Which sentence correctly uses a city-state abbreviation with a comma for the state?

Which sentence correctly uses a city-state abbreviation with a comma for the state?

• A. The state capital is Madison, WI.
• B. The state capital is Madison Wisconsin.
• C. The state capital is Madison WI,.
• D. The state capital is Madison Wisconsin.

Answer: (A)

In running text, you place a comma after the city before the state abbreviation, and you use the state's standard two-letter postal code. Here, Madison is the city and WI is Wisconsin’s two-letter code. The comma signals the separation between city and state, and the period at the end finishes the sentence. If you omit the comma, misplace punctuation, or spell out the state without the correct comma usage, the phrase doesn’t read as a proper city–state pair. So Madison, WI. is the correctly punctuated form.

In running text, you place a comma after the city before the state abbreviation, and you use the state's standard two-letter postal code. Here, Madison is the city and WI is Wisconsin’s two-letter code. The comma signals the separation between city and state, and the period at the end finishes the sentence. If you omit the comma, misplace punctuation, or spell out the state without the correct comma usage, the phrase doesn’t read as a proper city–state pair. So Madison, WI. is the correctly punctuated form.