SL stands with the Chicago Manual of Style on the serial comma, which is also called the Oxford comma.
You can’t go wrong with it, but you can go badly wrong without it:
I’d like to thank my parents, the pope and Mother Theresa.
Well, now. We avoid the serial comma and set off a full-bore scandal.
The serial comma is unpopular, we suspect, because commas are so overused in general. When a teacher or editor decides to take a stand, the serial comma is an easy target.
In professional work, of course, we conform to our client’s style.
But in SL’s own style (which combines the best of Chicago, AP, NYT, Strunk, White, and Huck Finn), a series takes a serial comma.
August 4, 2008 at 3:52 pm
My understanding was that omitting the serial comma was in vogue back when people were using the AP style guide, and I believe the reason the AP style guide eschewed the poor comma was that every bit of space was critical in the print biz.
Since most of us don’t have to worry about space to that degree, I vigorously agree with you on using the serial comma. While there are times it doesn’t really add clarity, there are other times it surely does, so why not err on the side of clarity?
As a hiring manager, though, whenever I look at resumes, I don’t care whether the candidate chooses to use the final comma or not. What I care about is whether they apply their choice consistently; alas, many do not.
August 5, 2008 at 10:21 am
Good points all, especially the last. Sometimes people have a hard time understanding that a given style choice isn’t right or wrong. But inconsistency is always wrong.