*,\'(;-)/.?!:"...

[Nat]

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.

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.