Writeability

What is the difference between these two sentences?

- Please remember to bring the blueberries, the flowers, and the plates.

- Please remember to bring the blueberries, the flowers and the plates.

Answer: In the first sentence there is a comma in front of the word and. In the second sentence there is no comma. Using a comma immediately before a grammatical conjunction is called a serial comma (also known as an oxford comma or a harvard comma). Both of the above sentences are grammatically correct, although most American texts recommend the use of the serial comma. As with yesterday's daily tip the key here is consistency. If you include a serial comma continue to do so throughout a text.