The Oxford Comma Guild

[dondon151]

i'm really confused about the first example in the OP. i thought it was improper to use multiple "ands" to link items in a list.

the ambiguity that would be introduced by the oxford comma in the first sentence would be the potential use of a tuba player as an appositive. for example:

"the girl invited her father, a tuba player, and her mother."

is the tuba player the girl's father or a separate person? but this could easily be resolved simply by re-ordering the items:

"the girl invited her father, her mother, and a tuba player."

there's no confusion here, because we know that "her mother" is not an appositive for "her father," and "a tuba player" stands as the last item. i'm also confused about the second example in the OP, because the sentence just doesn't seem to make sense. no one says:

the girl invited her father and a tuba player, and her mother couldn't come." they'd use a "but" in place of the coordinator "and."

Edited December 5, 2014 by dondon151

[Esme]

thank you for pointing out those errors dondon

Edited December 5, 2014 by Esme

[eclipse]

there's no confusion here, because we know that "her mother" is not an appositive for "her father," and "a tuba player" stands as the last item. i'm also confused about the second example in the OP, because the sentence just doesn't seem to make sense. no one says:

the girl invited her father and a tuba player, and her mother couldn't come." they'd use a "but" in place of the coordinator "and."

You seriously overestimate the amount of grammatical correctness in this world.

[dondon151]

thank you for pointing out those errors dondon

your welcome

[Raven]

can i have some welcome too

[Julius Nepos]

i'm really confused about the first example in the OP. i thought it was improper to use multiple "ands" to link items in a list.

the ambiguity that would be introduced by the oxford comma in the first sentence would be the potential use of a tuba player as an appositive. for example:

"the girl invited her father, a tuba player, and her mother."

is the tuba player the girl's father or a separate person? but this could easily be resolved simply by re-ordering the items:

"the girl invited her father, her mother, and a tuba player."

there's no confusion here, because we know that "her mother" is not an appositive for "her father," and "a tuba player" stands as the last item. i'm also confused about the second example in the OP, because the sentence just doesn't seem to make sense. no one says:

the girl invited her father and a tuba player, and her mother couldn't come." they'd use a "but" in place of the coordinator "and."

It is not improper to use multiple 'ands': this is a stylistic scheme known as a 'polysyndeton'.

The example given in the OP was a response I made in another thread to exactly the same example you give, where the question arose whether 'her father' and 'a tuba player' are the same person. To illustrate that the Oxford comma is also capable of removing ambiguity I used a sentence like the one I was repsonding to. You rightfully point out that the ambiguity the Oxford comma adds can usually be removed by changing the word order, and that the ambiguity it removes can also be easily removed, in this particular example by simply changing 'and' to 'but'.

But consider the following examples:

These items are available in black and white, red and yellow and blue and green.

The bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, Bristol and Bath and Wells were present.

The Oxford comma would clarify the intented meaning of these sentences:

These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green.

The bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, Bristol, and Bath and Wells were present.

As you noted, the ambiguity can be easily avoided:

These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, blue and green.

The bishop of Winchester, the bishop of Salisbury, the bishop of Bristol and the bishop of Bath and Wells were present.

The bishops of Bath and Wells, Bristol, Salisbury and Winchester were present.

But thanks to the Oxford comma rephrasing the original sentences is not necessary to remove the ambiguity present in them.

In most cases though the Oxford comma doesn't make a sentence any more or less ambiguous.

[Esme]

your welcome

What about my welcome? Do you like it?

Aww, thank you!

[Integrity]

don't you use semicolons to clarify a list where the elements contain commas though?

she invited her father, a tuba player; and her mother

etc

[Makaze]

don't you use semicolons to clarify a list where the elements contain commas though?

she invited her father, a tuba player; and her mother

etc

Semicolons are for joining two independent clauses without a pause. A soft period, if you will. I believe what you have there is incorrect because of the 'and'. The tuba player is not the father. They are two people.

This is correct: She invited her father and a tuba player; her mother couldn't come.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Makaze

[Makaze]

don't you use semicolons to clarify a list where the elements contain commas though?

she invited her father, a tuba player; and her mother

etc

It can also be used to separate list items that contain their own punctuation. You were half right. e.g. I traveled to Seattle, Washington; Tokyo, Japan; and London, England.

[Florete]

don't you use semicolons to clarify a list where the elements contain commas though?

she invited her father, a tuba player; and her mother

etc

I think in this case dashes would be the best to use, so: She invited her father - a tuba player - and her mother.

A semicolon would be used in this case if there were multiple items that used commas, but I wouldn't use one otherwise.

[Integrity]

so as usual the way to deal with ambiguous english sentences is "rewrite to sentence to be less ambiguous"

interestingly this is a very versatile technique and i would say more helpful than the oxford comma, op!

[Darros]

I use the oxford comma every day. In fact, I was shocked when I realized that there was even a term for my method of using punctuation. Simply put, I use comma's any time I would normally pause slightly while speaking IRL.

I think that's a good habit to begin your writing with with but can doing that can end up giving you like 10000 comma splices in your writing.

but the oxford comma isn't unrecognized

I like oxford commas and all but even speaking as an english major this is a strange guild lmao

It needs more love. A lot of people I know just don't use them ever and I'm like ??????????????????????????????

so as usual the way to deal with ambiguous english sentences is "rewrite to sentence to be less ambiguous"

interestingly this is a very versatile technique and i would say more helpful than the oxford comma, op!

Well, you're not wrong..