Recently at work an excellent editor criticized my use of the Oxford comma.
“Use it or don’t use it,” she advised. But be consistent.
I disagree. For years I’ve been using my own rule for the Oxford comma. And I think I’m right.
But first, what is the Oxford comma? sometimes called the ‘serial’ comma? According to Oxford Dictionaries, it is “the optional comma before the word ‘and’ at the end of a list.” Oxford’s example: We sell books, videos, and magazines.
My practice is different. For simple lists of single words, I don’t use an Oxford comma. Thus I prefer:
Books, videos and magazines.
But for a complex list using multiple words, that final comma is important. For instance, when deciding whether to write this blog post I considered:
Where to post it, whether anybody would read it, and whether it would enhance or detract from my status as a writer.
Hopefully you see that the first series doesn’t need the final comma but the second series does.
Commas are typically optional. Reasonable people can disagree. The Oxford comma should work the same way.
Consistency is for birds, hobgoblins and nanny goats. But not for the Oxford comma. If you need a rule, I propose mine.