To comma or not to comma …

One of the most common questions I’m asked is about the “serial” comma (also known as the Oxford comma, a name I personally prefer because it sounds oh so British upper crust).

By whatever name, it’s the comma that comes before the last item in a series:

I saw Jane, John, Mike and Sue. – Without the serial comma

I saw Jane, John, Mike, and Sue. – With the serial comma

First of all, for most sentences, it doesn’t really matter much which way you go on this since even so-called grammar experts can’t agree which is “correct.” The two major style books used by most journalists differ. While the “Chicago Manual of Style” says to use the comma, the “AP Stylebook” says don’t.

People who know me won’t be surprised to learn that I disagree with BOTH of these bastions of grammatical authority. My answer is: it depends.

Believe it or not, my elementary school grammar teacher taught us the rule through a reference to the Three Stooges.

Are you visiting Moe, Larry, and Curly? Or are you visiting Moe, Larry and Curly. There’s a subtle but possibly important distinction between the two (although, on second thought, how important could a visit to the Stooges be?).

The first construct implies that you visited Larry and then Moe and Curly together. The inclusion of the serial comma makes it clear that you visited all three separately. Please note that neither sentence has you visiting Shemp or Curly Joe, which is just as well if you ask me.

With apologies to the teacher who first shared that insightful illustration, there are far better examples to demonstrate the role of this controversial punctuation mark.

Let’s look at a common activity: shopping. What I buy in the grocery story can depend on the placement of that lowly comma. For instance:

Wine, bread, macaroni and cheese

Wine, bread, macaroni, and cheese

This is probably why we make a list from these items and just ignore the whole problem of Oxford commas!

One of my favorite examples is the often-cited book dedication:

“Thanks to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.” Hmmm…. Sounds like you have an odd set of parents.

Now read it this way – with the serial comma:

“Thanks to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.” Here we have three distinct recipients of our thanks.

Yet, the added comma doesn’t work if you’re writing:

“Thanks to my mother, Ayn Rand, and God.” Now it sounds as if Ms. Rand is your mom! In this case, since Ayn Rand and God together cannot be mistaken for your mother, the sentence is clearly less ambiguous without the final comma.

So you see, I’m right – it depends. Read sentences carefully and think about possible misinterpretations. You’re safe with or without the serial comma, as long as you’re conveying the meaning clearly.

If in doubt, change the entire structure of the sentence if you have to:

“Thanks to my mother for her guidance, to Ayn Rand for her philosophy, and to God for everything else.”