Talk:Comma quibbling
last comma
The pubs people of IBM (where I worked quite a few years) taught me that a list in (American) English should be
"{ABC, DEF, G, and H}"
Any opinions?? --Walterpachl (talk) 15:15, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
- Eric Lipperts' blog entry states that the task excludes the Oxford comma. -Paddy3118 (talk) 16:47, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
I was taught (American English) that the Oxford comma was optional, but the list is better with it than without.
Consider a list of people (or couples):
- Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy, and Zach
- Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy, Zach
- Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy and Zach
where Zach (in the 3rd form) appears to be a threesome with Matt and Mandy.
Note that Bob and Zach are meant to be shown as alone (as not part of a couple in this case).
-- Gerard Schildberger (talk) 09:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)