Among the grammatically minded, you’ll occasionally find heated debates on the Oxford comma. If you are unclear about what the Oxford comma, Dictionary.com describes it as “a comma between the final items in a list, often preceding the word `and’ or `or’, such as the final comma in the list newspapers, magazines, and books.”
I fall squarely on the side that touts the awesomeness of the Oxford comma. Why is the Oxford comma so amazing? It keeps things clean and clear. Check out the gorgeous infographic below for further discussion.
The Oxford Comma Infographic via aerogrammestudio.com
What do you think of the Oxford comma? A fabulous clarifying item or just a waste of precious space?
P.S. Check out a slightly NSFW graphic about this here.
Novel Conclusions 
This was interesting, as I’m currently doing a proof reading and copy editing course and have had to learn and understand the joys and complexities of this piece of punctuation! Great post, thanks for bringing lightness to something so…let’s say, it carries more weight than perhaps it should in a world so full of grave and urgent issues! Thanks, you made me laugh:-)
Glad you got a good laugh!
Great infographic! I’m a huge fan of the Oxford comma. And if that doesn’t make me sound geeky, I don’t know what does…
Glad you enjoyed the infographic. Oxford comma geeks unite! 😉
I’ll stand by the Oxford comma pretty much every time! The only exception that pops readily to mind is when I’m trying to cram a thought onto Twitter and need to make the most of those 140 characters — a costly sacrifice for the greater good!
That is an understandable sacrifice — unless of course you’re tweeting ABOUT the Oxford comma. 🙂
Heh, yeah, that would be ironic to the max. XD
Oxford commas fans of the world unite, represent, and stand tall! (see what I did there?) 🙂
Well played! You are an Oxford comma fan extraordinaire.
Big Oxford comma fan, here! I want to thank my parents, Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey! Haha!
LOL — that one never gets old. 🙂
I love the Oxford comma!!!! Though it’s not APA style . . .
I was just writing something for work this week that was APA style, and every time I wanted to add an Oxford comma, I kept having to restrain myself. lol.
I have a degree in journalism so hating the Oxford comma in ingrained in my brain 😛
Also, I think it’s funny that that infographic includes Vampire Weekend’s song under “Commas can be cool!” because the first line of the song is, “Who gives a **** about an Oxford comma?”
I think I may be the only advocate on this post for not using the comma, but that’s ok! I love this post and talking about nerdy stuff like this 🙂
It’s fun to debate nerdy topics like the Oxford comma! Maybe sometime soon we’ll talk about the difference between hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes! 🙂
I always use the Oxford comma because it gives clarity, continuity, and ease in reading. ha. Enjoyed your post a lot, thank you.
Great use of the Oxford comma. Thanks for stopping by and supporting Oxford comma fans!
Reblogged this on Writerlious and commented:
Any Oxford comma fans out there? Woot, woot! Loved Christi’s post on this. 🙂
Hell to the yeah. I just reblogged this, Christi! 🙂
Thanks for reblogging! 🙂
This has beautifully clarified all the ambiguity of this much maligned (and undeservedly) punctuation.