Who among us hasn’t ended up in a physical altercation over punctuation? You know how it is: you’re hanging out at the bar and you overhear some guy insisting the Oxford coma is overrated. The next thing you know, you’re rolling around on the floor accusing each other of overusing semi-colons. Then you both feel silly when you discover that you were thinking CMOS and he was talking AP…It happens all the time.

Few things in the editing world are as contentious as the serial coma. I have to admit, I used to think the Oxford coma was unnecessary, redundant, and stupid. However, as you can see, I’ve changed my tune. So, which way is right and which is wrong? The answer is yes.

Turns out, as the preceding scuffle demonstrated, that it depends on which style book or style sheet you are using for a particular project. I do most of my work based on The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS). According to CMOS, items in a series should be separated by comas, including one before the conjunction, because it eliminates ambiguity. For example, if I wrote:

My favorite drinks are bourbon, wine, beer and whiskey.

The first thing you might say is hey, he mentioned whiskey twice! I would advise you to stop reading this immediately and google the difference between whiskey and bourbon.

Next, you might say wow, this guy really likes to party! He’s whacking down Car Bombs left and right. You would be wrong. While I do like to party, I only drink Car Bombs if I’m hoping to wind up on the bathroom floor with cold sweats and one hand on the wall in an attempt to stop the spinning. Now, if I wrote:

My favorite drinks are bourbon, wine, beer, and whiskey.

It would be clear that, while I like to party, I’m also mature enough to keep my beverages separate.

You might think that this clears things up, but you would be wrong. Depending on the publication and the style book, you might not use the Oxford coma. The Associated Press stylebook recommends omitting the coma before the conjunction, unless required for clarity. Clear as mud, right? So, sticking with the same example, you could use the coma or not use the coma. No wonder there’s so much confusion and so many fistfights.

Some people just despise the Oxford coma. In that case, another option is to re-order the list to avoid ambiguity.

My favorite drinks are bourbon, whiskey, wine and beer.

If anyone thinks wine mixed with beer is a drink, they are demented and evil and I never want to drink with them. As editors, our job is not to force our punctuation on unsuspecting authors—even though we all know Oxford is the right way. The key is consistency; follow the stylebook. If the author has a strong preference, add it to the stye sheet and stick to it.

I hope this clears up the serial coma dilemma. If I can stop just one barroom brawl, I will have done my job.