How To Use Commas When Naming Someone

The person or thing being addressed is said to be in the vocative case.

How to use commas when naming someone. So basically use commas if the name is for something or someone who is unique and omit them if they re not unique. Because you re addressing a person directly there should be a comma between the greeting and the person s name. I met my wife dorothy at a dance. When you re describing something with two or more adjectives you can use a comma between them if those adjectives are coordinating. This is another common comma error but don t be fooled.

When an adverbial phrase begins a sentence it s often followed by a comma but it doesn t have to be especially if it s short. But see exceptions below the reason is direct address we use commas to show that we are talking to the reader not about the reader. For example this is a common but incorrect comma usage. New oxford style manual suggests use commas to mark off a non defining or non restrictive word phrase or clause which comments on the main clause or supplies additional information about it nosm s example. Abraham lincoln was the 16th president of the united states.

Yes you need to use a comma between the person s name and the greeting. Commas for direct address i e the vocative case when addressing someone directly writers should separate the name being used e g john mary my darling you little rascal my son from rest of the sentence using a comma or commas. Look at the below sentence. My boss jennifer smith just gave me a bonus. This is because the sentence is talking about a particular person john.

I visited my hometown regina this weekend. We could however rewrite the sentence so that maria s name appears at the end of the sentence. The addition of commas gives extra emphasis to the name. For this reason it s important to include the comma when addressing someone directly. You can also use a comma with a shorter phrase when you want to emphasize it or add a pause for literary effect.

Use commas to separate coordinate adjectives. In the example above the name of the person being addressed i e maria appears at the beginning of the sentence. The rule is either have the commas both before and after a name or don t add it at all. As a rule of thumb if the phrase is longer than about four words use the comma.