comma before subordinating conjunction: used in BrE?

A

arjun78

Senior Member
India-Hindi
Hello,

All this time, I had assumed there should be NO comma before subordinating conjunctions; commas should be placed only before coordinating conjunctions such as but, and, yet etc.

But I heard recently that in Br. E, placing a comma is common. Is this true? I would find it odd in sentences like this:

1) He was fired since he arrived late for work.
2) I was happy as I got promoted.
3) She was sad although she won the prize.
4) I was in the sofa while my friend got up and left.

The bolded ones are the subordinating conjunctions, and I always thought there should be no comma before them. Now I hear otherwise. Can someone provide more insight into this?
 
    • Let's just take two:

    He was fired since he arrived late for work. He was late for work this morning and since then he was fired -- we don't know why.
    He was fired, since he arrived late for work. He was fired because he was late for work this morning.

    I was happy as I got promoted. During the process of being promoted, I was happy for reasons unknown.
    I was happy, as I got promoted. Being promoted made me happy.

    These aren't great sentences, by the way... but they serve to justify including a comma where appropriate.
     
    Copyright said:
    Let's just take two:

    He was fired since he arrived late for work. He was late for work this morning and since then he was fired -- we don't know why.
    He was fired, since he arrived late for work. He was fired because he was late for work this morning.

    I was happy as I got promoted. During the process of being promoted, I was happy for reasons unknown.
    I was happy, as I got promoted. Being promoted made me happy.

    These aren't great sentences, by the way... but they serve to justify including a comma where appropriate.
    Click to expand...

    I understand what you mean. But what of sentences where there is no ambiguity and where 'as' and 'since' represent causation and only causation? Do we have a comma, then? For instance: She did not like their proposal, as it involved a lot of responsibilities. Here, 'as' cannot possibly mean 'at the same time as' . . . it can only refer to 'reason' or 'cause.' In such cases, is a comma necessary?
     
    Commas are only necessary to make your words and thoughts understandable to your reader. If there's no ambiguity, I would say that a comma is optional, and you might therefore decide to use it based on your early teaching or your appreciation of tadpoles.
     
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