Comma

[Allen165]

"Your email of June 1, 2012 to Mr. X has been forwarded to me for response."


Shouldn't there be a comma after "2012"? I believe there should, but I've observed that people rarely put one there.


Thanks!

 

[Raymott]

"Your email of June 1, 2012 to Mr. X has been forwarded to me for response."


Shouldn't there be a comma after "2012"? I believe there should, but I've observed that people rarely put one there.


Thanks!

Maybe. On what grammatical principle would you argue for it?
Consider this one: "Your email of yesterday, June 1, 2012, to Mr. X has been forwarded to me for response.

"​

Here, the date is parenthetical, and requires surrounding by commas. But the date itself - June 1, 2012 - has only one comma, in the middle of it, as does your original.

 

[Allen165]

Maybe. On what grammatical principle would you argue for it?
Consider this one: "Your email of yesterday, June 1, 2012, to Mr. X has been forwarded to me for response.

"​

Here, the date is parenthetical, and requires surrounding by commas. But the date itself - June 1, 2012 - has only one comma, in the middle of it, as does your original.

In my view, "2012" is a nonrestrictive appositive and should therefore be set off with commas.

 

[Allen165]

See Top 5 Comma Errors « Terribly Write.

 

[Raymott]

In my view, "2012" is a nonrestrictive appositive and should therefore be set off with commas.

Wouldn't it be restrictive? It's saying which June 1 is being referred to. It's restricting "June 1" to that of 2012. A restrictive appositive doesn't require commas.
In my example - "yesterday, June 1, 2012, ..." the date is nonrestrictive (the date is another name for 'yesterday'), and does have enclosing commas.

 

[Raymott]

See Top 5 Comma Errors « Terribly Write.

Unfortunately, this site merely says the second comma is correct without saying why.

 

[Rover_KE]

The modern trend in written English is to omit unnecessary punctuation.

In this case, who – apart from the odd strict grammarian – is going to care whether you need a second comma?

Life's too short.

Rover

 

[Tina3]

I have learnt to write your email dated June 1 ...

Is it correct to write your email of June 1 ... ?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER*****


Hello, Allen:

1. I agree with you: most Americans (at least, the better educated ones) would not like your quoted sentence.

2, I have the 1999 stylebook of The New York Times (which is very liberal politically, but very conservative when it

comes to English usage). I am guessing that its current stylebook still says:

A comma or other punctuation mark must always follow the year. Do not [my emphasis] use this construction:

He said that May 5, 1999 was not a happy day.

****

BUT it tells its reporters that there are no commas in:

He said he left Boston in April 1975 and never returned.


HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

[BobK]

The modern trend in written English is to omit unnecessary punctuation.

In this case, who – apart from the odd strict grammarian – is going to care whether you need a second comma?

Life's too short.

Rover

:up: My tendency would be to omit the first comma, and make ', to Mr X,' parenthetical:

"Your email of June 1 2012, to Mr. X, has been forwarded to me for response."

In fact I'd write '1 June', but I agree life's too short to go around quibbling about the odd comma.

b

 

[Raymott]

:up: My tendency would be to omit the first comma, and make ', to Mr X,' parenthetical:

"Your email of June 1 2012, to Mr. X, has been forwarded to me for response."

In fact I'd write '1 June', but I agree life's too short to go around quibbling about the odd comma.

b

I'd write June 1st or 1st June and use no commas. I don't think any of these variants would be misunderstood.

 

[Barb_D]

Like many (MANY!) aspects of punctuation, it's style and not grammar. No one will misunderstand, as Ray aptly points out.

However, American style sets off the year with commas, as it does states.

Your letter of June 1, 2012, indicates...
(She lived in her Branson, MO, home until ...)

I would "correct" it to add that comma every time. It's what commonly accepted business writing in the US expects in terms of style.