conjunctions - Comma usage with compound sentences


Rule 101 of compound sentences is that a coordinate conjunction must be accompanied by a comma most of the time when joining independent clauses, yet I stumble across sentences all that time that seem to abuse this rule. Normally, it's a case of the subject not being present in the second clause, as in the following example:



"They usually start out as an abbreviation, but turn into acronyms when they become well known."
(taken from the Oxford Style Manual)



To me, this comma cannot be correct because the clause after the comma doesn't contain a subject and therefore cannot be independent (right?). As far as I'm concerned, it's not the 'Comma to set off a contrast rule because I can find plenty of other where 'and' is used and the subject's missing in the second clause. what's the deal here?


Thanks in Advance for any responses I may receive!



Answer



The original sentence has a compound predicate. A compound sentence, by contrast, is two sentences joined by punctuation.


Most styles wouldn't use a comma to separate the parts of a compound predicate (or, put another way, to separate the subject of a sentence from any of its verbs). I would remove the comma, or else I'd keep it and then repeat the subject (or a pronoun of it): "They usually start out as an abbreviation, but they turn into acronyms when they become well known."


See, for example, 6.29 in the Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition): "A comma is not normally used between the parts of a compound predicate—that is, two or more verbs having the same subject, as distinct from two independent clauses (see 6.28)."


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