[7] The serial comma is popular in formal writing (such as in academic, literary, and legal contexts)[8][9] but is usually omitted in journalism as a way to save space.
A comma before the and removes the ambiguity: Nevertheless, lists can also be written in other ways that eliminate the ambiguity without introducing the serial comma, such as by changing the word order, or by using other or no punctuation to introduce or delimit them (though the emphasis may thereby be changed): An example collected by Nielsen Hayden was found in a newspaper account of a documentary about Merle Haggard: A serial comma following "Kris Kristofferson" would help prevent this being understood as Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall being the ex-wives in question.
A writer who intends a list of three distinct people (Betty, maid, cook) may create an ambiguous sentence, regardless of whether the serial comma is adopted.
"[56][57][58] In O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy,[59] a federal court of appeals was required to interpret a statute under which the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution" of certain goods were activities exempted from the general requirement of overtime pay.
It said "Although authorities on punctuation may differ, when drafting Maine law or rules, don't use a comma between the penultimate and the last item of a series.
On appeal, however, the First Circuit decided that the sentence was ambiguous and "because, under Maine law, ambiguities in the state's wage and hour laws must be construed liberally in order to accomplish their remedial purpose", adopted the drivers' narrower reading of the exemption and ruled that those who distributed the goods were entitled to overtime pay.
Oakhurst Dairy settled the case by paying $5 million to the drivers,[62] and the phrase in the law in question was later changed to use serial semicolons and "distributing" – resulting in "canning; processing; preserving; freezing; drying; marketing; storing; packing for shipment; or distributing".
[63] The opinion in the case said that 43 of the 50 U.S. states had mandated the use of a serial comma and that both chambers of the federal congress had warned against omitting it, in the words of the U.S. House Legislative Counsel's Manual on Drafting Style, "to prevent any misreading that the last item is part of the preceding one"; only seven states "either do not require or expressly prohibited the use of the serial comma".
[30][31] In 2020 a commemorative 50p coin was brought into circulation in the United Kingdom to mark "Brexit day", January 31, 2020, minted with the phrase "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations".
English novelist Philip Pullman and others criticized the omission of the serial comma, while others said it was an Americanism and not required in this instance.