Should there be a comma before the highlighted word? Misty Copeland does the magic tricks, and I am her assistant. Keep the Comma Remove the Comma

## Step 1<br />The sentence in question is "Misty Copeland does the magic tricks, and I am her assistant." The highlighted word is "assistant."<br />## Step 2<br />The sentence is a compound sentence, which means it consists of two independent clauses. An independent clause is a group of words that can stand alone as a sentence. In this case, "Misty Copeland does the magic tricks" and "I am her assistant" are both independent clauses.<br />## Step 3<br />When two independent clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction, such as "and," a comma is typically used before the conjunction. This is known as the rule of comma usage in compound sentences.<br />## Step 4<br />In this sentence, the coordinating conjunction is "and," which connects the two independent clauses. Therefore, the comma before "assistant" is correctly placed according to the rule of comma usage in compound sentences.