Serial comma commentary

[David Baxter PhD]

Serial comma commentary
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

I?m a big fan of the serial comma, and the Chicago Manual of Style (see also the online version) now ?strongly recommends this widely practiced usage, blessed by Fowler and other authorities?, since it prevents ambiguity.?

Here?s an example from The Times that shows what can happen without the serial comma:

?By train, plane and sedan chair, Peter Ustinov retraces a journey made by Mark Twain a century ago. The highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.? ​

Perhaps the most famous example of why the serial comma should be used is this apocryphal book dedication:

?To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.? ​

For the origins of these two examples, see this 2006 Language Log post and this 2003 Language Hat post.

So writes researcher Lisa Gold.

 

[Meg]

Thank you!

I know the serial comma as the 'Oxford comma' and I am also a big fan. I am enough of a punctuation nerd that I actually read a book about it. I tend to get a bit excited when I find someone who cares too :blush:

 

[Mari]

Oh dear, I love that site. I want to win a T-shirt. Mari

 

[Into The Light]

meg, i care too . lots of people don't understand the importance of the comma. "U R not alone" :lol: (don't give me an infraction for txt spk! )

 

[Meg]

:2thumbs:

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quite an entertaining read

 

[Into The Light]

that is funny meg :lol:

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I love that joke. Except the original didn't have a comma after "eats"...

 

[Meg]

Hehe :teehee:

I loved the book. My copy even came with a 'punctuation repair kit'. This kit consists of several pages of stickers of punctuation marks in various sizes that are intended for use by punctuation vigilantes on store signs. I can't say that there are any empty spaces in mine, though. While funny, it is perhaps a little on the extreme side.