Well, fortunately she leans to the conservative side. During her college years she lived with us quite a bit so we had the opportunity to mold her mind.
Well, fortunately she leans to the conservative side. During her college years she lived with us quite a bit so we had the opportunity to mold her mind.
I guess I'm weird or hang out with different people. Know plenty of people in Tulsa, with degrees that are on the right. They can boil water and such...... like Dave said.... Engineers.... Architects.....Doctors... it's crazy I know.
I WILL have to remember these conversations though the next time I see sale/sell, they're/their/there, you're/your used incorrectly on this board.
I WILL have to remember these conversations though the next time I see sale/sell, they're/their/there, you're/your used incorrectly on this board.
...or the Oxford comma...
It's been a long time since attending an English class. My last one in college (I didn't graduate) there was a discussion about the Oxford comma being necessary or not. It was pretty much left to the discretion of the writer if I remember right.
It appears from your comments that its been defined as necessary since those days.
It's not necessary, but it can often provide additional clarity (as above). Some style guides require it; others--such as the AP, used in the news--specify that it not be used.
The case I had in mind is discussed at https://qz.com/932004/the-oxford-co...ling-on-overtime-pay-for-dairy-truck-drivers/
A Maine court ruling in a case about overtime pay and dairy delivery didn’t come down to trucks, milk, or money. Instead, it hinged on one missing comma.
Delivery drivers for local milk and cream company Oakhurst Dairy have been tussling with their employers over whether they qualify for overtime. On March 13, a US court of appeals determined that certain clauses of Maine’s overtime laws are grammatically ambiguous. Because of that lack of clarity, the five drivers have won their lawsuit against Oakhurst, and are eligible for unpaid overtime.
…
According to state law, the following types of activities are among those that don’t qualify for overtime pay:
The canning, processing, preserving,
freezing, drying, marketing, storing,
packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.
There, in the comma-less space between the words “shipment” and “or,” the fate of Kevin O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy was argued. Is packing (for shipment or distribution) a single activity that is exempt from overtime pay? Or are packing and distributing two different activities, and both exempt?
If lawmakers had used a serial comma, it would have been clear that distribution was an overtime-exempt activity on its own. But without the comma, wrote US appeals judge David J. Barron, the law is ambiguous as to whether distribution is a separate activity, or whether the whole last clause—”packing for shipment or distribution”—is one activity, meaning only the people who pack the dairy products are exempt. The drivers do distribute, but do not pack, the perishable food.
(CNN also carried a story, albeit with rather more snark and self-important smugness.)
Seriously, folks. Use it; it may save you a lot of money in the right context!
A lot of people see it as optional, but I don't subscribe to that theory; its presence adds clarity, and English is convoluted enough without removing clarity. My recollection is that it was first deemed optional by newspaper editors, who eliminated it to save time and money when it came to typesetting, and, as noted above, it is still discouraged in journalism.
...which is another reason I adhere to the Oxford comma. What those butchers have done to the language over the last couple of centuries borders on criminal. They're almost as bad as autoincorrect.
Interesting decision. Had it been my position to make the ruling, the "or" in itself would have designated the difference in duties without the comma, but I'm not in that position.
Ain't used to be slang, not now. It's been added to the Webster's Dictionary many years back. Every year I see new popular words being added that were verboten in years past for proper english.
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