The Pesky Serial Comma

The serial comma - sometimes called the Oxford comma or the Harvard comma - comes immediately before a conjunction that separates the last of three or more elements in a series. For example, consider the trio ready, willing, and able. Consider too win, lose, or draw. The serial comma is the one immediately before the and or the or. In statutes or private arrangements, a comma\u27s presence (or, as in O\u27Connor, its absence) may hold high stakes for litigants