Jeffrey R. Clark, Ph.D.

Freelance Writer

The Serial Comma

I was originally taught in grade school, prior to correction at the hands of a tyrannical (but highly appreciated) sophomore English teacher, that the serial comma was a necessary part of proper punctuation and grammar. Since that correction on the matter, I have never thought it proper to use the serial comma, although, for the vast majority of my life, I never even knew this little jot even had a name. I always had to refer to it by way of some variation of “X, Y and Z... the comma that people put after the Y part!”

As I have occasionally considered the matter to determine for myself the correct usage, I have realized that there are four camps. First, the two middle camps involving patrons who adhere to one usage or the other, but who don’t make a fuss over the matter beyond the usual “That’s the way I was taught.” The other two camps lie on the extremes, with each side hurling various insults at the other side for their ridiculous beliefs. After all, don’t the fools know that everyone else in the world knows better on this simple matter? I suppose I rest somewhere in the grey area between the dogmatic opponents of the serial comma and the blind or apathetic followers of a handed-down convention. I do not wish to engage in a prolonged debate over the matter, spending hours researching past usage in dusty tomes and generally making no progress toward convincing the other side (who will likely not accept any evidence against their position anyway). This brief discussion is not for the purpose of convincing die-hard proponents of serial comma use; instead, it is just a little exercise that further explains what I believe to be the correct position on this issue. I have not thoroughly researched the matter, so I do not make any claims of presenting a new or original argument. This is just my thinking on the matter.

What piqued my interest in the perspective on this matter that I will discuss shortly is the apparent validity of two most common arguments that I hear voiced on this matter. On the part of the proponents of the serial comma, the argument is made that commas represent pauses, and a pause occurs after the first and second items in the list. That is to say, “X, Y, and Z” is voiced ‘X’ (pause) ‘Y’ (pause) “and Z.” The argument most favored (in my superficial survey of the subject, at least) by opponents of the serial comma is that the comma stands in place of a word, ‘and’ in this case. Thus, “X and Y and Z” is given a neater enunciation (or written form) by use of the comma: “X, Y and Z.” No second comma is needed, because the comma is only used to stand in place of the first occurrence of the word ‘and.’ Both these arguments have some force to them, so I decided that one way to decide what to accept or reject would be to take a closer look at the first argument. Indeed, is there really a pause in the speech after the second item in the list? My interest in music brought an idea to light.

There is usually a bit of a fermata (or lengthening of a note) placed over the supposed second pause when proponents of the serial comma are arguing for their position: so much so, that I began to wonder if the pause even existed in the first place. No one says “X, Y (extended pause with a smile and a “don’t you see?” look) and Z!” Consider the list as a set of musical notes. Let’s say that X, Y and Z are short, monosyllabic words (on the order of ‘and’) that we shall assign something akin to a quarter note. Take a simple sentence like, “I drank milk and juice and pop.” I would first note that the ‘and’ occurrences do not have, in a conversational use, the same length or “on beat” enunciation as the list items. The ‘ands’ occur much closer to the list item that follows, more like a sixteenth note following a sixteenth rest. If each word is given an equal length, each falling on the “on beat,” the voicing comes across as either robotic or overly emphatic. In a normal voicing, the enunciation sounds almost like the following: “X (slight pause) and-Y (slight pause) and-Z.” Thus, pauses are already included in the standard voicing of “X and Y and Z.” It remains only to determine if an added pause occurs after the second list item when the first ‘and’ is replaced by a comma. “I drank milk and juice and pop.” “I drank milk, juice and pop.” I believe that a close look at a typical enunciation of those two sentences reveals that, as the proponents of the serial comma say, there is a pause after the second list item. Nevertheless, as the opponents may implicitly say in defense, there is no additional or lengthened pause beyond what there would be if two ‘ands’ were used. Certainly there is a lengthened pause between the first and second list items, a fitting replacement for the absence of ‘and.’ No lengthening of the second pause exists.

This is all to say that the common argument of serial comma proponents, suggesting that a pause takes place after the second item in the list, is based on an exaggeration or mishearing. Yes, a pause is there, but it was already there before commas were even considered, and the addition of the commas only affects the length of the first pause, but not the second. I must conclude, therefore, that a stronger argument than “but there is a pause before the ‘and!’” must be proffered before I will be convinced of any legitimacy for the serial comma. I would, by way of concession, say that a serial comma may be used in cases where ambiguity would result if it were left out. This, however, seems to be less about the serial comma and more about the general rule that comma usage to eliminate ambiguity is allowed (see Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer). Regardless of my position on the serial comma, there are times that I, as an editor, will bow to the wishes of those whose work I am examining and leave serial commas in to suit their consciences. There is, of course, always a little room for the argument from convention, as so much of language depends precisely on the way it has always been done, even if only by a portion of the population. So, I leave it to you, the reader, to consider, compare and decide on the matter for yourself.


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