Sometimes an Oxford Comma is Wrong

The three readers of this site know that I’m a fan of the Oxford comma. That’s the comma just before the conjunction when you have a list. But what if the last two things in the list aren’t in the list?

This isn’t a list, it’s an appositive, which also takes a comma. An appositive is when you describe something, then name it. Here’s another example: “I like our English teacher, Mr. George.” Do you like two things you’re describing? Then it’s “my brothers, Bob and Bill.”

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Here’s an example of a missing oxford comma that’s wrong! See the previous post for an example of when the missing comma is correct.

He should put a comma after “pig.” That would remove the (admittedly unlikely) interpretation that you call a pig and a gangster “a horse.”

Diz assumes a hyphen, which would tie “black” and “car” together, making “black car” a compound adjective.

So remember, hyphens tie words (and parts of words) together.

First two panels. Comparing something to a number can be tricky, especially when the number implies some sort of direction. If something is under water, would you say “over three feet down”? That’s why I recommend that you don’t use “over” with numbers, even though it’s permitted.

My choice (for the comic) is to say “younger than.”

English has a fairly common error when someone makes the number (singular or plural) of a verb agree with the closest noun even when the verb doesn’t refer to that noun. This is called attraction. You can do this in Latin, I’m told, but not in English.

Here’s an example of incorrectly avoiding the habit of attraction:

Smart grids are a management system that use a combination of sensors and AI to distribute and conserve energy. 

https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech for September 3, 2021

“Grids” is plural (hence “grids are”), and “use” is plural, but “use” doesn’t refer to “grids”! “Use” applies to “system,” which is singular. It should be “…system that uses…”

So this writer, normally alert enough to avoid this error of attraction, overdid their caution! So be alert, not just cautious.