By Carol Hegberg

                How many have heard the argument of whether or not a comma should be placed before the final and in a series?

                “I saw the comma was not used in the newspaper.”

                “Well, in this novel the commas are always printed before the ‘and.’”

                According to The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), section 6:19, “When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, a comma—known as the serial or series comma or the Oxford comma—should appear before the conjunction.” Example: The girl wore a black, white, and red dress.

                However, according The Associated Press Stylebook, under “Punctuation Guide,” “Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series.” Example: The girl wore a black, white and red dress.

                Both reader and editor have the conflicting explanations. The answer lays in the stylebook an editor or writer uses.

                As an editor, I use The Chicago Manual of Style’s choice because the comma before the “and” identifies that a series is coming for the reader. Be prepared! Less ambiguity is open for the reader. The reading flows without any confused thought.

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                On Facebook, a writer warned the readers: Grammar is essential these days. Capitalization is the difference between “helping your Uncle Mike off his horse” & “helping your uncle Mike off his horse.”

                Kinship names such as Dad or Grandma (or Uncle) are capitalized alone or with the personal name. However, if the name is preceded by a personal pronoun such as my or your, then the kinship name is not capitalized.

                The Facebook writer was incorrect. The correct grammatical form for the sentence would be “helping your uncle Mike off his horse.”

                A final FB comment read: Should someone “help his uncle Mike off the horse?”

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                As for word usage, how many have trouble with affect and effect?

                Affect, according to CMS, is almost always used as a verb and means “to influence, have an effect on.” Example: The adverse publicity affected the sales of her novel.

                In psychology, the noun affect has a specialized meaning for an emotion or mood.

                Effect, usually used as a noun, means “an outcome or result.” Example: The father’s yelling had no effect on the mother.

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                Anxious: This word connotes worry and distress.

                Eager:  This involves positivity.

                Do not interchange these two words.

                Can and may: These words are often misused today. Can refers to physical or mental ability. Example: The dog can jump over the fence. 

                Though colloquial English allows for one to use can with a request, the proper usage, especially in formal writing, is may. Example: May I go to the movies, Mother?

                May suggests a possibility. Example: We may have rain today.

                Farther and further: Again, these are often confused. Farther deals with a physical distance. Example: I walked farther to school than my cousin did.

                Further deals with a figurative distance. Example: On further investigation, the teacher learned that both students were lying.