ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:14:38 GMT

Yes, otherwise Customer Support and Quality would be one department!

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' - MLA Correct Citation

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:24:10 GMT

I recently saw this on another site, and it does seem that journalists started to remove that comma to save newspaper space although I had learned to separate each entity with a comma and that is what I do unless there is a relationship there between the final two items listed.

Another point from this other site was that when you have a legal document that states: "I leave my estate to be divided amongst Joe, Mary, Alice and John", legally Joe would get 1/3, Mary would get 1/3, and Alice and John would split the final 1/3. If it was written WITH a comma there (...Joe, Mary, Alice, and John), each person listed would receive 25%.

I suppose most of it matters if you are a journalist or an attorney! LOL...

Also, the computer listing someone mentions above would all be separated by commas for me unless there's a relationship (example: Monitors and cables to the CPU, CPU and the electric power cable, mouse, and the screen-mounted microphone.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' - MLA Correct Citation

Clive — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:55:56 GMT

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your comments. I envy your sense of certainty.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' - MLA Correct Citation

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:21:33 GMT

Tharabg,

According to the two English reference manuals I own, proper punctuation places the comma before the "and" in a series. Journalists often leave out commas before âandâ in a series; however, this practice originally started to save space in newspapers. May I suggest that you invest in a writing manual?

I quoted McKernan because two-thirds of the individuals that responded to your inquiry are wrong.

â22.2 (b) To separate items in a series, a comma is used

Sluggo ordered radishes, carrots, garlic, and coffee for breakfast. [series of nouns]

The team swam past the dock, around the lake, and up the creek. [series of prepositional phrases]

The officer asked Eliott where he lived, what he did for a living, why he was out so late, and how he had managed to fall asleep in a tree. [series of noun clauses]

The carrots were old, brown, warm, spotted. [series of adjectives. Occasionally, the and is omitted for rhythm and emphasis or to indicate the series is not exhaustive.â (McKernan 696)

McKernan, John. The Writer's Handbook. 2^nd ed. Orlando: Harcourt Brace (1991).

Aaron, Jane E. The Little Brown Compact Handbook. 4^th ed. Addison-Wesley (2001): 254-255.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Grammar Geek — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:29:42 GMT

Hello Anon.

Please see the post above yours, which mentions the serial (sometimes called Oxford) comma. It is optional, but consistency is key. It's not correct to say that American English always puts it there - see the AP Stylebook, for example.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:42:37 GMT

Actually in American English comma is put against the last items. e.g. sales, customer support, and quality. Britishers dont put the comma.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Shreksbro — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 06:30:46 GMT

You are talking about a serial comma.

My understanding is that it is entirely optional, but that it should be used whenever it may help in the parsing of a sentence.

In your example, it is conceivable that your list items are actually 'sales, customer support and customer quality'.

I would use a comma as it eliminates the potential for confusion.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:02:09 GMT

Being an English teacher in a foriegn country, I'm confronted by this question daily. It is a matter of style in North America and you may choose to use either one, but you should be consistant throughout the document or letter you are writing. In Britain they tend never to put a comma before 'and.' When it comes to connecting sentences with 'and' that is a completely different question.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Grammar Geek — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:12:59 GMT

If the purpose of your question is to ask whether you need a comma in that sentence, Anon, the answer is "no."

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:21:48 GMT

Guest wrote:
is the usage of comma before the word 'and' correct in this sentence- "(e.g. sales, customer support, and quality)."

The purpose of this letter is to introduce myself and to inform you of our valuable services.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:59:11 GMT

In academic writing, a comma is neccessary before and in a series. It is called an "Oxford Comma". You will see journalists in newspaper not use the comma before the and, but again if you are going to write and want to show a more academic approach, the comma before the and is neccessary.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Nyarlathotep — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:14:57 GMT

I agree with Jules. I always fully split up lists with commas; otherwise, you give the impression that the last item is, in someway, related to the penultimate item!

-Nyarlathotep

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Guest — Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:11:04 GMT

Think of non defining part of the sentence.
We've just arrived, after long trip, and we are very tired.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Dima — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 14:27:11 GMT

Yes it's correct. commas are put after items in a series.e.g:I like apples,oranges,and pears.

Re: Usage of a comma before 'and' (Guest: Tharabg)

Algy — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:23:58 GMT

The use of a comma before 'and' is rather old fashioned and known, I think, as the 'Oxford Comma'.

It can be found in older text books and older editions of novels etc.

Generally, the trend is to use punctuation as sparingly as possible and not to use a comma before 'and'.

However, there are no hard and fast rules so if you want to use a comma do - it might just seem quaint!