Add a comma before an "and" in an enumeration?

[Mark76]

As some of you may know, I’m Dutch and English is my second language. (I’ve lived in Australia and I regularly visit the UK, Canada and the USA for my work. In addition, I’ve written a book and quite a few articles in English)

I’ve asked a similar question before here: when to add a comma in a sentence. It appeared that in English commas are used more often than in Dutch (thanks, guys!)

But now I have a more specific question: do you add a comma before the (last) “and” in an enumeration? So, for example, do you write “apples, pears, and peaches” or “apples, pears and peaches”.

One reason I ask this has a humorous aspect to it: my two professors when I graduated disagreed quite strongly on this. In fact, there appears to be a name for the comma before the “and” (the Oxford comma), but according to one professor, it was hardly used. Was he right? Is a comma normally used before the last “and” or not?

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[Mikedoh]

I was taught ” apples, pears, and peaches”. Granted, it was over 40 years ago. I suspect it is somewhat regional. I believe both are correct, and that the Oxford comma is despised by some (maybe many).

My sister used to teach English, and if I remember, I’ll ask.

ps I had a grueling 12+ hour shift last night, and am on again tonight, so may reply sometime tomorrow evening EST.

[Bill Kirkley]

I googled your question and this link came up.

Comma Before And

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tcmeyer, Alan

[Mark76]

Thanks a lot! That’s a very good explanation. In fact, I didn’t realize my question was about dependent clauses (“apples, pears, and peaches”) in which the (Oxford) comma is optional. Of course, there are independent clauses, too (“It’s cold outside, and I can’t find my coat.”) in which the comma is mandatory.

In Dutch we use commas less than in English, which I learned some time ago (on this forum – thanks, guys!). Since then I used commas at least in independent clauses.

I think I already knew the Oxford comma was optional (which only added to my confusion about when to use a comma). I guess that from now on I will use the Oxford comma as well. I have no good reason at all : the professor who guided my Ph.D. thesis was strongly against the Oxford comma, but his professor (who was also in my graduation committee) was, together with Fred Brooks (the author of The Mythical Man-Month), the inventor of the first IBM mainframe computer, and a strong advocate of the Oxford comma.

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[Marc H]

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[tcmeyer]

It’s been some 60 years since I had this in English class.  Back then, we were taught to not use the comma before the “and,” so I was surprised to see the Grammerly position on it.  If I read a document and see such a comma, it jumps out at me as an error and distracts my attention.  As a world-class ADD, I don’t have have much attention to spare.  And getting older ain’t helping.

I was also taught to never start a sentence with “And.”

The same thing happened about twenty years ago when my boss used “different than” in a discussion.  I had been taught to use “different from.”  I was sure he was wrong and then shocked to learn that it was one of those optional grammar rules.  I wonder what my elementary school English teachers would say.

I hated English back in 8th grade and now it’s pretty interesting.  Thanks Mark, for posting this issue.

How many punctuation errors in this post?

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Mark76, Marc H

[Mark76]

Tom, I have installed Grammarly (a Chrome plug-in), so I hope there are zero (grammatical) errors in my posts .

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