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[return to "It may just be a game to you, but it means the world to us"]
1. tines+23[view] [source] 2021-07-09 18:39:39
>>Tomte+(OP)
Not to detract from the message here, but

> It may just be a game to you but, it means the world to us

The placement of that comma really irks me. Isn't "It may just be a game to you, but it means the world to us" the grammatically correct form? I'm somewhat surprised to see this in official communication from the Canadian Red Cross group.

I feel like I've seen this "post-but" comma more and more recently. I guess people feel like they would speak the sentence with a pause after the conjunction and therefore the comma goes there in writing.

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2. wizzwi+74[view] [source] 2021-07-09 18:45:48
>>tines+23
It's correct in German, which otherwise has basically the same grammar as English.
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3. yatac4+C8[view] [source] 2021-07-09 19:06:34
>>wizzwi+74
I can't find any evidence of that being true. In this article[1] for example, all the examples either have the comma before the "aber" or none at all. I can't find any example anywhere where a comma after the "aber" would be correct nor can I think of one myself.

I also wouldn't say that German has "otherwise the same grammar as English". (Or in wrong German: "Ich auch würde nicht sagen dass Deutsch hat ansonsten das gleich Grammatik wie Englisch" - even if we're just talking about comma rules, the German version should have a comma before the "that/dass").

[1]: http://www.neue-rechtschreibung.net/2012/04/30/kommasetzung-...

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