The Disappearing Comma
Throughout the history of the world, a “lingua franca” has always developed from the swirling cauldron of language. These Lingua Francas have included beautiful languages such as French and Spanish, but our current common language, English, is threatened by the eradication of the Oxford comma, a functional piece of punctuation that is essential in the listing of several items. Not only that, the comma is an important stylistic element that is not present in most other world languages. There are several proponents of eliminating the comma, and their arguments are sound, but inherently flawed. The comma provides a very important function: dividing, separating, and qualifying different elements of a comma-based list. Notice, even as I discuss with you the importance of the disappearing comma, I use the very same comma in order to explain its uses.
While many different American style experts agree that the Oxford comma is an integral piece of punctuation, most U.K. and Australian publishers and grammar experts believe that in simple lists, the comma should remain on the bench. The Associated Press Stylebook (2010), which dictates the rules for American publishing, urges that the Oxford comma be omitted from all lists except for those with an important conjunction in the list or with complex elements. They describe it as such:
Use commas to separate items in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is red, white and blue. He would nominate Tom, Dick or Harry. Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series, however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham fig. 1 and eggs for breakfast. Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude. (AP, 2010).
This is important, as the Stylebook has not completely eliminated the lifeblood of the comma-separated list, but is very close to it. How else are we supposed to read, understand, and process the information in a list if the last two elements are ambiguous and connected? I am not sure, either.
The argument about ambiguous elements of a list is a strong one, because if there is only one comma in that list, the last two elements become a qualifying statement applied to the first element if read incorrectly. The most potent example is one of my favorites:
“I look up to my parents, Barack Obama, and Ray Lewis.”
Harmless sentence, right? Now let’s remove the Oxford comma.
“I look up to my parents, Barack Obama and Ray Lewis.”
Whoa. That took a turn for the worse, right?. My parents would be pretty awesome, though.
Getting back on topic, it’s these type of misreadings that can plague an AP-style article. These could get even worse, with SkyNews’ debacle in 2013. The iPhone news application sent out a notification with this text: “Top Stories: World Leaders at Mandela Tribute, Obama-Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date set…” fully exemplifying the fact that the Oxford comma should still be utilized by the media (grammarly.com). It was quite the shock for many iPhone users to learn that their already-married President was betrothed to the dictator of Cuba and would be marrying him within the next three months. Now this is an extreme example, but it speaks to the necessity of the comma in news and print.
This whole article might seem somewhat moot, a bit trifling, and utterly pointless in the face of the Associated Press. We see that it is not necessary in most cases, and we know that papers are always trying to keep their pages shorter and limit wasted space. But, after this (brief) look at the benefits of the inclusion of the Oxford comma in standard English, I think that we can all come together and realize that we would much rather type one extra key than send the entire country into a frenzy about a marriage between our
Another meme makes light of what could be an incredibly dire situation. president and a tyrannical dictator.
components?
proponents are like people that support eliminating the comma
Quantifying?
Idk why there is a red line underneath lol that's a correct word and it makes sense in the sentence
I agree with your peer editors that one one the memes that illustrates this point would be fun here. Again, play to your audience!
Excellent example. I would love for you to make this into a gif or animation!
Awesome conclusion! This is so great.
And I love the "Save a life. Use a comma."