Comments on: The Oxford (or Serial) Comma

By: Emil Haferflocken

Emil Haferflocken — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 10:35:06 +0000

I have always loved and recommended the Oxford, or serial, comma. But you should know better than to write “Oxford” with a small “o”! That’s pretty damn early in Strunk and White too, my friend: in English, adjectives derived from proper nouns are, aside from a few known exceptions, capitalized.

By: Manda

Manda — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:47:08 +0000

In lower school, my teachers always stressed using the Oxord/serial comma. They did say that not everyone used it, but that in my school, all students were expected to use it (our grades would be penalized if we didn’t use it).

By: Alice

Alice — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:29:23 +0000

I’d never thought about this before, I used to at school but now I don’t. It’s not really the norm in British English.

By: Krissy

Krissy — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:07:49 +0000

I always use it. It just looks weird without!

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:49:13 +0000

Welcome back!

I’ve used the serial comma for a very long time, and I will continue to use it for a very long time. I mean, obviously Strunk and White is just a style guide, so using the serial comma isn’t a hard and fast grammar rule, but I feel like serial commas make the rhythm of the sentence better, and are less likely to cause ambiguity. Also, I think APA style recommends it, too, which works out well for me.

By: Rose

Rose — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:56:20 +0000

OO, interesting post, I always think about the oxford comma situation, even though I never knew that that’s what it was called.

I ALWAYS use the oxford comma, and if I’m editing text that doesn’t use it, I’ll correct it because it drives me INSANE if there’s no comma after the ‘and’…

However, according to wikipedia, the serial comma (sorry, I like that name for it better) isn’t normally used in Canada, which is weird. I was definitely raised to use it….

I remember our teachers giving us an option, but also saying that they’d rather if we DID use it but they couldn’t force us one way or the other…

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:29:41 +0000

The Oxford comma is my best friend.

I know it’s not friends with the AP Stylebook, but I’m so used to it that my eyes pause when it’s not there, and that just messes up sentence continuity.

By: Tess

Tess — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:19:28 +0000

I admit it: I don’t like the Oxford comma. :P The Oxford comma looks a little off, because it messes up the flow when I read. I read fast, and for some weird reason, I always stop when there’s an Oxford comma, or when there’s no punctuation, a grammar mistake, etc.

I do, however, agree it should be use when you have a long list of items. E.g.: Manda, to me, is funny, intelligent, amazingly mature, and most of all: prompts comments from me. (Ignore the structure~!)

By: Clem

Clem — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:07:58 +0000

I already adore Colbert, but this just makes me love him even more, which I didn’t know was possible.

I feel like I’m the only person who actually has a strong opinion about the serial comma. Like you, I think it makes things look neater and flow better. I don’t see why you wouldn’t use one – if every other item in the list has a comma after it, the second to last one should too, dammit! I always read sentences without differently, too, without a pause. And I think if you’re going to say they’re good in some cases, you should just aim for consistency and use them all the time.

I am kind of a massive nerd abotu the serial comma.