> Craig,

Where did you get the idea that in Britain we don't put commas before
conjunctions in compound sentences?  We adopt the FANBOYS rule all right
(unless your speaker was gabbling at high speed -- or was Dickens' Mrs.
Lirriper or Joyce's Molly Bloom!).  As you say, we do largely omit the comma
before the conjunction in a list of nouns or verbs, etc., though that is not
absolute -- for there are occasions where the comma emphasizes distinctness
for some reason:  for example, I kept this so-called 'Oxford' comma in the
title of my recent book 'Narrative, Perception, Language, and Faith' because
the appearance in the argument of the topic of faith is intended to be
something of a surprise.

Edmond


Dr. Edmond Wright
3 Boathouse Court
Trafalgar Road
Cambridge
CB4 1DU
England

Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/
Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256







Just to complicate the talk (after all these votes for simplicity),
> British practice differs from American on this one. They don't ask for
> commas here (before the conjunction linking compound sentences) or
> before the final element in a series (with "and" or "or".) >
>     What you would hope for, I think, is consistency, not just a sporadic
> sprinkling. If the comma is included or left out DELIBERATELY and
> consistently, then I don't think we should command otherwise.
> 
> Craig
> 
> 
> 

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/