The problem is compounded by the NY Times style guide (the Bible for
journalists) which requires (yes, requires) the omission of the comma before the
conjunction in a list.  I often explain to my students that the rules for
academic writing are sometimes different from (not than) the rules for
journalism.

Paul D.

--- Odile Sullivan-Tarazi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The one I've always heard (and used) is --
> 
>     To my parents, Ayn Rand and God
> 
> which was, as the story goes, a dedication line in a ms. submitted 
> for publication.  Needless to say, the editor added the serial comma.
> 
> Though it inevitably provoked laughter, the line never seemed to 
> convince the hard-core opponents of the comma in that position.  Nor 
> did my many examples illustrating the fact that (to my mind, at any 
> rate) the word "and" is not synonymous with ",and" -- if it were, the 
> two would be interchangeable.  And adding a comma would never change 
> meaning.
> 
> Even handbooks recommending suppression of the serial comma recognize 
> that there are instances when one must add it for readability or to 
> prevent misreading.  Some are so stubborn on the matter, they don't 
> want to use it even then.  Strange.
> 
> 
> Odile
> 
> 
> * And there's an instance of the comma as a stand-in for a missing 
> "that."  I rather like it at times, though I was warned against just 
> such a use by one of my teachers.
> 
> 
> 
> At 9:28 AM -0400 7/15/06, Christine Gray wrote:
> >An example I use to show the necessity of the serial comma--of which I am a
> >proponent--is the following:
> >
> >I respect my parents, Mother Teresa and Einstein.
> >
> >Without the serial comma, it seems that Mother Teresa and Einstein are my
> >parents!
> >
> >Christine Gray
> 
> 
> <snip>
> 
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