A Little Bit of Comma Love

I love commas. They’re such tiny things, but their power is immense. Okay, “immense” is probably an overstatement. Let’s start by agreeing that commas are important and move on from there.

My love of the humble comma extends to the serial (or series, or Oxford) comma. For those of you so-called “normal” people who don’t spend hours out of every day thinking about commas, the serial comma is the comma that comes before the conjunction in a series of three or more items (as in “puppies, kittens, and salamanders”). Some people consider this comma “optional” or “extra” (they would prefer “puppies, kittens and salamanders”), and many writers and editors treat serial commas like so much disgusting punctuation litter, the kind of trash one must handle only while wearing rubber gloves and a respirator. Certain word nerds enjoy arguing over whether the serial comma is necessary or appropriate. I prefer not to argue about it; I just go ahead and use that little comma unless there’s a good reason not to.

Certainly there are times when a serial comma would get in the way or cause confusion for the reader. In such cases, leave it out. However, I edit lots of documents written by people who either don’t like serial commas or think the use of the serial comma is absolutely forbidden somewhere in the Ten Commandments. I call these unfortunate folks commaphobes. Somewhere there must be a support group for commaphobic people—at least I hope there is. But getting back to my point, I think the serial comma clarifies more often than it obscures. I don’t enjoy obscure writing, so I’m all for anything that will improve clarity. I guess this makes me a commaphile.

By the way, please feel free to disagree with my thoughts on the serial comma. I won’t even argue with you. Hey, you’re entitled to be commaphobic, misguided, and wrong.