KISS Grammar An Exercise on Commas in Addresses and Dates (AK)

KISS Grammar
An Exercise on Commas in Addresses and Dates
From: Growth in English: Seventh Year
Analysis Key

1. {In April, 1917,} we entered the World War (DO). |

2. The itinerary includes San Francisco, California (DO) ^[#1]. |

3. They live {at 1415 Park Avenue, Washington D. C.} |

4. He left our school (DO) {on May 27, 1934} ^[#2]. |

5. Savannah, Georgia, is a great market (PN) {for naval stores} ^[#3]. |

6. We left the United States (DO) {on Sunday June 17, 1933} ^[#4] , ^[#5] and

returned {on Thursday October 25, 1934}. |

7. What happened {on April 17, 1775}? |

8. November 11, 1918 was the first Armistice Day (PN). |

9. [Adv. to "was" If I was born ^(P) {on November 17, 1919},] how old (PA) was

I {on November 17, 1934}? |

10. It was {on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 29, 1934}. |

Notes 1. If we wanted to get technical, we could explain the later parts of an address as reduced subordinate clauses -- "San Francisco, *which is in* California." Such technicality, however, is probably not worth the trouble.
2. As in Note 1, a technical explanation here might assume an ellipsed preposition -- "in (or) of 1934.)
3. Some people will see "for naval stores" as an adverb (of purpose) to "is."
4. In cases like this, we could consider the date (June 17, 1933) as an appositive to "Sunday."
5. Some writers would include this comma, and some would not. Grammarians will probably disagree about its function -- does it close the date, or does it separate the two finite verb phrases?