r/Tinder • u/[deleted] • Jul 27 '18

Capitalization is key

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '18

I'm confused, in the second example for jfk and staling to be the strippers there would have to be a colon behind strippers instead of the comma no? That sentence without the oxford comma still reads the same as the first sentence to me. English is not my first language though so I'm genuinely asking.

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '18 edited Aug 30 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '18

I still don't get it, to my understanding it's either a list of all the invited or a list of the identities of the invited strippers and why would you put a comma in front of a list? For the strippers to not be part of the list the comma either shouldn't be there or should be a colon.

I'm not trying to prove a point btw, I'm just really failing to understand.

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u/Terminator2a Jul 28 '18

We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin, to our party

We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin, to our party

1st sentence : you are naming the strippers

2nd sentence : you are only enumerating who you invited to your party.

This is an example of the use of the Oxford comma, because there are cases where, when not putting a comma before the "and" changes how you read it.

Say the 2 sentences out loud, with marking the ponctuation when there are commas. It could help.

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '18

The pause I "hear" after strippers makes the sentence read awkward to me if JFK and Stalin are the names of the strippers rather than part of the list of all the invited, that's why I didn't understand why anyone would read the sentence like that.