Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
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Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Punctuation of Ltd.

Let us say I received a box of apples from Joe Jones, Ltd.

Would I write:

“Joe Jones, Ltd., sent a box of apples.” or

“Joes Jones, Ltd. sent a box of apples.”?

Notice that the first example has one more comma.

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Comments

There is no need for any comma at all, and the inclusion of a full-stop is a matter of style only nowadays.

Nicholas_Sanders Jun-30-2007

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I agree with Nicholas.

is stylistically and grammatically fine.

Dave_Rattigan Jun-30-2007

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I agree that you don't need any comma at all, and unless you're being VERY proper, you would probably omit the Ltd. afterward--that's how the AP handles company suffixes like that.

becker Jun-30-2007

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Is it a new trend to eliminate punctuation, like what Dave suggests? For example BBC even has it like "2300" instead of 23:00 to indicate time. Was not it suppose to be helping readers to punctuate texts?

goossun Jul-02-2007

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It is fine to do away with punctuation here. But commas should be removed with caution. Like Pico Iyer says, punctuation helps to maintain law and order. Punctuation marks are the road signs placed along the highway of our communication—to control speeds, provide directions and prevent head-on collisions.

Or else, we could end up with a sentence like,
"Let’s eat Grandma" as opposed to "Let’s eat, Grandma."

http://blog.i-osmosis.jp/

Sahana Jul-05-2007

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Remember, the trend to eliminate the period (Mr, Ltd, Co, etc) is a British one, but most certainly not an American one. Know your audience.

Also, I think two commas are required here because the "Ltd." is a descriptive word, and the two commas complete the parenthetical.

bubbha Dec-30-2007

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I agree with the above comments regarding the difference between UK and US English. However, regarding the use of commas, have a look at the example below:

Our local supplier, Joe Jones Ltd, sent a box of apples.

Here, we need the commas as we are giving the name of our local supplier. Grammar experts call this the 'appositive'.

However, if we remove 'our local supplier' from the sentence, we don't need any commas.

Joe Jones Ltd sent a box of apples.

I hope this helps!

http://www.lf-englishonline.com

John4 Jul-28-2008

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You do not need any commas as Nicholas says, and also that the inclusion of the full stop at the end of Ltd is certainly a matter of style. Typically, if the abbreviation ends with the word's final letter ( as in Ltd) then a full stop is not required; otherwise it is.

Tom1 Nov-11-2008

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