What is… the Oxford comma?

What is… the Oxford comma?

08/02/2013

 

08/02/2013

 

What is… the Oxford comma?

WRITTEN BY

Tony Hallett
Managing director

Tony set up Collective Content in 2011 so brands can more easily become publishers and tell stories. This built on 15 years in media, from reporter to publishing director at Silicon Media Group, CNET Networks and CBS Interactive.

What is the Oxford comma? Its alternative name – the serial comma – provides more of a clue.

It’s the difference between apples, oranges, and bananas AND apples, oranges and bananas. See what I did there?

Is this a big deal? It is to some people.

CommaOur bottom line with all our pieces about style and grammar is simple: be consistent.

But which way should you swing?

There are those who are strongly opinionated on the Oxford comma. I’ve even seen ‘Fan of the Oxford comma’ as part of Twitter bios. Or words to that effect.

Although neither is technically right – or wrong – my advice when it comes to professional content creation is simple. Leave out the Oxford comma.
Why? It’s an extra character. It might not mean extra ink online but I always think it slows down the flow of a sentence. In a headline (I know, there are rarely A,B and C lists in headlines) it is downright ugly.

And before anyone thinks this is a cultural view – given its origin at the Oxford University Press – consider that the Oxford comma is arguably slightly more favoured in the US than the UK and other users of British English.

Which is funny, given how many American English words evolved to be more efficient in use of characters. (Saving old time newspaper publishers some of that there ink along the way.)

Further reading:
As ever, Wikipedia is good on grammar. Its entry on the serial comma even includes this famous reason for using it, the book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”

Bonus tip:
Make an exception (there are always exceptions to a rule!) when writing certain types of lists eg pairs – ‘My favourite desserts are peaches and cream, jelly and custard, and apple pie and ice-cream.’

Bonus bonus tip:

It is occasionally referred to as the Harvard comma. It’s a veritable Rhodes Scholar of punctuation!

*Image comma chameleon by debaird used under CC 2.0.

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Need to know about events? Buy the e-book, Everything In Moderation: How to chair, moderate and otherwise lead events, by Collective Content (UK) founder Tony Hallett, at Amazon.co.uk.

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