I used to ghostwrite pieces for a CEO who obsessed about details, particularly with regard to punctuation. We had any number of discussions over the years about whether or not to use the serial comma. This is a comma that completes a series and appears before a preposition, as in: apples, peaches, pears, and plums.
Some people use the serial comma, and others argue it isn’t needed. To me, it’s crucial to readability and meaning.
Without that extra, final comma, one can't be completely certain what the writer meant. It's the difference between "7, 8, and 9" and "7, 8 and 9."
The clincher came when I happened to view a TV show about Thomas Jefferson, which featured a close-up of the passage: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in
There was the serial comma, right where it is supposed to be.
So, I proudly presented this new piece of evidence to the CEO who, finally acquiesced. I was right and he was wrong. You might assume that henceforth the serial comma was used in all future communiqués from the big guy. You would be wrong.
He decided to continue NOT using the serial comma because, and I am not making this up, he was concerned that Wall Street would notice and become concerned about the inconsistency.
I'll never make it to the top of a corporation because I can't think that way.
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