The best shots fired in the Oxford comma wars

A look at the strongest points on each side of the great grammar debate

The epic punctuation battle.
(Image credit: ThinkStock/Comstock)

The Oxford comma, so-called because the Oxford University Press style guidelines require it, is the comma before the conjunction at the end of a list. If your preferred style is to omit the second comma in "red, white, and blue," you are aligned with the anti-Oxford comma faction. The pro-Oxford comma faction is more vocal and numerous in the U.S., while in the UK, anti-Oxford comma reigns. (Oxford University is an outsider, style-wise, in its own land.) In the U.S., book and magazine publishers are generally pro, while newspapers are anti, but both styles can be found in both media.

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Arika Okrent

Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.