Last question today

[frogboxer]

I'm told this can work in an open format:

Mike Smith (44) of Atlanta GA, David Wells (35) of Pittsburgh PA, and Russell Smith (32) of Sacramento CA will debut at the Hard Rock Cafe.

I'm also told that commas do not have to follow the cities when a two-letter postal state abbreviation is used. You also see the comma omitted on TV news (e.g. 'Live from Tallahassee FLA' and on USPS envelopes). Also, ages are now accepted to be placed in parens.

Do you agree with the punctuation in the sentence above?

Thanks

fb

[emsr2d2]

I can't comment on the abbreviations of US states because I'm in the UK, but I don't have a problem with ages being put in brackets (parentheses, not "parens" as you wrote), rather than between commas.

[riquecohen]

I'm told this can work in an open format: What do you mean by "open format."

Mike Smith (44) of Atlanta GA, David Wells (35) of Pittsburgh PA, and Russell Smith (32) of Sacramento CA will debut at the Hard Rock Cafe. The state abbreviations cited here are those used by the US Postal Service. As these are well-known cities, the names of the states are frequently omitted in newspaper or magazine articles. For some cities, such as Newark, we must use the name of the state (New Jersey or Delaware?) and a comma should appear after the name of the city as well as after the name of the state. Other cities require the state name, as they are not very well-known, e.g. Truro, Mass., Yazoo City, Miss., Lincoln, Neb., Enid, Okla. Note that all states have generally accepted abbreviations that may be the same, or different from, those used by the USPS.

I'm also told that commas do not have to follow the cities when a two-letter postal state abbreviation is used. You also see the comma omitted on TV news (e.g. 'Live from Tallahassee FLA' and on USPS envelopes). FLA is not a USPS designation. Also, ages are now accepted to be placed in parens.

Do you agree with the punctuation in the sentence above?

Thanks

fb

Please give your threads meaningful titles. You could have called this one "State name abbreviations." Also, try to avoid addressing more than one topic in a single thread.