Business & Technical Writing/Comma after Inc.

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Expert: - 5/23/2006


Question
I cannot find any written confirmation that a comma should always follow Inc., and I am beginning to doubt that the rule exists. If our company name is MEDai, Inc., I believe that a comma should always appear after the Inc., other than at the end of a sentence, of course. For example, if I write the sentence  The products offered by MEDai, Inc., are the most innovative tools in the predictive modeling industry,  I believe that there is a comma after Inc. Am I crazy?    Thanks so much for your help!

Answer
You are correct. But many people get it wrong. The comma should also come before and after such things as LLP, LP, and PC (that's professional corporation, not the machine).

They are all appositives, and appositives are always separated from the rest of the sentence with commas.

Hope this helps.

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Dan Smith

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I have been a professional writer and editor for more than 30 years, taught speech and English composition at the university level, and have developed speech and English composition courses and seminars for businesses. I am experienced in editing a wide variety of materials, especially business, scientific, and other academic papers. I am familiar with all the major style guides.

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