What is an Oxford comma, you ask? When one lists three items and separates each with a comma, the final comma is known as an Oxford comma. Therefore, in the sentence "I will be a grammarian today, tomorrow, and forever after," the comma inserted before and forever after is an Oxford comma.
It is said in some circles that Oxford commas are unnecessary. I submit that it provides clarity to lists and can reduce embarrassing confusion. For instance:
And thus endeth the lesson. Amen.
I was taught not to use a comma before and in a sentence such as above. I never knew there was a name for it.
ReplyDeleteSame here Ashley. Although seeing that poster with strippers, JFK and Stalin...it makes me double think my usage of the Oxford comma.
ReplyDeleteWe were always taught to leave out the oxford comma, unless it was needed to render a sentence unambiguous. Ha at the last image :D
ReplyDeleteI love this, Betsy! I only wish I could share it with my 8th grade English students!
ReplyDeleteAshley/Jean/Alexa - maybe there are regional differences in how we're taught? Even Oxford doesn't always endorse the Oxford comma. There was a big brouhaha about that recently!
ReplyDeleteMartha - I suppose you could reinvent it so that it's more age-appropriate! For instance, an oft-cited example of a badly-needed but missing Oxford comma is that from a book dedication: "To my parents, Judy Blume and God." If Judy Blume and God are your parents... ha!
Ahhhh, that was a really interesting lesson! I was always taught to not use the comma next to the 'and' but when I moved to the UK my English husband corrected my punctuation, so I looked it up and saw that there were two 'accepted' ways ('accepted' being a variable term!).
ReplyDeleteBut my grammar is so dodgy anyway I doubt it the comma (or lack of) is noticeably in the rest of the mess. ;)
I was taught TO use the Oxford comma, particularly in journalism situations. And I always do. I'm a fan, and I think I'll start a club for it!
ReplyDeleteAshley/Jean/Alexa - maybe there are regional differences in how we're taught? Even Oxford doesn't always endorse the Oxford comma. There was a big brouhaha about that recently!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds quite plausible! It seems to be one of those things where the official position is revised indefinitely.