When you're writing or typing and begin to list items in consecutive order, do you add a comma prior to the conjunction before the final item? Or not? The inclusion of that final comma is a great ...

It’s National Punctuation Day tomorrow. Please contain your excitement. I wrote about it in 2008 and in 2009, apparently skipping it last year. Since one of Professor Stacy Spaulding’s new media ...

It turns out the Oxford comma is a very expensive punctuation mark. Oakhurst Dairy settled a lawsuit with its grammarian delivery drivers for $5 million, which is half the initial total sought by the ...

When you reach the end of a sentence, you need a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Phrases or subordinate clauses standing alone are missing a subject or a verb or are stated in such a way ...

Do your clients and the courts a favor -- when distinguishing items in a list, choose critical clarity, avoid confusion, and include the Oxford comma. If you know appellate judges, you know they are ...

Here’s an interesting question posed to me recently: Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly? Look for fresh basil at your local grocery store, and, if it isn’t available, tell the ...

In school, I was taught about conjunctions (e.g. or and and) and the role they play in sentence structure – they are linking words. They do what they say on the tin: con-(i.e. with) and -junction (i.e ...

People who care about grammar love the serial comma, aka the Oxford or Harvard comma. They love it because they were instructed to use it in school, and they love it because it supposedly reduces ...

Why is punctuation important? From emails to text messages, poetry to novels, punctuation guides readers, creates rhythm and brings clarity to even the most complex ideas. Imagine reading a sentence ...