Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all
kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. Thank
you to the co-hosts for September: Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando. To read posts
from other contributors, click here.
This month’s optional question: Since it's back to
school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in
school that messed you up as a writer?
English. Oy. So many rules and I’m supposed to choose only one?
This question brought me back to seventh grade. Our English teacher Miss Newman was lovely, but I had a lot going on that year and spent a good deal of class distracted, which is to say I failed to learn how to diagram a sentence. Enough rubbed off that I know my parts of speech, but how to punctuate them is a definite weakness.
In a display of I’m never too old to learn-itis, before receiving this month’s optional question, it happens I did a little research on the Oxford comma. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I knew the definition of an OC but I’ve encountered enough controversy about it online that I decided it was time to educate myself. Back in the day, I was taught that a comma before the conjunction preceding the last item in a list was optional, depending on what it did for clarity. My research revealed my “optional” comma is the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma. Much ado about not very much I suppose (except for a 2014 lawsuit in Maine you can read about here), but the general idea is to be consistent with usage and always make sure you are being clear.
Oxford comma: I live with my brothers, monkey, and snake.
No Oxford comma: I live with my brothers, monkey and snake.
Without the OC, it reads that the brothers are the monkey
and snake. With it, you can tell the brothers, monkey, and snake are separate parts of the list.
But when all is said and done, perhaps the best idea is to re-write
the sentence.
I live with my brothers. I also have a monkey and a snake.
Anyway, there is more debate than I even knew with regard to my “optional comma,” because my research revealed that the AP Stylebook (Hello journalists!)
does not use the OC, but the Chicago Manual of Style, used by book publishers,
does.
Aha. This explains a lot. I started my secondary education
as a journalism major before morphing to English Literature. Go figure. I guess
it’s easier to blame my OC lack of clarity on competing writing styles rather
than a failure to pay attention during ancient history.
Oops, sorry. I mean seventh grade English.
Where do you land on the Oxford Comma issue? What other writing rules confound you?
17 comments:
I've always used the Oxford comma. I didn't know there was such controversy around it though.
I like the Oxford comma and find that unlike ALL the other comma rules I can remember it. I'm a self-acknowledged comma aphasia so. Like Emily Dickinson I loves me a hyphen!
Aphasiac!
I've always used the Oxford comma like Alex, and we use it for articles at my job. Thankfully, Grammarly tells me when I make comma and other grammar errors.
There always seems to be someone arguing about the appropriate use of commas, Oxford or otherwise. Your explanation was very clear.
There are some writing rules I just cannot get a handle on, but thankfully, there are resources to help me double check my work. :)
One comma rule that often gets people is the one sibling or more thing.
'My brother, John, did it' indicates I only have one brother.
'My brother John did it' indicates I have more than one brother.
In the first sentence, the commas set of 'John' as an oppositive.
Definitely a fan of the Oxford comma. And when I was growing up they don’t seem to have much believed in grammar instruction; though we expected to use it correctly we seldom got the names for anything.
I had a Miss Newman teacher, too! (For history.) I happen to love the Oxford comma, for the clarity you pointed out in your example.
I do love the OC. Big fan.
Funny how journalism and publishing follow different rules with the same language. Gotta keep us writers on our toes, I guess.
In Australia, we don't tend to use the Oxford comma much, but I prefer it.
I know it's better for clarity but being in the UK I grew up not using it. So it always confused me why it was named after one of our biggest universities. Or maybe it isn't?
I love the Oxford comma! It makes so much sense to me. Our style guide at work doesn't use it and I find so many sentences become misleading so quickly!
I agree with you that "the general idea is to be consistent with usage and always make sure you are being clear" :-)
Hi Liza - the Oxford comma has its day, doesn't it ... all I knew was a comma - but you've elucidated it here- thank you! Cheers Hilary
I don't think I was conscious of doing it, but I use the Oxford comma. I admit when I read a book, and the commas aren't there, it can mess up the reading flow. I probably over comma in my own writing. Oh well! Good post.
English commas are very difficult to me - as they are fewer by far than in my native Danish - but one thing I always get right, is the Oxford comma ;)
I've heard a lot about different uses of Oxford Commas but I never know how to use them. I always use the Oxford approach but the others work well too.
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