Hopefully comma7/31/2023 ![]() ![]() That said, the serial comma-despite its British name-is much more common in American writing than in Britain, Australia, South Africa, or Canada. Without doing a deep dive into the millions upon millions of books that have been published, it’s impossible to know how many authors support the use of the Oxford comma and how many oppose it. Howard Collins, who published Author & Printer: A Guide for Authors, Editors, Printers, Correctors of the Press, Compositors, and Typists in 1912. The term “Oxford comma” only came about in 1978 from The Oxford University Press: An Informal History by Peter Sutcliffe, when Sutcliffe gave it an official name.īut Sutcliffe actually attributes the proper introduction of what would be called the Oxford comma to F. In fact, it didn’t seem to be a noteworthy punctuation at all. It included the use of the serial comma but didn’t give it a distinct name. ![]() ![]() In 1905, Horace Hart-who was the printer and controller of the Oxford University Press-wrote a style guide for employees working at the press. There’s a little confusion as to exact history of the Oxford comma, but it is largely attributed to three events: The conclusion of a three-year lawsuit in 2017 brought the serial comma into the limelight, but it’s been around for more than a century. Has the Oxford comma always been around? It feels like the controversy surrounding this punctuation comes in waves but, in reality, the serial comma isn’t new. For more information about comma uses and other punctuation, check out this article. Note that in the examples above-and in all uses of the serial comma-it only gets added before the last entry in a list, usually before a conjunction like and/or.Ī comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses is not an Oxford comma (i.e, My best friend’s name is Stacy, and we go for ice cream every Friday). I can’t tell if that was a person, an animal, or a monster in the woods.A rainbow is made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.An indie author must deal with writing, editing, formatting, publication, and marketing.My friend is deciding between a trip to London, Paris, or Madrid.We don’t want to get too far without ensuring we have a solid grasp on the Oxford comma. If you’re an indie author, it will ultimately fall to you to decide whether you should include a serial comma or not.įor an author with a publisher or a writer working for a publication or company, that decision will be made for you by your in-house style guide or the style guide your company follows (i.e., AP, Chicago, etc.) Examples of the Oxford Comma There would be nothing technically wrong with using the comma after food to show the following terms are expanding on what “food” is.Įnglish can be funky like that. Without it, you can infer the same thing, however, that’s how cannibals get away with saying they eat dogs and their family. With the Oxford comma, you can tell I love three things: We’ll dive further into the benefits of the serial comma, but many argue that this punctuation adds clarity to a sentence. Here is the same sentence with and without an Oxford comma. For those who don’t like using obnoxious terms like “penultimate,” that means the second-last item. The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is placed after the penultimate item in a list. Without any further pause (get it? Because it’s a comma), let’s get to know the Oxford comma. But I’m going to reign it in a little to answer some very important Oxford comma-related questions in this article. As an editor, I get very opinionated about punctuation. I won’t lie, I’ve gone on one or two of those rants myself. Others might believe semicolons are an abomination.īut if you ask some literary folks about their views on the Oxford comma, you better get comfortable and prepare yourself for a rant. Sure, some people will harp on exclamation marks. There isn’t a more controversial piece of punctuation in the literary world. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |