Yes, you are a hipster if you recognized that quote. It is from Vampire Weekend's hit song "Oxford Comma." However, it made me wonder: Do people give a **** about Oxford commas?
If you don't know what it is, it's the comma you use before the "and" in a list of three or more things. example: I like toast, eggs, and bacon.
The comma after "eggs" is the Oxford comma. Now, I use these all the time. I think it just looks better. But some people think it's trivial. Sometimes however, it can define what you mean. example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood, and coal.
VS example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood and coal.
You'll notice in the second sentence you can't tell if he means 100 pounds of wood and an undisclosed amount of coal or if the amount of wood and coal he has in total adds up to 100 pounds.
There is a grammatical exception with Oxford commas: You don't use them with law firms. example: Dreyfuss, Reid and Yorke
Well, do you use Oxford commas?
I was actually wondering not long ago if it was an acceptable construct to use the comma before "and" :3
I guess I know now :biggrin.gif:
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Do not wallow do not stall
Time waits for none at all
Your allowance may crawl,
It may fly or even vanish
But none will seem more lavished
Than time lost to all.
I usually include it. I think it's best to stay consistent throughout the list and use the comma there to explicitly state that the last two items are not some sort of pairing.
I would use one in a case like the second example, in which the meaning of the sentence is unclear without it. Aside from that, it would just depend on the effect I was after. If I wanted a pause before the "and," for emphasis for example, then I might use one, though in that case I'd potentially be more likely to use an em dash or maybe an ellipsis. Again, it would depend on the effect I was after.
More broadly, aside from the ones that are so simply because they work, I try not to pay a great deal of attention to specific rules of grammar. Writing is a creative act akin to painting or composing music-- one starts with nothing and, using a set of basic elements and a few tools, creates something in that nothing. Punctuation is just one of the elements that one uses in creating that something, and so long as it's used in such a way that the something ends up conveying whatever it is that you wished to convey in the manner in which you wished to convey it, it was used sufficiently "correctly." If it fails to convey whatever it is that you wished to convey, or fails to convey it in the manner you wished to convey it, then it was used "incorrectly." If formal rules of grammar have to be bent or even broken in order to achieve the effect one desires, then so be it.
example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood, and coal.
VS example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood and coal.
You'll notice in the second sentence you can't tell if he means 100 pounds of wood and an undisclosed amount of coal or if the amount of wood and coal he has in total adds up to 100 pounds.
This isn't really the best example, partially because it lacks parallelism (you ave two amounts modified with a prep phrase and a noun). Likewise, the second sentence is clear to me because if the second was indeed some combination of coal and wood, it wouldn't be a grammatically correct sentence.
Do I use them? Sometimes. Usually when I'm enumerating amounts of something--just to add the extra pause in their top make it more readable. Also, I use an "Oxford Semicolon" (If you will), when I have nested lists.
In your second example, I would use the oxford comma. I will only use one if I think it should, because it sounds better, or helps with the sentence I am using.
I use them. I was taught to do that in school, where it was explained it was a rule made in America and that the U.K. doesn't use it. That explanation is probably wrong, but I've used the comma ever since anyway.
If you don't know what it is, it's the comma you use before the "and" in a list of three or more things.
example: I like toast, eggs, and bacon.
The comma after "eggs" is the Oxford comma. Now, I use these all the time. I think it just looks better. But some people think it's trivial. Sometimes however, it can define what you mean.
example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood, and coal.
VS
example: I have 50 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of wood and coal.
You'll notice in the second sentence you can't tell if he means 100 pounds of wood and an undisclosed amount of coal or if the amount of wood and coal he has in total adds up to 100 pounds.
There is a grammatical exception with Oxford commas: You don't use them with law firms.
example: Dreyfuss, Reid and Yorke
Well, do you use Oxford commas?
See? I'm not so malicious...
I guess I know now :biggrin.gif:
Do not wallow do not stall
Time waits for none at all
Your allowance may crawl,
It may fly or even vanish
But none will seem more lavished
Than time lost to all.
More broadly, aside from the ones that are so simply because they work, I try not to pay a great deal of attention to specific rules of grammar. Writing is a creative act akin to painting or composing music-- one starts with nothing and, using a set of basic elements and a few tools, creates something in that nothing. Punctuation is just one of the elements that one uses in creating that something, and so long as it's used in such a way that the something ends up conveying whatever it is that you wished to convey in the manner in which you wished to convey it, it was used sufficiently "correctly." If it fails to convey whatever it is that you wished to convey, or fails to convey it in the manner you wished to convey it, then it was used "incorrectly." If formal rules of grammar have to be bent or even broken in order to achieve the effect one desires, then so be it.
~ILoveRules.
This isn't really the best example, partially because it lacks parallelism (you ave two amounts modified with a prep phrase and a noun). Likewise, the second sentence is clear to me because if the second was indeed some combination of coal and wood, it wouldn't be a grammatically correct sentence.
Do I use them? Sometimes. Usually when I'm enumerating amounts of something--just to add the extra pause in their top make it more readable. Also, I use an "Oxford Semicolon" (If you will), when I have nested lists.
Blow me.
You heard that, green and red.
My Pathfinder Campaign for the denizens of MCF: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1939035-where-are-we-sandbox-pathfinder-campaign-ooc/