# Terminal comma? Yay or nay?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 21, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189 "2008-04-21T04:18:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189/41 "2008-04-22T13:27:15Z")

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[QUOTE=OpalCat]  
I am extremely bothered by the lack of the Oxford comma. I always use it and find it jarring to read things which do not.  
[/QUOTE]

…Especially in lists of three or more items. 😉

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189/42 "2008-04-22T20:05:14Z")

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[QUOTE=Polycarp]  
Very short, two- or three-word main clauses that appear to be distinct short sentences but are run together to produce an effect of crescendo or intensity, are even by the best writers properly joined by commas.  
[/QUOTE]

True. Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that Strunk and White makes a similar point, allowing a comma splice for phrases presenting a certain poetic rhythm. I think the example it gives is “Man proposes, God disposes.”

But to circle back to the OP, I’m still not sure that a comma splice, which is a special case in any event, is a good example by which to evaluate the need for a serial comma.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189/43 "2008-04-22T21:17:17Z")

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[QUOTE=Tom Tildrum]  
True. Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that Strunk and White makes a similar point, allowing a comma splice for phrases presenting a certain poetic rhythm. I think the example it gives is “Man proposes, God disposes.”

[/QUOTE]

[You remember correctly.](http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#4)

> [@](#):
>
> If the clauses are very short, and are alike in form, a comma is usually permissible:
> 
> Man proposes, God disposes.  
> The gate swung apart, the bridge fell, the portcullis was drawn up.

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**Author:** ![serious\_lark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@serious\_lark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serious_lark)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189/44 "2008-04-23T03:16:32Z")

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I find it annoying when people don’t use the serial comma. I also think that semi-colons are underused in modern writing.

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**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-comma-yay-or-nay/446189/45 "2008-04-23T03:30:29Z")

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Agreed; though I think I overcompensate for society as a whole by _over_using them when I write.

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