November 13, 2015

Go Ahead, Make Your Best Case Against the Oxford Comma

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Atrios is singing my song:

The one “grammar debate” I don’t get is the Oxford Comma debate. Of course there should be one. There’s no argument for leaving them out, and a million obvious ones for including them. There is no debate. Include it, barbarians.

I’ve never gotten this either. Even if the lack of a final comma creates ambiguity only one time in a hundred, why not use it for that one time in a hundred? It’s completely harmless the other 99 times, isn’t it? Seriously: what’s the argument against the Oxford comma?

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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