Oxford Comma - college essays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only autists and anti-intellectuals care about this one way or the other.

Use whichever is unambiguous.

Filling your writing with comma-separated lists is bad writing.

Use bullet points for technical writing, and use your words for essays.

And attorneys. It actually really matters in contracts. There have been a couple of legal cases in which the outcome hinged on a missing Oxford comma, including the recent Maine Oakhurst Dairy judgement to which a pp linked.

[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.

Did your writing professor have any concerns about the passive voice?

[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.

Did your writing professor have any concerns about the passive voice?

I am going to add that when choosing between "ingrained" and "engrained," you should only pick the latter if the item is tangibly embedded, like the comma is physically implanted or stuck in your head. Otherwise, use ingrained.

Fun thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Same. Our family are staunch Oxford comma stans. It's was a core part of our parenting!

Hear, hear.

Same in our house. And don’t get us started on fonts! (Writer/editor mom, graphic designer/copywriter dad. Poor kids didn’t stand a chance.)

[Anonymous]

If your child doesn’t have an opinion on the Oxford comma—or at least enough writing experience to know which system their teachers typically prefer—maybe they’re not quite ready for college?

[Anonymous]

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

Op here…I love where this thread has gone!

- lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Journalists don’t use it because it takes up extra space. Newsroom style guides typically omit it. Academics (who use the style guides you list) do use it.

[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.

Did your writing professor have any concerns about the passive voice?

Surprisingly no as I do recognize it’s an issue. But also, this is an online forum. It’s not the first thing on my mind.

[Anonymous]

Whatever, just be consistant.

Now, if you force your kid to put two spaces after a period rather than one, you are a terrible parent.

[Anonymous]

Oxford comma all the way. Just google Oxford comma Supreme Court case.

[Anonymous]

My teen uses it and I am proud!

Oxford Comma 4eva!

[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.

Did your writing professor have any concerns about the passive voice?

L,O,L

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Journalists don’t use it because it takes up extra space. Newsroom style guides typically omit it. Academics (who use the style guides you list) do use it.

Newsrooms and journalists can barely write a coherent sentence anymore. It's not a typo when the sentence is ungrammatical!

[Anonymous]

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

Precisely! This is a clown question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I was going to say pretentious ignorami, but monsters is acceptable.

Wait why is it pretentious NOT to use it? Seems pretentious to add it where it is not required.

It is pretentious not to use it because it is a stick in the eye of clarity. I would be willing to bet that the jack wagon that declared Pluto not a planet is the sort that would not use it.