From Jack Shepherd’s On Words and Up Words : “Taking Stock of the Oxford Comma Wars.” Included: the real-life source for the Oxford-less formulation “my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”
I of course am a proud supporter of the Oxford or serial comma. Use it, always, and you’ll prevent unintended ambiguity (though as Shepherd acknowledges, the comma can introduce ambiguity: “my mother, Ayn Rand, and God”) The Oxford comma will also give items in a series their proper cadence: bread, milk, and toilet paper.
Garner’s Modern English Usage has a nearly four-page entry on the serial comma and ends thusly:
The convention of uniform inclusion obviates needless worries and in no way depletes a scarce resource: it’s not as if we have only a finite supply of commas available. Even minimalists in punctuation typically don’t see series as a place for minimalism.If I were teaching, I’d still be sharing the hilarious conversation about the Oxford comma between Stephen Colbert and Vampire Weekend. (Would I now need to explain who Vampire Weekend are?)
Related posts
How to punctuate a sentence : How to punctuate more sentences : An Oxford comma in the news : Oxford Vampire comma revisited
comments: 3
I'm firmly on team Oxford comma. Rarely a week goes by where I don't discuss it, usually to the dismay of those I'm talking to. I may have referenced this court case in the comments before, but this is all anyone needs to know in order to join our team.
And I can't be anything but amused at one sentence in the linked article: "As writer, editor and Oxford-comma lover Kelly Gurnett says ...."
Is it irony, strict adherence to the publication's style guide, or something else?
Oops, didn't realize one of your links was to a story about the dairy case.
It’s nice to have another link about that case; you never know when an existing page will disappear. I guess a good answer to Vampire Weekend’s question is “The courts, that’s who!”
My guess is that the writer is keeping to his preference or the website’s house style. Bryan Garner mentions in an ABA Journal column that the journal eschews the serial comma: “And since starting this column, I’ve learned that I don’t have the clout to overrule them.”
Post a Comment