On Thursday 05 April 2007 18:45, Peter Reaper wrote: > Adrian Try said on 03.04.2007 14:02: > > Hi again > > > >> BTW: Your signature is missing a comma before the "and": > >> > >> --> Computer software should be affordable, effective, and safe. > >> ^ > >> http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#26 - see "2)" > > > > Thanks very much for the correction. I wonder if the grammar checker > > that many people are asking for would have helped? > > > > It's interesting - I was taught at school not to use a comma before the > > "and" in a list. Wikipedia raises an interesting issue: the rule you > > mention is definitely true with American English, but not necessarily so > > outside of America. It is an issue of much debate. See > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma > > > > I'll leave the comma out for the moment (apologies to all Americans), > > and I'll keep my eyes open to see what the main usage is here in > > Australia. > > Did you read the explanation in my link above why a serial comma avoids > ambiguity:
Crapping on about the punctuation in an email just makes you look like a smartass. Not that the other posts don't help. tim -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tim Fairchild Atchafalaya Border Collies. Kuttabul, Queensland, Australia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage http://www.bcs4me.com Photos http://www.pbase.com/amosf Blog http://bcs4me.com/blog BC Forum http://bcs4me.com/forum Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bcsr4ever ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
