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Transcription:
With the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk, and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 4 people. JFK, Stalin, and 2 strippers.]
Without the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 2 people. JFK and Stalin, both dressed in the same stripper outfits as the strippers in the above image.]
Okay but here’s the argument for why the Oxford comma can be misleading:
I just changed stripper from plural to singular, and now you could read the sentence as: a stripper named JFK was invited, as well as Stalin
If the strippers name is jfk, you wouldn’t use a comma. The sentence would be “we invited the stripper JFK, and Stalin.”
You would, actually. It’s called apposition and is commonly used in all varieties of English, as far as I’m aware
would that comma need to be there at all though?
that kind of sentence structure always trips me up. we should start using parentheses for situations like this. or invent a new symbol, or something. we give commas too many jobs.
You can reword the sentence to be clear.
“We invited a stripper named JFK and Stalin.”
or
“We invited a stripper as well as JFK and Stalin.”
Don’t necessary have to use a comma at all.
Do you have to be consistent about using the Oxford comma throughout your work, or can you use and omit it in various parts for clarity and to more closely resemble the emphasis in speech? This is assuming this is a formal environment and your school doesn’t have a preference for using or omitting it throughout.
Depends on the job, and exactly which English-speaking country you live in. A lot of employers have style guides, and those can mandate using/not using the Oxford comma so you’ll have to pick one and be consistent about it