After returning student essays, one particular student came forward to challenge me on a note I had made in his paper.
"So, my English teachers said that you can do whatever you want in the future with regard to using commas in sentences," he said while pointing to my comment about the use of the Oxford comma.
I'm sure my fellow colleagues did not use those words in particular, so I had to carefully correct my student. And, this was an opportunity to spread the wisdom in using the Oxford comma.
For the sheer sake of understandability, the reduction of ambiguity, and consequently the clarity it affords, the Oxford comma makes sense. To wit:
After I showed the student the above graphic, the idea of the Oxford comma seemed to get his gears turning. Or, so I sense, hope, and pray ...
