How would I punctuate the following sentence:
Furious, John strove to catch Jim by the shirt so that he might throw him against the wall, but once more, Jim was too quick.
Where I'm getting stuck is on whether or not I need a comma before the "but once more" part of the sentence.
I have a similar issue on another sentence that is fairly complex:
When they broke apart, the old warrior bled from many wounds, and for the first time in decades, there was something close to worry in his eyes.
Here, my issue is whether I need a comma before "and for the first time in decades" or if I should leave it out.
Best Answer
This is a compound (and complex) sentence with two main, independent clauses
Two main, independent clauses need to be separated by a comma, a semicolon or a period. Effectively, these could be separate sentences, and the punctuation reflects that.
but once more is a dependent phrase that is set off from the main clause by commas because it is parenthetical in nature. Parenthetical clauses or phrases are those that are incidental to the main idea in the sentence and are of a type that could be set off in parentheses instead of commas.
so that he might throw him against the wall is a dependent clause that modifies catch and does not need to be set off by punctuation.
Similarly, in the second sentence, and for the first time in decades is also a parenthetical phrase. At times, such phrases are not set off by commas, but when they are longer or more complex, they usually are.
Some would even put a comma after the word and, rendering it
That approach seems too choppy for me.