As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write ‘a, b and c’ not ‘a, b, and c’. But when a comma would assist in the meaning of the sentence or helps to resolve ambiguity, it can be used – especially where one of the items in the list is already joined by ‘and’:I mean, come on.
They had a choice between croissants, bacon and eggs, and muesli.
There are some cases where the comma is clearly obligatory:
The bishops of Canterbury, Oxford, Bath and Wells, and Salisbury
(a) “The woods are lovely, dark and deep“The way that I parse [a] in this context is 'the loveliness of woods is a function of their being dark and deep.'
versus
(b) “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep“
I love serial commas and will continue to use them in all my documents, personal projects, and correspondence.Goddamned right.
The document I linked to above is from a branding style guide for Oxford University. It recommends against using the Oxford comma in most cases. The Oxford Style Manual, meant for the general public and last published in 2003 by Oxford University Press, "a department of the University of Oxford", recommends using the Oxford comma in all cases. So basically, Oxford is telling us to use the Oxford comma but isn't going to use it internally. Oxford gone schizo, y'all! (thx, @rchrd_h)posted by revmitcz at 3:03 PM on June 29, 2011
I would like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand, ham and cheese sandwiches, and the internet for making me the fierce, opinionated, yet self-actualized, if slightly deluded, but chronically dyspeptic, individual that I am today.
Ayn Rand was a ham, and her books read like cheese. Also, Ayn Rand, liked, not ham and cheese, but rather, caviar, of the most excellent aristocratic quality. This, amongst other things, gave her a fishy effluence.
(a) “The woods are lovely, dark and deep“The way that I parse [a] in this context is 'the loveliness of woods is a function of their being dark and deep.'
versus
(b) “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep“
I went to the store over by the 3rd St. dog park, which has certainly seen better days, and I found a broken drumstick in the bushes.Uhm, I think in the second sentence the commas are being used a substition for parenthesis; indeed the fact that the store had seen better days is a digression from the main story of you going to the store and describing what has happened. That is, the number of words between two commas don't dictate the lenght of the pause, but rather the comma introduces a pause that could be a picosecond or a second or more, depending on the reader intention; for instance longer pauses may be used to elicit attention, as silence is remarkable in itself among an apparently uninterrupted, continuous torrent of words.
Aren't the pauses in the first sentence shorter than in the second? Hell, isnt' the second pause in the second sentence longer than the first?
I guess I'm saying using commas to denote "pauses" isn't the most practical solution.
Fragmentposted by pleasebekind at 1:07 AM on June 30, 2011
Jose Garcia Villa
Anchored Angel
And,lay,he,down,the,golden,father,
(Genesis’,fist,all,gentle,now).
between,the,Wall,of,China,and,
The,tiger,tree(his,centuries,his,
Aerials,of,light)…
Anchored,entire,angel!
He,in,his,estate,miracle,and,living,dew,
His,fuses,gold,his,cobalts,love,
And,in,his,eyepits,
O,under,the,liontelling,sun—
The,zeta,truth—the,swift,red,Christ.
There are some cases where the comma is clearly obligatory:Or do I misunderstand you?
The bishops of Canterbury, Oxford, Bath and Wells, and Salisbury
« Older Everybody calm down: Nobody wants to have sex with... | It's official, Myspace has bee... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by 2bucksplus at 12:27 PM on June 29, 2011 [29 favorites]