Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
This?
Today I went to the market and bought apples, pears, and bananas.
Or This?
Today I went to the market and bought apples, pears and bananas.
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I remember a teacher telling the class that the rule changed from the first to the second. I also remember a teacher bitterly complaining about how this rule change affected the meaning and rhythm of poetry included in our textbooks. I tend to agree it's sacrilege to change punctuation within an already written poem in order to conform to updated punctuation standards.
In 2001, I helped prepare a professor's paper for submission to a scientific journal. That journal was still requiring the comma before the "and." I had the fun job of hunting these down and fixing them.
As far as I can tell, the inmates are running the asylum.