Dear Dr Seet

(1) Is there a comma after the letter 'B' in this sentence: A, B, and C; or A, B and C? I know there is no comma if there are only two letters: A and B. What about numbers? 1, 2, and 3; or 1, 2 and 3? Similarly, instead of 'and', what if it is 'or'? E.g. A, B, or C; or A, B or C?

(2) Is there a comma after words such as 'therefore', 'however', 'hence', 'thus' and 'then'? I think there is no comma after the word 'then'.

Joseph Yeo

Thanks Joseph for your questions.

Insignificant as they might appear, those punctuation marks make all the difference to the meaning of a sentence. How would you punctuate the following string of words, for example?

woman without her man is a savage

Would you write:

(1) Woman without her man is a savage. OR
(2) Woman! Without her, man is a savage.

If you choose sentence 1, you would be treading on very dangerous grounds because you would be classifying all women who do not have a man in their life as savages. You would be in danger of the wrath of feminists.

Sentence 2 would be much more acceptable to feminists, I think. I'm not sure if all men would agree with that statement -- that without women, men are essentially savages.

Here is my answer to your questions:

(1) In modern English, it is no longer necessary to put a comma before and or or.

Hence you would choose

A, B and C
1, 2 and 3 and
A, B or C.

(2) Words like therefore, however, hence, thus and then are conjunctive adverbs (a conjunctive adverb modifies the action by creating logical connections in meaning between sentences). You would normally use a comma after therefore, however, hence and thus but you are right in noting that then does not usually require a comma.

Regards, Oliver

Dear Dr Seet

While we are on the subject of punctuation marks, is it a requirement that Mr, Ms, Miss, Dr, Prof, and Assoc Prof be followed by a period (full-stop)? I see some nameplates with a period after Dr and some without and I am quite puzzled by this.

Best wishes, Ethel

Dear Ethel

Thank you for your interesting question. Whether you put a period after these words or not reveals the vintage of your English.

In the earlier part of the last century, it was indeed a requirement that one should place a dot after these words. Not to do so would have earned you a rap on the knuckles by your Victorian school pedagogue. It was seen as a symptom of laziness or sloppiness which therefore had to be corrected for the good of your soul.

Unfortunately, the majority of people tend to be "lazy and slipshod" in their use of English. Today they blame it on the speed of living and the lack of time. Email and SMS styles of writing have contributed to a whole spate of abbreviations, contractions and replacement symbols. However, when the majority of native speakers continue consistently to violate a grammar or punctuation rule, that rule becomes outmoded and is replaced by the rule of usage. Hence an item of language may be grammatically incorrect but perfectly acceptable but after a period of time, the erroneous form becomes standard no matter what pedantic grammarians may say. Strangely, there are still grammarians that insist that you put a period after these words although the mass media (including the Straits Times) and NIE have stopped doing so.

It has, therefore, become the practice not to use a period after these words and in modern English, it is seen as an oddity and throwback to Victorian conventions to do so.

So leave out the full-stops after Mr, Ms, Miss, Dr, Prof, and Assoc Prof to look modern.

Regards, Oliver

May I know what the stand of NIE/MOE is in the use of UK and US English? Is it US or UK? Also, I have seen the mixing of both UK and US English in one sentence. Is that acceptable even though it is incorrect?

Regards, Lim Swee Pei

Thanks Swee Pei for your question.

Interestingly, MOE has stated its stand on this question in the current English Language Syllabus; it was quite non-committal in earlier syllabi.

MOE recognizes both British and American English but makes it clear that a mixture of both is unacceptable. One has either to use British or American -- no mixed marriages of dialects are allowed.

Hence sentences such as the following are unacceptable:

Mr. Ratnam and Prof Matilda Lim were caught holding hands last night in the coffee club.
(It's not a question of their not being circumspect but rather it has to do with that dot after Mr. One needs to be circumspect in observing writing conventions!)

The Centre (Br) was awarded a Medal of Honor (Am) for its Labour-saving (Br) invention.
(Stick either to British or American spelling.)

The teacher gave everyone who had the correct answer a rubber as a reward.
(Perfectly all right in British English where rubber means eraser, but scandalous in American English where rubber means condom.)

The moral of the story is -- don't make a cocktail of British and American English. It could become a Molotov cocktail.

Regards, Oliver