QT 22 – Video Transcript and Bonus Info
Today we pick up with Part 2 of our QuickTake on the serial comma. In Part 1, we defined the serial comma as the comma that separates the last two items in a series. For example,
Alice enjoyed tea with her new friends, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum.
This sentence tells us that Alice sipped tea with new friends (perhaps the White Rabbit and Humpty Dumpty), with Tweedledee, and with Tweedledum.
The Chicago Manual of Style, the authority for published works in the US, strongly recommends using the series comma, calling it a “widely practiced usage, blessed by Fowler and other authorities since it prevents ambiguities.” Those ambiguities include compound elements and appositives. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames a nearby noun. For example, let’s drop the comma in our original sentence and see how the meaning changes:
Alice enjoyed tea with her new friends, Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Punctuated this way—without the serial comma—the sentence tell us that Alice had tea with her new friends, who, by the way, are named Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
When asked, “What is the most frequent punctuation error that transactional lawyers make?” Attorney and lexicographer Bryan A. Garner responds, “Failing to use the serial comma (aka the Oxford comma). Its omission is a mistake in legal instruments because litigable ambiguities often result.” Examples of these ambiguities abound in the law.
Then why do some people believe it isn’t necessary? Perhaps it’s because journalists do not follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Instead, they follow the Associated Press Style Guide, which advises them to omit the serial comma—a rule thought to arise to save space and ink in printed copy. Check out any newspaper or magazine, printed or digital, and you will not find the serial comma. But AP governs only journalism. For the rest of us, economy is not as important as clarity.
There is one exception to the serial comma rule. When an ampersand is used instead of the word and, as in names of business firms and companies, omit the serial comma. So here, we would write,
The Law Firm of Alice, Tweedledee & Tweedledum
But when do we use the ampersand?
The rest of the story:
Ampersands are appropriate in notes, bibliographies, and tables. But be sparing in your use of the ampersand. It is not meant as an abbreviation for that very long word and.
In all other instances, be sure to use the serial comma. “No sentence has ever been harmed by a series comma, and many a sentence has been improved by one,” says Benjamin Dryer. For an enjoyable read on punctuation, check out Lynne Truss’s book Eats, Shoots & Leaves. (Notice the lack of the serial comma with the ampersand?) As she writes,
The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating
meaning. Punctuation herds words together, keeps others apart. Punctuation directs you how to
read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play.
Speaking of which, if you have a series (three or more words, phrases, or clauses), each item must be aligned grammatically with every other item, a grammatical form called parallel structure. So if A is an infinitive phrase, B must be an infinitive phrase, and C must be an infinitive phrase. Further, if the items have internal punctuation or form complete sentences, use a semicolon to separate the major groupings from the minor ones:
For breakfast, Alice preferred a soft-boiled egg, not too runny, not too rubbery; a compote of pears,
peaches, and cherries; and a slice of toast, slathered in butter and strawberry jam.