Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Is, Tired, Of, All, The, Excessive, Commas

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo does, indeed, give a f**k about the Oxford comma, in case Vampire Weekend was still inquiring.

Pompeo is cracking down on improper comma usage at the Department of State, according to a CNN report on Thursday. The department has sent two internal emails in recent months detailing his preferred use of commas, the network reported.

One of the emails obtained by CNN states that Pompeo “has underscored the need for appropriate use of commas in his paper (both their inclusion and omission)” and notes that he prefers to follow The Chicago Manual of Style.

The emails give examples of good comma usage, highlighted in green, and bad comma usage, highlighted in yellow.

The email cites this sentence for an unnecessary comma: “The administration is committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace agreement, and remains optimistic that progress can be made.” Staffers are given the directive, “No comma when single subject with compound predicate.”

Use of the Oxford comma is among the favored examples.

[Editor’s note: HuffPost does not employ the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, and is well aware of ongoing controversy concerning its use.]

If only Pompeo could also crack down on typos from the White House and President Donald Trump’s improper capitalization in tweets.

The Department of State had no comment on the issue.

Read the full CNN report here and enjoy Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma” pondering from 2008 below: