A serial comma (or Oxford comma) is an optional comma used before the last item in a list. For example, “bread, butter, and tax evasion” uses a serial comma, whereas “bread, butter and tax evasion” does not.
Do you use it? Why or why not?
I always use it. I don’t perceive any less of a pause between the last two items in a list than between any others, so it feels natural to put a comma there as well. Tbh, I’m so used to it that I usually have to do a double-take when it’s not there (since it looks like a grammar error to me at first).
I use it.
Only way to avoid travesties like the famous “I want to thank my parents, Margaret Thatcher and God.”
I want to be able to communicate both ideas:
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/017/771/the-oxford-comma_52c855ed979ed_w1500.jpgI was always taught to never use it (UK) - but will use it where there might otherwise be the risk of ambiguity
I’m a technical writer (aircraft maintenance and flight operations manuals, mostly) and eliminating ambiguity is key to clear, effective communication.
Leaving out that comma takes a sentence with only one possible interpretation and gives it several options instead.
Always use it.
If I’m listing this, that, and the other, the commas are just a horizontal series of bullet points, so there should be a comma for each item in the list.
Nobody would go:
- This
- That
The other
Also a fan of the serial comma, but I don’t think a bulleted list works for your example:
This
• That
• The other
I think the point is more that without the serial comma, the last two items in the list aren’t separated like the others, which (imo) feels like omitting the last bullet point in a list.
EDIT: Fixed a typo.
