Dropping a conjunction has the opposite effect
of adding a conjunction: creating a series that is not exhaustive, but
a mere sampling of possibilities. It also makes your reader see the parts
of the series as more separate than joined.
This 20th century is baffling, difficult, paradoxical,
revolutionary.
When the series ends a sentence, the final word
resonates more without the and.
Tattoo parlours, pawnbrokers, discounters
remain.
It is not merely gems that De Beers is selling, but
symbols, myths, magic.
She spent all her time after school inside the
houses of kids whose parents were sometimes farmhands, sometimes
mechanics, sometimes unemployed.