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Which of the following is grammatically correct?

a) In 1952, John joined the army.

b) In 1952 John joined the army.

Is the comma needed?

John
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    Someone will doubtless post a 'rule' put forward by some style guide, advocating that introductory elements should be set off by a comma. Because there's no confusion either way, I'd just choose on the grounds of (1) which I thought looked crisper 'in print' and (2) whether or not I wanted a pause after the year in reading. Some days, I might swap (1) and (2). – Edwin Ashworth Jul 26 '19 at 16:24
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    Possible duplicate of Comma after introductory phrases – Edwin Ashworth Jul 26 '19 at 16:25

1 Answers1

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Because "In 1952" is an introductory prepositional phrase, you may use a comma after the end of it and before the rest of the sentence. According to Purdue OWL, a comma is recommended for longer prepositional phrases. Either choice is technically correct.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/commas/commas_after_introductions.html

Mark
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    Hello, Mark. I'm glad you didn't just opt for one correct variant here. But you might like to see how thoroughly this subject has been covered in the previous thread. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 26 '19 at 16:28