drafting

Communication, Coffey and Commas

The purpose of punctuation is to make written language easier to understand. In certain uses it is also there to prevent a sentence from being ambiguous. Where there is ambiguity and conflict as to meaning, in case of legal dispute enter the lawyers, and potentially the Courts. Not good news. 

The comma is low in the food chain of punctuation. The new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has decreed that one usage of it, the so-called Oxford Comma, shall no longer happen in her department. End. Verboten.