Commas are perhaps both the most widely used punctuation mark and the most incorrectly used punctuation mark. That makes commas an obvious object of my weekly tips.
Here's one regarding serial commas, also known as listing commas since they are used when listing separate elements. The accepted convention has traditionally been to use the comma to separate each element of the list or series, including the final one indicated by the conjunction and. That convention, however, is changing.
Consider the example shown in the cropped image above. The predicate contains a list of three items. In the example shown above, a comma does not appear before the final coordinating conjunction (indicated with the red underline).
This usage is not incorrect. It represents the changing convention with the changing times. Thus the comma in this place is optional.
The previous comma, however, is not optional. A comma between reaction and fewer is essential to indicate that the items are in series or part of a list.
My recommendation
Call me old school, but I prefer the traditional convention. The comma will then indicate the division between each element in the series and prevent confusion, especially if one of those elements has two or more sub-elements. Thus, I recommend rewriting the sentence in this way:
Here's one regarding serial commas, also known as listing commas since they are used when listing separate elements. The accepted convention has traditionally been to use the comma to separate each element of the list or series, including the final one indicated by the conjunction and. That convention, however, is changing.
Consider the example shown in the cropped image above. The predicate contains a list of three items. In the example shown above, a comma does not appear before the final coordinating conjunction (indicated with the red underline).
This usage is not incorrect. It represents the changing convention with the changing times. Thus the comma in this place is optional.
The previous comma, however, is not optional. A comma between reaction and fewer is essential to indicate that the items are in series or part of a list.
My recommendation
Call me old school, but I prefer the traditional convention. The comma will then indicate the division between each element in the series and prevent confusion, especially if one of those elements has two or more sub-elements. Thus, I recommend rewriting the sentence in this way:
Clean air intake provides a cleaner reaction, fewer emissions, and lower maintenance costs.
Again, this is entirely optional. The use of the final comma in a list is stylistic choice for the writer. Personally, I prefer to eliminate confusion, which is why I recommend sticking to the traditional convention.
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