I’m proud to say I have removed more commas in my editing career than I have added, but even I must use them in bunches occasionally, and there’s a new development on that front.
The University of Oxford has finally agreed with the Associated Press stylebook, eliminating the final comma (widely known as the Oxford comma) in series such as Tinker, Evers and Chance. But beware: In the Chicago Manual of Style, which has increasingly aced out AP Style in journalism circles, it’s still Tinker, Evers, and Chance.
Whichever. Even I’ve been using the Oxford comma lately. But really, does putting a comma after Evers clarify anything? Join our Usage Panel by commenting below.
Here’s the superfluous comma thing that does raise my hackles: unneeded commas between multiple adjectives preceding a noun. I had trouble finding any citation of this issue online until a few days ago, when I came across a good one from Paula LaRocque, my former Dallas Morning News writing coach.
Paula explains it the way I’ve always meant to, starting with these examples:
- His only memory of those freaky San Francisco years was a pale yellow, wood-frame house
- She was an old, gray mare of a person, horse-faced and heavy-boned.
- He was a charming, young reprobate.
Paula continues: “In these examples, commas should not follow yellow, old, or charming. Pale yellow modifies wood-frame house — not just house. Old modifies gray mare — not just mare. And charming modifies young reprobate. We shouldn’t automatically insert commas between multiple adjectives before a noun because those adjectives may not be separate and equal modifiers. Sometimes, as above, the adjective modifies a group of words rather than just the noun.
“Here’s a great little trick if you’re unsure about placing a comma between adjectives. Try the conjunction and where the comma would go: yellow and wood-frame house, old and gray mare, charming and young reprobate. If the and sounds odd — as those do — don’t use a comma.”
I’m going to start citing egregious examples of this. I’ll include pertinent and impertinent examples from our Usage Panel. But in the meantime, let’s hear from defenders and opponents of multiple commas. We’ll have a good, honest argument.
USAGE PANEL: Vote by making a comment on the page, backing that opinion with a sentence or two of explanation if you’d like. If you’re more dedicated than that, we just might put you on our (still unnamed) usage panel, the Grammar Examiner’s tribute to the old Harper’s Usage Panel that graced the old Harper’s magazine and the Harper’s Dictionary of Contemporary Usage.
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