Stephen Colbert and Vampire Weekend debate the Oxford comma. With a special guest appearance by The Elements of Style.
Related posts
How to punctuate a sentence (Includes the Oxford comma)
How to punctuate more sentences
Friday, June 4, 2010
Stephen Colbert, Vampire Weekend, and the Oxford comma
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 2
In third grade, I was taught to use the Oxford comma (although for some reason I've never heard it called an Oxford comma until now).
At some point in college or later, lots of people tried to tell me it wasn't necessary, including proofreaders following AP style. Those same proofreaders, however, run the risk of appearing inconsistent when they retain the Oxford comma because it's needed to make the sentence clearer. So why not just leave it in all the time? As you said, it just seems simpler.
I first heard “Oxford comma” while discovering that there are people who really, really dislike this comma. Is its absence in AP style a space-saving measure?
Post a Comment