Undergraduates, who, don't, use, the, comma, correctly,?,

Err.. I don't think that can be an excuse. Yes it's not a total measure of intelligence, but it is the ability to present your intelligence.

Doesn't everyone cringe if they see sentences like the ones OP posted?

So... Oxford comma - yey or nay?

Just because we have a diverse and awkward language doesn't mean it's impossible to teach our grammar and spelling, we've compiled dictionaries and comprehensive guides to English grammar. Despite that, it is more important that it is easily possible to improve current standards of grammar and spelling above that which most people exhibit.

I would also contend that reading, whilst very beneficial, doesn't provide the benefits described above. When one reads "The children's mother sat down and read them their favourite bedtime story.", one doesn't think "Ahh, that usage of their/there/they're is the one which corresponds to the third person plural possessive pronoun.", the context provides meaning. In fact, if they were used erroneously, it would only be obvious to somebody who was already aware of the correct usage of there, their and they're. Another example is the usage of less/fewer, which wasn't clarified to me, despite my wide reading, until I had an argument with some friends about it (yes, we had very exciting lives...) and we went to find out. Whilst the majority of people aren't so sad as to bother looking up something like that, if people were taught in schools at some point in their education that fewer was used in reference to plurals and less in reference to singulars, it would make things so much easier.

Apologies for being argumentative, I just watched "A Few Good Men". Hopefully nobody will take me too seriously...

Was it just me?

Oh the irony

Was it just me?

Oh the irony

Was it just me?

Oh the irony

Regardless of any particular mistake, just because I'm a pedant doesn't mean I'm infallible. That is the joy of hypocrisy.

LOL the double-irony!

Yes, it was just you, because the person you've quoted is actually right.

The children's mother = the mother of the children...

LEARN.

So... Oxford comma - yey or nay?

You were right though, Kyle. The person "correcting" you was wrong.

This was my main bugbear about writing for my university newpaper. I'd go along to proofing sessions, correct mistakes people had made in the articles, and then the articles would get passed to someone else. By the time I saw them in the paper, some lunatic had "de-corrected" them