Commas, conjunctions, and confusion, oh my!

If you've been paying any attention at all to the way things are punctuated (and if you're a writer, you should!), you know that there's very little consistency in the way writers handle commas in a series. Part of this is probably just not knowing any better. But part of it is the fact that there are two different (and conflicting) sets of rules depending on where the writing is published. It's a matter of style. Or rather, it's a matter of style books.

Periodicals editors, those at magazines (at least those that print non-fiction) and newspapers, follow the A.P. Stylebook. According to A.P. style guidelines, when you have a series of items separated by commas, you do not put a comma before the conjunction preceding the final item. In plain English, that means don't put a comma before the "and". For example:

Dorothy was afraid of lions, tigers and bears. She was accompanied by a scarecrow, a lion, a tin man and a little dog.

Book editors, and editors of magazines that focus on fiction, on the other hand, generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style. According to this weighty tome's style guidelines, when you have a series of items separated by commas, you do put a comma before the conjunction preceding the final item. In other words, put a comma before the "and". Another example:

The wicked witch had a broom, flying monkeys, and a bad attitude. She was lean, mean, and green.

This would all be well and good, and fairly easy to deal with, if the waters hadn't gotten muddied somewhere along the way – as it seems they always do when you're talking about writing style rules. At some point, teachers in most schools started teaching the "no comma" version of series punctuation. But not all of them. The A.P. contingent got the upper hand, but the Chicago Manual of Style folks are sticking to their guns. The end result is that items in a series are punctuated every which way, and no matter how you do it, some reader, somewhere, is going to believe it's wrong.

My recommendation is to consider your target audience. If you're writing for publication, ideally, look at a sample issue of the publication you're targeting, notice how they handle commas in a series, and do it that way. Otherwise, if you're trying to sell to a non-fiction editor, leave the final comma out of the series. If you're trying to sell to a fiction editor, put the comma in. And, either way, be prepared to be flexible and gracious if they correct you.

For general writing not intended for publication, about the best you can do is flip a coin. But whatever you do, pick a rule and be consistent. There's nothing more annoying (or more indicative of poor writing skills), than inconsistency.