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 | Note on usage This tends to be more applicable in American English, though it is still recommended in British English for longer introductory clauses. |
Often, as editors and writers, we join sentences together with the word "and". However, frequently I see commas placed before the word "and" when it isn't warranted as well as sentences that need this comma.
I raise this issue enough at GAN to make an explainer page. The sentences are from articles I've reviewed at GAN.
The trick is to split the sentence by removing the "and". If you have two separate standalone sentences, you need a comma.