In case you don’t know, the final comma in that sentence is
known as an Oxford
comma. I’m told that American and Canadian school kids are taught that it is
correct, whereas British school kids are taught that it isn’t. It was a bone of
contention once between me and a Canadian editor. She wanted to add a bagful of
Oxford commas
to my manuscript, and I got a bit uppity about it.
Eventually I took the advice of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, which recommends that it be used if
its omission would prejudice the immediate understanding of what follows, but
not if it doesn’t. That seemed a constructive solution to me, so that’s what I
generally do.
When I looked up that quotation from A Christmas Carol earlier, however, I noticed that Dickens, a 19th
century British writer, used the Oxford
comma, whereas I’ve been noticing for the past couple of weeks that Dan Brown,
a modern American author, doesn’t. At least, not in The Da Vinci Code he doesn’t.
I find that really rather interesting, although I won’t hold
it against you if you don’t.
2 comments:
I used to argue with my English co-worker over the Oxford comma all the time! I was that both ways were correct, but I like the Oxford comma. For one thing, it avoids confusion such as:
"This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God."
(Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/33637/best-shots-fired-oxford-comma-wars)
You have me confused with the cited example, Maddie. My brain must be even duller than usual at the moment. But it's good that you fall out with the English.
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