Editing Comma (section)

===List separator and the serial (Oxford) comma <span class="anchor" id="Serial comma"></span><span class="anchor" id="Oxford comma"></span>===
{{Further|Serial comma}}
Commas are placed between items in lists, as in ''They own a cat, a dog, two rabbits, and seven mice.''

Whether the final conjunction, most frequently ''and'', should be preceded by a comma, called the ''serial comma'', is one of the most disputed linguistic or stylistic questions in English:

*They served apples, peaches, and bananas. (serial comma used)
*They served apples, peaches and bananas. (serial comma omitted)

The serial comma is used much more often, usually routinely, in the United States. A majority of American style guides mandate its use, including ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', [[William Strunk Jr.|Strunk]] and [[E. B. White|White]]'s classic ''[[The Elements of Style]]'', and the [[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Publishing Office]]'s ''Style Manual''.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016.pdf |publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office |page=202 |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> Conversely, the ''[[AP Stylebook]]'' for journalistic writing advises against it.

The serial comma is also known as the Oxford comma, Harvard comma, or series comma. Although less common in British English, its usage occurs within both American and British English. It is called the Oxford comma because of its long history of use by Oxford University Press.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=What is the 'Oxford comma'? |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=15 September 2015 |url= http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-is-the-oxford-comma?q=oxford+comma |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151006162613/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-is-the-oxford-comma?q=oxford+comma |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 October 2015}}</ref>

According to ''New Hart's Rules'', "house style will dictate" whether to use the serial comma. "The general rule is that one style or the other should be used consistently." No association with region or dialect is suggested, other than that its use has been strongly advocated by Oxford University Press.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ritter |first1=R. M. |title=New Hart's Rules|url= https://archive.org/details/newhartsrules00rmri |url-access=registration |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newhartsrules00rmri/page/77 77], 300 |isbn=9780198610410 |edition=2nd}}</ref> Its use is preferred by [[Henry Watson Fowler|Fowler]]'s ''[[Modern English Usage]]''. It is recommended by the United States [[Government Printing Office]], [[Harvard University Press]], and the classic ''Elements of Style'' of [[Strunk and White]].

Use of a comma may prevent ambiguity:

* The sentence ''I spoke to the boys, Sam and Tom'' could mean either ''I spoke to the boys and Sam and Tom'' (I spoke to more than three people) or ''I spoke to the boys, who are Sam and Tom'' (I spoke to two people);
* ''I spoke to the boys, Sam, and Tom'' – must be ''the boys and Sam and Tom'' (I spoke to more than three people).

The serial comma does not eliminate all confusion. Consider the following sentence:
*''I thank my mother, Anne Smith, and Thomas.'' This could mean either ''my mother and Anne Smith and Thomas'' (three people) or ''my mother, who is Anne Smith; and Thomas'' (two people). This sentence might be recast as "my mother (Anne Smith) and Thomas" for clarity.
* ''I thank my mother, Anne Smith and Thomas.'' Because the comma after "mother" is conventionally used to prepare the reader for an [[apposition|appositive phrase]] – that is, a renaming of or further information about a noun – this construction formally suggests that my mother's name is "Anne Smith and Thomas". Because that is implausible, it is relatively clear that the construction refers to two separate people. Compare "I thank my friend, Smith and Wesson", in which the ambiguity is obvious to those who recognise [[Smith & Wesson|Smith and Wesson]] as a business name.

As a [[rule of thumb]], ''[[The Guardian]] Style Guide''<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/o |title=Guardian and Observer style guide: O |access-date=1 April 2010 |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=19 December 2008 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131109084838/http://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/o |url-status=live}}</ref> suggests that straightforward lists (''he ate ham, eggs and chips'') do not need a comma before the final "and", but sometimes it can help the reader (''he ate cereal, kippers, bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade, and tea''). ''The Chicago Manual of Style'' and other academic writing guides require the serial comma: all lists must have a comma before the "and" prefacing the last item in a series {{see below|[[Comma#Differences between American and British usage|Differences between American and British usage]] below}}.

If the individual items of a list are long, complex, affixed with description, or themselves contain commas, [[semicolon]]s may be preferred as separators, and the list may be introduced with a [[Colon (punctuation)|colon]].

In [[News style#Headline|news headlines]], a comma might replace the word "and", even if there are only two items, in order to save space, as in this headline from Reuters:<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-handshake-idUSKBN18L1OB |title=Trump, Macron engage in a little handshake diplomacy |date=25 May 2017 |work=Reuters |access-date=10 July 2017 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170702183243/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-handshake-idUSKBN18L1OB |url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''Trump, Macron engage in a little handshake diplomacy.''