What is a List?
In grammar, a list
occurs whenever you have a group of similar items together.
List items can be
either simple (a list of single words, usually nouns or adjectives), or complex
(a list of clauses).
The Rule
The rule for
punctuating a list is that you place a comma after every item except for the
last two; between the last two you use the word “and”.
How to apply the rule
Let’s look at some
examples. We’ll start with the most simple kind of list, a list of nouns.
(1) simple lists of things
cats dogs horses
Here there are three
items in the list. We place a comma after every item except the last two. As
there are only three items altogether, this means just one comma, after “cats”.
Then, we place “and” between the last two items.
Cats, dogs and horses.
(2) slightly more complex lists
The list can become
more complex when some of the nouns have adjectives attached. However, the
principle is the same. Here is a list of items, two of which are nouns with
some other words attached (“nominal clauses”) and one is just a simple noun.
Because they are all nominal items (each item is either a noun or a nominal
clause), it is the nouns that identify the items.
blue jeans a black turtleneck sweater and sneakers
the three items are
the jeans, the sweater and the sneakers. We already have an “and” correctly
placed between the sweater and the sneakers. As there are three items in the
list, we know that we need to place one comma. This will go after the jeans, as
this is the first item in the list.
blue jeans, a black turtleneck sweater and sneakers
Here’s another
example:
a flowered robe ear muffs pink
rubber boots
Remember that you
place “and” between the last two items and commas after every item except the
last two. So we get:
a flowered robe, ear muffs and pink
rubber boots
Try it yourself on
this list:
barking
dogs screaming kids and overflying aircraft
(3) – Lists of adjectives.
A list can also be a
list of adjectives, either alone or attached to a noun. Consider this example:
long black curly hair
Now, because we have
a list of adjectives attached to a noun, the rule is slightly different; we
don’t use “and” where the list terminates with a noun. We just place commas,
but in this case we place them after every item except the last.
Long, black, curly hair
If instead of using
the noun at the end, the sentence went like this: “her hair was…..” then the
regular rule would apply, because the list is standing by itself. So once
again, it is “and” between the last two items and commas after every item
except the last two:
Her hair was long, black and curly.
Try these ones for
practice:
a
foul-mouthed ugly moron
this
whole high-ridged ponderous pleasantly-turning world
(4) Lists of complex items.
Complex
lists are lists where each item is a clause rather than a single thing. For
example:
Fiona discovered her husband was
unfaithful decided to murder him and bought a chip fryer
When
you look at this sentence, you will notice that Fiona did three things.
1. she discovered her husband was unfaithful
1. she discovered her husband was unfaithful
2.
she decided to murder him
3.
she bought a chip fryer.
These
are your list items. Now, we already have “and” correctly placed between the
last two items. A comma has to go after every item except the last two. So, as there are three items, this means just
one comma, placed after the first item:
Fiona discovered her husband was
unfaithful, decided to murder him and bought a chip fryer.
Try
this one yourself for practice:
He walked over to the mailbox
sniffed it lifted his leg.
