Grammar Girl here today we'll talk about Martin Luther King Jr. Day and whether in general

you need a comma before junior, senior, and the third.

We'll see how writers accidentally use participial phrases to give their characters superpowers.

In the United States we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January.

At least that's the common name for the occasion.

According to the U.S. government printing office style manual, the official name of the

holiday is birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

Either way, writers have to contend with that tricky junior on the end of the name.

Should you put a comma before it or not?

You do see it both ways, and one reason is that the official name includes a comma.

But many of the major style guides omit the comma from the holiday name and say to omit

a comma is before junior in names in general.

For example, the associated press says not to use a comma before designations such as

junior and senior, and specifically does not include a comma in the name Martin Luther

King Jr. Day.

The Chicago Manual of Style gives the same advice on both friends.

Moving on to these labels in general.

If someone is referred to as the third, you can use either the Roman numeral, ii, or

the Arabic numeral, third after the name.

When speaking a name, you say the third, but when writing a name, you don't include the

word the before the numeral.

Junior, senior, the third, and so on are only used when you're writing someone's full

...