Meaning & use
Oxford comma
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Meaning
nouncountable
A comma placed immediately before the conjunction (usually 'and' or 'or') that joins the last two items in a list of three or more.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an Oxford comma' or 'the Oxford comma'. It is a specific punctuation mark, not a general term for any comma.
Patterns
- use an Oxford comma
- the Oxford comma
- an Oxford comma before 'and'
In the sentence 'We bought apples, bananas, and cherries,' there is an Oxford comma after 'bananas'.
Some style guides require an Oxford comma, while others advise leaving it out.
Without an Oxford comma, 'I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God' could be misread as thanking two people who are my parents.
Word forms
| plural | Oxford commas |
|---|
Common combinations
- use an Oxford comma
- Many academic writers use an Oxford comma for clarity.
- omit the Oxford comma
- The newspaper's style guide tells journalists to omit the Oxford comma.
- serial comma
- 'Serial comma' is another name for the Oxford comma, common in American English.
- before the conjunction
- Place the Oxford comma before the conjunction in a series.
Synonyms and how they differ
- serial comma
- This is the more general term used especially in American English; 'Oxford comma' is associated with Oxford University Press style but means the same thing.
Word family
- comma noun
- A punctuation mark (,) used to separate parts of a sentence; the Oxford comma is a specific use of it.
Commonly confused: Oxford comma or comma splice?
Oxford comma vs comma splice
A comma splice is an error where two independent clauses are joined only by a comma, while the Oxford comma is a correct optional comma in a list.
Practice
Which sentence uses an Oxford comma?
Choose one answer.
The Oxford comma is the comma before the final 'and' in a list of three or more items. Option B has that comma after 'milk'. Option An omits it, option C has no commas at all, and option D uses semicolons instead of commas.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Oxford comma”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.