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Commas-List 3 or More Items

The three items in the list may be words, phrases, or clauses.

Unless there is another reason for a comma, a list of only two items or phrases does NOT take a comma before “and” or “or.”

A list written in a paragraph should have a comma after each item, including the next-to-the last one before the "and" or "or."
A list written in a paragraph should have a comma after each item (except the period after the last).

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Oxford comma: In a list of three or more items, the comma after the next-to-the-last item, just before the “and,” is optional, but leaving it out might imply that the last two items are connected as one unit, as in “mashed potatoes and gravy” or “pie and ice cream.” Court cases have been won/lost because of the comma or lack thereof.

Examples:

  • The box contained coloring books and toys and costumes and apples.
  • Sailors and pilots and drivers and explorers often use GPS for navigation.
  • She loved camping in the mountains and watching the wildlife through her binoculars and skiing steep slopes at break-neck speed and hang gliding from tall cliffs with blue water and green grass beneath her.

Commas tighten up the writing to make it more readable. Removing most of the “and’s” creates a stronger sentence.

Examples:

  • The box contained coloring books, toys, costumes, and apples.
    • (More than two items are listed in the box. Separate each one with a comma.) 
    • (The comma after “costumes” is an Oxford comma.)
  • Sailors, pilots, drivers, and explorers often use GPS for navigation.
    • (More than two groups of people are listed. Separate each one with a comma.) 
    • (The comma after “drivers” is an Oxford comma.)
  • She loved camping in the mountains, watching the wildlife through her binoculars, skiing steep slopes at break-neck speed, and hang gliding from tall cliffs with blue water and green grass beneath her.
    • She loved more than two activities. Each should be followed by a comma. Otherwise, the mountains are watching the wildlife and her binoculars are skiing down steep slopes.
    • (The comma after “break-neck speed” is an Oxford comma.)

Some items naturally go together, like “table and chairs” in a furniture store.

Example:

  • The meal consisted of a salad, a bowl of soup, a slice of ham, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pie and ice cream.
    • (More than two items are listed. However, “mashed potatoes and gravy” go together as one unit connected by “and,” so do not separate them with a comma. The same is true for “pie and ice cream.”)
    • (The lack of comma after “pie” implies that the two items are served together. If the choice for dessert were either pie or ice cream, then a comma after “pie” would clarify that.)

Examples:

  • The box contained coloring books and toys.
    • (List=”coloring books,” “toys.” Only two items, so no comma)
  • Sailors and pilots often use GPS for navigation.
    • (List=”sailors,” “pilots.” Only two items, so no comma)
  • She loved camping in the mountains but not skiing steep slopes at break-neck speed.
    • (List=”camping …,” “skiing ….” Only two items, so no comma)
    • (Punctuation marks may [not required] follow an ellipsis to clarify the intent of the sentence/question/exclamation)
    • (Four dots after “skiing” because a period follows the ellipsis)
  • Would you prefer ice cream or whipped cream with your pie?
    • (List=”ice cream,” “whipped cream.” Only two items, so no comma)

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