Pet Hate Alert: “, and” – Mind your commas!

Why, oh why can people not write proper English. I am foreigner and at least I have a semi-acceptable excuse, but the amount of native English speakers (and writers) that ALWAYS put a comma before an “and” is shocking.

An example would be: “At the event, there will be music, dance, and theatre!”

This is WRONG!!!!!! A comma can be put before an “and” but only if the following sentence after the “and” could be a self standing sentence. Do not use a comma before “and” in a list.

And if you tell me now that the comma in a list is an Oxford Comma, then I will ask you next if your publication is the “Oxford University Press”, because that is the publication that came up with the very controversial use of a comma in a list.