comma before 'as' [conjunction]: in that field, as demonstrated

P

pyroknife

Banned
American Eng
I was particularly interested in that subfield as its three pillars are my greatest strengths as demonstrated by my success in rigorous science and math courses.

This is a sentence from an excerpt so it might not make too much sense. Should there be a comma before the "as?"
 
    • Please note that there are two "as"-s in your sentence.

    How would you say this sentence? Would you pause at all as you said it? Put the commas in to mark where you would pause while speaking the sentence. Alternatively, put the commas in to mark the various logical units of the sentence off from each other.
     
    Oh thanks for catching that. Is 2 "as"-s bad? I can switch the first one to "because," but I'd prefer to keep it as "as."

    Is this one of those cases where the use of a comma is not black and white?

    This is what I think:
    I was particularly interested in that subfield as its three pillars are my greatest strengths, as demonstrated by my success in rigorous science and math courses.

    Only one comma (added at a place where I seem to pause). But, I suppose I can add one before the 1st "as" too since "    I was particularly interested in that subfield" and " its three pillars are my greatest strengths" are independent clauses.
     
    There's no problem with having two "as"-s in one sentence.

    Your punctuation choice is the same as mine would be.
    I was particularly interested in that subfield as its three pillars are my greatest strengths, as demonstrated by my success in rigorous science and math courses.
    Click to expand...
    To me, the pause before the second "as" will always feel bigger than the pause before the first "as." So if I were to put a comma before the first "as" I would want something stronger before the second one, like so:
    I was particularly interested in that subfield, as its three pillars are my greatest strengths - as demonstrated by my success in rigorous science and math courses.
    Click to expand...
    That looks excessively-punctuated, though. So stick with the first option!
     
    Welcome! You can find additional helpful discussion in earlier threads on this "nuanced" topic by typing "as comma" or even "comma before as" into the smart search box at the top of each page - it is recommended to search for previous threads before starting a new one.
     
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