The Serial Comma

July 2, 2005

Christina Moore asks, “Should a comma be placed after the last item that comes before the word “and” when listing three or more items in a sentence?”

Unless you are writing for a newspaper or magazine, or for another publication with a style guide that discourages its use, my advice is to use the serial comma.

The main reason for using the serial, or Oxford, comma is that it helps avoid a reader’s momentary confusion. The classic example of this confusion, as noted in World Wide Words, comes from an apocryphal book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.” While we can be pretty sure that the author’s parents are not Ayn Rand and God, the absence of the comma after “Rand” might make the reader pause or re-read.

In her excellent book Rhetorical Grammar, Martha Kolln claims that the absence of a serial comma “may imply a closer connection than actually exists between the last two elements in the series.” She provides an example from The New York Times to demonstrate: “The agricultural and industrial revolutions were accompanied by new plagues, pollutants and weapons of destruction.” In this sentence it’s easy to see how the reader might think that there are two plagues—pollutants and weapons of destruction. A reader might also interpret the last two elements as being shorthand for “pollutants of destruction and weapons of destruction.”

In his poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Robert Frost has this terrific line:

These woods are lovely, dark and deep

Here it makes sense to drop the comma before the “and” because Frost is saying that the woods are lovely in that they are dark and deep, rather than saying that the woods are lovely and dark and deep. In other words, the “dark” and “deep” describe the loveliness. Apparently, some poetry anthology editors have added the comma before the “and,” even though Frost didn’t include it in his published version of the poem. Can you see how that comma subtly changes the meaning of the sentence? Those editors should have left the comma out.

Resources

Here are a few other articles and weblog entries that discuss the serial comma:

Posted in punctuation | 4 Comments

Comma with Jr. or III

June 15, 2005

Roslyn Hamp asks:

When you write a name with a jr. after the last name, a comma is used. When you write III, do you put a comma after the name:

John Jones, Jr.
John Jones III (is a comma needed)?

You are correct that, at least traditionally, a comma is used with Jr. In fact, if Jr. appears in the middle of a sentence, a comma is used before and after it: “The abbreviations etc. and jr. are always preceded by a comma, and except at the end of a sentence, followed by one.” (Strunk and White, The Elements of Style)

To answer your question, though, I’ll refer to the Chicago Manual of Style:

Q. John Smith Jr. or John Smith, Jr.? John Smith III or John Smith, III?

A. Traditionally, it would be John Smith, Jr., and John Smith III. But beginning with the fourteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (1993), the recommendation is to use no commas in either case (see paragraph 6.49 of the fifteenth edition):

John Smith Jr.

But please note that within text, if you decide to use the more traditional comma before Jr. or Sr., the function of the comma is to set off these abbreviations, so an additional comma is needed after the abbreviation if the sentence continues (as in my first sentence above).

The New St. Martin’s Handbook doesn’t recommend one way or the other for Jr., but it does note that writers are leaving the commas out:

Use commas to set off a title such as M.D., Esq., and so on from the name preceding it and from the rest of the sentence. The titles Jr. and Sr., however, are often not set off by commas.

  • Jaime Mejia, Ph.D., will speak about his anthropological research.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. was one of this century’s greatest orators.

So, if you are a traditionalist, use the commas; if you are progressive, don’t. As with many matters of grammar and punctuation, the most important thing is to be consistent.

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Rather Than and Instead Of

June 10, 2005

Kanika recently asked, “When do we use ‘rather than’ and when do we use ‘instead of’?”

The short answer is that in most cases, the two phrases are interchangeable, although “rather than” often has a more formal tone than “instead of.”

The American Heritage Book of English Usage offers a much lengthier answer:

The phrase rather than consists of an adverb and a conjunction and often means “and not,” as in I decided to skip lunch rather than eat in the cafeteria again. It is grammatically similar to sooner than in that it is used with a “bare” infinitive—an infinitive minus to: I would stay here and eat flies sooner than go with them.

Rather than can also be used with nouns as a compound preposition meaning “instead of”: I bought a mountain bike rather than a ten-speed. But some people object to this use, insisting that than should be used only as a conjunction. They therefore object to constructions in which rather than is followed by a gerund, as in Rather than buying a new car, I kept my old one.

In some cases, however, rather than can only be followed by a gerund and not by a bare infinitive. If the main verb of the sentence has a form that does not allow parallel treatment of the verb following rather than, you cannot use a bare infinitive, and you must use a gerund. This is often the case when the main verb is in a past tense or has a participle. Thus, you must say The results of the study, rather than ending (not end or ended) the controversy, only added to it. If the main verb was in the present tense (add), you could use the bare infinitive end.

Curiously, when the rather than construction follows the main verb, it can use other verb forms besides the bare infinitive. Thus you can say The results of the study added to the controversy rather than ended it.

The overriding concern in all of this should be to avoid faulty parallels, as in sentences like Rather than buy a new car, I have kept my old one and Rather than take a cab, she is going on foot.

Clearly, it is grammatically defensible to follow rather than with a gerund, but if you prefer to avoid the controversy, use instead of with gerunds.

Posted in usage | 2 Comments

The Ampersand

May 16, 2005

Simon asks,

I am trying to find information on the use of the sign ‘&’ to replace ‘and’ in English. When is it acceptable to use this sign? I understood that it could only be used for Proper Nouns, eg. the name of a company ‘Fox & Sons Ltd.’ but never in a normal sentence such as ‘this fees & charges handbook specifies the procedures to be followed.’ I’d be happy to know what the rule is.

The ampersand (&) comes from an alteration of and per se and, & (the sign) by itself (means) and. The Associated Press Stylebook says that you should use it when it is part of a company’s formal name, but never simply in place of and. Simon seems to have understood correctly.

Posted in mechanics | 3 Comments

Writing Numbers

May 16, 2005

A couple people have asked me recently about when to use figures for numbers (e.g. “25″) and when to spell them out (e.g. “six”).

One guideline is to spell out numbers one through nine and use figures for 10 or more. Another (the one I prefer) is to spell out numbers if they can be written as one or two words; otherwise, use figures. There are, however, exceptions to both rules:

  • If a sentence begins with a number, either spell it out or rewrite the sentence with the number in a different position.
  • Use figures for dates, addresses, percentages, fractions, decimals, scores, statistics, exact amounts of money, and the time.

Style guides disagree about whether you should maintain consistency within a sentence. Also, as Lunsford and Connors wisely note in The New St. Martin’s Handbook, “Conventions for expressing numbers vary from field to field, and you will want to make sure you understand the conventions of your own field—and follow them closely.”

Resources

  • Capital Community College
  • A Writer’s Reference, Fifth Edition, by Diana Hacker
  • The New St. Martin’s Handbook by Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors
  • The Associated Press Stylebook
Posted in mechanics | 8 Comments

adviser or advisor

May 13, 2005

Someone asked today in a comment whether “documentor” or “documenter” is correct. The correct word is “documenter.” The question got me wondering, though, about another spelling dilemma: “adviser” or “advisor.”

According to the Cambridge Guide to English Usage (Pam Peters, 2004):

Both these spellings are in current use, though adviser is the dominant spelling in both the US and the UK. The ratio in American data from CCAE is 20:1 and in British data from the BNC it’s 6:1. Curiously, advisor is sometimes said to be “the American spelling.” �Ķwhatever its past, advisor is registered alongside adviser in major British, American, Canadian and Australian dictionaries.

The Columbia Guide to Standard American Usage tersely states, Both spellings are Standard.

For this word, my preference is to go with common usage and write “adviser.”

Posted in spelling | 16 Comments

Hyphens for Compound Adjectives

April 23, 2005

Andy Bell asked a great question about when to use a hyphen:

Hyphens. Sometimes you use them when you put a verb and and a noun together, but not always? What’s the rule? Is it carbon-tipped? Is it Horse-drawn?

While there are a few proper uses of the hyphen, the one Andy is referring to is for a compound adjective in the pre-nominal position. In other words, the hyphen goes between multiple-word adjectives when they precede the word that they are modifying. We don’t use a hyphen, however, if one of the modifiers is an adverb ending in -ly.

Examples

  1. The bride and groom rode through town in a horse-drawn carriage.
  2. The employee at the hardware store recommended a carbon-tipped saw blade.
  3. Joan was glad that her saw blade was carbon tipped.
  4. Ben knew the most effective door-to-door sales techniques.
  5. After he graduated from college, Ben sold kitchen knives door to door.

Notice that “carbon tipped” in sentence 3 and “door to door” in sentence 5 do not have hyphens, because they do not come directly before nouns.

Posted in punctuation | 4 Comments

Lie and Lay

April 23, 2005

Someone recently asked about the correct use of “lie” versus “lay.”

The Confusion

A common mistake is for people to use “lay” instead of “lie.” For example, they might say, “I’m feeling dizzy, so I should lay down.” One might ask what exactly the person should lay down. Their arms, perhaps?

I know, that was a snobbish joke. Actually, I suspect that the mistake is so common that it will soon become acceptable use, if it hasn’t done so already.

Lie

The definition of “lie” that pertains to the question is “to be at rest in a horizontal position.” It’s an intransitive verb, which means that it’s not followed by an object. In other words, you can’t lie something.

Principal Parts of Lie

  • Present – lie(s). She lies down on the floor every afternoon to take a nap.
  • Past – lay. Yesterday she lay in bed with a sore throat.
  • Past Participle – (has/have) lain. He has lain in bed for 12 hours.

Lay

To lay means to set or place something down. It’s a transitive verb. You can lay something—besides an egg.

Principal Parts of Lay

  • Present – lay(s). She lays her clothes neatly on the chair before she goes to bed.
  • Past – laid. Yesterday she laid all of her clothes out on the bed before deciding which ones to wear to the wedding.
  • Past Participle – (has/have) laid. They had laid the heavy crate on the floor before they moved the piano.

Any questions about this one? Post a comment.

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Farther and Further

April 6, 2005

Sandy Mendenhall wrote in to ask about the proper use of farther and further: “What are the rules for further and farther? Everyone I ask doesn’t seem to have an answer.”

Apparently, the two words have been used interchangably by many writers since the Middle Ages. More recently, however, some people have tried to make a distinction between the two words.

The strictest rule would have writers use farther only for physical distance and further only for figurative, or metaphorical, distance.

Examples

  1. The oasis was much farther away than Sandy had realized.
  2. If you would like to discuss it further, you may come to my office.
  3. The further you get from your youth, the more you appreciate your parents.

A more “tolerant” rule allows for both farther and further to describe literal distance, but only further to describe figurative distance.

Sources

You can read more about the subtle distinctions between these two words in the following books, both of which are available online at bartleby.com:

Posted in usage | 2 Comments

Figures of Speech

April 3, 2005

Devendra asks, “what are figures of speech. I want the definition and an example of all figures of speech.”

According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, a figure of speech is the intentional departure from straight-forward, literal use of language for the purpose of clarity, emphasis, or freshness of expression.

To define and provide examples for all of the hundreds of figures would take a Herculean effort, and I’m no Hercules. Instead, I’ll offer a few here to get you started and direct you to the Sylva Rhetoricæ website for a more comprehensive list.

  • metaphor: a comparison between two seemingly unrelated things. Metaphor can be stated or implied. Example: “Your eyes and the valley are memories. / Your eyes fire and the valley a bowl.” —Carl Sandburg, “Valley Song”
  • simile: a direct comparison between two seemingly unrelated things using “like” or “as.” Example: “Sorrow like a ceaseless rain / beats upon my heart.” —Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Sorrow”
  • personification: granting human characteristics to something that is not human. Example: “Vine leaves tap my window, / Dew-drops sing to the garden stones” —Conrad Aiken, “Morning Song of Senlin”
  • apostrophe: addressing an inanimate object as if it were living. Example: “Oh overshoes, / don’t you / remember me, / pushing you up and down / in the winter snow?” —Anne Sexton, “The Fury of Overshoes”
  • hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration for effect, usually for emphasis. Example: “Do I dare / Disturb the universe?” —T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
  • paradox: a statement that appears self-contradictory, but is true. Or, two seemingly contradictory statements that are both nonetheless true. Example: “I have the moon, the timberline, and you. / All three are gone—and I keep all three.” —Carl Sandburg, “Valley Song”
  • irony: a contrast between what is stated and what is meant, or an incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. Irony can be rhetorical (i.e. verbal), situational, or dramatic. Example (rhetorical – ironic understatement): Michael Jordan was okay at basketball.
Posted in general | 14 Comments