The Oxford comma
Love it or hate it.
The Oxford comma
The Oxford comma, or the serial comma, is the comma before the conjunction in a list of three or more items. A conjunction is a word that links parts of a sentence together. The Oxford comma distinguishes items in a list, particularly the last two list items. Consider the following examples:
- Every morning at 4 a.m., my dogs runs, yells, and barks.
- Please feed, walk, and bathe the dog.
- Make sure the dog doesn’t eat the cat treats, honey, or peanut butter.
In these examples, the Oxford comma appears before the conjunctions “and” and “or”.
The Oxford comma isn’t a rule. The Oxford comma is a stylistic choice. Some style guides demand that you use them, and others don’t. For instance, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends using it. If you’re not using a style guide, you can decide whether to use the Oxford comma.
The Oxford comma has caused heated debate. Some people argue that the Oxford comma prevents confusion. Others argue that the Oxford comma confuses readers. DocDoggy doesn’t have a stance on the Oxford comma – we just love the drama.
Whether you use, misuse, or omit an Oxford comma, your sentence could be ambiguous. In this article, we’ll explore when it’s appropriate to use the Oxford comma.
Using the Oxford comma
The Oxford comma can prevent confusion. When you omit the Oxford comma, your sentence might lose its intended meaning.
Add clarity
The Oxford comma is necessary for clarity. Consider the following sentence:
This book is dedicated to my parents, Oprah and Cher.
Without the Oxford comma, you could interpret this sentence as if Oprah and Cher are the parents. Although Oprah and Cher would make great parents—Oprah and Cher, if you’re reading this, please adopt me—this sentence doesn’t communicate its intended meaning. With an Oxford comma, it’s clear that Oprah and Cher aren’t the parents.
This book is dedicated to my parents, Oprah, and Cher.
Separate discrete group items
The Oxford comma can group similar items separately from discrete items. Note the following sentence:
We have several milkshake flavours, including banana and honey, mango and pineapple and lemon.
In this example, there are seven potential milkshake flavours:
- Banana and honey
- Mango
- Mango and pineapple
- Pineapple
- Mango and pineapple and lemon
- Pineapple and lemon
- Lemon
In this example, the exact flavours aren’t clear. So, you could add an Oxford comma to clearly distinguish the flavours.
There are many milkshake flavours, including banana and honey, mango and pineapple, and lemon.
Distinguish between lengthy list items
Lists with lengthy items can be hard to interpret. Note the following sentence:
The Intergovernmental Panel Against Climate Uprising, Meteorological Governance of Natural Resources Defence and Globe Protection and Modern Advocacy of Environmental Protection are organisations that want to solve climate change.
It’s hard to distinguish between these lengthy noun strings. So, you could add an Oxford comma to distinguish the noun strings:
The Intergovernmental Panel Against Climate Uprising, Meteorological Governance of Natural Resources Defence and Globe Protection, and Modern Advocacy of Environmental Protection are organisations that want to solve climate change.
Other benefits
Besides eliminating confusion and clarifying meaning, the Oxford comma can make your punctuation consistent and create a stronger connection between the last two list items.
Omitting the Oxford comma
Some people oppose the Oxford comma. These people argue that the Oxford comma can confuse readers.
Unclear appositives
The Oxford comma can make your sentence unclear if the sentence includes an appositive. An appositive is when you use a name to restate the noun phrase. Note the following sentence:
Joanna loves her dog, Mariah Carey, and Madonna.
Does Joanna love her dog that’s named Mariah Carey? Is the speaker calling Mariah Carey a dog?! How rude! Removing the Oxford comma eliminates this ambiguity:
Joanna loves her dog, Mariah Carey and Madonna.
Stilted sentences
Some readers could interpret excessive commas as clutter. Clutter reduces the reading pace. When an Oxford comma slows the reading pace, the reader could feel confused or hesitant. Besides creating ambiguity and slowing the reading pace, the Oxford comma can create unnecessary sentence bulk. Additionally, the Oxford comma is unnecessary for most simple lists.
Should I use the Oxford comma?
In professional or academic writing, check your style guides. If you’re not following a style guide, decide what’s for you. For instance, you could:
- use the Oxford comma where you need to avoid ambiguity.
- omit the Oxford comma when it might cause ambiguity.
- completely omit the Oxford comma…
Do whatever’s necessary to avoid confusion. When conveying your intended meaning, consider the aforementioned problems. Moreover, try being consistent with your Oxford comma usage. If the Oxford comma (or lack thereof) is causing you trouble, consider rephrasing your sentence.
Rephrasing
If you’re having trouble with the Oxford comma, you could rephrase your sentence. Consider these examples:
Example 1
I can’t wait to meet the dildo collector, Oprah, and Cher!
Some people might interpret Oprah as the dildo collector. However, the speaker intends that the dildo collector is separate from Oprah.
You could remove the Oxford comma to eliminate the confusion. However, you might want (or need) to always use the Oxford comma. So, you could rephrase the sentence to remove the ambiguity.
I can’t wait to meet Oprah, Cher, and the dildo collector!
Example 2
Joanna loves her dog, Mariah Carey and Madonna.
In this example, the speaker suggests that Mariah Carey is Joanna’s dog. However, that suggestion isn’t the speaker’s intended meaning.
If you intensely hate the Oxford comma, you could rearrange the list items to remove the ambiguity.
Joanna loves Mariah Carey, Madonna and her dog.
Example 3
The Intergovernmental Panel Against Climate Uprising, Meteorological Governance of Natural Resources Defence and Globe Protection and Modern Advocacy of Environmental Protection are organisations that want to solve climate change.
It’s hard to distinguish between these noun strings. Even if you included an Oxford comma, the sentence might still be hard to understand. This sentence would be clearer as a bullet list.
Organisations that want to solve climate change include:
- The Intergovernmental Panel Against Climate Uprising
- Meteorological Governance of Natural Resources Defence and Globe Protection
- Modern Advocacy of Environmental Protection.
