== last comma ==

The pubs people of IBM (where I worked quite a few years) taught me that a list in (American) English should be

 "{ABC, DEF, G, and H}"

Any opinions?? --[[User:Walterpachl|Walterpachl]] ([[User talk:Walterpachl|talk]]) 15:15, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

:Eric Lipperts' blog entry states that the task excludes the [http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-oxford-comma Oxford comma]. -[[User:Paddy3118|Paddy3118]] ([[User talk:Paddy3118|talk]]) 16:47, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

:I think your IBM buddies are correct, and leaving out the Oxford comma is imprecise. It bothered me enough that I immediately looked at this page to see if there was discussion. Oh well, the task specifically states that the list shall be constructed in this ambiguous and sometimes unintentionally funny ([http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamdavis/the-oxford-comma-is-extremely-important-and-everyone-should buzzfeed]) way. [[User:Danaj|Danaj]] ([[User talk:Danaj|talk]]) 16:09, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I was taught (American English) that the ''Oxford comma'' was optional, but the list is better with it than without.

Consider a list of people (or couples):
::* Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy, and Zach ::* Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy, Zach ::* Albert and Alice, Bob, Cal and Cindy, Matt and Mandy and Zach where Zach (in the 3^rd form) appears to be a threesome with Matt and Mandy.

Note that Bob and Zach are meant to be shown as ''alone'' (as not part of a couple in this case).

-- [[User:Gerard Schildberger|Gerard Schildberger]] ([[User talk:Gerard Schildberger|talk]]) 09:24, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Also, see: [http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2011/09/20/strippers-jfk-and-stalin-illustrate-why-you-should-use-the-serial-comma/ visual proof for the need of an Oxford comma].

-- [[User:Gerard Schildberger|Gerard Schildberger]] ([[User talk:Gerard Schildberger|talk]]) 00:27, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Sirs, I covered just this eventuality, methinks by the use of [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quibble quibbling] in the title ;-)

--[[User:Paddy3118|Paddy3118]] ([[User talk:Paddy3118|talk]]) 18:02, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I too looked at this page to see if there is a discussion of Oxford comma. I prefer the use of Oxford comma, although it is not used in this task; however you could do that some program will have a Oxford variant in addition to the non-Oxford form in case you really like Oxford comma. This is just the idea and is not really the task specification, though. --[[User:Zzo38|Zzo38]] ([[User talk:Zzo38|talk]]) 06:47, 2 November 2015 (UTC)