If, however, your first editor had a meltdown every time you used the Oxford comma, then you probably avoid it like the plague. Do you use the Oxford comma? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments below. Topics: Oxford comma , Comma. Customer Login Create New Account. Call Us NOW!
Grammar Phile Blog. So, what exactly is this contentious punctuation? Consider the following example. Liz Bureman has a more-than-healthy interest in proper grammatical structure, accurate spelling, and the underappreciated semicolon. When she's not diagramming sentences and reading blogs about how terribly written the Twilight series is, she edits for the Write Practice, causes trouble in Denver, and plays guitar very slowly and poorly.
You can follow her on Twitter epbure , where she tweets more about music of the mids than writing. Say Yes to Practice. I'M IN! The Practicing Community. Rep Your Practice If you practice, let the people who read your blog know.
Copy and paste the code for the button into your sidebar and show off your hard work. Any worthy publication has its own rules for style, writing guidelines that their staff should abide to for consistency.
The former uses the Oxford Comma, while the latter does not. Neither of these style guides are wrong; they are put in place to maintain consistency, which is more important than any one rule.
Many publications that omit the Oxford comma, like The New York Times , also allow for its usage in cases where ambiguity is unavoidable. Supporters of the Oxford comma often cite the above sentence as an example of how the omission of the comma before the conjunction can lead to ambiguity.
AP Style—the style guide that newspaper reporters adhere to—does not require the use of the Oxford comma. The sentence above written in AP style would look like this:. Please bring me a pencil, eraser and notebook. However, omitting it can sometimes cause some strange misunderstandings.
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