Oxford Comma Rules | WHEN to Use the Controversial Serial Comma

Learn about Oxford comma rules and when to use this controversial comma! Also known as the serial comma, this is the last comma in a list before a coordinating conjunction ("and" or "or"). This comma is generally preferred in many North American or US style guides. However, it is not commonly used in England.

In this lesson, we will explore the history of the Oxford comma, what style guides recommend or do not recommend it, and when it is imperative to use to avoid sentence ambiguity.

📝 What's Inside the Lesson:
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - What is the Oxford comma?
01:50 - Usage in American VS British English
02:25 - Style Guides
03:30 - Serial comma in lists
04:48 - Imperative Uses to Avoid Confusion
07:13 - Usage for List Clarity
08:30 - Quiz
09:23 - Answers

👩🏼‍🏫 LEARN MORE:

✨ SOCIAL MEDIA:

[davedeatherage]

Teacher, I got 9/10 correct.
Thank you!

[kishorwaze]

I enjoyed the lesson. Although the British styles do not recommend, I agree with you that its usage brings more clarity to the sentence. Thank you for the valuable input.

[lorensims]

Thank you so much!
I always learned that that last comma in a list was superfluous, but I looked it up in my Strunk & White and they said to use it, unless sometimes in names of partnerships where it's less common.
I will continue to NOT use it in lists of items except where there might be some confusion.
I agree with your last example. Sometimes it's needed, sometimes it's not.
I think of it as similar to parentheses in math and computer programming. Sometimes they're absolutely needed to specify the order of operation, but sometimes they're just included for clarity, thou not really needed.

[larrymilliken]

Punctuation is my Achilles' heel. I missed #'s 1 and 3 but you straightened that out nicely; however, I did add a comma after boots in #2, and snowmen in #4-so technically, I answered one question correctly! I don't despair and will keep watching and learning. Thank you, Jennifer!

[JLPrice-kcuy]

I made a 6/5 because you're that good of a teacher :)

[clumsytriangle]

I worked as an editor for OUP in Shanghai, China and yeah, it was weird when referring to the OUP Style Guide to see it recommended using the Oxford comma, but the materials we were creating and editing for ESL/EFL books in China preferred not to use it. Took me a while to get out of the habit.

[Joseluis-pkfr]

If you use Oxford commas, I will also use it! I find your classes delightful and the red color of it's outstanding.

[masumrana]

Ma'am, please make a live session on punctuations.

[kylerdad]

Thank you for this great clarification of the Oxford Comma. It was a good lesson. I was able to get 5 of the questions correctly. Looking forward to the next lesson. Best wishes and regards! 😀.

[duradim]

Okay Sparkle, I use the Oxford comma as you do. But I leave it out to combine items directly before and after the "and."

Example: The client is responsible for providing light fixtures, baseboards, paint, tile and grout.

Tile and grout are used together to achieve one outcome. Is this acceptable? I will also use this setup in the middle of a sentence.

Example: The client is responsible for providing light fixtures, baseboards, primer and paint, and tile and grout.

Is this acceptable?

[howlinhog]

I use the Oxford comma, or not, according to how I would actually say the sentence. If I make a definite pause before and, I use the comma. If the sentence lends itself to running on without taking a breath, no comma. ie That's just me and how I decide.

[SamIIs]

In example #2, if boots were first on the list and a comma proceeded 'and' would it be safe to assume that boots could be a nickname for someone or something like a cat.

In example #4, could it be confused that the children were building snowmen and watching movies at the same time? They might have been Lego snowmen.

If you do rely to this, will you please correct my writing mistakes.

[dr_jaymz]

Microsoft Word has just started recommending me to use this - I'm British and this would have been marked wrong at school here despite the name "Oxford". If I was going to use a comma, I wouldn't have used the "and" but the downside is that its no longer a sentence. A comma is a soft pause which you can hear when someone speaks a list which is why its there. It wouldn't make sense for them to pause before "and", so they don't and that is why we don't put it there. But we should remember that British English isn't supposed to be consistent and we've gone out of our way to make it that way on purpose. If there is a rule that doesn't have an exception then you've just not noticed the exception yet. American English actually has proper rules, rather than a "correctness" that varies with your class - and yes it still does indicate your background in England. I've come to realise how many nuances there are in British English which continued to evolved since the 16th century. I think its good to maintain a slight difference between them - lest we all speak Amglish. I noticed visiting America its very easy for me to have a conversation in English that the Americans don't fully understand or that the meaning is either subtly or completely different.

[Meisha-san]

I swear, Americans love doing things just to be different & to piss everybody off.
Americans: Say, these Brits aren't using this silly rule they made.
Other Americans: Well then, we'll use it–everywhere...

[rdcnouveaudepart]

I would highly recommend @LukePodcast to guest you on his YouTube channel.