No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.
"They [commas] divide items in lists, but are not required before the and on the end" (Truss 83).
In high school, we were taught to always put a comma before the and. We could not write "The trains, birds and grocery stores." Rather, we wrote "The trains, birds, and grocery stores." Coming to college, I learned that what I knew (or thought I knew) about commas is skewed. I personally would rather place a comma before the and in a sentence. Maybe it is because it is the way I was taught, but I also like it because it separates ideas better. I feel that not placing a comma before the and groups the last two items. Thankfully, my concerns were addressed by Truss,"The extra comma prevents confusion, as where there are other ands in the vicinity." Good, I'm not the only one who thinks this way.
In high school, we were taught to always put a comma before the and. We could not write "The trains, birds and grocery stores." Rather, we wrote "The trains, birds, and grocery stores." Coming to college, I learned that what I knew (or thought I knew) about commas is skewed. I personally would rather place a comma before the and in a sentence. Maybe it is because it is the way I was taught, but I also like it because it separates ideas better. I feel that not placing a comma before the and groups the last two items. Thankfully, my concerns were addressed by Truss,"The extra comma prevents confusion, as where there are other ands in the vicinity." Good, I'm not the only one who thinks this way.
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Recent Comments
Stephanie Wytovich on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: I was also taught this way gro
Stephanie Wytovich on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: I was also taught this way gro
Erica Gearhart on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: Kaitlin, I just read something
Greta Carroll on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: Kaitlin, I was taught the same
Stephanie Wytovich on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: I was also taught this way gro
Erica Gearhart on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: Kaitlin, I just read something
Greta Carroll on No Comma Before the AND... Not for Me.: Kaitlin, I was taught the same
Kaitlin, I was taught the same thing and much prefer putting in the “oxford comma” as well. I wrote about the same thing in my blog, you can check it out, if you want: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/GretaCarroll/2008/04/oxford_is_the_oldest_englishsp.html
I think it looks better visually, as well as, the simple fact that that is what I am used to. We should not be surprised we were not taught to leave it out though, Truss comments that the common practice in the U.S. is to use the extra comma. So we can be comforted at least in knowing we are the majority here in the U.S.
Kaitlin, I just read something similar on Tiffany's blog. I was actually taught differently by various English teachers (none of whom were British). I always put the extra comma too, probably because this is the first way I learned to list items. It is really strange that with all of the strict rules concerning other parts of grammarand punctuation, this rule is so varied and flexible.
I was also taught this way growing up, and I continue to use to it to this day. Not placing the comma before the and makes me feel uncomfortable and awkward. I feel like I’m deliberately making a mistake and it bothers me if I do not fix it. There were several times when I have proofread papers and have added the extra comma, and people are always like ‘why did you put that there, it’s not necessary.’ I agree with you in the sense that it merely separates the two ideas and eliminates confusion, and as Gretta stated, I think visually, the sentence looks more appealing.
I was also taught this way growing up, and I continue to use to it to this day. Not placing the comma before the and makes me feel uncomfortable and awkward. I feel like I’m deliberately making a mistake and it bothers me if I do not fix it. There were several times when I have proofread papers and have added the extra comma, and people are always like ‘why did you put that there, it’s not necessary.’ I agree with you in the sense that it merely separates the two ideas and eliminates confusion, and as Gretta stated, I think visually, the sentence looks more appealing.