17. ¿Se escribe I had toast, eggs and coffee o I had toast, eggs, and coffee?

Aunque este tema genera muchos y acalorados debates, ambas versiones son correctas. La segunda utiliza la llamada “coma de Oxford” (también conocida como “coma de Harvard” o “coma enumerativa”), mientras que la primera la ignora. La coma de Oxford es la que se coloca después del penúltimo elemento en una lista de tres o más cosas. Por ejemplo:

I had toast, eggs, and coffee.

Algunos manuales de estilo consideran necesaria la inclusión de esa coma mientras que otros prefieren omitirla. Dicha diferencia estilística no es característica de una u otra región del mundo angloparlante, pero varía de una institución o autoridad a otra.

El argumento que se esgrime con más frecuencia a favor de incluirla es que su omisión puede dar lugar a ambigüedad o malentendidos. Consideremos estos ejemplos:

I worship my parents, God and my country (su omisión puede hacer pensar en una conexión causal que no existe: en este caso puede parecer que Dios y mi país son mis padres).

I worship my parents, God, and my country (aquí, sin embargo, no existe ambigüedad porque la coma separa claramente God de country).

I worship God, my country and my parents (con una simple reordenación de la oración también podemos eliminar la ambigüedad).

Algunas veces ninguna de esas soluciones elimina la ambigüedad. Consideremos estos ejemplos:

I met John, a professor, and a writer.

I met John, a professor and a writer.

¿Estamos hablando de una, de dos o de tres personas? Sin saber más sobre el contexto, no podemos estar seguros. Para eliminar la ambigüedad podemos utilizar varios trucos:

Para precisar que estamos hablando de una sola persona, John, que es profesor y, además, escritor:

I met John, who is a professor and a writer.

I met John, both a professor and a writer.

Para mostrar que John, el professor, es una persona y el writer otra:

I met John (a professor) and a writer.

I met John —a professor— and a writer.

Para dejar claro que hablamos de tres personas distintas basta con reorganizar la oración:

I met John, as well as a professor and a writer.

I met a professor, a writer and John.

Debemos tener en cuenta que, en una enumeración, es necesario poner una coma al final de una serie de elementos si uno de ellos va precedido por otro and:

I had toast, bacon and eggs, and coffee.

Cuando la oración resulta confusa conviene recurrir a la coma o bien reordenar la oración. En caso de seguir un manual de estilo concreto, habrá que consultarlo y aplicar sus directrices. Sea cual sea la decisión que se adopte, es conveniente tener en cuenta las recomendaciones de la experta en puntuación, Lynne Truss: “Hay gente que defiende la Oxford comma y gente que no, pero yo solo aconsejo una cosa: nunca os pongáis en medio de los dos si han bebido”.

Las 500 dudas más frecuentes del inglés
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