A comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect).
Also called Oxford comma
Example sentencesExamples
But whatever your views on the serial comma, I hope you will agree that some conventions are more vital than others in forging a just order.
It's like not using the serial comma; after all, that final comma isn't necessary because the 'and' signals the end of the list.
I am not going to adopt the serial comma, although a good case is certainly made by the book dedication: ‘To my parents, Ayn Rand and God’.
On a lesser note, I applaud the author's use (and the editors' forbearance) of serial commas.
The book also omits the serial comma, as in ‘eats, shoots and leaves,’ which is acceptable in the United States only in newspapers and commercial magazines.
Definition of serial comma in US English:
serial comma
noun
A comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect).
Also called Harvard comma, Oxford comma
Example sentencesExamples
I am not going to adopt the serial comma, although a good case is certainly made by the book dedication: ‘To my parents, Ayn Rand and God’.
But whatever your views on the serial comma, I hope you will agree that some conventions are more vital than others in forging a just order.
The book also omits the serial comma, as in ‘eats, shoots and leaves,’ which is acceptable in the United States only in newspapers and commercial magazines.
On a lesser note, I applaud the author's use (and the editors' forbearance) of serial commas.
It's like not using the serial comma; after all, that final comma isn't necessary because the 'and' signals the end of the list.