*,\'(;-)/.?!:"...

[Chancie]

Originally Posted by Medusa

This?

Today I went to the market and bought apples, pears, and bananas.

Or This?

Today I went to the market and bought apples, pears and bananas.

Originally Posted by Medusa

Yeah, I learned in elem school that the comma had to be there or the last two things would be grouped together like "macaroni and cheese" versus just macaroni and just cheese.

I did, however, get a HUGE inappropriate giggle out of the idea of eating Grandma

The comma before the 'and' is called the Harvard comma, and

I tend to think of it as the rule we follow when we want to be extra correct.

I went to an old fashioned high school.

Originally Posted by Nat

I remember a teacher telling the class that the rule changed from the first to the second. I also remember a teacher bitterly complaining about how this rule change affected the meaning and rhythm of poetry included in our textbooks.

<snip>

And a generation later . . .