Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Commas, Please!

Commas are a funny thing. Some people abuse them; some people ignore them. Me, I love them. See how many I've used already? But all have been used properly. 

I'm a big fan of the Oxford usage. In a series, use a comma after each item, i.e.

A woman should always have a great pair of shoes, a piece of semi precious jewelry, and a knock-em dead dress.

Some people insist that it could be written like this:

A woman should always have a great pair of shoes, a piece of semi precious jewelry and a knock-em dead dress.

No. 

Not according to the US News Stylebook and Strunk & White's The Elements of Style (two authoritative sources in the journalism world). The only time you don't use a comma at the end of a series is when it's names of a business firm:

Johnson, Johnson and Johnson.

So please,don't abuse or misuse the comma; it only wants to work with you.

Char

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