Question

Should there be a comma before the highlighted word? Nemo couldn't decide if he wanted the root beer float, or the banana cream pie. Keep the Comma Remove the Comma

Answer 1

Remove the comma

Answer 2

Remove the comma.

Step-by-step explanation:

One of the functions of a comma in a sentence is to indicate a pause, before continuation.

From the sentence, "Nemo couldn't decide if he wanted the root beer float, or the banana cream pie." we can see that the sentence is one that doesn't need a pause after the word "float" to continue from "or the banana".

A comma would have been necessary in this sentence if it contained more than two lists.

For example,

Nemo couldn't decide if he wanted the root beer float, the apple or the banana cream pie.

Now that we have more than two lists in the sentence, a comma is necessary to separate the lists.