Serial Comma Use

[Margo]

Nice, polymath. If I can work with a spotter, you've got yourself a sniper.

[polymath]

Sorry, Caledony says you start as picket line grunt, Margo. If that works out, in a couple days, there's rapid advancement opportunities. I'll put in a good word for you though. Spotters are chord corporals, snipers sergeants. Chord lieuies get reactive armor command cars and private quarters. Captains, line battle tanks or hedgehog choppers, and spacious suites.

[wordranger]

Sierra: My Beta readers and I squabble about this from time to time. They complain that I use too many commas. I'm an English Major, though, and I insist on proper punctuation.

I'd go for the first one. I know, as others have pointed out, that things have changed, but let's not lose the rest of proper English in this weird "texting" world. It's bad enough that people refer to each other as BFFs. Let's get back to proper English PLEEEEAAASE! Don't drop your commas just to save space!

[Sanderling]

I think this thread got bumped by a spammer (not you, Jennifer), but since it's back up at the top of the board anyway, I'll add my two cents.

I think whether you use, or don't, the serial comma is partly related to which English you write. As a Canadian I don't use it. I count one, two and three, not one, two, and three. I think most Americans do tend to use it. I also think that this isn't a hard and fast rule, that some Canadians will and some Americans won't.

I really dislike that extra comma, personally. Even though I think some style manuals insist on using it. To my mind it feels out of place. As I read I want to put a pause in that spot if there's a comma there, but if I'm giving you a list - "We'll be using rooms one, two and three." - I don't pause after two, I only pause after one.

I do understand that there are instances where putting it in helps with clarification but those are about the only times I'll use it. I looked up its usage a while ago, and Wikipedia has a good summary of things. In particular, the argument regarding a book dedication is worth considering. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma