Grammar is cool now (it’s still cool, right?) so it’s okay to wave your red pen in the air like you just don’t care. Take the quiz below and find out just how much of a word nerd you really are. Give yourself a point for each statement you agree with.

• You correct the lyrics to pop songs as you sing along. It’s the “one who got away,” Katy Perry.
• The “ten items or less” sign at the grocery store still sends you into a rage after all these years.
• You have a favorite style guide and will defend it to the death.
• You’ve written “stet” in the margins of a paper at least once.
• You know when to hyphenate a compound modifier.
• You’ve lost at least one friend over the use of the Oxford comma.
• You have a favorite punctuation mark.
• You have a favorite font.
• The misuse of “decimate” or “enormity” makes you disproportionately mad.
• You’ve traded your proofreading services for beer and/or pizza.
• You text in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
• You have a print copy of a dictionary. (Give yourself a bonus point if it’s the Oxford English Dictionary.)
• It doesn’t matter how many people use it wrong; you’ll never say “literally” when you really mean “figuratively.”
• You know when to use “i.e.” and when to use “e.g.” in a sentence.
• Grammar on Twitter gives you hives.
• You were really excited when Facebook started letting you correct your posts.
• You’ve corrected a grammar mistake on a public sign.
• You know what “nonplussed” means and have used it in a sentence.
• The use of apostrophes to indicate plurals makes you weep for the future.
• You’ve spent way too long at The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks or Apostrophe Catastrophes.
• When reading aloud, you say “bang” whenever you encounter an exclamation point.
• You pity the fools who use “whom” incorrectly in an attempt to sound smarter.
• You take grammar quizzes online for fun.
• You’re actually not great at Scrabble/Words With Friends because you’d rather spell the coolest word possible than the one that gives you the most points.
• You follow Grammarly on Facebook.

Scoring:

1-6: Sorry, but you’re not a grammar nerd. Study The Elements of Style and get back to us in a month.

7-12: Although you know your way around a sentence, you don’t diagram them for fun.

13-18: You have a red pen on your person at all times.

19-24: You sleep with a thesaurus under your pillow so you can dream new of new words.

25+: You are the ultimate word nerd. May all lesser word nerds bow before you.

What did you rate? Share your score below!

How to Write a Catchy Headline in 1 Minute and 7 Seconds

Guest post from Nick Marquet

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If you are a writer, your goal is probably for your work to be consumed by an interested audience who will rave about it to their friends. Yet, if you write the most insightful, thought-provoking, earth-shattering blog post or newspaper article — and no one reads it – it’s not very likely that your writing will resonate with a wide audience.

Learning how to write a catchy headline can be the difference between a well-distributed piece of writing, or a dud. So, let’s take a look at the steps required to write a headline that will attract the readers you’re looking for.

Know your audience.

Keep your audience in mind when drafting a headline. The world’s most shocking title may contain the words “sex,” “lies,” and “videotape,” but it could be a complete turn-off to an audience of monks.

SEO optimize.

Include a “focus keyword” to help your writing to get discovered in search engines. Build the headline around the most important keyword in your written text and ensure that it is fewer than 70 characters. Additional words are considered too long for Google to index.

Create a knowledge vacuum.

A headline that leaves the reader wanting more has done its job. Take this one for example: “These Pieces Of Advice Found On Instagram Could Change Your Life.” Does it make you want more? Does it intrigue you? Your readers will probably look for more information in the rest of your article.

Solve a problem.

After reading a headline, readers may wonder, “Why should I read on?” Many decide to do so because they believe from the title of the post that you, the author, can solve their problem. Consider the headline of this post; perhaps you are reading with the hope it will solve your headline-writing problem?!

Use numbers.

People love numbers, especially in headlines. Numbers are something we know and feel comfortable with; they give us a sense of familiarity and advise our brains on how long an article may take to read. With numbers we can justify the exchange of information for our time – especially with numbers that describe how many points will be covered. For example: “10 Ways to cook eggs that your mother never told you about.”

Cheat.

Yes, you heard right. Don’t be afraid to look for inspiration wherever you can. If you write for a publication, review older copies and look for examples that you know would work with your audience and tweak them. ViralNova.com, a website that repackages content that is already available, does a great job of writing compelling headlines. Tim Ferris created multiple titles for his book, The 4 Hour Work Week, before settling on the mega hit. He ran a series of Google ads and looked at the click through rates, simply choosing the one with the highest.

Use technology.

There is a tool called Portent’s Content Idea Generator, and it is a piece of brilliance. Plug in your topic or focus keyword into the little text box, hit a button, and bam – out pops a catchy headline in less time than one minute and seven seconds. At the very least, it could trigger ideas.

Overall, a catchy headline should speak directly to the part of the brain that subconsciously cares. However, a catchy headline is nothing without quality, thoughtful, engaging content that is shared and admired. Remember: that’s the reason we wanted the catchy headline in the first place. And until we start reading from the bottom up, catchy headlines are here to stay.

About the Author

Husband of Lorna Marquet and father of three young boys, Nick Marquet is the co-author of the book, Mommies Making Money Online (due to publish early Oct)and runs www.MommiesMakingMoneyOnline.comwith Lorna. He has 11 years’ experience in newspaper, magazine and digital advertising, and more than five years running successful online businesses. His main goals are to provide a fun, fulfilling life for his family and to help Moms succeed in their own online endeavours. Sign-up to their newsletter here.