Oxford Comma
A comma is one of the important punctuation marks in the English language as it functions as a break between the ideas in a sentence. It helps with the readability and tone of reading.
Example: He tried to sleep, but overthinking didn’t let him.
Now, what is an Oxford comma?
In simple terms, an Oxford comma, also known as a serial comma, is a comma used in a list of things. It is generally used when there are more than 3 items in the list and to separate a sentence, such as clauses. It indicates that the word before is not closely linked with the word after. It is also used to separate independent clauses from dependent ones, and also before adverbs as well as quotations.
The use of Oxford commas is mainly stylistic. Some style guides demand the use of it, while some other style guides, such as AP, used by the newspaper reporters, do not.
Given below are a few examples that demonstrate the necessity of Oxford commas.
Examples- He bought a pen, a pencil, and an eraser.
(The comma after the word pencil is an Oxford comma.)
Clearing the concept with examples:
Example: Alan, Vicky, and Rishabh live in the same apartment.
Here in this sentence, you can see that the Oxford comma is not used, thereby creating confusion in the interpretation of the sentence. In this case, the sentence can be interpreted as you saying to Alan that Vicky and Rishabh live in the same apartment. But if we write this same sentence like this, ‘Alan, Vicky, and Rishabh live in the same apartment.’ It will be interpreted as if these three guys live in the same apartment.
Example: Ankit is going to the market to buy potatoes, eggs, chicken, and vegetables.
Here again, in this example, we can see that without the Oxford comma a confusion occurs in the interpretation of the sentence. It can be interpreted as Ankit is telling the chicken and vegetables that he is going to the market. But when we use the Oxford/serial comma, the confusion will be over.
Example: Ankit is going to the market to buy potatoes, eggs, chicken, and vegetables.
Now, it can be interpreted correctly as, Ankit is going to the market to buy those items.