Grammar's great divide: The Oxford comma - TED-Ed

If you read "Bob, a DJ and a clown" on a guest list, are three people coming to the party, or only one? That depends on whether you're for or against the Oxford comma -- perhaps the most hotly contested punctuation mark of all time. When do we use one? Can it really be optional, or is there a universal rule? TED-Ed explores both sides of this comma conundrum.

Lesson by TED-Ed, animation by Zedem Media.

[geor_frias]

I just realized, the video favors the Oxford comma because it placed one at 0:39, writing: "and, or, or nor", instead of: "and, or or nor"

[shafey]

In Arabic, we put a conjunction after every separate entity.
So, it's like saying "Bring Bob and a DJ and a clown.

[ok_schlatter]

I remember being taught that it was optional, but I kept using it anyway because to me it seemed more organized. Just my opinion and preference.

[maxisk]

"And the very idea of a grammatical rule being optional is a bit odd."

Welcome to English. Where there's a half dozen exceptions to every rule.

[Mythraen]

"There are so many bigger things to worry about."
Don't be silly, the Coronavirus is smaller than a comma.

[TrindyForce]

If my first editor hates oxford commas, then there's a reason he was only the first.

[erikliljenwall]

I’ve never encountered a situation where the Oxford comma made a sentence less clear, but omitting it always has the potential to cause confusion.

[RonFinkWriter]

My English teachers in High School opposed it, and even marked it as a mistake and lowered my grades for using it.  My teachers in classes at UNLV hated it too, but they didn't mark me down for using it. I use it because it makes my writing easier to read, parse, and understand.

[juliek.]

Yeah, I’m a fan of the Oxford comma because it makes the items listed more parallel, hence clear, to me. It did bother one of my professors before and his argument was simply “it used up a space.” I think I’ll continue to use it.

[michaelpowell]

I actually abandoned what I was taught in favor of the Oxford comma.  I also put punctuation outside of quotes when it is not part of the quote because i am a programmer and logic demands it.

[amcghie]

My teachers hated it in high school, but I use it often ;)

[Fishbiene]

Does anyone else see the irony in dedicating a book to both Ayn Rand and God?

[StormcloudLive]

For the people from different languages suggesting their ways of doing things to be better, remember in English we have the 2 words of Read and Read when it comes to the action or completion of the action of reading a booking.... the way we tell them apart is that one is pronounced like the word lead whereas the other one is pronounced like the word lead.

[likhithchandragiri]

Here in India we follow british English and I didn't even know of the existence of the Oxford comma until watching this video. I've always been taught to never put a comma before a conjunction.

[pattmahiney]

I like the outro text. *"I dedicate this book to my parents, Any Rand and God."* This reminds me of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.
Btw I'm all for the oxford comma, too.

[nobodysalterego]

How to solve the problem (in Sweden)
Enumeration: "bob, a dj and a clown" (3 ppl)
To signal that bob is a dj and a clown there's one formal and one informal way.
"Bob: a dj and a clown" (formal)
"Bob - a dj and a clown" (informal)
The formal is used for clarity and will be found in science papers etc.
The informal is used for a smooth reading experience such as you expect from say a novel.
I can't imagine what would prevent the anglo-saxon world from adopting a system like this and watch the problem go away. *sees the metric system* oh

[jjtomecek]

I'm in support of it. The ending confused me so much without the Oxford comma lol

[matthewluck]

I like the serial comma because if you don't use it, the last two items in a list look like they should be one entity or you don't read it right the first time because you don't pause when reading. For example: "Lisa, Jack, Angela, Henry and Grace" looks like the list should be going on because the comma should be what separates the words, not conjunctions. Also, conjunctions can be included in lists like: "Hector and April, Lou and Mary, Geoff and Carol, and Francis and Frankie are married."

[spaghettiyeti]

I've always been taught not to use the Oxford comma, but nevertheless I tend to use it because I usually take the view that it makes things clearer. I got asked in an English test once to put the commas in a piece of writing, and I was left with no idea whether they wanted me to use Oxford commas or not as their usage is such a debated issue! 

[harunsuaidi]

I always use Oxford comma because I feel that it's more "fair" to the words. I list things and I want every single one of them accompanied by a punctuation mark. I don't want any of the words to be lonely.