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Some people use the Oxford comma (also known as the Harvard or serial comma). This is a comma before "and" or "or" at the end of a series, regardless of whether it is needed for clarification purposes. For example: X, Y, and Z (with an Oxford comma) X, Y and Z (without an Oxford comma)
References on English usage strongly criticize the phrase as "ugly" [2] and "Janus-faced". [4] William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, in their classic The Elements of Style–recognized by Time one of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written in English since 1923, [6] say and/or is "A device, or shortcut, that damages a sentence and often leads to confusion or ambiguity". [3]
While some sources view comma splices as a form of run-on sentences, [11] others limit the term to independent clauses that are joined without punctuation. [10] [13] Per The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the term "run-on sentence" is also used for "a very long sentence, especially one lacking order or coherence". [14]
The comma-free approach is often used with partial quotations: The report observed "a 45% reduction in transmission rate". A comma is required when it would be present in the same construction if none of the material were a quotation: In Margaret Mead's view, "we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities" to enrich our culture.
(Without the comma, this would mean that only the trees more than six feet tall were cut down.) Some style guides prescribe that two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction ( for , and , nor , but , or , yet , so ) must be separated by a comma placed before the conjunction.
Many commas are grammatically required, and many that aren't are stylistically preferred in formal writing. Furthermore, some low- register uses of commas are incorrect. Insertion or removal of a single comma can often totally change the meaning of a sentence, while in other cases having virtually no effect at all.
Comprehensive style guides, such as the Oxford Style Manual in the United Kingdom and style guides developed by the American Psychological Association, and the Modern Language Association in the United States, provide standards for a wide variety of writing, design, and English language topics—such as grammar, punctuation, and typographic ...
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. [1] English punctuation has two complementary aspects: phonological punctuation, linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; [2] and grammatical punctuation, linked to the structure of the sentence. [3]