Soit comma usage

Question

In your first two examples I see: "soit du fromage, soit un dessert" and then "j'aimerais soit une tablette soit un nouveau portable."  I've looked to no avail to find an explanation for the usage/non-usage of a comma in the two phrases.  Could you please elucidate?

Accepted Answer

Hi Robert, 
I am not an expert punctuator (not sure if the word exists, but if it doesn't it ought to!) but as there is an inconsistency with the sentence you mention not having commas, I will ask for it to be corrected.
Thanks for pointing it out...

Answer

I wouldn't obsess about the usage of commas too much. I think the rules aren't that strict and you use one where it is necessary to aid parsing of the sentence and make it easier to read.