Good Morning NITians!! :) Today, well learn about the serial commas also called as The Oxford comma or Harvard Comma, is the comma that precedes the conjunction(i.e. and, or, or but ) before the final item in a list of three or more items: For example : >She took a photograph of her father, the president, and the vice president. >They went to Bombay with Betty, a maid, and a cook. If you consider the first sentence, it means that she took a photograph of 3 people but if you neglect the oxford comma, it would depict that her father is the president and the vice president. If you consider the second sentence, it says that they went to Bombay with three more people (i.e Betty, a maid and a cook ) but if use it without a serial comma. It would be They went to Bombay with Betty, a maid and a cook. It would depict that they went to Bombay with just one more person i.e. Betty who is both a cook and a maid. Can you identify the difference between the following 3 sentences? 1. My favorite breakfast is coffee, butter and bread and jam. 2. My favorite breakfast is coffee, butter and bread, and jam. 3. My favorite breakfast is coffee, butter,and bread and jam. It is uncertain in sentence 1, whether butter and bread, or bread and jam, should be grouped together. Adding a serial comma removes this ambiguity. With a comma after bread in sentence 2 , the foods are: Coffee Butter and Bread Jam With a comma after bread in sentence 3: Coffee Butter Bread and jam The Oxford comma is so called because it has traditionally been used by editors and printers at Oxford University Press. New Britishers may favor the term Harvard comma (the convention is also followed by Harvard University Press). Throughout the U.S. the mark is commonly called the serial comma. Here is a famous TED-ed talk about the serial comma. Have a look at it! :)
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 02:30:00 +0000
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