Will a comma precede the “or” in a series? - Help.com

Will a comma precede the “or” in a series?

Here is an example sentence:
I might go home, or go to school, or go fishing, or go to the theatre.

Should I put the comma and the “or” between the series? If not, what’s the right form?

This open post was written 4 months, 1 week ago | V/U/S: 81, 4, 4 | Edit Post | Leave a reply | Report Post


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littlenick online Verified User (1 year, 8 months) Long Term User Shouts: 159 #
An Undisclosed Location | 4 months, 1 week ago (6 minutes after post)

That sentence is badly written.

This is the way it’s supposed to be written:

I might go home, school, fishing, or to the theater.

You have too many ors and that’s what a teacher would tell you.

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njsuxia offline Verified User (5 months, 1 week) Long Term User Shouts: 0 #
An Unknown Location | 4 months, 1 week ago (8 minutes after post)

yeah, truly it has too many ors, thank you

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Gynan Tonix offline Verified User (7 months) Long Term User Shouts: 13 #
An Unknown Location | 4 months, 1 week ago (23 minutes after post)

and not sure, but i think even the last comma has to go :

I might go home, school, fishing or to the theater.

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******************** offline Verified User (4 months, 2 weeks) Long Term User Shouts: 2 #
An Unknown Location | 4 months, 1 week ago (4 hours, 53 minutes after post)

If you leave in all the “ors,” then do not use commas. It’s just like using a bunch of ands: “I have a dog and a cat and a bird.” In most cases, a comma should precede the final item in a series, no matter what conjunction you are using: “I might go home, to school, or to the theater.” The exception is journalism, where the final comma is left out, supposedly to save money during printing. I taught English for 10 years, six on the secondary level and four on the college level, so I know what I’m talking about.

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