is this correct punctuation?

[Kev]

The man, the woman, the dog, and the cat, went to the store.


I think it should be...


The man, the woman, the dog and the cat went to the store.


The first one has too many commas. I know this is silly but I need to settle an argument with outside sources.

 

[ravanux]

The man, the woman, the dog, an estranged marmit, and the cat went to the store.

 

[tweakmm]

well, I'm almost positive that there is no set rule on weather you should have a comma before an 'and'

 

[jbod]

The man, the woman, the dog, and the cat went to the store.

 

[kt]

The man, the woman, the dog, and the cat went to the store.

 

[StageLeft]

I would have argued in between them, ie The man, the woman, the dog, and the cat went to the store. - but I'm not an english major

EDIT: THat's three, of us, who say the, same, thing!

 

[jbod]

Something like this would not need a comma between the and:

I went to the store and bought: milk, coke or Bruce Lee, nuts and bolts, and socks.

 

[Kev]

ok i found this site

here

it says that either what everyone here is saying or what i said is correct, but the first one is definitely wrong. cool

EDIT: made it a link

 

[konichiwa]

Putting a comma before the 'and' that precedes the last item in a list is optional, not required(,) and not mandatory.

 

[thadjudkins]

You can go by whatever writing style you want (Chicago, Strunk, MLA, etc...) and get justification for either. The most widely accepted (currently of course) style would be to ditch the comma before the and (comma separates the items of the list as and does making the comma before and redundant).

thad

 

[Jzero]

If there is more than 3 items in a list, you usually put a common before the and, but it's really not necessary if the meaning is contextually clear.
There would never be a comma after "cat" in this instance, however.

 

[dullard]

Your first sentence is wrong no matter what style of writing you use. A comma before the 'and' is very helpful in a few odd cases. The extra comma also looks nicer in my opinion. However, many publishers hate the waste of ink for the extra comma. Thus normal printed text will not include these commas.

Try the following sentence both ways:

(1) The old toy box contains porcelain dolls, rag dolls, and plastic dolls; blue, red, and green trucks; and blue, yellow, and white crayons.

(2) The old toy box contains porcelain dolls, rag dolls and plastic dolls; blue, red and green trucks and blue, yellow and white crayons.

I know they are run-on sentences; however, both sentences use approved punctuation. In my opinion, the first sentence is much easier to follow. The extra comma and semicolon make the list of lists much more legible.

Edit: I corrected a spelling error.

 

[orty]

<< You can go by whatever writing style you want (Chicago, Strunk, MLA, etc...) and get justification for either. The most widely accepted (currently of course) style would be to ditch the comma before the and (comma separates the items of the list as and does making the comma before and redundant). >>



Precisely. Associated Press style, for example, ditches the comma (and I got graded down on an article one time for screwing that up). It's called serial commas, I think, if you've got the command before the "and" and I prefer to write without it.

Regardless, you'll probably not get graded down if you get rid of it, as you'll see more and more folks doing it (and many style guides are going that way).