Learn English – Comma before a with-prepositional phrase. Which one should I choose

commascomplex-sentencesprepositional-phrases

  1. It also broke down racial prejudice with the crossover appeal of its music.
  2. It also broke down racial prejudice, with the crossover appeal of its music.

Apparently, the correct one was sentence 2 but I disagree. It's a complex sentence and separates an independent and dependent clause.

The reason for marking number two as correct was: "the comma incorrectly splits the prepositional phrase and the noun that modifies it".

First, which one is correct. If it is number 2 can someone explain to me why? I'm not sure the reasoning "the comma incorrectly splits…." makes sense. What does that mean?

Best Answer

I agree with you. In 1., "with" has an instrumental or means interpretation. But in 2., "with" has a conjunctive interpretation, meaning that the crossover appeal of its music was broken down, as well as racial prejudice (which hardly makes sense). The reason given for the supposed correctness of 2. is circular, at best.

Related Topic