语言与文风2021newyorker.com
关于那个价值千万美元的牛津逗号的几句话
A few words about that ten-million-dollar serial comma (2017)
导读
这篇《纽约客》文章围绕一起因缺少“系列逗号”（牛津逗号）而产生歧义、牵涉千万美元赔偿的劳动法诉讼，讨论标点在真实世界中的分量。它提醒写作者：标点之争往往掩盖了根本问题——句子是否一开始就写得清楚。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
凡是理解全靠一个容易被忽略的逗号来撑住的句子，都应考虑改写，而不是靠加一个逗号来补救。
- 02
改写的常见手段是用更明确的说法替代纯靠标点的区分，例如增加“配菜是”“甜点是”“随后是”等词，或直接拆成两句。
- 03
如果你要用逗号隔开同位语或插入语，可以改用破折号或括号，这样就能保留系列逗号来消除歧义。
- 04
把歧义句当作可控性测试：如果一句话会引发大量关于“该怎么读”的讨论，那它就是坏句子，而不是读者不够细心。
HN 评论精选
像“pan-roasted oysters with a tomato sauce over rice, broccoli salad and bread pudding…”这样高度依赖读者注意一个容易漏看的逗号的句子，本身就是坏句子。与其争论系列逗号这个“创可贴”，不如重构句子，让大多数人不费劲就能一次读懂。这类似代码中“最小惊讶原则”：耍小聪明的写法不该通过评审。他改写为“...rice and broccoli salad, followed by bread pudding with chocolate sauce”，并补充说甜点清楚了，但主菜仍不清楚，所以更愿意在可行处多写几个词（如“with a side of”“dessert”“followed by”）来明确结构。
seanwilson查看英文原文
> “The next day, I enjoyed pan-roasted oysters with a tomato sauce over rice, broccoli salad and bread pudding with chocolate sauce.” A comma after “broccoli salad” would have cleared the table before dessert. I think if you write a sentence that's highly dependent on the reader paying careful attention to where an easy-to-miss comma is, you assume all readers know what Oxford commas are, and the sentence generates a lot of discussion about how it can be misinterpreted, it's just a bad sentence. I think instead of debating about Oxford commas as a band aid, you should restructure the sentence so most people will understand it first time without having to think too hard. This feels similar to overly clever code which goes against the principle of least surprise that shouldn't pass code review. “The next day, I enjoyed pan-roasted oysters with a tomato sauce over rice and broccoli salad, followed by bread pudding with chocolate sauce.” Edit: Fair point that the dessert is clear now but not the main. Either way, I'd prefer restructuring the sentence to make it clearer where practical e.g. adding in a few extra words like "with a side of", "dessert", "followed by".
既有用了牛津逗号反而产生歧义的例子，也有不用它才产生歧义的例子。在我见过的“用了反而歧义”的例子中，句子都含有用逗号隔开的同位语，这才是歧义来源。同位语一般用逗号隔开，但用破折号或括号也完全可以接受：只要给同位语换用破折号或括号，同时一律使用牛津逗号，这些歧义例子基本都能解决。
tzs查看英文原文
There are examples where using an Oxford comma makes a sentence ambiguous and there are examples where not using an Oxford comma makes a sentence ambiguous. In all the examples I've seen where using an Oxford comma makes a sentence ambiguous that sentence contains an appositive phrase that is set off with commas and that is what creates the ambiguity. Commas are the most common way to set off an appositive phrase, but it is generally considered acceptable to use em dashes or parenthesis instead. Switch to using one of those instead of commas for your appositives, always use the Oxford comma, and I think that clears up all the ambiguous cases.
美国宪法第二修正案里的逗号及其含义，牵涉的可能是数万亿美元：私人持枪与枪支暴力的种种成本都取决于个人持枪权如何解读，而标点会让人把原文读成“只有加入管理良好的民兵时才享有持枪权”。更麻烦的是，当年的逗号本来就没有统一标准，各州批准的版本标点各不相同。
bcatanzaro查看英文原文
The commas in the second Amendment and their meaning are probably worth Trillions of dollars. When you think of all the private arms and all the costs of gun violence in the US over the years which hinge on the individual right to bear arms, when punctuation in the second amendment can lead people to read the text as only holding a right to bear arms within a well-regulated Militia. Turns out that the commas weren’t even standardized and lots of differently punctuated versions were ratified by the different states. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
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