grammar question

[couchy]

Is it a good use of English to put and after a comma?, I remember my English teacher telling me not to but I see it everywhere.

[couchy]

thank you very much.

[Quizmonster]

The reason your teacher was basically against 'comma and' is the fact that the main function of a comma is to separate items and the main function of 'and' is to join them. However, as the answer above suggests, there ARE situations where the two together are perfectly acceptable...even sometimes essential. Click http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859
-1&cof=L%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.refdesk.com%2Frd.gif%3BLH%3A94%3BLW%3A282%3BBGC%3Awhite%3BT%3Ablack%3BAH%3Acenter%3B&q=%22comma+and+and%22&btnG=Google+Search and a link will take you to a web-page listing 130 other websites where the topic is dealt with. Once there, just click on any of the blue-coloured headings that look interesting to access the information.

[WendyW]

A comma used in this situation is known as the Oxford Comma. At one time only people who had been to Oxford University tended to do it. I must admit that I can't see the point of it

[WaldoMcFroog]

Once upon a time, there was a Scottish school marm. She wrote a text about the laws of grammar and it became the standard text. However, in the same Dr Johnson made up/ choose his favorite spellings for words in his dictionary, many of the laws were pecadillos of the school marm - which is why splitting infinitives was considered incorrect for so long, and you couldn't (as I've just done) put an 'and' after a comma. Nowadays, many of these 'laws' are being disregarded since they do not simplify comprehension - which is, after all, the point of grammar.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Einstein, I'll claim equal amounts being an eejit and dyslexia on that one!