where is the coma before the "&" in my question?

Question

sometimes I write: Mike, Joe, & me. but i get corrected to write: Mike, Joe & me. and viseversa, depending on who I work for. So who is right?

Answer 1

The right way is "Mike, Joe, and I" the commas continue until the list stops. So if you wrote "Mike, Joe and I" you are excluding yourself from the list. Same with anything:

Milk, juice, bread, and potatoes. NOT
Milk, juice, bread and potatoes. In this one, you are saying that bread and potatoes are one entity, which they are not.

Answer 2

You see both all the time. I was taught - and several people here have mentioned the "a list of three or more items" rule.

For instance: Mike and I. . .or. . .Joe and I
But: Mike, Joe, and I
NOT: Mike, Joe and I

Leaving off the second comma groups the last two items together.

Answer 3

The problem is not the comma, but the ampersand (&).
It is non standard in written English, in other words, it's a shortcut that is not valid in standard writing.
Standard writing is (Nominative) Mike, Joe, and I...
Standard for the objective is: to Mike, Joe, and me.
Note that in legal writing the final comma in the series is traditionally eliminated for legal clarity. B.

Answer 4

A comma is "and" so the second is correct. The sentence should read - Mike, Joe and I...... I have noticed that auto correction on microsoft word puts the extra comma in....wrong.

Answer 5

Well, whoever told you two commas is in a grammatical coma. Would you write Joe, & me? No. And you don't add one in there if you add Mike; he has his own comma. The person who told you that it should be Mike, Joe & me is correct.

And for muuuua, you can't say whether it's 'me' or 'I' until you see the rest of the sentence.

Answer 6

No comma before &. And if the complete sentence were "Bob gave books to Mike, Joe and me" then "me" is indeed correct.

Answer 7

technically you always use a , before an and....some people
are mistaken in this area.
symbols are commonly used on business forms, in tables, and statistical matter, and some informal business communications

if you are using an ampersand,,,this symbol: & you do not use a comma in a company name unless you know a company perfers to do so.

for ex...smith, brom, apples & johnson

if you meant, for ex; apples, oranges, and tomatoes

the rule is if 3 or more things are listed in a series and the last item is preceded by and, or, OR nor, place a comma before the conjunction as well as between other items.

Answer 8

It is: Mike, Joe, and I to be grammatically correct

Answer 9

When you have a series of items separated by commas, you don't put a comma before using the word 'and' (or the ampersand: &). Whoever told you that was correct. Believe me, I finally heard it one too many times!

Here's another joyful revelation: when to use "me" or "I" ...
When you say, "Joe and me went to blahblahblah", think of it this way: if [Joe and] wasn't in the sentence, what would you say? " I went to blahblahblah." If you had "do you want Joe and me to blahblahblah?", then imagine if {do you want Joe and} was absent from the sentence, you'd then say 'me', as in "do you want me to blahblahblah?" Pretty snappy, eh?

Answer 10

1. NEVER use "&" in a sentence. It is used only in math (sometimes) or in company names or in business signs.

2. Use a comma before "and" ONLY if there is a comma or an "and" as in bacon and eggs that follows the "and" in question.