Thread: English punctuation

Primarily English has rules about where not to put a comma. Many people will put a comma before "and" in an enumeration, but it is not mandatory. It is, however, mandatory to use one in an enumeration where there is no "and" or "or", as in the list on the magazine front page; the woman in question finds inspiration in a) cooking, b) her family and c) her dog, not in cooking (her family and her dog), which is very much a one-time inspiration.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

Primarily English has rules about where not to put a comma. Many people will put a comma before "and" in an enumeration, but it is not mandatory.

Actually, I thought you should ideally NOT put a comma before "and".... Isn't that the rule?
In Swedish it is, anyway.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Actually, I thought you should ideally NOT put a comma before "and".... Isn't that the rule?
In Swedish it is, anyway.

It is in Russian. Or so I was taught at school. I don't think it is in English, and I like it. Now I often indulge myself putting this comma in when I write in English.