[Info-vax] Long uptime cut short by Hurricane Sandy

[AEF]

On Feb 5, 11:10 am, koeh... at eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob
Koehler) wrote:
> In article <946eaddd-38f9-4b9b-bb9b-19b4cf4c4... at u7g2000yqg.googlegroups.com>, AEF <spamsink2... at yahoo.com> writes:
>
>
>
> > I've read (in what was once, if not still, the grammar lady site) that
> > it's best to always use the serial comma. She said it's always right,
> > and leaving it out can cause an error, as you stated above. However,
> > an article in wikipedia says that it's not always correct. Go figure.
>
>    If you don't like Wikipedia, change it.  And never consider it an
>    authority.

I must have phrased it wrong.

Grammarlady said that it's never wrong to use it. So she's saying that
while you can omit it in some cases, there are no cases where using it
would be wrong.

IOW, in some cases it doesn't matter whether you use it, and in the
rest you need it. Therefore, using it is never wrong, even though in
some cases you can drop it.

Ah, I should have said "never wrong" instead of "always right". OK.

Now, the Comma article in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Comma) offers an example where using the serial comma can actually be
a problem:

Omission of serial comma disambiguating:

    I thank my mother, Anne Smith, and Thomas. – could be either my
mother and Anne Smith and Thomas (three people) or my mother, who is
Anne Smith, and Thomas (two people)

    I thank my mother, Anne Smith and Thomas. – The writer is thanking
three people: the writer's mother and Anne Smith (who is not the
writer's mother) and Thomas.

So the example shows that using the serial comma actually makes the
sentence ambiguous. It's not a question of style, meaning that if your
sentence works with or without the serial comma, a particular style
will tell you whether to use it or not. But it is contrary to
grammarlady's assertion.

Actually, I don't like the second example for some reason. Maybe it's
just because I like a comma where there should be a pause. Maybe not.
To me it sounds like Anne Smith and Thomas are his or her mother. I'd
rephrase the whole thing.

That's all.

AEF