pearljammer on 21 January 2010
| The Fury said: I don't like commas before conjuctions. I was taught never to do it and even though many stupid websites list you can, I see no reason to ever do it. Except for the use of a comma to show a part of a sentence which can be ignored or is redundent, the name of which I cannot remember. |
The Oxford comma has its usages. Though, like you, I often elect not to use it as it, more often than not, seems to be either useless or confusing. I think a lot of people chaulk it up to be a style preference, essentially.
I pulled this example from wikipedia:
To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.There is ambiguity about the writer's parentage, because Ayn Rand and God can be read as in apposition to my parents, leading the reader to believe that the writer refers to Ayn Rand and God as his or her parents. A comma before and removes the ambiguity:
To my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.
