How Not to Make a List

Probably one of the first rules of commas you learned were making lists. Commas are a necessity in making lists of things that have more than three items. For example, I enjoy ice skating, long walks on the beach, smooth jazz, and a good glass of scotch. That is an eloquently written list of activities and things that a classy man would enjoy. Take note future gentlemen. Make sure to separate each interest or item in your list so not to confuse yourself and others in strange behaviors. That way a future employer doesn’t read your resume and notice that you enjoy cooking dogs up like said person below:

You horrible dog-eating person.

So the rule as stated in The Elements of Style, “in a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.”

For example,

          Red, white, and blue

          Gold, frankincense, and myrrh

          Trains, planes, and automobiles

You get the idea. Separate your ideas.

There is Comma 101 for all you saps out there who continue to cook dogs. May you correct your mistakes forever and prevent yourself from being a punctuation pinhead.