Happy belated National Grammar Day!
In celebration, I spent some time with The Chicago Manual of Style. I was surprised to learn that “Jr.” and “Inc.” no longer require commas; if commas are used, you have to put in one on either side. (See that? I’m trying out some punctuation rules at the same time. I have a comma problem.)
For example:
I liked Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Harry Connick, Jr., is playing on my Pandora radio station.
I am fond of Gap Inc. stores.
or, less desirably,
Monsters, Inc., has a comma in its title.
You know you’re a word geek when this is the most exciting thing you learn all day. I think I could read The Chicago like a novel.
It’s going to take me a while to get used to Inc. without a comma – that one is pretty ingrained. However, I don’t think I have used a comma with Jr. for a long time. As a believer of sparse comma usage in general, I must say I like these new rules. Regarding reading The Chicago like a novel… I couldn’t do that, but I sure could (and have) read Stephen King’s grammar section of On Writing like a novel.