The Oxford Comma

I use the grammar checker because it does catch quite a few of my typos. But often I do have to ignore what it thinks are errors. As for commas, I probably do use too many of them. But if an Oxford (or any other) comma makes the meaning of the sentence clearer, I' in favor of it.

Me too!! (Isn't that amazing English?)

I also turned off my memory of grammar rules (in my school years, we used to have dozens of crib cards with these rules written on).

I find many of the formal rules of grammar to be quite stifling and for the effect I am trying to create, they are often too inhibiting.

TG I no longer have Mrs Perks, with her violet hair wash, looking over my work and marking it.

I agree. If we were doing technical or formal writing, it would be a different story.

Using the coordinating conjunction without the comma is called a comma splice. The comma is required.


No. You use either a comma and a coordinating conjunction or a semi colon. You don't use a semi colon and a coordinating conjunction. You don't use a colon to connect two independent clauses.

To be fair, accepted grammar shifts over time. Still, there is no question (in current time) as to the use of a comma before a conjunction when connecting two independent clauses.

-LK

I find the opposite. The more I know about grammar, the more I can play around with it to interesting effect.

I think it is an illusion that the Oxford comma resolves all ambiguities. In the sentence

"My mother, Ayn Rand, and God were important influences on my formative years."

it seems to introduce one, unless you happen to know that Ayn Rand was not my mother. I come from a language where the Oxford comma is seen as incorrect (and we have been able to survive and thrive so far!), but I still use it on occasion where it seems to make things clearer and easier to read. As far as I am concerned, the only rule is that you cannot expect the rules to keep your prose free of ambiguities - you have to check for yourself.

Using the coordinating conjunction without the comma is called a comma splice.

My understanding is that a comma splice is the use of a comma where a full stop or semi-colon is necessary.

Take these two sentences:

She bent over the desk. Her long hair touched the floor on the other side.

This is perfectly acceptable punctuation.

However ...

She bent over the desk, her long hair touched the floor on the other side.

... is not correct. This is a comma splice.

You cannot make two sentences into one simply by replacing the full stop (period) with a comma. You can use a semi-colon if the two sentences are closely related. She bent over the desk; her long hair touched the floor on the other side.

You can reword the sentence. As she bent over the desk, her long hair touched the floor on the other side.

You can use a conjunction. She bent over the desk and her long hair touched the floor on the other side. Some would advocate a comma before 'and'. I'm not convinced that it always adds to the sense.

As to Microsoft Word grammar check - if you followed all its prompts you would end up with gibberish. It prompts me to change it's to its and your to you're (usually wrongly) and to put a question mark after a speech tag. e.g. "Where are you going," he asked? Totally wrong! The question mark should come after 'going'.

I am, however, reluctant to turn it off because I do like the spell-check. It's not that I can't spell, but my typing is not very good. My memory may be faulty, but I think I recall an earlier version of Word in which the grammar and spell checkers were independent of one another. Anyone else remember this or am I making it up?

But

She bent over the desk, her long hair touching the floor on the other side.

.... would be correct, wouldn't it? If so, it just shows how complicated grammar is as some of us have to live which a language that doesn't have a present progressive form ("He is spanking her") to supplement the simple present form ("He spanks her")!

Yes, perfectly correct. 'her long hair touching the floor' is not a complete sentence so a full stop could not be used before it.

I am filled with admiration for anyone who learns Engish as a foreign language and uses it as well as you do. Kudos also to Ordalie and Mati and anyone else I have missed.

I am also a fan of the Oxford comma. It just seems to sort out ambiguity so well.
I do accept that there is a case for splitting into two separate sentences, but sometimes this doesn't read correctly, and in prose, as in poetry the music of the language is important. There, I automatically used a pair of commas around a clause starting with a conjunction and I didn't even notice I was doing it till I read it back.