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I was taught that the word ‘and’ shouldn’t have a comma before or after it. Are there any times when it can?
I’m doing some proof reading for a magazine and the articles are written by intelligent people, but time and time again commas are placed before or after ‘and’. Is this wrong?
Rules governing the use of the comma should be seen more as guidelines than set-in-stone regulations. Punctuation is a mixture of common-sense rules and personal style. If the writer’s message is better received with the addition of a comma, why bother removing it?
In some cases, the sentence (with “and” preceded or followed by a comma) could be improved by replacing the comma with a semicolon.
When the sentence includes a list such as: “red, white, and blue”, the comma is a matter of preference, and usage varies between the U.S. and the U.K.