Using commas with dates, addresses, titles, and numbers

Dates

Use a comma between the day of the week and the month, between the day of the month and the year, and between the year and the rest of the sentence, if any.

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Do not use commas with dates in inverted order or with dates consisting of only the month and the year.

She dated the letter 18 October 2014.

Thousands of Germans swarmed over the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

Addresses and place-names

Use a comma after each part of an address or place-name, including the state if no zip code is given. Do not precede a zip code with a comma.

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Titles

Use commas to set off a title such as MD or PhD from the name preceding it and from the rest of the sentence. The titles Jr. and Sr., however, often appear without commas.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the twentieth century’s greatest orators.

Numbers

In numerals of five digits or more, use a comma between each group of three digits, starting from the right.

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The comma is optional in four-digit numerals but is never used in years.

The college had an enrollment of 1,789 [or 1789] in the fall of 2006.

Do not use a comma in building numbers, zip codes, or page numbers.

My parents live at 11311 Wimberly Drive, Richmond, Virginia 23233.

Turn to page 1566.