Serial comma
The serial comma is a comma placed after the second-to-last term in a list when writing out three or more terms. For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated with the serial comma as "France, Italy, and Spain" or without it as "France, Italy and Spain". The serial comma can help avoid ambiguity in some situations, but can also create it in others. There is no universally accepted standard for its use.
The serial comma is popular in formal writing but is usually omitted in journalism as a way to save space. Its popularity in informal and semi-formal writing depends on the variety of English; it is usually excluded in British English, while in American English it is common and often considered mandatory outside journalism. Academic and legal style guides such as the APA style, The Chicago Manual of Style, Garner's Modern American Usage, Strunk Jr.|Strunk] and White's The Elements of Style, and the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual either recommend or require the serial comma, as does The Oxford Style Manual. Newspaper stylebooks such as the Associated Press Stylebook, The New York Times Style Book, and The Canadian Press stylebook typically recommend against it. Most British style guides do not require it, with The Economist Style Guide noting most British writers use it only to avoid ambiguity.
While many sources provide default recommendations on whether to use the serial comma as a matter of course, most also include exceptions for situations where it is necessary to avoid ambiguity.
History
The comma itself is widely attributed to Aldus Manutius, a 15th-century Italian printer who used a mark—now recognized as a comma—to separate words. Etymologically, the word comma, which became widely used to describe Manutius's mark, comes from the Greek κόμμα. The serial comma has been used for centuries in a variety of languages, though not necessarily in a uniform or regulated manner.The serial comma is most often attributed to Horace Hart, the printer and controller of the Oxford University Press from 1893 to 1915. Hart wrote the eponymous Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers in 1905 as a style guide for the employees working at the press. The guide called for the use of the serial comma, but the punctuation mark had no distinct name until 1978, when Peter Sutcliffe referred to the serial comma as such in his historical account of the Oxford University Press.
Sutcliffe, however, attributed the serial comma not to Horace Hart but to F. Howard Collins, who mentioned it in his 1905 book, Author & Printer: A Guide for Authors, Editors, Printers, Correctors of the Press, Compositors, and Typists.
Arguments for and against
Common arguments for the consistent use of the serial comma are:- The comma's use is consistent with the conventional practice of the region.
- It can resolve ambiguity.
- Its use is consistent with other means of separating items in a list.
- Its use is consistent with the spoken rhythm of the sentence, and is especially important for copy meant to be read aloud by a voice actor.
- The comma's omission is consistent with the conventional practice of the region.
- It can introduce ambiguity.
- When space is at a premium, it adds redundancy and unnecessary bulk to the text.
Ambiguity
Omitting the serial comma may create ambiguity; writers who normally avoid the comma often use one to avoid this. Consider the apocryphal book dedication below:There is ambiguity about the writer's parentage as "Mother Teresa and the pope" can be read as an appositive phrase renaming of my parents, leading the reader to believe that the writer claims that Mother Teresa and the pope are their parents. A comma before the and removes the ambiguity:
Nevertheless, lists can also be written in other ways that eliminate the ambiguity without introducing the serial comma, such as by changing the word order, or by using other or no punctuation to introduce or delimit them :
An example collected by Nielsen Hayden was found in a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard:
A serial comma following "Kris Kristofferson" would help prevent this being understood as Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall being the ex-wives in question.
In some circumstances, using the serial comma can create ambiguity. If the book dedication above is changed to
the comma after Mother Teresa creates ambiguity because it can be read as an appositive phrase implying that the writer's mother is Mother Teresa. This leaves it unclear whether this is a list of three entities or of only two entities.
The Times once published an unintentionally humorous description of a Peter Ustinov documentary, noting that "highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector". Again, there is ambiguity as to whether the sentence refers to three distinct entities, or whether Mandela is being described as both a demigod and a dildo collector. The addition of a serial comma would not resolve the issue, as he could still be mistaken for a demigod, although he would be precluded from being a dildo collector.
Or consider:
This is ambiguous because it is unclear whether "a maid" is an appositive renaming of Betty or the second in a list of three people. On the other hand, removing the final comma:
leaves the possibility that Betty is both a maid and a cook. In this case, neither the serial-comma style—nor the no-serial-comma style—resolves the ambiguity. A writer who intends a list of three distinct people may create an ambiguous sentence, regardless of whether the serial comma is adopted. Furthermore, if the reader is unaware of which convention is being used, both styles can be ambiguous in cases such as this.
These forms would remove the ambiguity:
- One person
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, who was a maid and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, both a maid and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, their maid and cook.
- Two people
- * They went to Oregon with Betty and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty—a maid—and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and with a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with the maid Betty and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with a cook and Betty, a maid.
- Three people
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, as well as a maid and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty and a maid and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with Betty, one maid and a cook.
- * They went to Oregon with a maid, a cook, and Betty.
- * They went to Oregon with a maid, a cook and Betty.
- * ''They went with Betty to Oregon with a maid and a cook.''
In general
- The list x, y and z is unambiguous if y and z cannot be read as a renaming of x.
- Equally, x, y, and z is unambiguous if y cannot be read as a renaming of x.
- If neither y nor y and z can be read as a renaming of x, then both forms of the list are unambiguous, but if both y and y and z can be read as a renaming of x, then both forms of the list are ambiguous.
- x and y and z is unambiguous if x and y and y and z cannot both be grouped.
Recommendations by English style guides
writes: "There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken."Omitting a serial comma is often characterized as a journalistic style of writing, as contrasted with a more academic or formal style. Journalists typically do not use the comma, possibly for economy of space. In Australia and Canada, the comma is typically avoided in non-academic publications unless its absence produces ambiguity.
It is important that the serial comma's usage within a document be consistent; inconsistent usage can seem unprofessional.
Mainly American style guides supporting mandatory or typical use
;The United States Government Printing Office's Style Manual;Wilson Follett's Modern American Usage: A Guide, pp. 397–401:
;The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, paragraph 6.18
;The Elements of Style, Rule 2
;The American Medical Association Manual of Style, 9th edition Chapter 6.2.1
;The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition Chapter 4.03
;The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, Section 5.3.3.1
;Garner's Modern English Usage, 4th edition, "Punctuation," § D, "Comma", p. 748
;MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, paragraph 3.4.2.b
;AAMT Book of Style for Medical Transcription
;AIP Style Manual, American Institute of Physics, fourth edition, 1990
;Plain English Handbook, Revised Edition, § 483, p. 78
Mainly American style guides opposing typical use
;The New York Times stylebook;''The AP Stylebook''
Mainly British style guides supporting mandatory or typical use
;MHRA Style Guide, 4th editionMainly British style guides opposing typical use
;The Times style manual;The Economist Style Guide
Mainly British style guides that consider it generally unnecessary but discretionary
;The Guardian Style Guide;The Cambridge Guide to English Usage
;Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 4th edition, 2015
;New Hart's Rules, 2014
Australian style guides opposing typical use
;The Australian Government Publishing Service's ''Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers''Canadian style guides opposing typical use
; Public Works and Government Services Canada Translation Bureau's ''The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing''Other languages
Japanese
The serial comma does not exist in standard Japanese writing. Although it is technically possible to imitate it by writing a list such as 母、父、と私, this is not considered natural. In Japanese, list items are typically connected either with the particle と throughout or separated simply by commas, as in 母と父と私 or 母、父、私.Spanish
The serial comma is proscribed in Spanish. The Royal Spanish Academy explains that, in general, use of the comma is incompatible with the conjunctions y, e, ni, o, and u when they separate elements in the same series or syntactically equivalent members within a statement.A few exceptions are warranted: a) before the last element of a list of complex elements separated with a semicolon: A; B; C, and D; b) when the last member is linked with the whole previous clause and not the previous coordinated element — and thus there is an and after another and; c) when the last member of a sentence is semantically heterogeneous from the previous ones and thus indicates a conclusion or consequence — with a similar meaning to so; d) it can also be used — but is not mandatory — when two coordinated clauses are very long and especially when they have different subjects; e) when it equals the conjunction but; f) after the closure of an interpolated clause; g) when, rather than being part of a list, it actually introduces an interpolated clause explaining the previous element; h) it can either be repeated or not used when the conjunction and is repeated in a long list, creating a polysyndeton: A and B and C and D....
Vietnamese
In Vietnamese, the serial comma is commonplace because the conjunction và is routinely omitted from lists. As in English, comma omission can cause drastic changes in sentence meaning.Individual disputes
Maine labor dispute
In the U.S. state of Maine, the lack of a serial comma became the deciding factor in a $13 million lawsuit filed in 2014 that was eventually settled for $5 million in 2017. The U.S. appeals judge David J. Barron wrote, "For want of a comma, we have this case."In O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, a federal court of appeals was required to interpret a statute under which the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution" of certain goods were activities exempted from the general requirement of overtime pay. The question was whether this list included the distribution of the goods, or only the packing of the goods for distribution. The lack of a comma suggested one meaning, while the omission of the conjunction or before "packing" and the fact that the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual advised against use of the serial comma suggested another. It said "Although authorities on punctuation may differ, when drafting Maine law or rules, don't use a comma between the penultimate and the last item of a series." In addition to the absence of a comma, the fact that the word chosen was "distribution" rather than "distributing" was also a consideration, as was the question of whether it would be reasonable to consider the list to be an asyndetic list. Truck drivers demanded overtime pay; the defense conceded that the expression was ambiguous but said it should be interpreted as exempting distribution activity from overtime pay. The district court agreed with the defense and held that "distribution" was an exempt activity. On appeal, however, the United States [Court of Appeals for the First Circuit|First Circuit] decided that the sentence was ambiguous and "because, under Maine law, ambiguities in the state's wage and hour laws must be construed liberally in order to accomplish their remedial purpose", adopted the drivers' narrower reading of the exemption and ruled that those who distributed the goods were entitled to overtime pay. Oakhurst Dairy settled the case by paying $5 million to the drivers, and the phrase in the law in question was later changed to use serial semicolons and "distributing" resulting in "canning; processing; preserving; freezing; drying; marketing; storing; packing for shipment; or distributing".
The opinion in the case said that 43 of the 50 U.S. states had mandated the use of a serial comma and that both chambers of the federal congress had warned against omitting it, in the words of the U.S. House Legislative Counsel's Manual on Drafting Style, "to prevent any misreading that the last item is part of the preceding one"; only seven states "either do not require or expressly prohibited the use of the serial comma".