The Oxford Comma

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by lcarus

Speaking of unnecessary commas...

Should be a period there homie

Or at least a semicolon. (no, I am not going to look up the semicolon rule to verify)

I admit that I overuse commas, so I'm probably the right person to put up the poll.

[Fish]

The 2-space rule exists to prevent your sentences from running together like a couple drunk assholes....

It's incredibly annoying that the forum auto removes extra spaces.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Fish

The 2-space rule exists to prevent your sentences from running together like a couple drunk assholes....

It's incredibly annoying that the forum auto removes extra spaces.

It's not the forum - it's all HTML.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Fish

The 2-space rule exists to prevent your sentences from running together like a couple drunk assholes....

It's incredibly annoying that the forum auto removes extra spaces.

Only on a typewriter. When space is removed between letters, once impossible on a typewriter, it becomes unnecessary. The resultant space is enough without two.

I suspect, you don't use any kerning when you type something? If so, you use your desktop publishing like a typewriter. That's out moded.

Layout programs have this available so you can remove excessive spaces, which actually harms readability. Such things have actually been tested, as well as other typographical settings. Ad runs have even been split, showing that it deters reading of ads poorly set and other factors...as to where placed on the ad.

[DaFace]

It seems odd to me not to use it to me, though I know some places say not to. Commas generally indicate pauses when read aloud, and I generally say:

red (pause) white (pause) and blue

rather than

red (pause) white and blue

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by DaFace

It seems odd to me not to use it to me, though I know some places say not to. Commas generally indicate pauses when read aloud, and I generally say:

red (pause) white (pause) and blue

rather than

red (pause) white and blue

Thats probably the strongest reason why the oxford comma refuses to die and has actually gained acceptance in America despite efforts to kill it.

It mimics the cadence of the words when they are spoken. Everyone pauses before the "and", so it feels right to have a comma there.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by DaFace

It seems odd to me not to use it to me, though I know some places say not to. Commas generally indicate pauses when read aloud, and I generally say:

red (pause) white (pause) and blue

rather than

red (pause) white and blue

I tend to think of "and" as the pause in flow that denotes the end of a list.

[Dayze]

I didn't, even know, such a thing, existed.

[cdcox]

A comma denotes a pause. The pause after Denver is the same length as the pause after Oakland; therefore, the comma belongs.

Also consider the following:

The regular characters on Gilligan's Island were: Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Ginger, Mary Anne, and Mr. and Mrs Howell.

versus

The regular characters on Gilligan's Island were: Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Ginger, Mary Anne and Mr. and Mrs Howell.

The Oxford comma clearly signifies that the first "and" in the sentence completes the list. When one encounters the second "and" one is already given a hint that the last item in the group is a plural item (Mr. and Mrs. Howell). Without the Oxford comma, one must read the sentence to the end and then parse out how things are grouped. The Oxford comma improves readability and therefore it is wrong to exclude it.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by cdcox

A comma denotes a pause. The pause after Denver is the same length as the pause after Oakland; therefore, the comma belongs.

Also consider the following:

The regular characters on Gilligan's Island were: Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Ginger, Mary Anne, and Mr. and Mrs Howell.

versus

The regular characters on Gilligan's Island were: Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Ginger, Mary Anne and Mr. and Mrs Howell.

The Oxford comma clearly signifies that the first "and" in the sentence completes the list. When one encounters the second "and" one is already given a hint that the last item in the group is a plural item (Mr. and Mrs. Howell). Without the Oxford comma, one must read the sentence to the end and then parse out how things are grouped. The Oxford comma improves readability and therefore it is wrong to exclude it.

Also, if you moved Mr. and Mrs. Howell to earlier in the sentence all hell breaks loose without the Oxford comma.

The regular characters on Gilligan's Island were: Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Mr. and Mrs Howell, Mary Anne and Ginger.

As I read that, I have to wonder if Mary Anne and Ginger are a couple. The Oxford comma would clearly show that both of them are on the market.

[Demonpenz]

who gives a **** about an oxford comma

[BucEyedPea]

Ya' know fish, if you really hate to use two spaces. You can customize the space you want to be a tad wider, but not as much as two typewriter spaces if it bothers you so much.

[eDave]

Without. Learned that a looooong time ago.

Two spaces after a period is correct. Absolutely correct. But I could care less about that one.

[AndChiefs]

Chiefs, Food, and GrammarPlanet

[BucEyedPea]

Hope this helps.

Here's an image of a sample of even typewriter spacing versus optical:
http://www.westminster.edu/staff/nak/courses/spaces.htm