How to Write Right: Series Business

This month, the spotlight is on the series comma, also called the serial comma (or, delightfully, the Oxford comma). This type of comma is used when a sentence includes a series of at least three items. Here’s an example:  

Succeeding in the arts requires a combination of talent, dedication, and dumb luck.

The comma after “talent” is necessary, but you can take or leave the comma after “dedication.” That’s the series comma.
As with many periodicals, the style at City Arts is not to use the series comma, so, while I personally like it, it’s my job to take it out. (So, yeah, you could say I’m a kind of serial killer. Which just goes to show that you really shouldn’t mess with editors.)

That said, I do occasionally make the choice to retain or add a series comma.

An item in a series can be a single word (e.g., “talent,” above) or an entire phrase. In the latter situation, it may sometimes be advisable to include a series comma for ease of comprehension, as here:

The artist’s still-life juxtapositions of hamburgers and chopped liver, dried flowers and rotting vegetables, and salt shakers and melted ice cream are provocative and a bit disturbing.

Illustration by Andrew Saeger