{"id":6183,"date":"2014-11-16T19:35:16","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T11:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/?p=6183"},"modified":"2014-11-16T19:35:16","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T11:35:16","slug":"what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-do-you-really-need-to-give-a-damn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-do-you-really-need-to-give-a-damn\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Oxford Comma and do you Really Need to Give a Damn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/a>The Oxford Comma, should you really care about what it is? Some people think not.<\/p>\n

The Oxford \u2013 or serial \u2013 comma is the one inserted just before the words \u201cand\u201d or \u201cor\u201d in the last item in a list of three or more items. That\u2019s straightforward enough, but perform a simple search on the Internet on the search phrase \u201cOxford comma\u201d and the results are sure to confuse you.<\/p>\n

What is <\/em>clear is that its presence, or lack thereof, is the subject of much debate. Many punctuation specialists argue that the use of an Oxford comma can make or break the meaning of a sentence, while others believe that it is an archaic outdated mark that should be confined to the past.<\/p>\n

Read more: Comma rules\u00a0everyone should master<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The truth is this: whether the Oxford comma is used is generally not so much of a big deal\u2014you will see sentences on a daily basis both with and without it, and it really won\u2019t cause you any serious issues. \u201cI ran six miles, swam ten miles, and cycled twelve miles.\u201d \u201cI ran six miles, swam ten miles and cycled twelve miles.\u201d Both sentences are perfectly fine and you won\u2019t lose any credibility for the use of either of them. However, sometimes a missing Oxford comma can make a serious difference to the meaning of a sentence\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/a><\/p>\n

In this case, the Oxford comma is needed to resolve ambiguity and, as such, it is sometimes helpful to the reader to use an isolated serial comma for clarification, even if the convention has not been adopted elsewhere in the document. The key to mastering this, as with many things relating to punctuation, is to consider the context. In deciding whether or not to use an Oxford comma, always keep in mind your intended<\/span> meaning. If those items in your series or list are equal but individual, you should ensure that they are all separated equally, and commas throughout and before the last item will help to keep your meaning clear.<\/p>\n

Need help with your punctuation? Take a look at our punctuation cheat sheet<\/a>.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oxford Comma, should you really care about what it is? Some people think not. The Oxford \u2013 or serial \u2013 comma is the one inserted just before the words \u201cand\u201d or \u201cor\u201d in the last item in a list of three or more items. That\u2019s straightforward enough, but perform a simple search on the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vappingo.com\/word-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}