| The comma placement "if clause1, clause2" is extremely common. In the above sentence, there is no other place it can go, other than nowhere at all. "if, it doesn't crash ..." nope "if it, doesn't ..." nope "if it doesn't, crash ... " nope "if it doesn't crash, the " yep! "if it doesn't crash the, bug ..." nope "if it doesn't crash the bug, is ..." nope "if it doesn't crash the bug is, present" nope. When it is present, it does help to separate the if and then, particularly in the absence of the word "then". Without the comma, the prefix "if it doesn't crash the bug" can be scanned as a viable clause, only to find that the suffix becomes a fragment. |