Over the years, the debate over the Oxford comma has stirred intense passions.

The argument over the Oxford comma has raised such strong passions over the years that a sort of truce has been reached.The common wisdom is that its use is optional,and depends on whether it will help to avoid confusion.For one thing,you're supposed to keep your use or avoidance of the Oxford comma consistent throughout a whole piece of writing.So, using it only where necessary is not an option.And the very idea of a grammatical rule being optional is a bit odd.Imagine that you hadn't messed up the party planning,and read the next day that "everyone had a great time -ninjas, pirates, vikings, old and young."