Oxford Comma - college essays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids (college age) use the Oxford comma.

+1 as a current college student. It was taught to me as the correct way to write. Commas were engrained in me to the point a writing professor a couple years back let me know about my overuse of them.

I hope your college is better than your high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When applying to Oxford, yes. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

Or Harverd!

Keeping it for comedy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would never occur to me to think Oxford/serial comma = parent edited it; in fact, if anything I think the Oxford comma is coming back into fashion and that people our age use it less.

Count me as another editor who is pro-serial comma. It never hurts to use it and sometimes is important for clarity. Why bother to determine case by case when you could just use it all the time and not worry?

But I also agree that it doesn’t matter at all in terms of admissions. Pick an approach and go with it. The most important thing is clarity and consistency.

"For teaching me about the Oxford comma, I owe a debt of gratitude to my father, Jeff Steele, and several anonymous DCUM posters."

Yes, there are occasions when clarity requires not using it. These occasions are rarer than the inverse but they do exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prediction: the Oxford comma will become standard again, and those who don’t use it will be the equivalent of today’s two-spacers.

Only because it’s a rigid rule that doesn’t require thinking, so it’s better for the unwashed masses. Smart people understand when it’s required and when it isn’t.

Sure, if you think the point of grammar/punctuation rules is to create inscrutable barriers that only a subset of people can navigate.

I happen to think grammar/punctuation rules exist to facilitate clear and concise communication, and so should be comprehensible and deployable by the widest possible group of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Writer here. FWIW, I always use them. But this matters 0 percent for these essays.

Same. My kid was taught to use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who don’t use the Oxford comma are monsters.

+1. Also, my 6th grader knows how to use the serial comma: using it does not look like a parent edited, it looks like your kid can write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why you should always use the Oxford comma, ripped from today’s headlines lol:

U.N. court ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu, former defense chief and a Hamas leader

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/icc-arrest-warrants-israel-benjamin-netanyahu-yoav-gallant-hamas-mohammed-deif/

!!!!!

In that example, the Oxford comma is necessary for clarity.

If I write “Please buy eggs, milk and strawberries” the Oxford comma is not necessary to understand me.

It isn't necessary in that example because there's not a plausible other meaning -- but if you'd put it in, the reader would not have had to take a microsecond to think about whether there was another possible meaning. Using it would have been an improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either way it's fine.

But do NOT put two spaces after a period. This is a clear indication that a parent wrote the essay.

Oh please! This should be in a separate thread. Microsoft Word manages this automatically. I feel sorry for those writers who never had the pleasure (or pain) of writing a book on a manual typewriter (preferably an Olivetti Lettera 32).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who don’t use the Oxford comma are monsters.

+1. Also, my 6th grader knows how to use the serial comma: using it does not look like a parent edited, it looks like your kid can write.

AP disagrees.

The AP stylebook advises using a final comma in a simple series only if omitting it could make the meaning unclear. For example, "The flag is red, white and blue"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Writer here. FWIW, I always use them. But this matters 0 percent for these essays.

+1 and as an editor I like to put them in - but all that matters is being clear and consistent; if you use the oxford comma once, make sure it's used throughout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids (college age) use the Oxford comma.

+1 as a current college student. It was taught to me as the correct way to write. Commas were engrained in me to the point a writing professor a couple years back let me know about my overuse of them.

I hope your college is better than your high school.

I can't even imagine my parents knowing whether I use an Oxford comma or not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who don’t use the Oxford comma are monsters.

+1. Also, my 6th grader knows how to use the serial comma: using it does not look like a parent edited, it looks like your kid can write.

AP disagrees.

The AP stylebook advises using a final comma in a simple series only if omitting it could make the meaning unclear. For example, "The flag is red, white and blue"

Okay? Chicago, MLA, APA, US Government Printing all recommend it. Some journalistic style guides don’t and we see how well that worked with the CBS headline above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are driving your child crazy. It does not matter. Just pick one and be consistent.

No, this should say "You are driving your child crazy. It does not matter. Do not edit things in your child's essays that are not mistakes, whether that's the existence or the absence of an optional comma. Better yet, don't be the editor for your child's essay at all."

[Anonymous]

I *love* the oxford comma. Use it!

(But this is a ridiculous question.)

[Anonymous]

It has really made my morning that we are arguing about the Oxford comma. I feel so vindicated and alive.