MSGID: 2:221/6.0 667ec6fe   
   REPLY: 2136.englisht@1:2320/105 2ae2c2bc   
   PID: SmapiNNTPd/Linux/IPv6 kco 20240505   
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   CHRS: LATIN-1 2   
   TZUTC: 0300   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9 2024-03-02   
      
   Hi, Ed Vance!   
   I read your message from 27.06.2024 15:25   
      
    AH>> It's a matter of style, not an absolute requirement, and some   
    AH>> people recommend using it only when it's needed to avoid   
    AH>> confusion: Through the window I saw John, a basketball player and   
    AH>> a friend of mine. What is this friend's name, and is he a   
    AH>> basketball player? I have no idea. I found the example in   
    AH>> Wikipedia... I didn't personally invent it. I asked for coffee   
    AH>> with a breakfast of pancakes, bacon & eggs, hot buttered toast and   
    AH>> hash brown potatoes. At 5WPM I can type an added comma without   
    AH>> having to fret about whether someone from ElseWhere will think I   
    AH>> buttered the hash browns *after* they were cooked. For me it's   
    AH>> easier to use the Oxford comma routinely in such a list than to go   
    AH>> into detail about why buttering such things on the plate may not   
    AH>> work. If Denis asks I'll do the latter, but other folks may not   
    AH>> care.: - Q BTW, here's a joke Dallas found shortly before your   
    AH>> message arrived: I like cooking my family and my pets. -- commas   
    AH>> save lives I suppose you could in many cases. But as Anton says,   
    AH>> in English it is generally considered desirable to avoid   
    AH>> unnecessary verbiage.... [chuckle].   
      
    EV> When I read Dallas's joke I thought about the phrase: "Love your   
    EV> kids but belt them in the car."   
      
   You can note, however, that when you speak such things you cannot put a comma   
   at all. ;-)   
      
    EV> Hmmm, should I had put a period after the ending quote mark?   
      
   I read that in the British English they put such a comma outside the quotation   
   marks, but in the American English they are inside.   
      
   Bye, Ed!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   english_tutor 2024   
      
   ---    
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