Editing Serial comma (section)

{{Short description|Comma before the conjunction in a list}}
{{redirect|Oxford Comma|the song|Oxford Comma (song)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}

The '''serial comma''' (also referred to as the '''series comma''', '''Oxford comma''',<ref>{{cite book | year = 2016 |first1=Bryan A. |last1=Garner| authorlink = Bryan A. Garner | title = Garner's Modern English Usage | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | page = 748 | isbn = 978-0-19-049148-2}}</ref> or '''Harvard comma'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://writersmentor.com/oxford-comma-necessary-serial-comma-harvard-comma/|title=Serial comma - Oxford comma - Harvard comma|last=Upadhyay|first=Abhishek|website=Writers' Mentor|access-date=January 15, 2019|archive-date=January 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116041247/https://writersmentor.com/oxford-comma-necessary-serial-comma-harvard-comma/|url-status=dead}}</ref>) is a [[comma]] placed after the second-to-last term in a list (just before the [[coordinating conjunction|conjunction]]) when writing out three or more terms.<ref>The terms ''Oxford comma'' and ''Harvard comma'' come from [[Oxford University Press]] and [[Harvard University Press]], where serial-comma use is the [[Style guide|house style]].</ref><ref>Sometimes, the term also denotes the comma that might come before ''etc.'' at the end of a list (''see'' the Australian Government Publishing Service's ''Style Manual for Authors, Editors, and Printers'', below). Such an extension is reasonable, since ''etc.'' is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase {{lang|la|et cetera}} ({{lit|and other things}}).</ref><ref>The ''serial comma'' sometimes refers to ''any'' of the separator commas in a list, but this is a rare, old-fashioned usage. Herein, the term is used only as defined above.</ref> For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated with the serial comma as "France, Italy, and Spain" or without it as "France, Italy and Spain". The serial comma can help avoid ambiguity in some situations, but can also create it in others.<ref name=":0" /> There is no universally accepted standard for its use.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McArthur |first=Tom |date=1998 |title=Comma |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/comma |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=Encyclopedia.com |series=Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831005743/https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-terms/language-and-linguistics/comma#COMMA |url-status=live }}</ref>

The serial comma is popular in [[Literary language|formal writing]] (such as in [[Academic writing|academic]], [[Literary language|literary]], and [[Legal writing|legal]] contexts)<ref name="Gramlich" /><ref name=":2" /> but is usually omitted in [[journalism]] as a way to save space.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name="BusInsider" /> Its popularity in informal and semi-formal writing depends on the [[List of dialects of English|variety of English]]; it is usually excluded in [[British English]], while in [[American English]] it is common and often considered mandatory outside journalism.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":3">''The Oxford Style Manual'', 2002: "The presence or lack of a comma before ''and'' or ''or'' ... has become the subject of much spirited debate. For a century it has been part of OUP style ..., to the extent that the convention has come to be called the 'Oxford comma'. But it is commonly used by many other publishers here and abroad, and forms a routine part of style in US and Canadian English" (p. 121).</ref><ref name="shoots">{{cite book|title= Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation|url= https://archive.org/details/eatsshootsleave00trus|url-access= limited|last= Truss|first= Lynn |year= 2004|publisher=[[Gotham Books]]|location= New York|isbn= 1-59240-087-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/eatsshootsleave00trus/page/84 84]}}</ref> Academic and legal [[Style guide|style guides]] such as the [[APA style]],<ref>{{cite web |author=David Becker |title=Using Serial Commas |url=http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/04/using-serial-commas.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019015746/http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/04/using-serial-commas.html |archive-date=October 19, 2014 |access-date=October 14, 2014 |publisher=[[American Psychological Association|APA]]}}</ref> ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', ''[[Garner's Modern American Usage]]'',<ref name="Garner32">{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |author-link1=Bryan A. Garner |title=Garner's Modern American Usage |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538275-4 |edition=3rd |page=676 |quote=... omitting the final comma may cause ambiguities, whereas including it never will ...}}</ref> [[William Strunk Jr.|Strunk]] and [[E. B. White|White]]'s ''[[The Elements of Style]]'',<ref name="Strunk & White">{{cite book |last1=Strunk |first1=William Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYYUAQAAIAAJ&q=In+a+series+of+three+or+more |title=The Elements of Style |last2=White |first2=E. B. |publisher=Penguin Press |others=Illustrated by Maira Kalman |year=2005 |isbn=9-7815-9420-069-4 |edition=Illustrated |page=3 |quote=In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.}}</ref> and the ''[[U.S. Government Printing Office]] Style Manual''<ref>{{cite web |date=2016 |title=GPO Style Manual |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729022842/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016.pdf |archive-date=July 29, 2018 |access-date=January 10, 2023 |publisher=United States Government Publishing Office |pages=201–202 |quote=The comma is used ... after each member within a series of three or more words, phrases, letters, or figures used with ''and'', ''or'', or ''nor''.}}</ref> either recommend or require the serial comma, as does ''[[The Oxford Style Manual]]'' (hence the alternative name "Oxford comma").<ref name=":3" /> Newspaper stylebooks such as the ''[[Associated Press Stylebook]]'', ''The New York Times Style Book,''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorktimesstyl00newy/page/30/mode/2up|author=Jordan Lewis|title=The New York Times Style Book for Writers and Editors|publisher=[[McGraw Hill]]|year=1962}}</ref> and [[The Canadian Press]] stylebook typically recommend against it. Most British style guides do not require it, with ''[[The Economist]] Style Guide'' noting most British writers use it only to avoid ambiguity.<ref name=":5">{{cite book|title=The Economist Style Guide|publisher=Profile Books|year=2012|isbn=978-1-84668-606-1|edition=10th|pages=152–153|quote=Most American writers and publishers use the serial comma; most British writers and publishers use the serial comma only when necessary to avoid ambiguity ...}}</ref> 

While many sources provide default recommendations on whether to use the serial comma as a matter of course, most also include exceptions for situations where it is necessary to avoid ambiguity (see {{Section link|2=Recommendations by style guides}}).<ref>{{cite web|title=University of Oxford Style Guide|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf|page=13|quote=Note that there is no comma between the penultimate item in a list and 'and'/'or', unless required to prevent ambiguity – this is sometimes referred to as the 'Oxford comma'.|access-date=June 17, 2021|archive-date=October 9, 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>