The Serial Comma

Yes, it’s true. I’m a huge fan of the serial comma. Guilty as charged.

It’s remarkable to me the power that that tiny little piece of punctuation–also called the “Oxford” or “Harvard” comma–carries. Not only does it have the ability to provide immense clarity, it’s also managed to make itself one of the most highly debated points of English grammar. People tend to either love it or hate it, and most are willing to argue the correctness of their opinion until they are blue in the face. I am one of those people. And now I’m going to present my case in favor of the serial comma.

Take these two sentences, potentially written by an author in her Acknowledgments, as an example: “I’d like to thank my fans, my mother and my husband” and “I’d like to thank my fans, my mother, and my husband.” In the first sentence (the one without the serial comma), the author’s only fans are her mother and her husband. Even if that were true, it’s highly unlikely that any author out there would want to advertise that fact. By contrast, the second sentence (the one with the serial comma) makes it clear that the author is thanking three distinct entities. In this case, as in many others, the serial comma makes a huge difference in meaning.

“But wait!” you might say, “Even if such a sentence were to appear in print, wouldn’t the reader’s common sense dictate the true meaning regardless of whether the serial comma was there?” And you would have a point. But I contend that “just because most readers will probably understand the meaning anyway” is not a valid reason to risk confusing readers. Why leave open the potential for misunderstanding when it can be fixed with a simple comma? After all, sometimes readers might think it’s more fun to interpret things the wrong way: http://i.imgur.com/IBBd2F2.png and http://i.imgur.com/OTJQAeh.jpg.

The truth, though, is that for every style guide or language expert who says using the serial comma is the thing to do, there’s another style guide or language expert out there who will argue the opposite. There is no definite right answer; it really is just a matter of opinion. But I’m hoping that I’ve made some progress in convincing you to use the serial comma in your writing. And who knows? Maybe someday we’ll all agree that using the serial comma is, in fact, the “write” thing to do.

Biographer’s Day

This is one for the biographers, both current and aspiring…

Today, May 16, is Biographer’s Day. Why May 16? Because that is the anniversary of the day biographer James Boswell met for the first time with author Samuel Johnson to begin composing what is widely considered to be the greatest biography ever written. In fact, it wasn’t until Boswell published his Life of Samuel Johnson in 1791 that the modern biographical genre even came into existence. Prior to Boswell’s 1763 meeting with Johnson in a London bookshop, biographical conventions were quite different, and biographies held little of the popularity they have today. Boswell’s work, with its extensive detail and almost conversational style, served as a major stepping stone in developing modern biographical conventions.

So now, the language world sets aside May 16 to celebrate both James Boswell and all the biographers who have come since. Today is a wonderful day to start reading a biography (perhaps Life of Samuel Johnson?) or, better yet, to start writing one. And if you have a biography, autobiography, or memoir in need of editing, let me know today and I’ll edit the first chapter free!

Happy Biographer’s Day!

Get Caught Reading Month

Hello fellow lovers of language!

Today begins the month of May, which is, incidentally, Get Caught Reading Month. Now, I know the Get Caught Reading program was designed to encourage K-12 students to read, but I contend that everyone, regardless of age, should make a point to read as much as possible. I admit that my position on this issue is somewhat biased. As a former librarian and current editor, books have long been a central part of my life. Libraries and bookstores are my happy places. Reading has always been my favorite hobby. I carry my Kindle with me everywhere I go. And yet it’s still so easy to get distracted with other activities and not read as much as I would like to, and probably not as much as I should.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ve got a list a mile long of books you’d like to read someday when you’ve got the time. Even being as blessed as I am to read as part of my job, I still cannot find enough hours to explore all the literary worlds I’d like to. There are classics I have still not read, ones I’m ashamed to admit I’ve made it this far in life without experiencing (Great Expectations and The Catcher in the Rye come to mind). I have yet to crack open John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars or Helen Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird or any other great new book this year (except for those I’ve edited, of course). And every time I choose something else over reading, I’m cheating myself.

Because books teach us how to be human. Or, at least, the ones worth reading do. A book doesn’t have to be great literature to help us learn something about ourselves and our humanity; it just has to communicate its message to its reader. Books serve as our practice for the real world. They model examples of human interaction and show us how different approaches to all manner of scenarios can play out. They inform and even create our shared experience as people living on this planet. Why do we need to read books? Because they give meaning to everything else we do and make us better people in the process.

And if that’s not enough to convince you of the value of reading, here’s a little secret for all you writers out there: Reading is the single best way to become a better writer. Today’s best authors are the ones who have read extensively themselves. The writers of those classics we still read today, hundreds of years after their initial publication, read the works of authors who came before them. Pick up almost any good book and you’ll find at least one allusion to another good book. Perhaps those great authors are onto something. Perhaps we should all read to inspire ourselves, to be better at whatever it is we’re doing.

I hope you’ll join me this month in recommitting yourself to getting caught reading. I promise you won’t be sorry!