Mar 22, 2012 / Language & Grammar

The Oxford Comma

I’ve avoided it so far, since it’s something of a holy war, but I thought I’d stir the grammatical pot a little this week and take a stance on the Oxford comma. I worked as a copy editor at a newspaper for a year long ago, and the Associated Press style guide dictated that we omit the comma before the final item in a series (presumably because it saved a smidgin of column width on the page). An example will help clarify:

John went to the store to buy bacon, eggs and milk.

John went to the store to buy bacon, eggs, and milk.

The first sentences omits the final comma, while the second includes it. In a sentence like this, it’s hard to make a very strong case that one comma style is better than the other. But what if we want to make a more complex sentence?

John went to the store to buy bacon, eggs and milk and ran out of gas on the way home.

Omitting the comma makes me rush the sentence as I read it over, so that to my mind’s ear, “eggs and milk” comes out more like a single unit — “eggsandmilk” — as I move forward in the sentence. The final comma provides an explicit break in the rhythm of the sentence that you must supply yourself if the guidepost comma is missing. Scanning over the sentence visually before reading it, it looks as if it will be a compound sentence with one pause in the middle, and the fact that it is in fact a different sort of sentence is at odds with the expectation that a quick glance at the punctuation sets.

Leaving out the final comma in a series can also cause ambiguity, often to humorous effect. Consider these examples I’ve borrowed from the Wikipedia article on the serial comma:

  • To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.
  • Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.

I’ve recently seen online several references to a funny cartoon example  (not terribly dirty, but also not entirely clean, so click with that in mind) providing an example that includes “the strippers, JFK and Stalin.” Of course, anybody reading these funny examples can understand what the author means, but I can certainly imagine cases in which real ambiguity arose from the omission of the final comma.

So, where do you stand on the Oxford comma, and what’s your rationale? I’m very much in favor of it.

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  1. As a British English writer, it’s an affront to my eyes! It’s a sign of poor organisation if you can’t write clearly without it and if you mean, as per the example, that your parents are Ayn Rand and God, or that JFK and Stalin were strippers, a colon would introduce the explanation much more effectively.

    e..g To my parents: Ayn Rand and God.

    Therefore, to me, an Oxford comma is redundant. A comma is a very weak mark anyway and much over-used where a colon or semi-colon should be used instead, or to support lazy writing. The Oxford comma may well give you strippers, JFK and Stalin, but if it gave you JFK, Stalin and strippers, then there’d be no confusion at all.

    I can understand why the organisation of the Ayn Rand sentence is the way it is: there is something to do with a build-up to God, but surely Ayn Rand is less important than their parents?

    In which case, To Ayn Rand, my parents and God, would be more sensible and clear. Although it doesn’t give you a pause before God, which you might want if you were a reverent person. Thus, To Ayn Rand, to my parents, and, above all, to God, would be better for the build up – the comma here isn’t an Oxford comma after and, but a comma to indicate an embedded addition.

    In all honesty, there are worse affronts – the awful comma splice, the offensive mis-use of ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ and people who haven’t yet masted ‘your/you’re’ – or worst of all – those ‘writers’ who put it’s when they mean its. Argh! They make my eyes bleed!

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    2. Hmm, but the colon example you provide actually provides the same meaning as the botched comma, suggesting that your parents are Ayn Rand and God. I’m glad you point out that word order can make a difference in examples like that, though (while also acknowledging what many would miss — that building from least to greatest — at least in some fashion — may also be of rhetorical value).

      Colons and semicolons shouldn’t be over-used, though they can be very effective punctuation marks. Given feedback on this post, I think I may cue up a semi-colon post soon.

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      2. Ah, I misunderstood. But then there’s the case of a complex sentence that includes the list but then moves on to another thought. The colon disrupts that possibility. I suppose you can still write around such a case, but I occasionally like to use the long, loping sentence and hate to let a little comma restrict me.

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    4. I love this! It is so apparent how still English we Americans were back in the 50’s. Your explanation here, is word for word, bang on, the same as my grandmother’s and teacher’s explanation was then. Thanks for this.

      First person anyone?

      Bec

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  3. English is not my mother tongue. I learned English as third language. So for me this was a very informative post. I think I would use this comma. 🙂

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  5. Very Interesting I must say. But as I am a believer of writing how one see’s it or speaks, this comma can change the way a phrase is meant to read. As far as changing a plot even. Use it or not, surely that depends on the writer and the subject matter. Be a free spirit…:)

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  6. I rarely, if ever, use a comma before the word and. I probably misused the commas in the last sentence. I was an English major and yet that stinkin’ comma placement gets me every time!
    Thanks for the post 😉

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  7. I remember my earliest teachers explicitly asking us to “use commas to separate items in a list, except when and is used”. I’ve stuck to that rule for most of my life. Recently, I’ve begun to use it even when and is used as a separator.

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    1. I suspect what your teachers meant was more like the following:

      I like cabbage and lettuce and spinach.

      I like cabbage, lettuce, and spinach.

      Generally, you wouldn’t want commas in the first example (using serial ands in this way is called “polysyndeton,” by the way), but at least in U.S. schools, I think the second example is what’s usually taught.

      Of course, I wasn’t there to hear what your teachers actually said. 🙂

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      1. 🙂

        No, sorry, I should’ve been more specific. We were taught not to use a comma when and is used between the last two items in a list, i.e., the oxford comma. I’m beginning to think my primary school teachers were Anti-oxford comma! 😛

        And I’m pretty sure I like cabbage, lettuce and spinach is what was (probably still is) taught throughout my country (India). That could be a colonial hangover, not sure though.

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  8. Speaking of commas —
    It’s very heartening to listen to people arguing passionately about matters of grammar and punctuation.
    But it strikes me as odd how many people — including those defending the comma — leave it out at a place dictated not only by rules of grammar, but by the rhythmic rules of speaking, as in Hello, Daryl! I agree, Daryl. Glad you suggested this, Daryl.
    One’s voice naturally dips there, it adds a gratifying emphasis to the name, and, as I originally said, it is the grammatical rule.

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  10. I’d also like to add that in a list, the comma replaces the and…

    To my parents AND Ayn Rand AND God.

    To add the Oxford comma, to a British English writer, makes this say:

    To my parents AND Ayn Rand AND AND God

    which is silly.

    It’s like if people who have used a colon to replace a because then stick the because in again afterwards.

    e.g. I detest the Oxford comma: it lends itself to lazy writing and poor sentence organisation

    would be:

    I detest the Oxford comma: because it lends itself… etc.

    The ‘because’ is redundant. Or the colon is redundant. Having both is like writing ‘because because’ (and not following it with ‘because of the wonderful things he does!’)

    I kind of agree with it being used for a dramatic pause. That’s okay. But to put it in all lists, to me, is like writing ‘and and’ or using a colon with because or a semi-colon with whereas. Pointless.

    More reasons I’m anti-Oxford-comma!

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    1. Those are interesting examples. I don’t implicitly substitute the word “and” for the comma but can see how it’d be irritating if you do sort of hear the “and” in your head when reading a list.

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      1. I think it’s one of those lovely differences that marks the trans-Atlantic divide, to be honest. And I like that writers discuss it. I like that you spell grey gray and you probably think I’m very quaint for writing colour and organisation. Great post, by the way. I feel somewhat in a minority by the amount of Pro-O-C people, though!

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      2. I was glad to finally have someone stand up firmly against the Oxford comma! I mean, if you bring up a holy war topic and nobody from the other camp shows up, it’s a little disappointing!

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  12. I love the Oxford comma. A pair of my friends who are professional copy editors look over my blog posts here and there. As a result, I’m getting emails at least once a week telling me not to use the Oxford comma. That said, I feel dirty not using it.

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  13. I’m with you on the Oxford comma. My grammar school teachers were believers and I grew up thinking that was the only correct way.
    In college we were supposed to follow the AP style (I paid no attention, thinking that I knew my grammar…). One of my professors marked up EVERY single one of my Oxford commas as wrong in one of my papers. I went to talk to him and said, “Those commas are not wrong!” and he said, “According to AP style, which is what you were supposed to be using, they are.”
    I learned a tough lesson that day. I had to “unlearn” that comma. I still have trouble with it; I have to actually stop and think about whether it should be there or not. As you have so correctly shown, sometimes the comma needs to be there.
    I love your examples of why the AP comma style doesn’t always work…great post!

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  14. I have mixed feelings about the Oxford comma. Mostly, I tend to use it for clarity but there are a lot of times when I think it just isn’t necessary and looks weird so I don’t. I was told way back when (by a Professor of English) that I could choose either way and be correct but I had to be consistent in a piece. Oh yeah? Why? Well, when I was writing papers for HIS class, if I wasn’t my grade got dinged. Otherwise, it depends on what I’m trying to convey and why and because I am weird about things like this, whether or not I like the way it looks in any particular sentence on the page.

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  16. I join with those who stand for the Oxford comma, and use it serially (pun intended.) As one trained in philosophy, I am all about clarity of thought. Apparently I am the odd-American out, as I am certain I was trained to use the Oxford comma by my first English teacher. Then again, she was Canadian…

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  17. I am totally in favor of the Oxford comma. However, I appreciated Lady Justine’s thoughts on it. I never quite understood why people didn’t use it. Her example stating that the comma is a substitute for “and” made sense to me.

    Interesting discussion!

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  18. A very amusing article. I like the idea of using it only when it clarifies the relationships. It makes it more fun to challenge one’s self with the possibility of making a faux pas every now and then.

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  19. Must keep it. I hate the elimination of commas with this example, as well as with introductory elements. If it causes a reader to stumble and have to re-read, it is not worth saving a little space and ink. For those examples where it does not seem to matter, my plea is for consistency! Grammar is hard enough to teach kids without making exceptions. Whew! Done.

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  20. Here’s the thing: the Oxford Comma is useful. Why can’t the rule simply be “Use it when you need it,” pretty much like any other punctuation mark? If the only point of eliminating it stems from reducing costs by eliminating the Oxford comma, then it’s ridiculous to eliminate it all together.

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  22. Great post and something I notice every time I stumble across a series in a book or newspaper. I tend to go with the Chicago Manual of Style which always puts that final comma in. The Washington Post on the other hand, one of my favorite papers, always leaves it out. To me, it just makes the sentence roll of my tongue better except in cases like the example you posed where compound actions go together. Putting commas in there breaks up the meaning.

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  23. we were taught not to use it, and to be honest it drives me a little mad seeing various types of using the comma before or not the “and”. i’d say, let’s get rid of it alltogether.

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  25. Hey, anytime you make the reader work unnecessarily, you risk jerking the reader out of your piece, right? I am with you, I like the Oxford comma. It’s like doing away with yellow lights at intersections, and YIELD signs too. Isn’t that what punctuations are, signs to alert the reader on how to proceed, slow down or stop altogether?

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  27. Forget the commas . . . and let us discuss the ellipses and serial semi-colons. Is it ellipsis or elipisises.Anyway comma I do what Word commands me to do and it seems right.

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  30. I’ve always used the Oxford comma, so the fact that the AP advises against it bothers me. I’m graduating with my degree in print journalism and English in May, and I just can’t break my habit of using it. AP style be damned, long live the Oxford comma!

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