Serial comma, Mainly for native speakers and professionals Opţiuni

[LoveDemon]

Do you use the serial comma? I, for one, tend to avoid it, since it's against the punctuation principles I grew up with (the Romanian and French ones), but lately, my teacher of Technical Writing recommends that I stop avoiding it...
His main pros are mostly what Wikipedia says:

-that it better matches the spoken cadence of sentences;
-that it sometimes reduces ambiguity; and
-that its use matches practice with other means of separating items in a list (example: when semicolons are used to separate items, a semicolon is consistently included before the last item, even when and or or is present).

My counterarguments can also be found in the Wikipedia article:

-that it is against much conventional practice;
-that it may introduce ambiguity; and
-that it is redundant, since the and or the or serves by itself to mark the logical separation between the final two items.

I'd really love to hear other opinions.

[Aprilia]

Do you use the serial comma? I, for one, tend to avoid it, since it's against the punctuation principles I grew up with (the Romanian and French ones), but lately, my teacher of Technical Writing recommends that I stop avoiding it... His main pros are mostly what Wikipedia says: My counterarguments can also be found in the Wikipedia article: I'd really love to hear other opinions. I use it. My first teacher told me that' s the correct way to do it in English, and I keep the habit.

[dannnnny29]

In limba engleza intradevar se foloseste, ciudat ca pana sa plec din Romania nu imi spusese nimeni si nici nu remarcasem citind. Insa a nu se face eroarea de a o folosi tot timpul.

Este corect sa scrii: Last night I watched a movie, had lasagna for dinner, and went to bed early.
Dar nu prea merge sa scrii: I need to buy Christmas presents for Dan, Mary and her husband, Julie, and Jake.

[LoveDemon]

Asa, nici in romaneste nu exista regula, des invocata de nechemati, de a nu folosi virgula inainte si dupa "si" sau "sau".

In "The Elements of Style" (carte de capatai, ca altfel n-o citam), William Strunk zice asa:

In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.
Thus write,
red, white, and blue gold, silver, or copper
He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.

Profesorul care m-a facut sa ma intreb despre chestia asta ma zgarie pe ochi punand virgula inainte de "etc", si e profesor de stil si tehnica a scrisului.

[krossfire]

The problem is that we tend to apply minor grammar rules from Romanian into English. Although it makes sense in English (and from what I've heard it's quite indicated to use it), the serial comma tends to break some Romanian grammar rules. Since we generally extend from Romanian to English, the serial comma might seem a little weird.

[LoveDemon]

I tend to disagree. I've seen many English authors that didn't adopt this punctuation rule. It's not a general trend in English.
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law recommends against it, as does The Australian Government Publishing Service's Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers and some other style authorities.
I'm not biased because I "grew up" without, it's just that the use of it is not very homogeneously regulated, there are marginal rules and style guides and it's still a controversy.

[Nefersetty]

I grew up using the serial comma in english as well as in german.It makes it easier to understand long sentences which can not be broken up.That, providing it's used correctly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Acest mesaj a fost modificat de Nefersetty: 22nd February 2007, 12:56