Using a comma after a city in a sentence

Question

Is this correct:  I would like to travel to Boston, MA, and while I'm there visit my family.Is it correct to put another comma after the city abreviation?

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

Which abbreviation?
I see the name of the city (Boston) in full here.

And yes, a comma is correct in:
Boston, MA
Also, it is correct after MA, the abbreviation of the state.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Is this correct: I would like to travel to Boston, MA, and while I'm there visit my family.

Is it correct to put another comma after the city abbreviation? In examples like this, commas before and after the MA are often omitted. Really, they should both be there. In fact, I'd say that, for good writing, you should say 'Maine' in full rather than the postal abbreviation.

In addition, you should put commas before and after the phrase 'while I'm there'. If you want to avoid so many commas, you could move the phrase to after the word 'family'. It reads better that way.

I would like to travel to Boston, MA, and visit my family while I'm there.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Boston is in Massachusetts, but you have the commas in the right place <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

BarbaraPA · Answer

<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/> Yes, MA is Massachusetts and ME is Maine.  Many style guides have a list of cities that don't require the state because it's so commonly understood which cities you mean. Boston is one of them. (Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, etc. - the major cities in the U.S.)

Anonymous · Answer

0 Is this correct:  I would like to travel to Miami, Fla., and while I'm there visit my family. 0-

Clive · Answer

0Hi,02br
02br
01font00Is this correct: I would like to travel to Miami, Fla., and while I'm there visit my family. 02font02br
02br
00It's OK to put a period after this abbreviation, but why not just write it like this? 02br
02br
01font00I would like to travel to Miami, Florida, and while I'm there visit my family. 02font02br
02br
01font00Best wishes, Clive02br
02br
02font0-

Khoff · Answer

1font00Many style guides have a list of cities that don't require the state because it's so commonly understood which cities you mean. Boston is one of them.02font02br
02br
00Apparently it's not so commonly undertood in Canada!050010id5

Anonymous · Answer

I guess this is for everybody, but what I'd like to know is WHY a comma has to be after the state, when you have Chicago, Illinois, in the middle of a sentence (such as this one).

It only seems to set it off as a city/state combo so that nobody gets confused that "Chicago" is kicking off some sort of goofy list. Basically, it seems like a rule suited to those who have a very bad grasp of geography....

Thoughts?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Tom went to Boston, Maryland, to visit Mary.

I see 'Maryland' as a kind of parenthetical afterthought here. As such, it would be spoken with a slight pause before and after, and that's why commas are normally used.

As regards major cities like Boston, I would think it's not common to include the state in a sentence. People who are familiar with Boston know what state it is in, and I would suggest that people who don't know what state it is in don't really care.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

No, it's not correct.  There is no comma after MA.

Using a comma after a city in a sentence

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions