If Clause and Commas

TrickyFiction

Who?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
1,123
Reaction score
146
Location
on the precious Pacific.
I know an 'if' clause at the beginning of a sentence needs to be followed by a comma, and an 'if' clause at the end of a sentence does not. But what about one in the middle?

For example: "She couldn't decide whether she watched him because she wanted to keep him safe, or because she was afraid that if she let him out of her sight, he would break something."

I am unsure as to whether there should even be a comma before the 'or' and after the 'if' clause.

Any help would be awesome. :)
 

PeterL

Sockpuppet
Banned
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
1,129
Reaction score
91
There is an implied "then" in your example, so it is correct.