# Comma after Year

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comma-after-year/758074>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comma-after-year/758074 "2016-06-22T18:47:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comma-after-year/758074/41 "2016-06-25T15:50:34Z")

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[Georgetown Law Editorial Style Guide](https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/publication-services/editorial-style-guide.cfm#c)

> [@](#):
>
> comma [differs from AP style]  
> In a series, do not use a comma after the second-to-last item: “I gave her apples, oranges and peaches.” Use the parenthetic comma for names of places but not of people: “Joe Smith Jr. visited Washington, D.C., last year.”

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comma-after-year/758074/42 "2016-06-25T16:04:57Z")

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> [@commasense](#):
>
> ISTM that in both this case and that of the OP, the reason for surrounding the items in question with commas is that they are [appositives](http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/2010/08/commas-accentuating-appositive.html). They add extra (but syntactically inessential) information that clarifies the precedent.

[This link](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/312239/should-i-put-a-comma-after-a-state-before-a-country) argues this sort of thing is not a question of appositives:

\*_"This is not apposition, as there is not a direct re-addressing of the referent. Contrast: The bathroom, the smallest room in the house, is on the first floor. = The bathroom, [which is] the smallest room in the house, is on the first floor. // Sally, [who is] their eldest daughter, is getting married next week. /// Sacramento, which is CA, … Here, you need to insert the preposition ‘in’, showing the non-equivalence of ‘Sacramento’ and ‘CA’. /// As stated above, readability rather than rules-of-thumb should be the guiding factor here (though it would admittedly be best not to annoy the PO)."_

I can tell you that both English-language dailies in Thailand omit the second comma in such geographic instances.

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