Thanks to an ancient Greek named Aristophanes, the comma has been around for a while. However, it's seen quite a bit of change in its time. This most-used punctuation mark in the English language began as a slash, used to identify where to pause in a sentence.
In the 1400s, printer Aldus Manutius, adapted the hefty slash by reducing its height and taking on the characteristic curl to the left that always points back to the beginning of the sentence.
Switch to more modern times (the turn of the twentieth, to be nearly exact), and the Oxford comma's origins become cloudy. Grammarians and historians have attributed this punctuation mark to Oxford University Press printer Horace Hart and indexer-writer F. Howard Collins; both men published style guides advocating for the serial comma.
In their opinion, clarity requires that a list of three or more items in a series necessitates the comma before the "and" preceding the last item. In 1978, historian Peter Sutcliff named the serial comma "the Oxford comma," and since then, its existence, placement, and name have been hotly debated. Some call it the Oxford comma, and others refer to it as the Harvard comma.
What's the Big Deal about the Oxford Comma?
As it turns out, the omission of the Oxford comma can result in a significant loss.
At least, it did for a dairy in Maine. Some of the dairy's truckers argued that they were due lost compensation, and the US Court of Appeals awarded the drivers $10 million because of one sentence with this clause regarding employees working in the "the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: 1) agricultural produce; 2) meat and fish products; and 3) perishable foods".
Had the phrase read "the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment, or distribution of: 1) agricultural produce; 2) meat and fish products; and 3) perishable foods", the dairy would have won the case.
Today's contract writers are exceptionally aware of comma placement, and they argue for and against it in favor of their purpose.
Comma Placement in Your Writing
Before you scatter commas liberally throughout your sentences like punctuation confetti, it's best to keep one rule in mind: how does using the comma help your reader with comprehension? Take a look at these examples:
- No serial comma: I invited my parents, Connie and Dan. (My parents' names are Connie and Dan.)
- Serial comma added: I invited my parents, Connie, and Dan. (My parents, Connie, and Dan are on the guest list.)
As a way to eliminate uncertainty, several style guides require their writers to use the Oxford comma:
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Chicago Manual of Style
- Grammarly
And Oxford University?
The comma is optional, needed only to lessen the likelihood of ambiguity. Oxford University English Fellow C. S. Lewis, who published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe clearly left the serial comma out of the title.
The Modern Language Association (MLA), however notes that the serial comma belongs in titles, and nearly everyone except newspapers https://style.mla.org/serial-commas-and-semicolons/ ought to be using this comma regularly.
In some cases, leaving out a serial comma can require more from you. Imagine this scenario:
- No serial comma: Our class will read Anna Karenina, Beloved, Swann's Way and To the Lighthouse. (We're reading these four books.)
- Serial comma added, no conjunction: Our class will read Anna Karenina, Beloved, Swann's Way, To the Lighthouse. (We're reading these four books, and likely more, since the absence of the conjunction suggests the list goes on indefinitely.)
As a rule of thumb, save the Oxford/Harvard comma for academic writing or agreements necessitating precision of language. For everything else, leave the serial comma out.
Confused yet?
You may have not noticed that this blog used 57 commas. What about your writing? How can the serial comma help you avoid ambiguity in your writing?
Ask a ghostwriter/coach for expert advice.