The Case of the Serial Comma

After getting several Christmas cards that "bothered" me I looked up the comma rule. (I know, I am SUCH a teacher.) But here's what I've come up with:

The Mystery Solved

Dear Readers,

Many thanks to all who responded to my plea for help in tracing the origin of the Wrong Rule about omitting the final comma in a series ("red, white and blue" instead of "red, white, and blue").

Your letters and my further research have revealed this: The only authorities who advocate omitting the final comma are newspaper style guides (which wish to save column space) and some English writers (who waffle on the rule).

My original assertion stands, with minor qualifications: Except for journalists, all American authorities say to use the final serial comma: "He went to the store to buy milk, butter, and eggs."

The reason for the final serial comma is to prevent the last 2 items' being confused as a unit (butter-and-eggs).

From Grammar Girl:

Although the serial comma isn't always necessary, I favor it because often it does add clarity, and I believe in having a simple, consistent style, instead of trying to decide whether you need something on a case-by-case basis. I also think using the serial comma makes even simple lists easier to read. Really, unless space is incredibly expensive, I can't imagine why anyone would decide the best method is sometimes leave it out and sometimes add it in*.




Okay, okay, I know I'm being tacky, and hopefully not too on the rude side, but I hate it when I don't see a serial comma before the word and!!! Unless you're a newspaper editor you should be using it! (I'm sure I'll get lots of folks telling me I don't use proper punctuation after this.......haha......I like my ellipsis so don't even start with that................... :)

And if you did send me a Christmas card and didn't put the serial comma that's fine. I still love you for sending me one. Just next year keep in mind that it's great to sign them as follows:

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Cody, Heather, and Kaitlyn :)