Oxford Comma?

[Vulcan Princess]

In the US, the Oxford comma (also sometimes called the serial comma) is optional. Do you use it?

Example:

Without Oxford comma - Peter, Paul and Mary went to the store.
With Oxford comma - Peter, Paul, and Mary went to the store.

Personally, I prefer it because it looks nicer in print, flows better in speech, and provides greater clarity.

Thoughts?

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I use it. It's how i was taught in elementary school.

 

[Maestro]

I went to Catholic grade school. We were bludgeoned to use the Oxford Comma. I still do, and I'm not changin' for no one. Sister Mary Beetchawitarosary will come and beat me senseless if I forget one.

The "t" in "often" is also silent. No one will every convince me otherwise.

 

[Count Zero]

Hell, no. That just looks wrong to me. I tend to apply German comma rules to English for the most part (because we weren't taught any comma rules in English class) and the Oxford comma would be against punctuation rules here. I don't think I've ever noticed it even.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I always use it, even when professors tried to edit it out of my papers. It just looks so much better and makes sense, since it breaks up the list items more uniformly and when speaking the sentence aloud you do indeed pause after "Paul."

I actually remember getting in an argument about this with my parents when I was about 10. My mom and I believed it should be there and my dad didn't. So we grabbed the dictionary and I opened it at random and found a sentence that used it. If it's good enough for the dictionary it's good enough for me!

I do notice though, that in published works it rarely appears. I think it is currently frowned upon or being phased out or something.

 

[captcalhoun]

oxford comma? wtf is this shit?

peter, paul and mary went to America and beat the crap outta the stupid people who can't write English properly.

that was ten years ago and they're only a quarter of the way through the list.

 

[Timby]

Throughout my elementary, junior high and high school education, I was ordered to (and learned to) use the Oxford (or serial) comma. Once I went to J-school, though, I dropped it. Nowadays, I use the AP Stylebook (which uses the former example in the OP) for my stylistic decisions (outside of online postings ... I prefer italics over quotation marks regarding titles of movies and television shows).

 

[Lindley]

I wasn't aware it had a name, but yes, I put a comma before the final "and" when listing things. It just flows more naturally that way.

 

[Maestro]

oxford comma? wtf is this shit?

peter, paul and mary went to America and beat the crap outta the stupid people who can't write English properly.

that was ten years ago and they're only a quarter of the way through the list.

Nope. We sent them back to deal with people like you who can't be bothered with capital letters.

 

[Eyes]

I voted No, but in reality, I use it occasionally. It's one of those things I don't think about, and I either use it or I don't.

IMO, nothing wrong with either method.

Wait. So far, I think, all the 'No' voters are from Europe, and all the 'Yes' voters from America. Hmmm...

 

[auntiehill]

In creative or casual writing, I do. It was drilled into me by the Catholic High School from Hell. I find it mimics the cadence of natural speech more effectively. However, in college, many of my professors were absolutely against it, so for all journalistic or academic writing, I do not.

In some cases, I find it removes ambiguity, while at others, it can seem unnecessary.

 

[CorporalClegg]

In casual writing I do.

In formal writing I don't.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I've never heard of the distinction and always just assumed the sentence with the Oxford comma was the correct way of writing it.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

In grade school, circa 1975, I was taught that the Oxford comma was optional, although I've never heard it called that until today. I've always preferred it, because of the punctuational uniformity in the means of separating the expressed sequence or set of items, which can therefore assist in eliminating certain annoying ambiguities.

The wiki article has a discussion of various examples and opinions. Clearly, no agreement on usage can be expected any time in the next 100 years.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? I've seen those English dramas too, they're cruel.

Yeah, I always use an oxford coma. It makes more logical sense to me and it's what I was taught to do.

 

[RoJoHen]

In the US, the Oxford comma (also sometimes called the serial comma) is optional. Do you use it?

Example:

Without Oxford comma - Peter, Paul and Mary went to the store.
With Oxford comma - Peter, Paul, and Mary went to the store.

Personally, I prefer it because it looks nicer in print, flows better in speech, and provides greater clarity.

Thoughts?

Without the comma, I would assume that "Paul and Mary" are one unit, like "Garfunkel and Oates" or something. I mean, there are sometimes things you always list together as if they are a single noun. If that is the case, I would actually replace the comma after "Peter" with another "and."

"For lunch today I had an apple and peanut butter and jelly."
"For lunch today I had an apple, peanut butter, and jelly."

I didn't realize the Oxford comma was called the Oxford comma, but I was always taught to use it when making a list.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I tend to use it very rarely. I learned English as a foreign language and since the serial comma is against punctuation rules in Italian, it sounds very unnatural to me.

There are instances, however, when its addiction makes the meaning of the sentence clearer, and I never put "rules" above clearness in writing.

 

[trampledamage]

I tend to use it very rarely. I learned English as a foreign language and since the serial comma is against punctuation rules in Italian, it sounds very unnatural to me.

There are instances, however, when its addiction makes the meaning of the sentence clearer, and I never put "rules" above clearness in writing.

Yep - that's how I use it too. If the extra comma is needed for clarity it goes in.

So in RoJo's PB&J example, well for one thing I'd list the PB&J first, and probably use the word sandwich to be really clear and add the extra comma.

For lunch today I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an apple.

(although, got to say, peanut butter and jelly is a combination I cannot fathom )

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I was taught to use the serial comma and continue to do so, regardless of the writing venue. Perhaps that makes me a bastard.

 

[RoJoHen]

I tend to use it very rarely. I learned English as a foreign language and since the serial comma is against punctuation rules in Italian, it sounds very unnatural to me.

There are instances, however, when its addiction makes the meaning of the sentence clearer, and I never put "rules" above clearness in writing.

Yep - that's how I use it too. If the extra comma is needed for clarity it goes in.

So in RoJo's PB&J example, well for one thing I'd list the PB&J first, and probably use the word sandwich to be really clear and add the extra comma.

For lunch today I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an apple.

(although, got to say, peanut butter and jelly is a combination I cannot fathom )

You can't just add words and change the order of the existing words! That's cheating!

Besides, in your version of the sentence, that comma is completely wrong and shouldn't be there at all.