When and where the comma applies?

Question

My sentence is like this:My husband is loving, thoughtful, religious (Do I have to put comma at the end of religious or not?) and responsible.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

My sentence is like this:

My husband is loving, thoughtful, religious (Do I have to put comma at the end of religious or not?) and responsible.

Some people would, some people wouldn't. I usually wouldn't.

Best wishes, Clive

Atomstar · Answer

Hi,
There is a great small book Painless Grammar by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D., ISBN 0812097815 that might help anyone with grammar questions. It is the most comprehensible grammar book I've ever read. They insist on using comma in lists, e.g.:
Please, buy eggs, milk, bread, and cereal at the store.
We studied math, history, health, and grammar.

So, in your case, according to that book, you should use comma after religious.

This question has bugged me for years. An English teacher had told me to use comma, then another told me not to use it in such cases when its the last of the list at the end of the sentence. I had read somewhere that the original rule was to USE comma but newspapers started omitting it at the end of the list to save space and since both are legal as long as you keep your text consistent.

Don't get me wrong, with all this research, I came to the English forum to seek more modern opinions, and I would be glad to hear from others about this comma issue.

Thank you!

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Here's a personal reaction.

In my whole life and with a reasonable education, I had never even heard of using a comma before 'and' in a simple list, until I read the suggestion in this Forum a few years ago.

Best wishes, Clive

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