What is the Oxford comma, and why do people get het up about its use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Oxford comma is a comma placed before the last \u2018and\u2019 or \u2018or\u2019 in a list of three or more items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assess your stance on this topic of world-shattering importance by studying the following statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"For dessert, we were offered apples, oranges, grapes, lychees, strawberries, and passion fruit.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does that look all right to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or are you seething with disgust at the presence of the comma after \u2018strawberries\u2019 and before \u2018and\u2019? Did your English teacher, many years ago, drum into you the precept that \u201ca comma before\u2018and\u2019is wrong!\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people have been taught to avoid a comma in such contexts. Others are happy to use such commas \u2014 sometimes known as serial commas but more generally as Oxford commas because Oxford University Press has included serial commas in its house style for more than a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are some circumstances in which an Oxford comma is certainly necessary to make the writer\u2019s meaning clear. For example, consider the implication of this statement if the last comma is removed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"He was devoted to the memory of his parents, Pope John Paul II, and Saint Theresa of Calcutta.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does the Oxford comma matter? Not really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is the Oxford comma, and why do people get het up about its use? The Oxford comma is a comma placed before the last \u2018and\u2019 or \u2018or\u2019 in a list of three or more items. Assess your stance on this topic of world-shattering importance by studying the following statement: “For dessert, we were offered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3108,"featured_media":0,"parent":111,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1414","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n