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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Doesn't its use just indicate that you have adopted a set of established rules? For instance, the Chicago Manual of Style, which many college professors will request for papers, requires the use of the serial/Oxfor comman. As a writer and reader, I am just thrown off when writers don't use it.[b] There's almost always no good reason not to use it.[/b][/quote]

I’m curious as to whether anyone can provide examples of how using it ever has a downside.[/quote]

Rarely, but there are cases. A pp upthread provided an example that said something like “I’d like to thank my father, Jeff Steele, and the anonymous users of DCUM.”

I’m a writer and would probably just rewrite that sentence so it’s not an issue, but that is an example.[/quote]

I disagree that the lack of Oxford comma would make the sentence less confusing.  If it was always used in cases except in cases where the first two items are essentially a parenthetical leaving it out would be useful, but since so many people choose not to use it even when dad isn’t jeff, its absence in this sentence provides no clarity.[/quote]

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