Where do you stand on the Oxford comma?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Where do you stand on the Oxford comma? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:23:57 AM EDT

I know we have a quite few grammar sticklers here.

I just wondered if any are as dogmatic as I tend to be WRT the Oxford comma.

Thanks.

ETA: I considered, drafted, and added a poll.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:24:38 AM EDT

[#1]

You're going to make me Google this, aren't you?

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:27:09 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

You're going to make me Google this, aren't you?

It's also called a serial comma, if that helps.

You're familiar with it/its use, if not the name and the long-standing controversy.

FTR, I am firmly in the "always use" camp and have been since I was a child.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:27:41 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:

I know we have a quite few grammar sticklers here.

I just wondered if any are as dogmatic as I tend to be WRT the Oxford comma.

Thanks.

Well, speaking for me, myself, and I, I prefer its use.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:28:10 AM EDT

[#4]

Somewhere along the line I was taught not to do that. I'm not a grammar stickler though.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:28:33 AM EDT

[#5]

Sometimes.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:28:44 AM EDT

[#6]

Okay, I Googled it. I'm in favor of it.

It better matches the spoken cadence of sentences, and it sometimes resolves ambiguity.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:28:52 AM EDT

[#7]

When using a pen or pencil I don't follow the Oxford comma convention in order to save ink.

On a computer, cellphone or iPad, meh. It's just electrons.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:29:11 AM EDT

[#8]

My 8th grade englush teacher ruined me on commas. I got chewed to pieces my first 2 years in college.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:29:24 AM EDT

[#9]

I'm a serial comma killer, and I know it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:29:44 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Okay, I Googled it. I'm in favor of it.

It better matches the spoken cadence of sentences, and it sometimes resolves ambiguity.

IMHO, it resolve ambiguity far more often than it creates it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:34:23 AM EDT

[#11]

I like it. I've never heard of it, but I can figure what it is.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:35:39 AM EDT

[#12]

My english teachers were sticklers for it, so I've always used it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:36:44 AM EDT

[#13]

We aren't in Blighty; it's the Harvard comma.

Harvard comma all the way.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:38:18 AM EDT

[#14]

This reminds me of why I used to want to gouge my eyeballs out, with rusty spoons, in English class.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:53:08 AM EDT

[#15]

It doesn't matter. We'll all be speaking Spanish in a few years anyway.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:54:04 AM EDT

[#16]

I use it, but the copy editors at journals often remove it before publication.

Posted: 12/11/2010 6:57:44 AM EDT

[#17]

I was taught to use it, so I do. Leaving it out looks incorrect to me.

Posted: 12/11/2010 7:33:07 AM EDT

[#18]

I prefer the William Shatner comma.

You, know, like, this!

Posted: 12/11/2010 7:40:42 AM EDT

[#19]

Always.

Posted: 12/11/2010 7:42:24 AM EDT

[#20]

It's how I was taught.

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Posted: 12/11/2010 7:46:23 AM EDT

[#21]

Use it when appropriate for clarity.

Don't use it when it introduces confusion into the sentence.

Posted: 12/11/2010 7:47:59 AM EDT

[#22]

Well, if you ask me, I would say that I'm in favor, as it does help to alleviate the problems that some readers have in knowing when to pause, especially as it relates to dialogue.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:02:54 AM EDT

[#23]

I use it, particularly when writing out a list of things like this:

He drank a martini, bourbon and Coke, and four beers.

When you have something like "bourbon and Coke" that includes the word "and," I feel that the comma is necessary to keep it from looking like this:

He drank one martini, bourbon and Coke and four beers.

Now, are you saying that he drank one martini, one bourbon, one Cokes and four beers, or are you saying that he had one martini, then one drink that contained bourbon and Coke, and then four beers? It serves to make things clearer.

It also signals that the word "and" is necessary, as in "Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Cuba..." Without the Oxford comma we don't know if writing "Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba" is a mistake, ie: whether the person meant to list "Trinidad and Tobago" as one group, or whether it was supposed to read "Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago and Cuba..."

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:04:43 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Okay, I Googled it. I'm in favor of it.

It better matches the spoken cadence of sentences, and it sometimes resolves ambiguity.

This, exactly.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:05:27 AM EDT

[#25]

I endorse its' proper use - yet I'm a frequent abuser of the hyphen.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:07:59 AM EDT

[#26]

I don't know what the hell you fellers are yapping about. Sound like one of them things that you have to use while sipping your tea with your pinky finger all stuck out.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:13:48 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Somewhere along the line I was taught not to do that. I'm not a grammar stickler though.

Me, too...and w/o reads more like the way you actually say/pronounce it.

Now, what about 2 spaces vs. 1 after periods???

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:17:07 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:

I prefer the William Shatner comma.

You, know, like, this!

I could actually hear his voice.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:17:49 AM EDT

[#29]

Not sure. I'd like to see which way sugerbear goes on this one before I cast my vote.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:21:32 AM EDT

[#30]

After reading the wikipedia article about it, I'm in favor of it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:22:01 AM EDT

[#31]

I feel like I over use it, but I'm not going to stop.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:22:10 AM EDT

[#32]

From The Times:

... highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.

An Oxford Comma would fix that right up. I always use them.

I also follow the technical/British style of punctuation around quotes: if it is part of the quote, I include it inside the quotations marks; otherwise I leave it outside. The President's English calls for punctuation to always be inside the quotes.

And two spaces after a sentence stop. Yes, advanced typography can do a proper "wide space", but that isn't universal and I really don't care for auto-correct WYSIWYG features like that.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:27:41 AM EDT

[#33]

I prefer the ampersand actually..

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:27:44 AM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Okay, I Googled it. I'm in favor of it.

It better matches the spoken cadence of sentences, and it sometimes resolves ambiguity.

COMMA SPLICE!!!

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:29:26 AM EDT

[#35]

Always

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:31:00 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

I know we have a quite few grammar sticklers here.

I just wondered if any are as dogmatic as I tend to be WRT the Oxford comma.

Thanks.

It enhances clarity, which is a strong argument for always using it. We no longer manually set type, so it costs nothing to use it. Use it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:34:52 AM EDT

[#37]

I use it. Just seems natural.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:37:47 AM EDT

[#38]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czuqauL2UnM

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:37:59 AM EDT

[#39]

I always use it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:38:05 AM EDT

[#40]

Absolutely.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:42:47 AM EDT

[#41]

It was beaten in to me all through school. So I try and use it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:43:48 AM EDT

[#42]

I think I have been able to deduce that this thread is about the debate between whether the word and" before the last item listed in a series serves as a replacement for the comma, or should be in addition to the comma. Am I on track?

He eats, shoots and leaves.

Versus...

He eats, shoots, and leaves.

Of course, all as opposed to: He eats shoots and leaves. That is right out.

I like the comma together with the "and." I agree it often provides added clarity.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:45:37 AM EDT

[#43]

I use it. I cannot find a reason against it.

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Posted: 12/11/2010 8:46:05 AM EDT

[#44]

I try to use it. Grammer was never a strong thing for me.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:49:03 AM EDT

[#45]

I use it. I was taught to use it way back in the day. Sometimes when I'm reading a list of things ("A, B and C"), I occasionally think that B and C are to be treated as a single element. I don't have that problem when you say "A, B, and C."

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:50:36 AM EDT

[#46]

I don't need it, I don't want it, I think it's an affront to civilized grammar, and I will have no part of it.

Posted: 12/11/2010 8:51:02 AM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
Well, if you ask me, I would say that I'm in favor, as it does help to alleviate the problems that some readers have in knowing when to pause, especially as it relates to dialogue.

Agree. Also, when I was a child we were taught to use a comma before "and & but". Today, I rarely see that. Another thing that is recently acceptable is to begin a sentence with "But".