"What Is the Oxford Comma (And Is It Really Optional)?": Oregon State Guide to Grammar

This video traces the origin of the so-called Oxford comma to clarify the controversy of its omission, ultimately revealing how it should be employed – and according to whom. Written by Senior Lecturer J.T. Bushnell and performed by Graduate Teaching Assistance Rachael Higham, it is designed for high school and college students studying grammar or linguistics.

The School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University sponsors this series. For further explanations of grammar issues and writing tips, please subscribe to the free SWLF YouTube Channel or visit https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/w.... In the comments section below, feel free to suggest other terms you would like us to cover. Liking, sharing, and commenting on these videos will help us to build a rich digital learning environment around grammar and language.

Below are a few more videos in this series. If there are topics you'd like to see us cover in the future, please let us know in the comments!

"What Is Grammar?":    • An Introduction to The Oregon State G...  
"What Is a Noun?":    • "What Is a Noun?": Oregon State Guide...  
"What Is a Verb?":    • "What Is a Verb?": Oregon State Guide...  
"What Is a Subject?":    • "What Is a Subject in Grammar?": Oreg...  
"What Is a Predicate?":    • "What Is a Predicate in Grammar?": Or...  
“What Is a Phrase?”:    • "What Is a Phrase in Grammar?": Orego...  
“What Is a Clause?”:    • "What Is a Clause in Grammar?": Orego...  
“When to Use Commas”:    • "When To Use Commas": Oregon State Gu...  
“When NOT to Use Commas”:    • "When NOT to Use Commas": Oregon Stat...  
"What Is Passive Voice?":    • "What Is Passive Voice?": Oregon Stat...  
"What Is Parallelism?":    • "What Is Parallelism?": Oregon State ...  
"What Is Gender-Neutral Language?":    • "What Is Gender-Neutral Language?": O...  
“What Are Dialects?”:    • "What Are Dialects?": Oregon State Gu...  
“What Is Code-Meshing?”:    • "What Is Code-Meshing?" Oregon State ...  
“What Is Singular They?”:    • "What Is Singular They?": Oregon Stat...  
“How to Use a Semicolon”:    • "How to Use a Semicolon": Oregon Stat...  
“How to Use a Colon”:    • "How to Use a Colon": Oregon State Gu...  
“How to Use Apostrophes”:    • "How to Use Apostrophes": Oregon Stat...  
“What Is a Comma Splice?”:    • "What Is a Comma Splice?": Oregon Sta...  
“What Is Syntax?”:    • "What Is Syntax in Grammar?": Oregon ...  
"What Is Mood in Grammar?":    • "What Is Mood in Grammar?": Oregon St...  
"What Is (AND ISN'T) Standard Written English?":    • "What Is (AND ISN'T) Standard Written...