who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?

while this is a song by vampire weekend, it also brings up a good question: do you use the oxford comma, or don't you? and why? for those that need a refresher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma">oxford comma info


**edited to fix 2nd link**

to put all my commas BEFORE my conjunctive word. That is wrong, right?

did I use the comma correctly in the above instance?

the oxford rule confuses me on how to use the comma, period :D

I always want to use it

comma conjunction: ...., and

and I think (correct me if I am wrong) that it is supposed to be the other way around:

conjunction comma ..... and,

It's right with or without the comma.

However, you really must work on your ellipses . . .

...but when I took a course in technical editing, the prof taught that it had generally fallen out of favor.

I still find myself using it.

i was taught to not use it in highschool and then in my 2nd year of college, i was told it was supposed to be used regardless of what was taught in highschool.

i personally didn't use it in the beginning, but i've grown quite fond of it really.

:hi:

The dropping of the serial comma is just one symptom of our intellectual laziness as a people.

what is your opinion on why it was taught to me as the correct format in high school? is this common practice everywhere?

i don't think i had even heard of a serial comma until i was in college.


**edited to be made a touch more clear.**

delete

....laziness with my previous reply. As you can see, I am poor with capitalization at the beginning of my sentences.

Does that make me lazy, too? Wait, should there be a comma there?
Don't mind me, I ask too many questions.

Grandma and Granddad, Ozzie and Harriet, Maria, Neville, Fred and Charlie, and Alberta and Amy will be here at 7 o'clock.

Doesn't it make sense to use the comma when running through a list of guests, some of whom are couples?

You and your oxford comma...

:cry:

RL

buck up. it could be the 'good' and 'well' discussion. wouldn't that be wosre? if not, maybe you could start a new thread. :)

:hi:

RL

are you threatening me?

:hi:

or would I?

:shrug:

:hi:

RL

do you know whom you're speaking to??

(or is it, 'do you know to whom you're speaking to??')

:bounce:


'tis me! the late relative (yes, i'm dead), of mr. kringle.

**edit to add q**

Is it orange?

:shrug:

RL

and that's way low on the threat scale for me. not even a threat really. actualy, if you take out the 'h', than it's a treat!! so i'm not being threatening, i'm treating!
yes!

(sorry if that sounds ridiculous, i'm up past my bedtime)

:9

RL

:P

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=7588848

Nice one!:applause:

so i see that, at least in accordance with your poll, that du'ers prefer it. classy!

the attention when the poor semicolons are the ones being ignored and driven out of favor.

Can we really consider ourselves true Progressives when we allow semicolons to live in such horrible conditions and face extinction?

Sign up now to fight the semicolon grammaricide!

you need to start a semi-colon thread. those are quite important, eh?

and i think it's quite common for the s-c to be used incorrectly.

I edit dissertations as a side gig. Most of them are allegedly in MLA or APA style, which require the serial comma.

(I say 'allegedly' because most of the documents I see show no evidence of adhering to any consistent pattern, never mind a style.)

so i hear AP news doesn't use them . what's up with that?

consistency is a dying breed!

don't use serial commas because they're unnecessary and waste space.

I would ask you why they're necessary. :shrug:

they're necessary to me because i'm pretentious. however, they are indeed optional, so therefore uneccessary and necessary at the same time.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/oxfordcomma?view=uk">askoxford.com


The 'Oxford comma' is an optional comma before the word 'and' at the end of a list:

We sell books, videos, and magazines.

It is so called because it was traditionally used by printers, readers, and editors at Oxford University Press. Sometimes it can be necessary for clarity when the items in the list are not single words:

These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green.

Some people do not realize that the Oxford comma is acceptable, possibly because they were brought up with the supposed rule (which Fowler would call a 'superstition') about putting punctuation marks before and.browser page for the following


**edited for general fuckeduppedness**

because I'm a former newspaper editor. We have our own brand of pretension. :)



Certainly, there are exceptions. Any editor worth his or her pica pole will tell you clarity is what's important, not pedantic adherence to rules. Hell, I take issue with probably a fourth of the AP Stylebook.

the old reporter/editor just refuses to use that extra comma. It's also why I can't seem to post a complete sentence in the subject line without closing punctuation.

I feel kind of naked without it. :scared:

If I want the sentence to go faster, no comma. If I want it to slow down a little, in it goes.

And I use Turabian guidelines when I write professionally.

my natural instinct is to use it, but then I often remove it, probably because some English teacher I had didnt like it, so it "looks" wrong to me, but "sounds" right.

Necessary in cases like this: "For breakfast, I had toast, coffee, bacon and eggs, and orange juice."

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Not using it makes me angry.

So, furthermore, there, and take that.

Redstone

Because wiping it off the map just sounds silly.

And our style of writing is not to use the serial comma.