On 07/16/2012 02:57 PM, Ken Moffat wrote: > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 09:54:40PM +0300, Ivan Kabaivanov wrote: >> actually if we're gonna be sticklers for grammar and puctuation rules, it's >> gotta be: >> >> Installed programs: accelerometer, ata_id, cdrom_id, collect, mtd_probe, >> scsi_id, v4l_id, udevadm, and udevd >> >> (notice the comma between 'udevadm' and 'and') >> >> IvanK. >> > I disagree - as with many elements of English grammar and > punctuation, there are different schools of thought. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma > > ĸen Huh, I've never heard the term Serial or Harvard, only Oxford. Ultimately, I see it only as a matter of personal style, except when it actually does make the sentence ambiguous. Like mentioned in this thread, I had thought it was required in UK English and optional in US English (I probably picked that idea up from that very thread some time in the past as that is one of my favorite writing resources). See the 4th question:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/purdueowlnews/565 There is no mention of it here, but it is used in all examples: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/ Though I've gone back and forth over the years, I find that use of the extra comma is less likely to cause ambiguity than lack of use. It still needs to be considered for context, but when no ambiguity exists either way, I choose to include it (well...at least at this time I do). -- DJ Lucas -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content, and is believed to be clean. -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-dev FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/ Unsubscribe: See the above information page
