Rebuttal: Why the Oxford Comma is NOT Necessary

By Liz Brossard

I am a product of the Journalism industry and I will fight tooth and nail to keep the oxford comma out of my writing, my co-workers writing and really anyone I come in contact with.

Sara wrote a nice little blog post all about how the oxford comma is necessary. I am here to explain why she is completely and utterly wrong. 

First of all, they don’t use it in another English-speaking country, The United Kingdom. Not to say that they are the end-all-be-all of grammar, but it should be noted that our language did sort of derive from them.

But then you are going to tell me, “The oxford comma came from Oxford University Press.” And my response will be, “Yes, but most Brits did not adopt it and Oxford University doesn’t even use it anymore.” I guess I have gotten off topic. Back to why the Oxford comma is arbitrary.

The Associated Press, New York Times and The Economist are all against the oxford comma due to its redundancy and the ambiguity it can cause. Yes, part of the reason for eliminating the oxford comma in AP Style comes from the fact that it takes up more room, and when you have a certain word count it is a waste of space. But in MOST cases, it doesn’t make any sentence more or less clear.

Take the first sentence of this post as an example. Did it confuse you? Did you find yourself thinking that “my co-workers writing and really anyone I come in contact with” too confusing to comprehend without a comma?

Likely not, and that’s because the Oxford comma is unnecessary.