Grammar Nazis! I need you help..

[JoLLyRoGer]

When writing a paper, how do you delimit a list of cities and states. i.e.

Blah Blah Blah... which includes St. Louis, Missouri, Trenton, New Jersey, and San Jose, California.

All of those commas can't be the right way to do this; it just looks stupid. However, when you write out an address you write Tucson, Arizona. Not Tucson Arizona

Thanks,
JR..

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, if the cities are well-known (as those appear to be), could you just simply leave off the state?

 

[Joemonkey]

well you might start by spelling Grammar correctly

 

[athithi]

...abbreviate and capitalize the states?

Blah Blah Blah... which includes St. Louis, MO, Trenton, NJ, and San Jose, CA.

 

[athithi]

Originally posted by: Joemonkey
well you might start by spelling Grammar correctly

that too :laugh:

 

[ThisIsMatt]

looks fine

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

 

[shud]

Yeah, it looks weird, but it's right. Try ending something you're quoting with a quote from someome. "So I told her, 'WTF335'!" All of those quotes look goofy.

 

[VTHodge]

All of the above are good. At least abbreviate the states. Excluding them is fine for those particular cities. If its more than three cities, try making a list. Nothing wrong with that. But a comma is the correct punctuation in a paragraph.

 

[loic2003]

Hmm... have you considered brackets or hyphens?


Blah Blah Blah... which includes St. Louis (Missouri), Trenton (New Jersey), and San Jose (California).

Blah Blah Blah... which includes St. Louis - Missouri, Trenton - New Jersey, and San Jose - California.

Just an idea....

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

That's the way I've always learned it.

St. Louis, Missouri; Trenton, New Jersey; and San Jose, California.

Another option (though I never liked it) is to use and instead of commas.

St. Louis, Missouri and Trenton, New Jersey and San Jose, California.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: Joemonkey
well you might start by spelling Grammar correctly

Oops!!

Like I said, I need you helpl...

<--GrammAr + spelling != My strong suit.

JR..

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

That's the way I've always learned it.

St. Louis, Missouri; Trenton, New Jersey; and San Jose, California.

Another option (though I never liked it) is to use and instead of commas.

St. Louis, Missouri and Trenton, New Jersey and San Jose, California.

Thanks guys, that's what I'm going to go with.

 

[Banana]

"delimit"

?

And, yes, use semi-colon.

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: JoLLyRoGer

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

That's the way I've always learned it.

St. Louis, Missouri; Trenton, New Jersey; and San Jose, California.

Another option (though I never liked it) is to use and instead of commas.

St. Louis, Missouri and Trenton, New Jersey and San Jose, California.

Thanks guys, that's what I'm going to go with.

Hopefully you were referring to the semi-colon idea and not the "and" idea.

 

[Sentinel]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

:thumbsup:

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: Banana
"delimit"

?

And, yes, use semi-colon.

Yeah, it's programmer/database speak. i.e. A "comma delimited" list.

I couldn't think of a better word.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: Legendary

Originally posted by: JoLLyRoGer

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
You're supposed to use a semicolon to separate comma separated items.

/BA in English

That's the way I've always learned it.

St. Louis, Missouri; Trenton, New Jersey; and San Jose, California.

Another option (though I never liked it) is to use and instead of commas.

St. Louis, Missouri and Trenton, New Jersey and San Jose, California.

Thanks guys, that's what I'm going to go with.

Hopefully you were referring to the semi-colon idea and not the "and" idea.

Yes I was referring to the semi-colon method.