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The serial comma (also referred to as the series comma, Oxford comma, [1] or Harvard comma [2]) is a comma placed after the second-to-last term in a list (just before the conjunction) when writing out three or more terms.
All about the Oxford comma, including when it may or may not be necessary.
Some people use the Oxford comma (also known as the Harvard or serial comma). This is a comma before "and" or "or" at the end of a series, regardless of whether it is needed for clarification purposes. For example: X, Y, and Z (with an Oxford comma) X, Y and Z (without an Oxford comma)
The comma-free approach is often used with partial quotations: The report observed "a 45% reduction in transmission rate". A comma is required when it would be present in the same construction if none of the material were a quotation: In Margaret Mead's view, "we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities" to enrich our culture.
The four most frequently used style guides for English are also those that are the main bases of our own MoS. These are The Chicago Manual of Style (often called Chicago or CMoS) and Garner's Modern English Usage, for American and to some extent Canadian English; and New Hart's Rules and Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage for British English, and Commonwealth English more broadly.
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. [1] English punctuation has two complementary aspects: phonological punctuation, linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; [2] and grammatical punctuation, linked to the structure of the sentence. [3]
The following is a handy reference for editors, listing various common spelling differences between national varieties of English. Please note: If you are not familiar with a spelling, please do some research before changing it – it may be your misunderstanding rather than a mistake, especially in the case of American and British English spelling differences.
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