Comments on: Commas in direct address

By: Meghan

Meghan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:25:58 +0000

It’s like the grammar book… “The panda bear eats shoots and leaves.” vs. “The panda bear eats, shoots, and leaves.” Commas change everything!

By: Rachel V.

Rachel V. — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:33:00 +0000

That’s a good one!

By: whowritesthiscrap

whowritesthiscrap — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:03:34 +0000

My favourite example:

Let’s eat Grandma!
Let’s eat, Grandma!

Correct punctuation saves lives!

By: The comma of direct address, readers « whowritesthiscrap

The comma of direct address, readers « whowritesthiscrap — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:01:41 +0000

[...] most common gripe with the comma of direct address seems to be when people start e-mails with something like [...]

By: Rachel V.

Rachel V. — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:23:59 +0000

Good question, Dave. Inserting a comma before too seems to be standard, although I don't know of a rule explaining why. I would not think to place a comma before the word also if I were to use it in the same context as too, as in: "Nice to meet you also."

By: dave

dave — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:26:19 +0000

Hi,

How about: Nice to meet you, too.

I recently heard someone say it was ok to lose the comma.

Nice to meet you too.

But it doesn’t feel right. What do you think?

Thanks

By: Rachel V.

Rachel V. — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:09:45 +0000

Thank you for your insight, Terry. Are you suggesting that the comma be dropped in all cases of direct address, or just in e-mail salutations?

Even the comma at the end of the “Hi Joe” salutation doesn’t really make sense. Remember the old-fashioned “Dear Joe,” (with a comma)? In this case, the comma after Joe was for direct address, with the dear being an adjective inserted for politeness. “Hi Joe” is a sentence in and of itself, so if we really want to get technical about it, we could say it should have a period at the end (but then it wouldn’t look like a traditional salutation).

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:51:19 +0000

Don’t forget, however, (notice the commas) that language is dynamic. Today’s rules become tomorrow’s anachronisms. Abbreviated forms of communication such as texting are putting huge pressure on written communication norms. Be alert! The “rules” may change.

I’ve struggled with the correct punctuation of “Hi Joe” and I agree with the trend of dropping the comma in this case. Perhaps someone will pass a new grammar law soon to allow for this.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:05:52 +0000

I don’t think that I have ever seen a comma placed between “Hi” and someone’s name in an email salutation. It seems awkward; and, I think many people will be thrown for a loop regarding this rule. Thanks for opening my eyes on this one.

By: Warsaw Will

Warsaw Will — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:39:22 +0000

Thanks for your comment, although I cannot for the life of me see how there could be any misreading of ‘Hi Rachel’.

I would just like to quote something from accu-assist.com:

“The Gregg Reference Manual notes that a salutation such as Hi Marie technically requires a comma after the word Hi as well as Marie. However, it also points out that this is a very informal salutation, and that inserting a comma after the word Hi would be carrying grammatical correctness to an extreme.”

Apparently The Gregg Reference Manual carries some weight on your side of the pond. Emails are often very informal, perhaps we shouldn’t always apply rules to them that were designed for more formal writing.