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Should I put a comma before the last item in a list?

Which is correct?

  • Three attributes are considered in this talk: response time, availability, and throughput.
  • Three attributes are considered in this talk: response time, availability and throughput.
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william007
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  • They're both considered correct. Which style you use is dictated either by a style manual or by your personal prejudice. You can read all about it on the Net if you search for discussions of the Oxford comma or serial comma. This is a General Reference question and should be closed as not productive. The debate about which is better is too old & tiresome, & nothing we say here will matter to anyone in a position to toggle our brains to invariably use one or the other. –  Nov 21 '12 at 12:33
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    You'll find this addressed at length on this site, starting here: Should I put a comma before the last item in a list?. – StoneyB on hiatus Nov 21 '12 at 12:35
  • @BillFranke Actually, that isn’t unqualifiedly true, insofar as those who consider the one form correct make up a set that barely intersects with those who consider the other form correct, for each thinks the other mad. – tchrist Nov 21 '12 at 14:35
  • @tchrist: I'm a strong advocate of the serial comma & use it whenever possible. (Personal prejudice.) I don't think those who eschew it are mad, just lazy & indiscriminate. (More personal prejudice.) With very few exceptions, biomed journals published in English don't care. The ones that do, require the serial comma; none that I know of (I don't know all biomed journal house styles, of course) says "Don't use the the serial comma". I do think the issue is tiresome, though, & I agree that it's a Hamas-&-Likud-ish standoff when people go usage slumming. The world's big enough for both sides now. –  Nov 21 '12 at 14:59

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