If a reader didn't know what bread pudding was, they could conclude that you had just chocolate sauce for your desert.
Trying to write English like you write code is pointless. It's edge cases all the way down and there aren't any shortcuts for gathering them all up except to assume a certain level of intelligence in your reader. Writers should focus on elegant, easy-to-read text that expresses their thoughts and the relevant details in a manner their main audience can understand.
I agree with the top-level commenter that the Oxford comma is used where a rephrasing may be better. Of course, most phrases can be better written, so it's largely meaningless. The Oxford comma is concise and unreasonably effective. It eases reading and should be adopted universally.
cgriswald|4 years ago
Trying to write English like you write code is pointless. It's edge cases all the way down and there aren't any shortcuts for gathering them all up except to assume a certain level of intelligence in your reader. Writers should focus on elegant, easy-to-read text that expresses their thoughts and the relevant details in a manner their main audience can understand.
I agree with the top-level commenter that the Oxford comma is used where a rephrasing may be better. Of course, most phrases can be better written, so it's largely meaningless. The Oxford comma is concise and unreasonably effective. It eases reading and should be adopted universally.