For years I have resisted dropping the final comma in a series.
E.g.: lions, tigers, and bears versus lions, tigers and bears
If there are three things, I use two commas. I don't know why.
Now I do.
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They do what they do.
Thinking about schools and peers and parent-child attachments....I came across one of my favorite posts .
8 comments:
I think the Oxford comma brings clarity to the items in the list. It drives me nuts that many places have dropped it (like the NYT).
My kids love the picture book version of Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!
How many spaces do you use between sentences? I use two. I've heard you're supposed to only use one. I don't know when they changed that rule (or if it's an urban myth), but it's way to ingrained at this point for me to change.
Debbie,
I was trained to do two spaces, too. In fact, a friend of mine lost points on a paper because she didn't space two times after the period. She had never heard of that before.
SusanS
In the old typewriter days, the standard was two spaces after a period. Some people argue that with modern typefaces there is no reason to do so (but these people are wrong).
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/01/you-can-have-my-double-space-when-you-pry-it-from-my-cold-dead-hands/69592/
I am also a fan of the Oxford comma, by the way. Just old fashioned I guess!
"In the old typewriter days, the standard was two spaces after a period. Some people argue that with modern typefaces there is no reason to do so (but these people are wrong)."
Also, some of us who program computers for a living have a strong preference (when typing) for mono-spaced fonts. Like Courier.
-Mark Roulo
I'm too young for typewriting (tail end of Gen X, almost Gen Y) so I learned a single space. I'd actually never heard of the double space thing until fairly recently.
What kind of sandwiches do you have?
Turkey, BLT, peanut butter and jelly.
What's in a BLT?
Bacon, lettuce, and tomato.
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