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"Avoid the so-called Oxford comma; say 'he ate bread, butter and jam' rather than 'he ate bread, butter, and jam'." The Economist Style Guide [49] "Do not put a comma before and at the end of a sequence of items unless one of the items includes another and. Thus 'The doctor suggested an aspirin, half a grapefruit and a cup of broth.
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 2003 edition of the Oxford Style Manual combined the Oxford Guide to Style (first published as Hart's Rules in 1893) and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors ("defines the language of the entire English-speaking world, from North America to South Africa, from Australia and New Zealand to the Caribbean"). It states, "In text, use ...
Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization – a comprehensive online guide by NASA; The Oxford Comma: A Solution – a satirical suggestion to settle the problem of the Oxford Comma once and for all; The Quotta and the Quottiod – another satirical compromise between the American and British traditions relating to quotes and commas.
Briefly, Oxford toyed with the comma. The Oxford Guide to Style of 2002 (republished in 2003 as part of the Oxford Style Manual), leaned toward using the comma when it is used with "Jr.", for Americans, considering the comma an American usage, but even then treated it as optional. For British writing, it preferred that the word be written out ...
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