> When reading a written work aloud: is it typical that the decision to pause before the last item is determined by the Oxford comma (or lack thereof)? People

> When reading a written work aloud: is it typical that the decision to pause before the last item is determined by the Oxford comma (or lack thereof)? People are sometimes careless when they write and when they read but a comma does indicate a short pause. So yes, strictly speaking, the “decision to pause” (which is not really a decision) is determined by the presence of a comma. Often the presence of a pause changes the meaning of the list; there are several examples in this thread. In these cases, adding or removing a comma does alter the meaning of the sentence and should be avoided.