Good afternoon everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying this amazing fall weather! Today we will continue with our comma course with an explanation of the dreaded—gasp!—serial comma. Don’t be scared. It won’t hurt a bit.
First, let’s talk about what a “serial comma” is. This is a pretty simple concept. A serial comma (sometimes called a series comma) is placed after the last item (in a list of three or more items) and before the conjunction (and, or, but).
For instance:
- I have proofread fiction, non-fiction, business documents, technical manuals, and academic documents.
The “, and” that falls before “academic documents” is what you call the serial comma. This particular comma is actually optional. HOWEVER (and that is a big however), when copy editing or proofreading, I always recommend my clients use this comma (as does the Chicago Manual of Style among many others) because it prevents ambiguity in your writing.
For example:
- She always sends funny e-mails to her parents, Suzy, and Tom.
In this example, if you were to remove the serial comma (before the “and”), your readers would be confused as to whether her parents actually ARE Suzy and Tom or if she sends e-mails to four different people (her parents AND Jean AND Tom).
Some people prefer to only use the serial comma when its absence creates ambiguity; however, one of the most important things to remember when writing is to maintain consistency throughout your work. If you only use the serial comma in portions of your writing, people may mistake the inconsistency as actual errors.
See, I told you the serial comma wouldn’t hurt you!!
Until tomorrow, mind your Ps and Qs!
Your copy editor,
Laura
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