On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 17:14:31 +0200, Sean Leather wrote:
>One of the "nice" things about English is that there is often never an
>"always." See http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ie-eg-oh-my.aspx for a
>discussion.

Well, that page pretty much confirms what I said. In AMERICAN English,
they're always followed by commas. The two sources mentioned on that
page that suggest omitting the commas (Fowler's and Oxrford) are both
based on UK English.

And yet most of the other manuals describe the rule as "usually," "preferable/optional," and "makes good sense." That refutes your claim that "they're always followed by commas." ;)

Sean