Oxford Comma or No?
December 18th, 2008I was talking with my wife about the Oxford comma (possibly a sign of nerdishness?!?) the other day and I hate it and she says it is better. Obviously there is no right answer to this (at least not according to experts of gammar), so I thought it would be interesting to ask my dear readers what they think.
I think it is totally unneccesary to use and just makes the sentence less elegant. Why add markings to the page to clog things up? Otherwise I could just write like this:
Dear Reader,{{{:How are you today?,>>; Today I went to the store, bought bananas)^^^^, and ate them in the car!+++++!!!><
I see no difference.
Your thoughts?
(Note – EASILY the dorkiest thing I have ever written about)
(Note to my wife – try to refrain from commenting. We have already discussed this and agreed that your argument was impluasibly wrong!)
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December 18th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I’m with your wife. I like it and I use it – mostly. I have no real argument for it other than I like the way it looks on the page. Without it, the last two items in a list could easily go off by themselves, leaving the leading items behind and that is just not right, my friend.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:11 am
I’m with your wife, also. I like the Oxford comma and have been known to cringe at sentences lacking it. Part of it is that that’s what I was always taught, but I also think it helps the sentence flow properly. Bonus points to Jennifer (the Literate Housewife) for beating me to the punch on mentioning that the last couple items could otherwise run off together.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I too am a fan of the Oxford comma. Several of us at work discussed this same topic last month (yes, we ARE a bunch of nerds sometimes) and we all came to the same conclusion. IMO it provides clarity and makes understanding a list a bit easier.
Sorry … looks like you’re being outvoted here.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I think it is used for clarity–if I said: “today I ate cereal, bread and butter” you may think I ate bread and butter together, rather than 3 distinct items at 3 parts of the day. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to use it—less energy?? Besides, that’s what Miss Klinchok taught me in 5th grade, so that’s what I’m doing!
December 18th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I think you’re wife is totally correct. You should listen to her more often.
December 19th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I’ll chime in against the use of the serial comma unless it is necessary for clarity.
I, personally, am against the overuse of unneccessary–and needless–excess punctuation marks (and redundant repetitiveness, as well).
For what it’s worth, I think the trend in the publishing world is going against the use of the serial comma. Two houses I freelance for don’t allow it, and Tyndale only uses it if the author insists.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I’m with Mark – you should listen to your wife more often!!! It would lead to many less problems in your life.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
yes…excellent argument for me to listen to your grammar advice. Now I can start using phrases like “many less problems” too!!!
December 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I have always used the Oxford comma and have never not used it. If it is not used it results in an asymmetrical list – and we just can’t have that. I say your wife rules.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Hate to be so late to the party, but I just found this post. I never knew the last comma in a series was called an Oxford comma. Interesting.
I was taught in high school, college, and law school to leave the last comma out. That was 1981 – 1992, all told.
My stepchildren were taught in the late 1990s to 2000s to leave it in, and I always tried to edit it out.
But now the big trend in legal writing — the “proper” form according to the style manuals — is to always include it. The reasoning makes sense because you always know the last thing is its own thing, not part of a unit with the penultimate list item. It can make a sentence clunky, but since when is legal writing known for its flow?
August 25th, 2009 at 6:05 am
[...] she also says that commas should always follow each item in a list of 3 or more items. I’ve written about this before. It makes me sad that I was [...]