![]() The Oxford comma is also used in exactly the same way in lists in which the conjunction is the word “or” or “nor”. With Oxford comma: “Her favourite foods were chocolate, marshmallows, cake, and chicken.” Without Oxford comma: “Her favourite foods were chocolate, marshmallows, cake and chicken.” When you’re writing a list, you naturally include commas to separate each item, but an Oxford comma is when you also put a comma before the “and ”. To give the Oxford comma its technical definition, it is a comma used before the final conjunction in a list of three or more items. But why is it that people have such robust opinions about such a tiny and seemingly harmless bit of punctuation, and has this controversial comma had its day? In this article, we look in detail at the arguments for and against the use of the Oxford comma and try to get to the bottom, once and for all, of whether or not we really need it. The alleged importance of the Oxford comma has been humorously depicted in numerous internet memes, while its debatable significance has even been the subject of a popular song by the band Vampire Weekend. So says Lynne Truss, author of the hugely successful punctuation bible “Eats Shoots & Leaves”, in reference to the surprising strength of opinion surrounding the use of the Oxford comma. Don't you think five million dollars is quite a loss, due the lack of a single, tiny comma? You can be sure an Oxford comma was added to the revised documents.“There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.” By placing an Oxford comma before "or distribution," it would've been clear that "distribution" was its own separate act. Without a final comma in the series of tasks, "packing for shipment or distribution" could be read as "packing for shipment OR packing for distribution," where "packing for" is used for both "shipment" and "distribution." This is quite different from or, wherein the drivers are doing the latter task. The documents indicated that the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of" certain product are exempt from overtime payments. In legislative documents, certain tasks were singled out as exempt from overtime payments. When you're coming to the party can you bring Janet, a clown and an acrobat? (Is Janet a clown and an acrobat?)Īs you can see, leaving out the Oxford comma can sometimes make things confusing, hilarious, and possibly scandalous if you were to take the sentence the wrong way.Ī group of dairy delivery drivers in Maine received a $5 million settlement, due entirely to the lack of an Oxford comma.We were given this information by the Congressman, a liar and a cheat.In class today you'll meet the spiders, Spencer and Telly.(Is strawberry and mango one flavor or is it blueberry and mango?) The ice cream comes in an assortment of flavors including banana and strawberry, strawberry and mango and blueberry. ![]()
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