comma before 'both': grow and develop, both professionally and

[custner]

Hi

Should I use a comma before both in this sentence?

At this job I know I will be able to grow and develop, both professionally and personally.

Thanks

 

[owlman5]

I don't think the comma is necessary, custner. People don't always agree about punctuation, so others may have different opinions.

 

[JustKate]

You could - there's nothing wrong with it. I probably wouldn't, though. It's an optional comma, and so what looks right depends almost entirely on the preferences of the writer. If this were my letter, I wouldn't want readers to take that little pause between develop and both, which is why I'd leave the comma out. But if you want your reader to take a little mental pause there, you should leave it in.

(Cross-posted with Owlman)

 

[custner]

Thank you both!

 

[Forero]

I prefer the comma here. The sentence is not about developing both of anything but about two ways of being able to grow and develop.

Leaving out the comma does not make the sentence mean anything different, but it causes me to have to reanalyze when I get to the second and.