Oxford commas are useful and should be allowed in AP writing style, despite currently being disallowed

The Oxford comma is the comma that is placed before the final conjunction and, or in a list of three or more items. It is included and disallowed from many different writing styles but we think its presence should be allowed in every style. For some reason, it is disallowed in the AP writing style given that in the early days of print, getting rid of the comma saved space on the newspaper page. Nowadays, this is not needed, as we no longer need to save space as most articles are published online and paper newspapers are not as common. This is just one of the many reasons that the Oxford comma should be allowed in the AP style. 

The Oxford comma is mainly used to prevent confusion and create consistency in complex lists. In modern times, newspapers are getting very confusing and lots of people read the news online. This creates the need for the consistency and clearness that the Oxford comma gives. An example of the confusion that could be caused in the absence of the Oxford comma is the sentence, “Come meet Janet, a friend and a doctor.” Without the Oxford comma, it could be assumed that Janet is a friend and a doctor. With the comma, we know that we are not just meeting Janet, but also a person who is a friend, and a doctor. A sentence like “Come meet Janet, a friend, and a doctor.” would make a lot more sense. The Oxford comma in this situation prevented the confusion of how many people they were going to meet. The Oxford comma did not take up that much space in this sentence. It is hard to even notice the increase in sentence size between the two. This goes to show how this constraining rule is outdated and unneeded.

Finn Oswald ‘28 said, “I think [the Oxford comma] should be allowed in AP writing style because it just makes the lists more clear.” 

Spanish teacher Sean Reynolds said, “To clarify, it would be needed. The comma makes a strong pause in a sentence so you might as well use it.” 

Both teachers and students alike think that the Oxford comma is a crucial part of writing and should be allowed in all styles of writing. The original rule was established due to the fact that the comma took up too much space in the early days of print but now in modern times, the comma barely takes up any space at all. It is so unnoticeable that you can’t even tell the difference in size between a sentence with it and a sentence without it. Therefore we believe that the Oxford comma should be allowed in AP writing style.