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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) Wikipedia has no preference between the two styles, but requests that the chosen style be used consistently within an article.
The serial comma (for example the comma before and in "ham, chips, and eggs") is optional; be sensitive to possible ambiguity arising from thoughtless use or thoughtless avoidance, and be consistent within a given article. Avoid comma splices. Picture captions should not end in a full stop (a period) unless they are complete sentences.
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 comma itself is widely attributed to Aldus Manutius, a 15th-century Italian printer who used a mark—now recognized as a comma—to separate words. [21] Etymologically, the word comma, which became widely used to describe Manutius's mark, comes from the Greek κόμμα (lit. ' to cut off '). [22]
All about the Oxford comma, including when it may or may not be necessary.
A shortening is an abbreviation formed by removing at least the last letter of a word (e.g. etc. and rhino), and sometimes also containing letters not present in the full form (e.g. bike). As a general rule, use a full point after a shortening that only exists in writing (e.g. etc.) but not for a shortening that is used in speech (e.g. rhino).
Use a colon (spaced) when one or more decimal points is present (a 3.5 : 1 ratio (markup: a 3.5 : 1 ratio)). Do not use the colon form where units are involved (dissolve using a 3 ml : 1 g ratio)—instead see ratios section of table at § Unit names and symbols, below.
The enumeration or ideographic comma (U+3001 、 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA) is used in Chinese, [37]: 20 Japanese punctuation, and somewhat in Korean punctuation. In China and Korea, this comma ( 顿号 ; 頓號 ; dùnhào ) is usually only used to separate items in lists, while it is the more common form of comma in Japan ( 読点 , tōten , lit.