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Our head office is in London{,} and we have offices across England, Scotland & Wales.

Is this comma necessary? I searched in google and saw many cases where they omit it in this particular place. For instance:

Our head office is in London and we have a regional branch in Dubai.

So, should the comma be there or not?

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  • 4
    It's a matter of personal choice rather than correctness. As the second sentence is shorter, there is less need for a comma marking a pause.
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 8, 2021 at 12:16
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    @kate-bunting But isn't it two independent clauses?
    – Lucy Kekson
    Apr 8, 2021 at 13:41
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    @KateBunting Most writing advice says that a comma is required before the coordinating conjunction, for example, owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/… It’s incorrect even though most people will overlook it if the meaning of the sentence can be inferred from the context.
    – ColleenV
    Apr 8, 2021 at 18:16
  • @ColleenV OK, I stand corrected.
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 9, 2021 at 7:51
  • @KateBunting whatever the authorities say I agree with you that a comma seems hardly necessary here.
    – mdewey
    May 2, 2021 at 13:41

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Our head office is in London and we have a regional branch in Dubai.

This compound sentence has an error known as fused sentence.

https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/sentelmt.aspx#comma%20splices

Error #2: The Fused Sentence

Writers make this error by joining two independent clauses into a compound sentence without using any punctuation between them.

No punctuation between the two independent clauses causes them to "fuse" into an INCORRECT compound sentence.

We can repair that by adding a comma before the coordinating conjunction, replacing the coordinating conjunction with a semi colon, or using a conjunctive adverb with a semi colon and comma.

Our head office is in London[,] and we have a regional branch in Dubai.

Our head office is in London[;] we have a regional branch in Dubai.

Our head office is in London[; also,] we have a regional branch in Dubai.

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