Larry Gusaas said on 08.04.2007 21:48:
Peter Reaper wrote:
Michael Adams said on 08.04.2007 15:59:
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The quoted article does not say it is mandatory in any way anywhere.
Yes it does. Re-read it. It says: "*Separate* three or more items in a
series with a comma." That sounds pretty mandatory to me.
http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#26
True, but that does not make the article correct .A was previously
posted by Adrian Try "It's interesting - I was taught at school not to
use a comma before the 'and' in a list." I was taught the same. Did you
look at the article in Wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
The issue is not as clearcut as you claim it is.
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Also, I was merely pointing out an error in Adrian's signature (which
appears in *every* post of his) in the hope that he would *welcome*
the opportunity to correct a highly visible (but minor) error and that
he might appreciate the opportunity to learn something about the
language he is using. He even *thanked* me for it.
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He was very polite. Did you look at the Wikipedia article he cited ?
The comma was not necessarily an error according to some other opinions.
Yes, I did read it. Interesting read! It is pretty clear there that in
*American* English, the serial comma is virtually always used (see
"Style guides") (AP are traitors ;-) ). I also found the reasons (see
"Ambiguity") *for* its use far more compelling than those *against* its use.
Anyhow, it's a minor issue, and I never intended to make it any more
than that.
I found it interesting that the old empire (UK) and its (former)
colonies have a different (IMO less ideal) convention/rule for this.
--
Regards,
Peter Reaper
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