Punctuation, Grammar, and Oxford Commasor is itPunctuation, Grammar and Oxford Commas?

Do you see the difference?

What is an Oxford Comma?

Dictionary.com says…

— n

a comma between the final items in a list, often preceding the word `and' or `or', such as the final comma in the list newspapers, magazines, and books (also called a Harvard comma and the serial comma)

And

What’s the big deal?

AP style says you don’t need the serial comma in this list because there’s no ambiguity when you say “I went to the vet for antibiotics, cat treats, de-wormer and the results of Loki’s blood test.”

“At the diner, we ordered coffee, orange juice, fruit salad, pancakes, ham and eggs, and toast.” This makes it clear that the ham and eggs go together, not the eggs and toast.

Purists might argue that you could move the elements in the sentence around to resolve the problem: “At the diner, we ordered coffee, orange juice, ham and eggs, fruit salad, pancakes, and toast.” This is an entirely legitimate approach, but why do that when you can just add in a serial comma?!

Oxford commas…

Explaining the pictures and usage.

In these pictures the Oxford Comma keeps the list of items from merging. Instead of having three items with the Oxford Comma, you only have two complete items without it. Unless you want only two items, I suggest using the Oxford Comma.

Expla

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g th

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icture

s and

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ge.

These are the cases that make mot people cringe, and if they don’t hopefully they will soon. Because apparently Rachael Ray cooks her family and dog, Tim Tebow’s parents are God and Ms. Trunchbull, and Obama and Castro are getting married.

Explaining the pictures and usage.

These examples are also cringe worthy. I personally did not know that both Jennifer Lawrence and Miley Cyrus were puppies, or that Nelson Mandela was an 800-year-old demigod.

There are many arguments on both sides of this “Comma War” but if you look at the facts the Oxford Comma just seems to make more sense. Even though with or without it isn’t as big of a deal as some people make it, using the Oxford Comma clears up any confusion.

Citations

• "Serial Comma." N.p., n.d. Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma

• " xoJane." XoJanecom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014 . http://www.xojane.com/fun/xojane-punctuation-wars-you-will-pry-my-oxford-comma-my-cold-dead-hands