When listing items do you put a comma before the word "and"?

Question

In the third grade I was taught to not put a comma before the word and. And then in the fifth grade I was told the opposite. Which do you do?

Answer 1

A comma separates the last two items in a series even though these items are linked by a conjunction. This comma was once considered optional, but the trend is to make it mandatory, especially in technical and business English. Leaving it out can cause confusion and misinterpretation.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
When listing items do you put a comma before the word "and"?
In the third grade I was taught to not put a comma before the word and. And then in the fifth grade I was told the opposite. Which do you do?

Answer 3

As a technical writer, I suffered at one point under a "comma fanatic". According to her, it was always a comma before the "and". Yet, you can find respected guidance that suggests either is appropriate. As much as I love and enjoy the vagaries of the English language (though by no means as an expert), there are some people who get a little too caught up in the exact and inflexible rules they learned from some teacher and won't believe anything else. Adapt yourself to the audience and move on. Life will be more fun.

Answer 4

The comma is optional unless the comma is needed to help the sentence make sense. If the sense of the sentence is ambiguous without the comma, you must use it.

Newspaper editors like to omit the comma before and whenever possible, as it saves ink.

Answer 5

What I was taught was that the final and usually has no comma before it, but that one may use and part way into a long list and have a comma before that and but not the final and.

Answer 6

Don't put a comma before the word 'and'. I went through four years of college and didn't get in trouble for doing it that way. Using a comma before "and" is redundant.

Example: I'm selling beer, pizza, tortellini and mozarella on ebay.

Answer 7

For the best answers, search on this site https://smarturl.im/aD1c3

No. Not always. I like pizza and hamburgers. However, if you place a second "I" in the second part, then the sentence can be reduced to two sentences. In this case, you need a comma. I like pizza, and I like hamburgers. I think this is what you were referring to.

Answer 8

it depepnds. if it has 3 or more words, they need to be separated with commas and AND would have a comma before it.

if it has 1 or 2 words, then there is no comma before and

Answer 9

It depends on how many items you are listing. One would not say "These are my friends John, and Jane." If only listing two items then there is no comma, for there is no need. If listing more than two items, as in "These are my friends John, Jane, Dan, and Susan"....then it is acceptable, but not mandatory.

Answer 10

Reverse Phone Number Look Up Services