Using the correct punctuation
In order to write well and make yourself understood, it is important to use the correct punctuation, but for many of you this can be a struggle (and I suspect there isn't one of us in College that doesn't find themselves at some point not sure when to use a form of punctuation).
Last week, the humble comma was shown to be far more important than the little squiggle it is, when it made headline news in a court case concerning whether drivers in a dairy in the USA were entitled to overtime pay. The whole decision rested on the use of what is known as the Oxford comma. It cost Oakhurst Dairy 10 million dollars. Read about it here.
The Oxford Comma
The Oxford Comma (or serial comma) is an optional comma used after the penultimate item in a list of 3 or more items, before 'and' or 'or'.
Usually in a list we are told not to put a comma before the final 'and', but in some cases (and the Oakhurst Dairy case is a prime example) putting a comma here helps to make the sentence clearer and better understood.
It is Bristol University's jelly and ice cream example which helps me remember this (perhaps I'm feeling hungry!)
His favourite puddings were ice apple pie, rhubarb crumble, and jelly and ice cream.
The comma after crumble keeps jelly and ice cream together as one item, one dessert, one dish (albeit made up of 2 items).
Punctuation games/ quizzes
For those of you wanting to brush up on your use of the comma (Oxford or otherwise) or who need some exercises to use in class to help test punctuation, you might find these useful:
BBC Skillswise quiz -some funny example in here. It does need Flash to work.
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