The student's sentence should include a comma to separate the two independent clauses for better readability. The sentence could be revised for clarity and fluency :
"It is nearly 6:00, and traffic is heavy; we cannot reach town before sunset."
Adding a comma after "6:00" helps separate the two clauses, making the sentence easier to read.
Additionally, using a semicolon before "we" enhances the connection between the clauses and maintains the correct punctuation for combining closely related independent clauses.
The sentence, “It is nearly 6:00 and traffic is heavy we cannot reach town before sunset,” should have a comma after “nearly 6:00” to separate the two independent clauses for better readability.
Therefore, the corrected sentence should read :
“It is nearly 6:00, and traffic is heavy; we cannot reach town before sunset.”
You could also use a period or semicolon before “we cannot reach town before sunset” if you want to treat it as a separate sentence or an independent clause respectively.