Oxford comma

Therese Coffey has sparked an angry backlash after ordering NHS staff to stop using the Oxford comma. The new health secretary and deputy prime minister ...

One - using an Oxford comma - said: “Therese Coffey can take a running jump, give her head a wobble, and get in the bin.” But it was the minister’s insistence on avoiding the Oxford comma which has led to criticisms of her “patronising” approach. Coffey’s office also also told workers to “be positive” and stop using “jargon” in their written notes.

Harry Fletcher. 2s. Therese Coffey says spending on health and social care will stay 'exactly ... IndyTV. The NHS is at breaking point and the country is ...

It’s alleged to have perturbed staff at the UKHSA, which was formed out of Public Health England in 2021. . . It does make you consider if you’re in the right place when a new minister comes in with this.” \u201cnew health secretary Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Coffey has riled healthcare workers by telling them to avoid using the Oxford comma - in the middle of an NHS crisis \n\nhttps://t.co/iZvV00JiJu\u201d— Jim Pickard (@Jim Pickard) [Financial Times](https://archive.ph/qiNJh#selection-1633.0-1695.32) reports, the instruction was included in the “New secretary of state ways of working preferences” which was published on the Department of Health and Social Care’s intranet. The newly appointed health secretary has come in for criticism after telling healthcare workers to avoid using “oxford commas”.

Labour peer Prem Sikka said, “6.8m people waiting for NHS England appointment; 132,000 vacancies, lack of beds; real wage cuts for staff, ambulances delayed.

[reports](https://www.ft.com/content/daa9976a-3035-47d9-804d-f5c7f52bdf78), Coffey has issued guidance for healthcare workers on the Department of Health and Social Care’s intranet which has also been circulated to UK Health Security Agency staff. The guidance has been described as “patronising” by people working in the health sector. This however is the latter two with a topping of mind-blowing nonsense at a time where there are other priorities such as waiting lists, capacity, cancer screenings, and recruitment among others.” [Three in ten people](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62832997) are waiting four hours or more at A&E. In this context, what is the priority of the new health secretary Thérèse Coffey? Apparently it isn’t tackling the crisis in the health service.

Embarking on her new role in charge of the Government's Department of Health and Social Care, her office emailed staff a list of instructions on the ...

The UKHSA, the flagship public health quango launched by Matt Hancock during the Covid pandemic, was told to axe 40 per cent of its 2,000 workforce earlier this year. Embarking on her new role in charge of the Government's Department of Health and Social Care, Therese Coffey's office emailed staff a list of instructions on the karaoke-loving MP's 'working preferences' Embarking on her new role in charge of the Government's Department of Health and Social Care, her office emailed staff a list of instructions on the karaoke-loving MP's 'working preferences'. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. As well as asking workers to stay positive, it included a ban on using technical jargon and the Oxford comma. - Recipients of the list - in the UKHSA and DHSC - called it 'extremely patronising'

A style guide issued to civil servants working with the new health secretary warns them to keep briefings to two pages, shun jargon, and “avoid Oxford ...

They are also instructed to “be positive — if we have done something good, let us say so and avoid double negatives”. [Coffey](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/therese-coffey-and-liz-truss-friends-who-rose-through-the-ranks-together-phh3f6jck) “likes slides (no more than eight) to structure meetings” and “prefers small meetings where everyone participates (usually a maximum of four officials)” the document says. Department of Health staff are told to “avoid jargon, legalistic or ‘policy wonk’ ” and “don’t copy and paste Word documents onto slides” in the new instructions.

Workers have reacted angrily to an email from the office of the new health secretary.

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism They said the Government has “set out a broad guide for staff to help provide an efficient service to the public and deliver better outcomes to patients”. “I abhor the Oxford comma and refuse to use it,” the MP wrote. One UKHSA employee told the FT that the email was “super patronising” and added: “The idea that we have to frame issues positively indicates a person who doesn’t want to deal with problems, so that’s not encouraging.” [Department of Health and Social Care](/topic/department-of-health-and-social-care) and sent on to workers at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), is reported to have told them to told to avoid using “ [Oxford](/topic/oxford) commas” – the final comma used in a list of things. It asked employees to “be precise” and “be positive — if we have done something good, let us say so and avoid double negatives”, the FT said.

UK civil servants should avoid using Oxford commas in their work, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey has said. But what is an Oxford comma, ...

UK civil servants should avoid using Oxford commas in their work, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey has said. [Therese Coffey](https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/cost-of-living-crisis-therese-coffey-says-energy-prices-will-be-nowhere-near-ps5000-3802989), the new Health Secretary who is also serving as [Liz Truss’s](https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/liz-truss-on-scotland-here-are-10-things-the-conservative-leader-and-new-prime-minister-has-said-about-scotland-3775864) Deputy Prime Minister, has been criticised for issuing guidance to staff which – among other things – has asked workers not to use ‘Oxford commas’. "This practice is controversial and is known as the serial comma or Oxford comma, because it is part of the house style of Oxford University Press." - "Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog” demonstrates the importance of commas generally: "Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking, her family and her dog” [informative or whether on not to add serial commas to your writing](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6hAXIfbjKAYJ:http://www.encyclopedia.com/+list+sequence): "Usage varies as to the inclusion of a comma before and in the last item. [both the usage of Oxford commas or lists without](https://archive.org/details/eatsshootsleave00trus). [Thesaurus.com](https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/s/serial-comma/#do-you-call-it-the-serial-comma-or-the-oxford-comma). Read MoreWhat era are we in now? [APA style](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/04/using-serial-commas.html) or the [Chicago Manual of Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garner%27s_Modern_American_Usage). The Oxford Companion to the English Language is Also known as a serial comma, series comma or Harvard comma, the much-maligned Oxford comma appears after the penultimate term in a series of three or more items. [first reported in the Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/daa9976a-3035-47d9-804d-f5c7f52bdf78) which revealed the document in question is titled ‘New secretary of state ways of working preferences’.

Thérèse Coffey, the new health secretary, has faced criticism after civil servants in her department were advised to avoid jargon when communicating with ...

However, they claimed it was prepared without Coffey’s knowledge, with one saying there had possibly been “a bit of over eagerness” in the content. [taken to social media](https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1570361378812182528/photo/2) to deride the Oxford comma, the grammatically contentious practice in which a comma is sometimes used to separate the penultimate and last words in a list of terms, in 2015 calling it “one of my pet hates”. The advice, in a memo to staff at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), urged officials to “be positive” in their missives to Coffey, who is also Liz Truss’s deputy prime minister.

It has been reported that Therese Coffey instructed Department of Health and Social Care employees to avoid using the Oxford comma in their writing.

Rees' instructions offered advice on how to communicate with and engage with MPs and a list of words and phrases to avoid using. Therese Coffey's Instructions CriticizedOn Thursday, the advice to avoid using the Oxford comma was circulated through an email. [Health](/topic/health)Secretary joined the office earlier this month and is rumored to have instructed workers to let them know her preferred working practices. As per reports, this decision by the Health Secretary has been condemned by some medical professionals as insensitive. Therese [Coffey](/topic/coffey)reportedly told staff members of the [Department of Health and Social Care](/topic/department-of-health-and-social-care)not to use an Oxford comma. An angry reaction followed Therese Coffey's advice to medical practitioners to stop using the [Oxford](/topic/oxford)comma.

Workers have reacted angrily to an email from the office of the new health secretary.

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism They said the Government has “set out a broad guide for staff to help provide an efficient service to the public and deliver better outcomes to patients”. [Department of Health and Social Care](/topic/department-of-health-and-social-care) and sent on to workers at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), is reported to have told them to told to avoid using the final comma used in a list of things. “I abhor the Oxford comma and refuse to use it,” the MP wrote. One UKHSA employee told the FT that the email was “super patronising” and added: “The idea that we have to frame issues positively indicates a person who doesn’t want to deal with problems, so that’s not encouraging.”

The new Health Secretary has discussed her dislike of the Oxford comma on Twitter in the past, describing it as one of her 'pet hates'.

She has also stated that she “cannot bear it” and “I abhor the Oxford comma and refuse to use it” in posts on the platform. Ms Coffey has discussed her dislike of the Oxford comma on Twitter in the past, saying in 2015 it was one of her “pet hates”. So, for example, in the sentence, “Dogs are furry, cute, and friendly”, the Oxford comma comes before the word “and”. For example, the sentence “I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty” might lead the reader to infer that the writer is the offspring of a renowned recording artist and an accident-prone nursery rhyme character. [behalf of the new Health Secretary](https://inews.co.uk/news/therese-coffey-voting-record-new-health-secretary-votes-abortion-gay-rights-explained-edited-1837689?ico=in-line_link) urged staff to “be positive” and avoid using policy wonk “jargon”. An email, understood to have been sent to staff at the Department of Health and Social Care and sent on to workers at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on

Ms Coffey has discussed her dislike of the Oxford comma on Twitter in the past, saying in 2015 it was one of her “pet hates”

The “Oxford comma” was referred to as one of the pieces of jargon that shouldn’t be used. Ironically, the Oxford Dictionary has all the answers. [workers](/topic/workers) to “be positive” and avoid using policy wonk “jargon”.

Coffey has requested that civil servants no longer use oxford commas in a document which has been called “patronising” by staff. Sign ...

It always comes before the word “and”. An example of an oxford comma is below: What is an example of an Oxford comma? For example, without an oxford comma the meaning of the below sentence is unclear. Use of the Oxford comma is stylistic, which means that some people use it and some people do not. What is an Oxford comma?