Use and misuse of the serial comma
My mother sent me this article on using the final comma in a list of items: The Case of the Serial Comma. I wrote back, for what it’s worth, because I think debating usage is fun and I wonder if any of you can shed light on the subject:
The article isn’t quite as thorough as it should be. It says Britons “waffle” on the usage of the final comma, but in fact the vast majority of British English writing—and continental translations of writing into English—omit the final comma. In other words, nearly all European English would leave off the last comma. And why? Because a comma used in a list, in Britain more than in America, is considered a substitute for the word and (or in exclusive lists, the word or). It would be preposterous to many Britons to write, “Study the rules for the use of the comma, the semicolon, and the colon,” because that is synonymous with writing “Study the rules for the use of the comma and the semicolon and and the colon.” Americans, on the other hand, save for newspaper article- and headline-writers (“In cook-off, chef beats eggs, rivals”), view commas largely as traffic signals, tiny signs indicating where a list begins, is divided, and ends.
