Grammar question

[ZDL]

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[chadbag]

Concerning commas: Ive always thought it proper to use 2 commas when separating 3 items in a sentence. IE: Please pick up ham, turkey, and bread from the store.

Lately, I've been seeing it with only one comma after the first listed item. IE: Please pick up ham, turkey and bread from the store.


I asked 2 people, one is an English teacher (my sister) and the other a copywriter (sister-in-law). They disagree. English teachers says 2 commas, copywriter says one.

So, consensus?

Old school is 2 commas, and what I use. New fangled acceptance is one comma. Stay with two. You will look more intelligent to people in the know

added:

two commas is more precise. One comma can lead to ambiguity. For example, are you to pick up ham and (turkey and bread) or ham and turkey and bread. Your example is hard to mess up but there are other contexts where one comma can lead to ambiguity. It is also lazy IMNSHO to leave it out. But it has gained acceptance to do it that way

[Tom_Jones]

deleted

[crusader4x]

Both are just fine.

[rob_s]

Both are acceptable, and have been for the last 30 years since I was in elementary school.

That's the problem with English teachers and copywriters, they want to apply rules to language as if it was math. It's not math, if used correctly it is art

[ZDL]

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[Gutshot John]

I'm starting to side with 1 comma. Why would you pause before "and"?

Yep.

One comma is more correct.

Overuse of commas is something I've struggled with grammatically.

[randolph]

this...

Old school is 2 commas, and what I use. New fangled acceptance is one comma. Stay with two. You will look more intelligent to people in the know

[Business_Casual]

Brits would use the extra comma, if that helps (for or against).

M_P

[chadbag]

I'm starting to side with 1 comma. Why would you pause before "and"?

Because when you speak, you do slightly. However a pause in speaking does not mean a comma or a lack of a pause does not mean lack of a comma. Spoken and written language is not the same or I should say there is lack of one to one correspondence.

You pronounce

I am having bacon, eggs, and ham
and
I am having bacon, eggs and ham

the same


one comma looks really funny to me since unless eggs and ham are a single complete unit, there is nothing to show that they are not.