Someone put me out of my misery regarding commas & the word but..

[Bluetriangle9]

At school several million years ago I'm sure my teacher said if you had a list of things in a sentence & then the word 'but', the word before but didn't have an apostrophe after it. But they way you read, you kind-of need that extra pause. So what is right? Many thanks

If you have a list of things you don't need a comma before the 'and' which you put before the last item.

Have you got an example of a list with 'but' ?

I wanted to buy carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, tomatoes and oranges but the onions had sold out.

Speaking that, I need to take a breath after oranges so it feels like it needs an apostrophe.

I’m no expert, but i’d put a comma between oranges and but.

I’m sure we were taught to put a comma where you’d take a breath too.

Comma after oranges. You’re right in thinking you’d take a short breath there.

It’s a comma, not an apostrophe ‘

Ah, the good old Oxford comma. Either is correct. Personally I prefer to use one.

You need to get your commas and apostrophes straight in your head, but yes, you're correct to put a comma after 'oranges' and before 'but'.

Firstly, you mean comma, not apostrophe.

I would put a comma after the ‘but’, but the sentence really needs to continue after ‘sold out’ - otherwise I would make ‘The onions had sold out.’ a new sentence.

I wanted to buy x, y and z but z had sold out so I couldn’t.

I wanted to buy x, y and z. Z had sold out.

NC4 this isn’t an Oxford comma. An Oxford comma is putting a comma before the ‘and’ in a list.

I wanted to buy apples, oranges, and grapes.

But that's not an Oxford comma, @NC4Now -- but I agree in general, I'm an Oxford comma user, too.

X-post with @CassianAndor.

Ah, the good old Oxford comma. Either is correct. Personally I prefer to use one.

That’s not an Oxford comma. “But the oranges had run out” is a separate clause in your sentence. You can use a comma to separate the clauses.

Oh yes - I stand corrected! It’s still early.
I’d still put a comma there though.

Dunno how the apostrophe got in there No coffee yet this morning

Thank you all!