"In British practice there's an Oxford/Cambridge divide … In Canada and Australia the serial comma is recommended only to prevent ambiguity or misreading." "The so-called 'Oxford comma' is an optional comma that follows the penultimate item in a list of three or more items and precedes the word 'and' …
In the US, many speakers (including the authorities of MLA, Chicago Style Guide[,] and the US Government Printing Office) use the Oxford comma. Several other publishers (e.g., Cambridge) in nations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa[,] and the UK (except for Oxford) don't promote it publicly.
Separate phrases, words, or clauses in lists
When making a list, commas are the most common way to separate one list item from the next. The final two items in the list are usually separated by "and" or "or", which should be preceeded by a comma.
Typically, in Australian English, we only use an Oxford comma when a list would be unclear without one, such as in the example sentence above. In American English, it is often standard to use an Oxford comma in lists.
Many writers, including journalists, live by the Associated Press stylebook. AP style does not use Oxford commas. However, Chicago style does require Oxford commas.
Most British style guides do not mandate its use. The Economist Style Guide notes that most British writers use it only where necessary to avoid ambiguity. A few British style guides mandate it, most notably The Oxford Style Manual (hence the name, "Oxford comma").
The use of the Oxford comma is a matter of style, meaning that some publishing styles stipulate its use while others don't. In other words, it's not incorrect to use the Oxford comma or not to use it, but it is advisable to be consistent one way or the other.
Australian English follows British spelling very closely but many common words are spelt differently in American English. Despite being spelt differently, the meaning of the word is the same. Australian and American English have different ways of spelling certain words, such as those ending with 'yse' or 'ise'.
Australians, however, tend to follow the British preference of not using the serial comma. In Australian English, there is NO comma between the last two items in a list. Therefore, an Australian list may look something like this: My favorite things to toss on the barbie are shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp.
The serial comma (also known as the “Oxford comma” in the UK) is a comma placed before the last item in a list of three or more things. Most American English style guides recommend using this comma as standard: I believe in good spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American rules. Most notably, French-derived words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as colour or centre, usually retain British spellings (colour and centre), although American spellings are not uncommon.
(the comma preceding "and" is optional unless needed to prevent misreading) Use commas to set off non-restrictive elements and other parenthetical elements.
In many countries the decimal marker is the comma, not the period. In Canada, however, the period is the generally used decimal marker in English-language texts.
The big shift in this thinking came in 1905, when a printer named Horace Hart updated his style guide for Oxford University Press, requiring his employees to use a comma before the last item in a series.
What is an Oxford comma? To give the Oxford comma its technical definition, it is a comma used before the final conjunction in a list of three or more items. When you're writing a list, you naturally include commas to separate each item, but an Oxford comma is when you also put a comma before the “and [Final Item]”.
Here are two possible reasons. First, journalists never use it because the Oxford comma takes up space on a page, and that costs money. The second reason is that many people were told in school that the Oxford comma is wrong, and they hold on to what they've been told.
Contributor's comments: "But" at the end of a sentence is used in Sydney where it is the same as putting "but" at the beginning of a sentence. Thus "But I didn't do it!" is the same as saying "I didn't do it, but!"
One difference between Australian and American grammar is our use of prepositions (i.e. words that indicate a relationship between other words). For example, while we might look forward to relaxing 'at the weekend', our American cousins prefer to relax 'on the weekend'.
Grammatical features of Australia English
For example, in terms of spelling, Australian English most closely resembles British English. The 'u' is retained in words like 'colour' and the 'ise' ending is used instead of the Americanised 'ize' suffix on words like 'realise'/'realize'.
Australian English can be described as a new dialect that developed as a result of contact between people who spoke different, mutually intelligible, varieties of English. The very early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney.
The harsh environment in which convicts and new settlers found themselves meant that men and women closely relied on each other for all sorts of help. In Australia, a 'mate' is more than just a friend and is a term that implies a sense of shared experience, mutual respect and unconditional assistance.
One key distinction between Australian English and American English in terms of orthography (spelling) is the use of, 's,' as opposed to, 'z. ' For example, in America, words such as, 'specialise,' 'authorise,' and, 'analyse,' are spelt with a, 'z,' as opposed to the, 's' that is used in Australian English.
It seems like the Oxford comma's days are numbered. The University of Oxford styleguide has decided that as 'a general rule' use of the serial comma should be avoided. Here's the official entry: As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write 'a, b and c' not 'a, b, and c'.
Brittney notes that Grammarly is pro-Oxford comma, in part because many long-timers (“the OG Grammarly users”) have voiced fondness for it. “It's really carried over into our blog, social media, emails,” even in settings where AP style might be more typical: “We've kept the Oxford comma just to keep things consistent.”
The serial comma (aka Oxford comma or Harvard comma) is a term that describes the use of a comma before the conjunction in a list of three or more items (e.g., the comma before “and” in “pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon”). The name comes from the fact that it's used in a series (list).