Take a breath - add a comma?

engmajor2005 said:

Without knowing what you are listing (with the inclusion of ALDI, I'm guessing grocery stores; that's the only ALDI of which I'm aware)

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Correct - it was the example my English teacher used so first came to mine. Marks and Spencer is one store.

Including the Oxford comma gives you more freedom in constructing your lists. By including it, you fuss less about how to order the list,

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I've got to nearly 40 without ever really fussing about lists

Oxford comma, but I just find the comma to be a cleaner and more natural technique.

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Which is fine but it isn't a rule to be insisted on. To me it's a very cluttered and fussy technique as I have never used it, except when a house rule requires it. I've no objection to others using it, but I do think it appears dated.

Usher said:

I am absolutely consistent . . . They are only ever used in my work when the sentence would not make any sense otherwise

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Then you're consistent only in your inconsistency. You simply cannot do it one way at times and then another way at other times and call it being consistent.

Laiceps said:

I was taught to always add a comma when you naturally take a breath in your writing, but now I’m wondering if that’s a load of poo.

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It's a load of poo.

The comma evolved as a punctuation symbol for specific purposes which still apply. Best to learn them, and a good place to start is the Purdue OWL (gooogle will get you there).

caw

We invited JFK, Stalin and the strippers.

No Oxford Comma

Duncan J Macdonald said:

Saves ink and type in a newspaper line.

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All that ink would have put a newspaper into bankruptcy, wouldn't it?

Usher said:

I've got to nearly 40 without ever really fussing about lists

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Think of how much older you'd be, if you had neglected the commas. You'd probably be a shriveled up 120 year old.

Laiceps said:

I was taught to always add a comma when you naturally take a breath in your writing, but now I’m wondering if that’s a load of poo.

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It's definitely a load of poo for two US publishers and several US writers for whom I work.

They all adhere to the five basic rules for necessary commas. I'll be happy to PM you the short basics with examples, if you want. It agrees with most college grammar handbooks, including Purdue's.

I think you're wise to question the poo-ridden "put a comma where you pause to take a breath" advice by hopelessly lazy or super clueless mentors who tend to warp their students' comma-sense for all time to come.