Let's talk about written as well as spoken English.
Personally, I'm still learning the nuances in proper grammar, spelling, styles. Sometimes, I also blunder the basics, so I'm hardly perfect, always curious, and always want to get it right.
I'm putting this here in Q&A because, mostly, these are questions and hopefully answers or good opinions will follow.
I'll start off by thanking Valerie for pointing out the usage of the final comma when citing multiple items in a sentence. For example:
The Time Keeper will show the green, yellow, and red indicators.
Indeed, it looks better with that last comma!
Apparently, it's called the Oxford comma, and it's optional but more prudent. I remember actually learning this in early school. Then I unlearned it because I saw so many examples without that comma.
The Time Keeper will show the green, yellow and red indicators.
Yeah, I agree now that this looks slightly vague because one comma can also separate two clauses.
Comments? Follow-up thoughts? Further questions?
Another peeve or question I've had for a while is the use of they/them/their and the related conjugations for singular gender-neutral pronoun.
I remember from early school that he/him/his and related is okay for gender unknown. It was explained to me by more than one teacher that it's just more efficient in traditional English. He/him/his is implied to be neutral when necessary, they said.
When I saw usage of he/she, him/her, his/hers as alternative, I thought it was a fair move away from the obvious male dominance. It required the slash symbol, but I started using it instead. My research then found Emily Dickinson using they/them/their as early as centuries ago and now often cited by women. It made me think that all this was only part of the feminist movement.
But recently, the proliferation of they/them/their by the growing LGBTQ population makes it more confusing. There's even the proposal to use ze/zie/xe. Is that still English? The population category itself is expanding where even the acronym LGBTQIA2S+ may not be enough to be inclusive. It's all very confusing!
Even pet-lovers are using they/them/their when a singular it would clearly suffice! They love their pets more than they love humans, and they proudly admit it!
As I'm still learning and practicing English, I find it very confusing! They/them/their seems overused.
Now, indeed, I've been using they/them/their as singular, but only occasionally, and only when the alternative is worse. I want to think it should be used very sparingly.
What do you think?