Oxford comma?
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Both ways are considered to be correct in the USA. I was a technical writer for 15 years and am familiar with the debate around this issue. For precision, such as in a technical document, two commas should always be used, and that is what our corporate style guide said to do (because we wrote it).
Myself, I always use it regardless of the sort of thing I am writing, as it is never wrong or misleading, whereas with the other way there can sometimes be confusion about whether the items on each side of the "and" are to be considered joined by it into a compound item, or whether they are actually separate items in the list. A quick lame example: If you were listing makers of tools "Black and Decker" would be a compound item.
Either way, you won't be wrong. But one way is "righter" than the other--you have only to ask the inventors of the language to clarify that ;-)
As to appearance ... well, I imagine that depends upon the length of the words and the layout of the design. In which case you would decide on a case-by-case basis which way to do it.
Myself, I always use it regardless of the sort of thing I am writing, as it is never wrong or misleading, whereas with the other way there can sometimes be confusion about whether the items on each side of the "and" are to be considered joined by it into a compound item, or whether they are actually separate items in the list. A quick lame example: If you were listing makers of tools "Black and Decker" would be a compound item.
Either way, you won't be wrong. But one way is "righter" than the other--you have only to ask the inventors of the language to clarify that ;-)
As to appearance ... well, I imagine that depends upon the length of the words and the layout of the design. In which case you would decide on a case-by-case basis which way to do it.
My wife is from Canada and she doesn't use the 2nd comma. I learned that the 2nd comma was the rule. It wasn't until we started proofreading things that we even noticed the difference. I don't know which is right, but to me, the 2nd one is. I will always correct the 2nd one in my mind. I got bread, milk, and eggs. To me, that's just right.
Technically, there should be no comma before AND. No need for an Oxford comma. That's because the eggs don't have the potential to change into something else without the comma.
We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin.
There are 2 heads of state invited and some strippers. This uses the Oxford comma.
Look what happens without it:
We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin.
Now you have 2 strippers called JFK and Stalin.
There are two opposing camps on the Oxford comma. Technically, it is incorrect and there should be no comma before "and" but there are circstances where it is added to clarify and possible ambiguity that results without it. Only in some occasions, though.
I'm English and we were taught it at boarding school in England. But we were also taught it was optional.
However, we had a good laugh making up examples like the above, with and without the Oxford comma, so we understood the reason for it. It's really about clarification. Most the time, you know the meaning of the sentence from the context of the text passage. I still use it when I feel it's warrented, though.
I believe it originated out of Oxford university in England, hence the name.
However, we had a good laugh making up examples like the above, with and without the Oxford comma, so we understood the reason for it. It's really about clarification. Most the time, you know the meaning of the sentence from the context of the text passage. I still use it when I feel it's warrented, though.
I believe it originated out of Oxford university in England, hence the name.
One comma after Life - This example is not applicable for an Oxford comma, since life or liberty do not change the meaning of the final part.
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Well, in the case of a written document, I'd say do it straight from the horse's mouth which in the Declaration of Independence is "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", and if you want to get really fancy, the Happiness has a "long s", most people will probably mistake it for a typo these days though "does that say 'Happinefs'?"
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I'd go with the second comma if it makes sense. But it is optional.1 - 16 of 16 Posts
