Someone writing for the Yahoo! front page has gone a little comma-happy:
With all those commas, this is the equivalent of what the writer wrote: This is not a side table. It is not a place to store magazines. It is not a set a remote control.
What the writer meant: It’s not a side table or a place to store magazines or set a remote control.
February 28, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Isn’t that just a comma-separated list?
“The old vicar, the new vicar, the pub landlord, the mayor and the chairman
were at the meeting.”
(The final comma seems to be optional.)
February 28, 2013 at 9:11 pm
If it is a comma-separated list, the elements in the list are not parallel — the first two items are nouns and the third is a verb.