Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

OH MY WORD: You and I might be friends . . . depending on your view of the Oxford comma

Post Thumbnail

You and I share an interest in the English language. We might be friends. But, then again, we might not. It depends upon where you stand on the Oxford comma. As you’ll know, the Oxford comma (sometimes called the serial comma, or in America the Harvard comma) is placed between the second-from-last item on a list and the coordinating conjunction (“and” or “or”). For example: I like dogs, cats, hamsters, and budgies.

It is so named because it is the house style of the Oxford University Press, who publish the Oxford English Dictionary. I think it is necessary whenever a list is given in prose. But not everyone uses it, some deem it entirely unnecessary.

Consider this sentence. “Among the most interesting people I’ve ever met are Jock Stein, Jim McLean, The Courier editor, an exotic dancer from Ireland and a spectacularly unsuccessful car salesman.” You can take that as a list of five different people or a list of three, one being The Courier editor who would appear to have a few odd qualifications. The sentence clearly requires a comma after “Ireland”.

In 2014, dairy workers from Maine, USA, sued their employer for $5 million (and won) in a case that hinged on the interpretation of a list of their duties. Their responsibilities included: “canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of . . .” The argument was whether “packing for shipment or distribution” was one activity or two. An Oxford comma would have clarified the matter.

The only argument I accept against the Oxford comma is that of saving space. Sometimes the addition of a comma forces a word from one line to the next, which might have a ripple effect and make a paragraph longer by a line, or even two lines. Instances where this makes a large difference, and the words cannot be changed, or the sentence re-written or re-punctuated, are rare. But they do occur.

Some say the Oxford comma should only be used when necessary. Sometimes, a sentence makes perfect sense with or without the extra comma. The list in my opening paragraph is an example. No one would be confused if the comma after “hamsters” was removed.

But I like rules to be rules. The English language, its grammar, and its punctuation, often lack consistency. So where there is a chance to apply a consistent rule it should be taken. You either use this comma, or you don’t. I do.

 


 

Word of the week

Delict (noun)

A wrongful act, a violation of the law. EG: “It is a delict to miss out the Oxford comma from a list”.


Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk