We're sinking, we're sinking!. What are you sinking about?

byGarryJam

774 followers

6 years ago

I've been misunderstood from time to time, sometimes because of my accent (Americans can't understand Australian) But today I'd like to talk about the Oxford comma, popular with Oxford University Press. It's a comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect ). The omission of such a comma can have comical consequences.


Consider:

"I love my parents, Kyle Minogue and Kermit the frog."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c18441Eh_WE

“We’re going to learn to cut-and-paste kids!” versus “We’re going to learn to cut-and-paste, kids!” Commas certainly do make a difference.
“Let’s eat, grandpa” versus “Let’s eat grandpa”. Punctuation can potentially save lives!


These scarves are available in black and white, pink and purple, and blue and green

These scarves are available in black and white pink and purple and blue and green.