The Grammarmatrix was approached this week by an Insider fan asking for clarification on a punctuation issue. Evidently she and her boyfriend disagree on when to use a comma in a series before the word “and.” The Grammarmatrix is happy to clarify and perhaps curtail this quarrel.
The comma is a mark of separation and one of its duties is to pide items in a series. It’s a useful punctuation mark but often misused.
The rule with three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a series is to place a comma after every item in the series. Period. Although some publications adhere to the rule and some (editor’s note: Including the Monitor and Insider!) don’t, it’s a practice that gives equal weight to each separated word and creates a clearer message. Therefore, the sentence, “The Insider’s readers are intelligent, witty, and love their grammar,” shows the correct use of commas.
While we’re on the subject of commas, here’s a distinguishing point I’m sure you’ll be fascinated with (see previous article on ending a sentence with a preposition).
When you’re using two adjectives to describe a word, you can separate them with either a comma or a hyphen. You may be scratching your head in contemplation of this and excitedly wondering when and how to use them. Well, my friends, use a comma when the adjectives precede and describe the same noun. For instance: “Each week I look forward to the Insider’s sassy, colorful comments.” However, to get a bit complicated, if the first adjective describes the second adjective as a noun phrase, then don’t use a comma. For example: “The ambitious young editor, Ben, was never happier than when he had his red pen in hand.”
Now for the adjectives separated by hyphens. Hyphens are used to join compound adjectives (which are two words that function as a single adjective). For example: “As usual, Ben ran a well-planned meeting.” (Also an example of the Grammarmatrix sucking up to the editor!)
To conclude, the Grammarmatrix thanks her reader for the question on commas, and hopes more readers will throw perceived grammatical conundrums her way.
(Editor’s note: Everyone from Teresa Nielsen Hayden to Vampire Weekend has debated the usefulness of the Oxford comma. Our newspaper style,however dictates that we must not use it – even though we’d love to! We just can’t help following the rules. For that, we’d like to thank our parents, Tom Aspell and God.)
