Not everyone understands how wonderful the Oxford comma
really is. It allows us to list things and maintain a clarity that would
otherwise be lost. How else would we be sure in a list of multiple things, that
the last two are not, in fact, a part of the same item? If you have this list
of pens, pencils and erasers, are the
pencils and erasers together as one item or are they separate? If you say I
have a bag of books, pens, pencils, and
erasers, then all is well and clarified.
The Oxford comma, while not being seen as necessary, is a little addition that
makes a lot of difference
to me. It’s one more chance for clarity, for understanding, and the chance to
redeem a possibly otherwise lousy sentence. (Re-read that last sentence, but
take out the comma before the “and”. Doesn’t it seem more like a clarification of
what was said before?)
(156 words)
No comments:
Post a Comment