Timeline for Using "and" to end a list with an "and" phrase
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
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| Sep 9, 2021 at 11:41 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @Matt There's a sound argument for judicious but not robotic use of the Oxford comma. Though at times it boils down to a style choice, with certain examples one is better used or omitted (depending on the intended sense, to disambiguate). Discussed elsewhere on ELU. Certain pronouncements by some style guides are best avoided. | |
| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Apr 3, 2014 at 23:31 | comment | added | Wlerin | And yes, the reference I quoted was discussing serial commas. It was the only section of the CMS I could find that even remotely related to the question at hand. | |
| Apr 3, 2014 at 23:26 | comment | added | Wlerin |
Without the Oxford comma, it would read: health, sciences and technology, law and economics and human and social sciences. Publisher guidelines aside, the sentence is already confusing enough with the comma in place, no need to add to it by taking it out. As to as well as, they mean rather different things. In the second case the two words are on equal footing, while in the first she is being introduced as clever in addition to being (and we probably already knew or expected she was) strong. You may be able to interchange them in some contexts but they do not mean the same thing.
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| Apr 3, 2014 at 7:15 | comment | added | Matt | I definitely don't want to keep the Oxford comma. Every publisher has their own guidelines, and this one expressly forbids it. I personally disagree with the logic of it. If one must write "toast, bacon, and eggs", then why not "bacon, and eggs"? ... That said, I often mix and match use of the serial comma, especially for lists of phrases, in which case a pause is necessary. | |
| Apr 3, 2014 at 7:08 | comment | added | Matt | I totally disagree that "as well as" is not equivalent to "and". "She is clever as well as strong." = "She is clever and strong." ... Stylistic choice, nothing more. | |
| Apr 3, 2014 at 7:03 | comment | added | Matt | I think that CMS reference refers to serial commas, though I don't have a subscription and can't log in. | |
| Apr 2, 2014 at 17:51 | history | edited | Wlerin | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 1 characters in body
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| Apr 2, 2014 at 17:06 | history | answered | Wlerin | CC BY-SA 3.0 |