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<blockquote data-quote="omedon" data-source="post: 386863" data-attributes="member: 837">I am strongly on the side of placing the comma before the and, though I agree that both methods are acceptable and common practice.My reason in putting the comma before the and is clarity.When I travel to Quebec I will stop and visit all of my friends: Allan, Cindy,&nbsp; Frank and Martha, Paul, Rick and Sarah.In the example pairing is used. John, Cindy, Frank, and Jan are clearly individuals. Frank and Martha are a couple and will both be met in one stop. But in this case the nature of Rick and Sarah's relationship is ubiquitous. The reader is unsure of whether they are paired or not.In most cases you will not have this problem and you won't need to place the comma before and in order to be clear. However, as others have mentioned consistency is important; this is why I always place the comma before the and. That way I never end up switching styles in the middle of my writing.This bothers me a lot as well (notice I spelled it a lot not alot which is another thing that drives me nuts). I even went to the trouble of looking it up on the internet. The few sites I found on the subject suggested that saying &quot;I could care less&quot; was a sarcastic phrase; I didn't go for that though. I don't believe any of the people I have met that have used phrase &quot;I could care less&quot; ever intended any sarcasm.The phrase &quot;Head over heels&quot; also does not make much logical sense, really it should be &quot;heels over head&quot; it does not irk me as much though.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="omedon, post: 386863, member: 837"] I am strongly on the side of placing the comma before the and, though I agree that both methods are acceptable and common practice. My reason in putting the comma before the and is clarity. [b]When I travel to Quebec I will stop and visit all of my friends: Allan, Cindy, Frank and Martha, Paul, Rick and Sarah.[/b] In the example pairing is used. John, Cindy, Frank, and Jan are clearly individuals. Frank and Martha are a couple and will both be met in one stop. But in this case the nature of Rick and Sarah's relationship is ubiquitous. The reader is unsure of whether they are paired or not. In most cases you will not have this problem and you won't need to place the comma before and in order to be clear. However, as others have mentioned consistency is important; this is why I always place the comma before the and. That way I never end up switching styles in the middle of my writing. This bothers me a lot as well (notice I spelled it [b]a lot[/b] not [b]alot[/b] which is another thing that drives me nuts). I even went to the trouble of looking it up on the internet. The few sites I found on the subject suggested that saying "I could care less" was a sarcastic phrase; I didn't go for that though. I don't believe any of the people I have met that have used phrase "I could care less" ever intended any sarcasm. The phrase "Head over heels" also does not make much logical sense, really it should be "heels over head" it does not irk me as much though. [/QUOTE]

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