Comments on: Prescriptive grammar? http://wordlily.com/2007/06/05/prescriptive-grammar/ For the love of language (and some fiber arts, too) Tue, 29 May 2012 12:29:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: wordlily http://wordlily.com/2007/06/05/prescriptive-grammar/#comment-449 Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:04:55 +0000 http://wordlily.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/prescriptive-grammar/#comment-449 Yeah, I know you’re a fan of using all the commas in a series list. I thought, though, that the final comma (before the “and”) WAS the serial comma — this Wikepedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma backs that up. Needless to say, that’s the comma I was talking about in this entry. I tried to clarify, and meant to go back and actually define it before posting, but I didn’t.

I enjoy the conversations, too.

I think the biggest argument against the serial comma (unless needed for clarity’s sake) is conciseness. Journalists are well-known for trying to squeeze stories onto less paper, using less ink — all to save money. I’m a big fan of economizing.

]]> By: mrschili http://wordlily.com/2007/06/05/prescriptive-grammar/#comment-448 Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:08:36 +0000 http://wordlily.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/prescriptive-grammar/#comment-448 LILY! This is great! You’ve hit on a lot of the issues that prescriptivists will argue, and you’ve done a good job of explaining them, too. Thanks for leaving this link on my blog; I really love having full-blown conversations about this sort of thing.

(Oh, and as an aside, I ALWAYS use the serial comma. Not only that, but I use the final comma before the “and,” too. I learned that way, it makes sense to me (and doesn’t seem to confuse anyone), and I’m sticking to it!)

]]>