66.3k views
1 vote
When punctuating a sentence containing a date, where should the commas go?

1) Walt Disney was born on Friday, December, 5 1901.
2) Walt Disney was born on Friday, December, 5, 1901.
3) Walt Disney was born on Friday December 5, 1901.
4) Walt Disney was born on Friday, December 5, 1901.

User Hintham
by
7.3k points

1 Answer

2 votes

Final answer:

The correct sentence is: Walt Disney was born on Friday, December 5, 1901, which properly uses commas to separate the day of the week, the month and day, and the year. The correct option is 1.

Step-by-step explanation:

When punctuating a sentence that includes a date, the correct placement of commas is important for clarity. The proper format for the sentence provided would be as follows:

This format uses commas to separate the day of the week from the month and the day from the year, which is the standard approach in American English. Notice that there is no comma between the month and the day. This follows the guidelines for writing dates, where commas are used to set off the year when the day of the month is included.

It is also important to remember not to abbreviate the month in formal writing, and to know that style guidelines, such as the AP Stylebook, may have different rules regarding punctuation like the serial comma.

User Hien
by
7.8k points