The Oxford Comma

For several years, there has been a massive debate on the usage of the Oxford, or serial comma.

The Oxford comma is placed before the conjunction of a list, often to rid ambiguity. An example of where a sentence can become ambiguous is the following, 'can you invite Max, a singer and a dancer'. Without the Oxford comma, it is not apparent whether you are being asked to invite only Max, who is a singer and a dancer. Or whether you are being asked to invite Max, a singer, and a dancer. 

The British usually criticise the Americans for invading and manipulating the English Language, but is the Oxford comma the best thing that the Americans have done yet? The Oxford comma is seen as pretentious by the British, but is it really?

There are several style guides which oppose the use of the Oxford comma, such as The Times and The Associated Press. However, many American style guides suggest that the serial comma should be used in all writing. 

There are only two British institutions that recommend the use of the Oxford comma. The first is The Oxford Style Manual and the second is the MHRA Style Guide (Modern Humanities Research Association).

In Britain, the influences of the American culture and language are drifting over and becoming part of our everyday language, so should we adapt to the Americanisms or should we stick with our own style?

Walt Hickney, an owner of a blog found that 57% of people are in favour of the Oxford comma, whilst 43% would rather not have it, showing that people do prefer the use of the Oxford comma.

Roy Peter Clark at the Poynter Institute followed up Hickney's research, and asked people whether they thought that journalists should adopt the Oxford comma, and the Associated Press should include this in their stylebook. To his surprise a whopping 71% of people said that they thought they should make the change. 

The main argument against it is that it looks 'ungrammatical' and 'incorrect,' however surely if readers of texts prefer it and it makes it easier to read, then shouldn't we adopt it?

Through my research, I've found that more people are in support of the Oxford comma than against the use of it, so surely we should be using it, not only does it help people to follow a list, but it also helps to prevent ambiguity which is often common within newspapers. 

Sources: http://www.arrantpedantry.com/2014/09/08/is-the-oxford-comma-ungrammatical/

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/grammar-s-great-divide-the-oxford-comma-ted-ed

Ben Da Silva