Good wikipedia article on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
As they point out, both using and not using the comma can actually create ambiguity.
“They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook.” Is Betty a maid?
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a cook. Is Betty both a maid and a cook?
[This also applies to the Nelson Mandela case.]
A writer has to be careful either way. I’ve always found it wondrous the ways that others can misunderstand my pellucid language.
The unambiguous way to convey that Betty was a maid would be to use parentheses. “…Betty (a maid) and a cook.”
I think the example is a problem of an ambiguous list, where the string of words can be parsed in different but equally meaningful ways. The phrase’s problems exist whether spoken or written. “They went to Oregon with a cook and maid named Betty, who, as it turns out, was a sex addict and a mule for a narco-Columbian drug cartel.” would avoid the problem – and be a more interesting sentence.
Good wikipedia article on the subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
As they point out, both using and not using the comma can actually create ambiguity.
“They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook.” Is Betty a maid?
They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a cook. Is Betty both a maid and a cook?
[This also applies to the Nelson Mandela case.]
A writer has to be careful either way. I’ve always found it wondrous the ways that others can misunderstand my pellucid language.
The unambiguous way to convey that Betty was a maid would be to use parentheses. “…Betty (a maid) and a cook.”
I think the example is a problem of an ambiguous list, where the string of words can be parsed in different but equally meaningful ways. The phrase’s problems exist whether spoken or written. “They went to Oregon with a cook and maid named Betty, who, as it turns out, was a sex addict and a mule for a narco-Columbian drug cartel.” would avoid the problem – and be a more interesting sentence.
Along with setting the date for their marriage, another thing that happened at the Mandela tribute was the discovery by the worlds deaf community of something you’ve known for ages, that Obama talks gibberish.
http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2013/12/fraud-sign-language-interpreter-nelson-mandela-funeral
Lol, I like how you put that 🙂
It was fun to watch the guy. Some of the signs he made up actually looked like what the person was saying.