The Oxford Comma

I love semi-colons <<< that's me when i get to use one.

I use semi-colons. It's a very useful punctuation mark. I would love to know if any of my former students still make use of it. Probably none!

So few people use a semi-colon these days.

janeainsworth Sorry if I was in bossy mode. It happens!

Not shouting at anyone. I don't have the energy! Commas used instead of full stops between what are clearly separate sentences are anathema to me.

I won"t dear !!

Are you all going to shout at me now?

Yes, yes, yes. [irritated noise] mishap makes it perfectly clear. The issue only really arises IMHO where the 'and' is joining two different thoughts, rather than items in a list. I hate, really hate, inadequate commas, used to separate sentences though. I have been known to eliminate job applicants for that ...

The so-called Oxford comma is appropriate when it helps to clarify the meaning as in:

- Here are flour, butter, eggs and sugar and plans are afoot to make a cake.
- Here are flour, butter, eggs and sugar, and plans are afoot to make a cake

Well, the small i was actually but I did see it and couldn't be arsed to change it.

Poxford isn't a typo and neither is the smal i.

Obviously hadn't had enough coffee when I typed the OP

No, you're not being thick, nina. I expect it's a typo on my part. Here's a list with the poxford comma:
Today i have imbibed and ingested some dates, some coffee, some bread with butter and marmalade, more coffee, and a flapjack.

I think it means a comma is acceptable if the last thing in the list is actually two or more things which could contain an "and".....

for example -

"Go and stay, up and down, red and blue, and small and large."

I suppose it's all to do with clarity.

bags am I being thick?
Your OP underlines "after the word and' and then gives an example of a list with a comma before 'and'

I too had it drummed in to my head that a comma before 'and' was a major no,no. But I'm happy to be told otherwise.

Absolutely NO room for manoeuvre on apostrophes, Lona!

What a finicky lot we can be!

I am with you on this one JessM? Lona that made I

Phew! Just the apostrophe to worry about now

shysal, that's why it's a bit of a big deal among pedants. I think we probably all had it drummed into us that it was incorrect to put a comma after penultimate item in a list that's part of a sentence.

Now it's no longer incorrect but pedants do like to argue such fine points as if it mattered

This is my first introduction to the Oxford comma. Hello.

I like anomalies like this and will happily split infinitives and use the Oxford comma when it suits me, if it makes the sentence read more clearly and represent what I mean. My colons and semi colons sometimes get swapped to suit, too!

I was educated in Oxford, but have never heard of it. Perhaps, being a scientist and not particularly interested in grammar, I missed it. I have never used a comma when finishing a list with 'and'. In fact it was drummed into us at school that a comma should never be used.

I never feel guilty using it because the most linguistically pedantic person I've ever known, who was one of the Noddy editors, introduced me to it. If she says it's proper, it is.

She wasn't Big Ears, the Big Chief editor, but she was one of the hemi-demi gods.

I use it quite often and I did not go to Oxford either. It is useful where the three items (or more) are not absolutely exactly parallel, it make a sort of pause.

I do sometimes look at it and feel guilty, though.

Oxford University Press uses it in lists of words in dictionaries. I think that's where it comes from. Maybe not OED but certainly in what is fondly known as Noddy (New Oxford Dictionary of English – Oxford's answer to Chambers).

Oh goody!! This one could run for pages if we weren't all so busy