The Oxford Comma

This post was originally written for an assignment under a different name.

Ever since about January last school year, I have received many letters from universities containing some preliminary information about their schools. Especially for the private schools, these letters are hugely important to their success, as every student has an effect on the well-being of the school, so, when I read these letters, I expect them to reflect the ideas and goals to some extent of these learning environments. These being schools, I have been honestly shocked about how many have abandoned an important grammatical feature, the Oxford Comma.

Many grammatical “rules” are actually stylistic guides. Consider avoiding personal pronouns in formal writing and not ending sentences with prepositions. Others come down to old and somewhat arbitrary rules such as putting a comma between independent clauses if the second begins with a coordinating conjunction. Most of these issues can be ignored or forgiven if consistent. Many say the same thing about the Oxford comma. But not using that comma is in itself an inconsistency, as, in a group of three, the first two terms are separated with a pause but the last two have no pause; perhaps uncluttering the text, but certainly not making it easier to read at any speed.

Both sides of the argument have reduced themselves to examples in which the other side seems to imply something funny such as “I dedicate this book to my parents, Mother Teresa and [,] God,” and on the other side, “I dedicate this book to my mom, Mother Teresa, and God.” Both examples could be easily fixed by simple rewording or reordering. So the real question is this: which makes more sense in general without contrived examples?

A good method of punctuating things sensibly, if not correctly, is by punctuating how you would want that thing to be read aloud. If a short, common list is to be read without pauses such as “red white and blue,” punctuation is not necessary whatsoever. For a longer phrase, the reader would pause such as, “In the shed, I found an old and rusted shovel, a torn pair of gloves, and a dead rat.” But in no situation which I can imagine should the reader pause between each term and then quickly blaze through the end.