I personally think there are times when the serial comma is needed, so for consistency, I use it all the time. And I believe the Chicago Manual of Style agrees with me, but I don't have mine next to me, so I can't check it out. But hey, that's why there are different style guides, right? We can agree to disagree? And since you're editing or writing Canadian English, it doesn't really matter to me.
After a little research it turns out that my disuse of the serial comma is a result of my Canadian English upbringing.
So to each his or her own but beware ambiguity. From Wiki: Consider "They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook." The presence of the last comma in the list creates the possibility that Betty is a maid, reasonably allowing it to be read either as a list of two people or as a list of three people, context aside. On the other hand, removing the comma leaves the possibility that Betty is both a maid and a cook; so in this case neither the use nor the avoidance of the serial comma resolves the ambiguity.
You just have to put it a different way if you need to reduce the ambiguity. That's my theory. And I saw somewhere that British English doesn't use it as much as American English, so that's where I got the idea about Canadian English. I didn't mean for it to sound like I hate Canadian English or anything. haha I'm 1/4 Canadian myself! haha
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I personally think there are times when the serial comma is needed, so for consistency, I use it all the time. And I believe the Chicago Manual of Style agrees with me, but I don't have mine next to me, so I can't check it out. But hey, that's why there are different style guides, right? We can agree to disagree? And since you're editing or writing Canadian English, it doesn't really matter to me.
True, and the house guide will always rule.
After a little research it turns out that my disuse of the serial comma is a result of my Canadian English upbringing.
So to each his or her own but beware ambiguity.
From Wiki:
Consider "They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook." The presence of the last comma in the list creates the possibility that Betty is a maid, reasonably allowing it to be read either as a list of two people or as a list of three people, context aside. On the other hand, removing the comma leaves the possibility that Betty is both a maid and a cook; so in this case neither the use nor the avoidance of the serial comma resolves the ambiguity.
You just have to put it a different way if you need to reduce the ambiguity. That's my theory.
And I saw somewhere that British English doesn't use it as much as American English, so that's where I got the idea about Canadian English. I didn't mean for it to sound like I hate Canadian English or anything. haha I'm 1/4 Canadian myself! haha
Indeed. And of course by Canadian English I meant, transitively, that it was (decended from) British English.
Is there a link to the Chicago Manual of Style?
Eggs. Baskets.
Even though you can't use the lawnmower in the snow, somehow there's always a use for the shovel year round.
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