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> "To my mother, Ayn Rand and my daughter" - Ayn Rand can't be in apposition of my mother as there's no comma setting Ayn Rand off from my daughter - Similarl
by grzm 9y ago
> "To my mother, Ayn Rand and my daughter"
- Ayn Rand can't be in apposition of my mother as there's no comma setting Ayn Rand off from my daughter
- Similarly, Ayn Rand and my daughter are not in apposition
- my daughter and my mother are mutually exclusive
This is described in more detail here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma#Ambiguity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma#Ambiguity
> "To my mother, Ayn Rand, and my daughter"
Adding the Oxford comma creates ambiguity between my mother and Ayn Rand, unless the speaker is Ayn Rand's daughter.
- cryptonector 9y agoBut here we're using semantics to disambiguate. It works, sure, but it works in fewer cases than punctuating/rephrasing to avoid the ambiguity grammatically rather than semantically. Semantic disambiguation also imposes a higher cognitive load on the reader -- sometimes that's the point (high-brow writin'). But you should consider the poor reader. After all, you want to be read and understood.
- grzm 9y agoSure, which is why I mentioned the exception. The whole point of the example is to show there are cases where the Oxford comma alone doesn’t prevent ambiguity in all cases. I’m not arguing that the Oxford comma is silly. I’m just explaining how the example can be ambiguous. Language is messy and wonderful and frustrating and fun!