On Mon, May 05, 2003 at 09:53:00PM -0500, Frederick Bruckman wrote:
> On Mon, 5 May 2003, Andrew Brown wrote:
> 
> > >I dedicate this book to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.
> >
> > i think this is a bit ambiguous either way.  to add the comma would
> > make it:
> >
> > 	I dedicate this book to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.
> >
> > ie, a list, but to replace the comma would give:
> >
> > 	I dedicate this book to my parents: Ayn Rand and God.
> >
> > which names your parents.  a single comma just strikes me as awkward
> > for both possible interpretations.
> 
> Duh. The point of the example is to demonstrate why you need the
> second comma (unless you really are JC's half-brother).

That comma doesn't make any difference, consider the very similar
dedication:

    I dedicate this book to my grand parents, Anne Smith, Joe Smith,
    Ayn Rand[,] and God.

You do have to remember that Fowler's books are on American, not English.
So this probably gets into the same area as whether you consider
behaviour, labelled, mouldier, aluminium and colour to be correct
spellings...

	David

-- 
David Laight: david@l8s.co.uk