The Oxford comma may make or break your case

Eat, shit, and die. <-- one sense
Eat; shit and die. <-- similar?
Eat shit and die. <-- different
 
The case has been settled! The drivers will get $5 million for overtime they worked because the lack of the Oxford comma made the law unclear as to its intent:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/oxford-comma-maine.html

The case began in 2014, when three truck drivers sued the dairy for what they said was four years’ worth of overtime pay they had been denied. Maine law requires time-and-a-half pay for each hour worked after 40 hours, but it carved out exemptions for:

The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:

(1) Agricultural produce;

(2) Meat and fish products; and

(3) Perishable foods.

What followed the last comma in the first sentence was the crux of the matter: “packing for shipment or distribution of.” The court ruled that it was not clear whether the law exempted the distribution of the three categories that followed, or if it exempted packing for the shipment or distribution of them.

Let the pedantics rejoice.
 
Grammarly keeps suggesting that I should add multiple commas.

Get stuffed, fucked, and lost, Grammarly.

Gerund_Pronouns.PNG
 
Denny

"Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?"
First, who's Oxford, and second, why do I give a rats ass what he says is correct, or not correct?
Most of the time, usually, rather often, automatically, I add that last comma, Oxford or not Oxford, understand?:confused:
 
First, who's Oxford, and second, why do I give a rats ass what he says is correct, or not correct?
Most of the time, usually, rather often, automatically, I add that last comma, Oxford or not Oxford, understand?:confused:

The Chicago Manual of Style has [apparently] a different way to everyone else. Being English, I don't speak or write " 'merican" and if I need to refer to the best way of doing something written, I'll ask the advice of Oxford University Press (hence 'oxford').
And if you are writing Rules (Laws, etc..), you had better get the woirds right, else some smartarse lawyer will cause you grief.
 
"She awakened from years in a comma."

It can get grim.
 
I always use it and have done so since middle school (fka, junior high school). It's a non-negotiable issue with any volunteer editors I might be lucky enough to have help with my manuscripts. I'm still perturbed when I see it omitted in most US magazine articles I read.
 
"Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?"

I guess I should learn this, coz honestly, I have no idea. I just, like, use the darn things and I have no idea what the rules about them are. I think this is an :eek: moment.

Chicago Manual of Style?
 
I guess I should learn this, coz honestly, I have no idea. I just, like, use the darn things and I have no idea what the rules about them are. I think this is an :eek: moment.

Chicago Manual of Style?

Talk to Pilot or Lynn about the CMS; if you feel it necessary.
:rose:
 
Talk to Pilot or Lynn about the CMS; if you feel it necessary.
:rose:
Pilot has apparently moved on. No posts this year. But the voices in my head demand very clear placement of commas. I want groupings to be known. Thinking back on it, this derives from my software training; I didn't require clear communications before then.

Comma placement a form of fall-through logic: what are choices, and what is the default? Lack of a final comma groups the last listed elements by default.

This doesn't really matter in much informal communications. In engineering and law, it matters greatly. In shopping lists too, sure. But with stroker text scanned one-handed, who cares? Play it for comedic effect. It's only LIT.
 
Challenge: Write a viable and readable story with zero commas or colons or semicolons. No clauses. Only sentences and periods are allowed. Have fun. Be tedious.
 
Challenge: Write a viable and readable story with zero commas or colons or semicolons. No clauses. Only sentences and periods are allowed. Have fun. Be tedious.

Has either Hemingway or Lee Child done this? They both seem to have five word sentences in their stories.
 
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