The Death Of The Oxford Comma

By Sayali

The Death of the Oxford Comma

Let's set the crime scene

Victim: The Oxford comma

Status: Endangered

Suspects: AI, Style guides

Before we dive into the murder mystery, let's rewind.

Who is our victim?

The Oxford comma (aka the serial comma) is a comma placed before the final “and” or “or” in a list.

Eg. I love my parents, Taylor Swift ,and pasta.

See that comma after Taylor Swift? That’s the Oxford comma.

Without it, the sentence would be- I love my parents, Taylor Swift and pasta.

Here, the punctuation makes it sounds as if your parents are Taylor Swift and pasta.

Now let’s meet our suspects

Our first suspect, AI

The reason AI is a suspect is because the Oxford comma (along with em dashes) are considered to be an indicator that the content is not human made.

This is because AI models (like ChatGPT, Gemini etc.) are trained using formal data where the Oxford comma is used more often.

It’s supposed to make it sound more “perfect,”  which ironically makes it sound less human.

So now, human writers, especially young creatives online, intentionally avoid using the Oxford comma to make sure that their writing is not mistaken for AI.

In other words, AI is, at least one of the factors, responsible for the endangerment and possible murder of the Oxford comma.

Now our second suspect, style guides

A style guide essentially decides what is “correct” while writing.

It decides-

Which spelling to use (colour vs. color, grey vs. gray etc.),

How to format dates,

Whether to say “email” or “e-mail”,

And, yep you guessed it, whether or not to use the Oxford comma.

Different industries use different guides. And that's why only one style guide is on our suspect list.

There are two major style guides- Associated Press and Chicago Manual of Style.

First, the innocent- Chicago Manual of Style

It is used by authors, academics, novelists, essayists

Their vibe: Elegant, detailed, precise

Their rule? Always use the Oxford comma

Eg. I bought eggs, toast, and juice

(Extra comma=extra clarity)

These guides argue that one little comma can save a sentence from going viral for the wrong reasons (like the time someone thanked "my parents, Oprah and God.”)

Now, the one we believe to be guilty- Associated Press

It is used by journalists, news outlets, Buzzfeed writers, magazines

Their vibe: Clean, quick, no nonsense

Their rule? No Oxford comma

Eg. I bought eggs, toast and juice

(No comma before “and”)

AP style writers say that the comma is extra. This style is all about efficiency, speed and making things easy to skim, especially in print where space is tight.

The Oxford comma is getting murdered, but not everyone is ready to let that happen.

The comma helps avoid confusion in legal or academic writing

Clarifies lists in essays or articles

Has fans in grammar loving circles

Eg. Let’s thank our parents,

Beyonce and Jay-Z

This sentence is incorrect, (Unless you’re Blue Ivy, Rumi ,or Sir. In that case, carry on) as it implies that Beyonce and Jay- Z are your parents.

Did you know in 2017, a missing Oxford comma even led to a $5 million lawsuit loss for a dairy company.

So, do you think the Oxford comma is getting murdered or is our language just evolving? Are AI and style guides guilty or is this just part of change in our social culture?