Shoot who needs commas in general? Commas are ugly they look kind of like sperm. Gertrude Stein had this bomb to drop on the comma in her book On Punctuation : The comma, well at the most a comma is a poor period that lets you stop and take a breath but if you want to take a breath you ought to know yourself that you want to take a breath.
How about you? Are you on Team Oxford comma? Like this: There is a mess of books, a replica of the Eiffel Tower, a coffee cup from yesterday and a teal typewriter. Happy practicing! Joe Bunting. Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France.
It was a 1 New Release on Amazon. You can follow him on Instagram jhbunting. Say Yes to Practice. I'M IN! The Practicing Community. No discussion of warring okay, not really stylebooks would be complete without considering the Oxford or serial comma.
Whether that last comma is necessary is hotly debated. Chicago style recommends its use in almost all instances, while AP style leans somewhat against it. Whether you put it in at all times is a different debate. Chicago style, I think a lot of people forget the importance of the word style. Real-time suggestions, wherever you write.
Wow, I am blown away by the passion people have for correcting others grammar, and the time they will spend crafting a complicated rebuttal. I am ignorant of all the rules and simply type the way I speak. I know, how unprofessional. Anyways, I could not resist pointing out to you that: It is not more better to use more before better as it just sounds unnecessary. If you had written the law in question, there may not have been any confusion.
Thank you for the kind words Bob. I was thinking about writing a book. Thanks again. Just had to mention, given the forum, that there is a missing apostrophe. This was a bad decision. Do you like ham with your eggs? If so, you should write: I like cake and ham and eggs.
But there was no ambiguity in the original court test case, either. Coordinating conjunctions already serve a purpose, making Oxford commas redundant by default.
Kevin H. If so, your Hitler example is moot because the comma in question is not being used as part of a series but instead to add specificity. Yes, Oxford and serial are interchangeable. This is their end-all, be-all proof that Oxford commas are absolutely necessary for clarity in all cases, end of argument.
However, making strippers singular produces the opposite result and destroys the argument. We are most certainly comparing the fact that an Oxford-punctuated series has identical comma usage as a phrase with a nonessential appositive, and therefore the sentences are indistinguishable and confusing, with the removal of an Oxford comma offering clarity to meaning. I hope we can agree that Hitler was not a stripper, and contextually we understand the meaning. However, it remains true that the exact same punctuation is used for nonessential appositive phrases, making the sentence unclear if you had no prior knowledge of the characters.
Eliminating the Oxford comma would offer a solution. This cannot be dismissed or disregarded. However, in the meme example, there are multiple strippers being invited.
We do know there is more than one. When your buddy asks for strippers at his bachelor party and you only bring one, he might strip you of your best man title. They should therefore only be used to add clarity — but rephrasing is typically a better choice than the comma if your writing is otherwise unclear, further rendering the Oxford comma to relative uselessness. Your allegedly clearer example objectively reads that you have only invited the stripper and are addressing Hitler and Stalin, not that you have invited three people.
Perhaps you can come up with a better example to make your case. These counterarguments are just getting ridiculous. The point of that meme is that Oxford commas are important and necessary and always add clarity.
AP style debate. If a comma does not help make clear what is being said, it should not be there. If omitting a comma could lead to confusion or misinterpretation, then use the comma. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content. Who cares about the Oxford comma? Does AP style use the Oxford comma? The short answer: No. Without that comma, as the judge maintained , this distinction was not clear-cut: If that exemption used a serial comma to mark off the last of the activities that it lists, then the exemption would clearly encompass an activity that the drivers perform.
Comma rules: To comma, or not to comma? Filed Under: Craft. Tim Chambers says:. April 19, at pm. Mikeski says:. April 21, at am. Joy Fielder says:. Jessica Lanham says:. April 23, at pm. Bob says:. September 13, at am. Kevin H says:. Stephanie says:. September 15, at pm. Donna H. September 19, at am. Merry Maisel says:. April 24, at am. April 18, at pm. Vivienne Sang says:. April 21, at pm. Lewis says:. April 22, at am. Lucian says:. April 24, at pm. Skiff says:. April 25, at am.
L K Miller says:. June 27, at am. Cheryl Tuskes says:. April 20, at am. Anna Parkinson says:. May 28, at am. Ernie Brill says:. June 24, at am. Kitty Price says:. Dale Paruk says:. Kimberly says:. April 17, at pm. Robert says:. Gail Govan says:. Rick says:. May 3, at pm. May 4, at am. Brit Haines says:. Judy Marish says:. Sheri says:. Lakin says:. Ben says:. November 8, at am. Justie says:. Mimi Foster says:. April 17, at am. Liz Lawson says:. April 14, at pm. Michael says:.
Erick Senkmajer says:. April 23, at am. Danita says:. Connie says:. Jeremy says:. April 25, at pm. Terry says:. Mark Matchen says:. May 29, at pm. June 22, at pm. JC says:. January 8, at am. Yvonne says:. July 16, at pm. Maddie Cullen says:. April 26, at pm. Marcia says:. Beth says:. April 27, at am. Keane says:. June 25, at pm. Melissa Salce says:. April 11, at am. Shannon says:. April 10, at pm. Scott says:. Rbean says:. Tim says:. Holly says:. Erich says:. Bonnie Prince Charlie says:. June 21, at pm.
Kat says:. June 27, at pm. Michael R. Corliss says:. June 26, at pm. T says:. Arthur says:. September 16, at am. Janette says:. John Benson says:. Rosann says:. PhilRichmond says:. April 27, at pm. April 10, at am. Trish O'Connor says:. Victoria says:. Rilett says:. April 29, at am. Michelle says:. June 23, at am. Georgia Nagle says:.
Mona says:. June 24, at pm. Brent says:. Twirlmom says:. June 23, at pm. Sharon says:. June 26, at am.
0コメント