Three Reasons to Always Use the Serial Comma
When I worked for a previous organization, our communications team met to develop our institutional style guide. There was little debate until we got to the question of whether or not to make the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) mandatory. Ultimately, the measure to always use it passed by one vote.
It just took 30 minutes of debate to get there.
Serial Comma
Why is this one comma so controversial? Opinions vary, but the disagreement generally boils down to academic style guides requiring it and journalism ones usually recommending against using the comma or leaving it to the writer’s discretion.
When faced with this dilemma, I recommend always using the serial comma. Here are three reasons why.
Why should you use a serial comma?
1. Serial Comma Advocates Are More Militant
Okay, so the words “comma” and “militant” may sound silly in the same sentence. But when one group says to always do something, guess who is going to be more adamant about their position. This is definitely true with editors. A serial comma advocate editing your work will always add one if it is missing. However, outside of newsrooms, I’ve rarely seen an editor remove a serial comma.
2. The Serial Comma Resolves Ambiguity
Opponents of the serial comma will argue that it can actually cause ambiguity. Don’t be gaslit. Lack of a serial comma has led to arguments of how to interpret laws and Googling “funny serial comma examples” will pull up numerous instances of where it made for hilarious copy. Granted, there are moments where adding it could cause confusion. For example, “I played golf with Dave, my friend, and the caddy” will raise questions of whether or not you are playing with two or three people. In that instance, don’t question the validity of the serial comma. Just rewrite the sentence.
3. Omitting the Serial Comma is a Bit Antiquated
One of the reasons journalism style guides often recommend against using the style guide is because doing so saves print space. While print newspapers, of course, still exist, so much news is now online without the same space requirements. Beyond journalism, if you are working on a document with parameters like an informational one-pager and you need to make cuts, commas probably shouldn’t be your first casualty.