Tasnif Style Guide

Tasnif Style Guide — Page 61

CHAPTER 6: PUNCTUATION 61 In another example: The enemies of the Promised Messiah were the maulawis of Amritsar, Aligarh, and Jammu and Kashmir. (Note the ambiguity created by omitting the Oxford comma: The enemies of the Promised Messiah were the maulawis of Amritsar, Aligarh and Jammu and Kashmir. The question arises whether Aligarh and Jammu are a combined unit or if Jammu and Kashmir is a combined unit. The Oxford comma makes it unequivocally clear in all circumstances. ) The Oxford comma is to be applied when using etcetera or etc. , so forth, or and the like: " • Wash your hands, face, etc. before standing for Prayers Before standing for Prayers, the Quran commands us to wash our hands, face, feet, and so forth. After standing for Prayers, they feasted on grapes, pome- granates, and the like. It is important to link elements that are relevant and separate where distinct. Take the following example: " Our Prayers should be performed with focus, concentra- tion, and reflect our reverence for God. Our Prayers should be performed with focus and con- centration, and reflect our reverence for God. (This is the preferred of the two sentences, because the first two ele- ments of the list are a better aligned syntactically and that is reflected by the proper placement of the comma. )