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The Oxford Comma – Why and Why Not (2024)

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Re: The Oxford Comma – Why and Why Not (2024)

#6

Post by t0mek »

EuanReid wrote: post #2

There are so many times the Oxford comma prevents ambiguity. I have yet to see a counterexample. Commas separate list entries, don't change it for the last one.

Only tangentially related (but hey, it's HN) - I'm so happy about the support/requirements for trailing commas in the modern language syntax:

    x = [
      123,
      456,
      789,
    ];
It makes editing such a list so much easier. Also, the commit diffs are cleaner (you don't need to add comma to the last element when appending a new one).

Re: The Oxford Comma – Why and Why Not (2024)

#9

Post by stephencanon »

EuanReid wrote: post #2

There are so many times the Oxford comma prevents ambiguity. I have yet to see a counterexample. Commas separate list entries, don't change it for the last one.

"I'd like to thank my mother, Ayn Rand, and God" is the usual example.

Yes, you can reorder the list to remove the ambiguity, but sometimes the order of the list matters. The serial comma should be used when necessary to remove ambiguity, and not used when it introduces ambiguity. Rewrite the sentence when necessary. Worth noting that this is the Oxford University Press's own style rule!

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