Monday, October 15, 2012

Speech: Titles and Commas

If you have a formal title ahead of a name, then there is no need for a separating comma and you do capitalize the title. So you do this:

U.S. Surgeon General Tom Izzo said ...

...and NOT this ...

U.S. Surgeon General, Tom Izzo said ...

... in the same way you would say this:

Capt. Crunch said ....

... but NOT this ...

Capt., Crunch said ...

Now, if that title is not being used as a direct title, but as an identifier separate from the name, then do use lower case and commas, like this:

The U.S. surgeon general, Tom Izzo, said ...

... and this ...

Tom Izzo, the U.S. surgeon general, said ...

... and this ...

Crunch, a captain, said ...

... and this, too ...

A captain, Crunch, said ...





   


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