english.lisp

(defun english-list (list)
  (format nil "~{~#[the empty list~:;~
                    the list containing ~#[~;~
                                           ~A~;~
                                           ~A and ~A~:;~
                                           ~@{~#[~;and ~]~A~^, ~}~]~]~:}"
          list))

(loop
   for i from 0 to 5
   for l = (loop
              for j from 0 below i
              collecting (format nil "~R" j))
   do (format t "~@(~A~).~%" (english-list l)))