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Subject: Re: Oxford commas
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From: m...@vex.net (Mark Brader)
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Guy Barry:
> > > I tend to take a pragmatic attitude to the so-called "Oxford comma"; I
> > > generally omit it, but will insert one if it's needed to aid clarity or
> > > avoid ambiguity.  I don't see why there has to be a hard-and-fast rule.
 
Mark Brader:
> > I think a pragmatic attitude on this requires having a "hard-and-fast 
> > rule".
 
Guy Barry:
> Why?   Here's an example where I wouldn't use the "Oxford comma":

(Could we call it the serial comma, please?  "Oxford comma" makes it
sound as if nobody else uses it.)
 
> Today I bought an apple, an orange and a banana.

If I hadn't been forced to read large amounts of other material that
was punctuated in that evil way, I'd be inclined to want to figure out
why "an orange and a banana" was being placed in apposition to "an apple".
-- 
Mark Brader   |  "On a word boundary, Luke, don't just hack at it...
Toronto       |   The bytesaber is the ceremonial weapon of the Red-Eye
m...@vex.net   |   Knight.  It is used to trim offensive lines of code.
              |   Handwaving won't get you anywhere.  Attune yourself
              |   with the Source."      -- Tarr / Hastings / Raymond

My text in this article is in the public domain.