punctuation question

When listing several things, is it proper to put a comma before the final "and"?

For example....

For lunch I ate an apple, banana, and a pear.
For lunch I ate an apple, banana and a pear.

Sentence 1 has a comma after banana. Sentene 2 has no comma after banana. I see it argued both ways. Which way is right?

[svartnik]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

When listing several things, is it proper to put a comma before the final "and"?
For example....
For lunch I ate an apple, banana, and a pear.
For lunch I ate an apple, banana and a pear.
Sentence 1 has a comma after banana. Sentene 2 has no comma after banana. I see it argued both ways. Which way is right?

without the last comma banana and pear together get equal imporance to apple.
With the comma, each of the three fruits is equally important.