Background information.
I would like a bit more arguing on this site, as we tend to agree on politics, the de facto topic of choice for this blog. To that end, I am curious to hear opinions on use of the serial comma. I am strongly in favor of the serial comma as the standard rather than the exception because it is the least likely form to lead to ambiguity. I will even go one step beyond this and argue that in the cases in which the serial comma would lead to ambiguity the sentence should be rephrased, as it is clearly confusing in its current form.
In case you would like to hear a song about the serial comma, check out "Oxford Comma" by Vampire Weekend. The band sounds like a strange combination of Peter Gabriel, The Police, and Paul Simon. Perfect time to use the serial comma.
Update: As it turns out, this is the 100th post on this site. Way to go, everyone. Chris, thanks for keeping this going when the rest of us slack off. I don't know about everyone else, but I appreciate the updates even when I am not posting regularly.
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Ha. I don't know if I really get credit. Though come to think of it I am rather innovative. Most people who have spent time in New York talk to themselves all the time. I just found a way to formalize it.
ReplyDeleteBut in all seriousness, and even though I had to look up "serial comma" on Wikipedia to realize what you meant, I most strongly agree (sorry) with your position.
Now, of all grammatical issues I must say this one doesn't bother me too much as I rarely am forced into ambiguity over it (in fact, I can't think of any such instance); however, I've never understood a justification for the comma's exclusion. That said, the majority of English teachers and respectable students with whom I've discussed the issue have come down in opposition to the serial comma, and I've never really understood such arguments against it.
Add-on: what I will say is that some comma issues to frustrate me, and what really gets to me is the comma splice. That said, I'm probably averaging about 10 per post on the site, but it's what my English teacher used to call an "Arby" (as though someone had written something perfectly fine, and then just decided to arbitrarily throw a bunch of commas at the page, such as after my "perfectly fine") that really get me. Again, I am quite guilty of it myself here, but it always bugged me in school when I saw formal papers plagued by the Arby.
ReplyDelete*some comma issues do frustrate me,
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is, I go for clarity and THEN simplicity when I write. For simplicity's sake, I'd like to use as few words/punctuation marks as possible, but simplicity comes second to clarity, so sacrificing any specificity of meaning in favor of minimalism is a bad idea in my book. Thus, because a list using serial commas is almost always clearer than one without, I'm in support of the serial comma.
ReplyDeleteSo no argument here. I'd love to see some argument on this blog, too, though - how about issues like the control of guns and drugs? I have some opinions on both that I'm willing to bet will be unpopular here.