The rules about when to use a comma and when not to use a comma seem to never end.
Appositives
What is an appositive? Any noun phrase that is placed next to another noun phrase to restate it or say it in a different way is an appositive. A noun phrase can be made up of more than one word.
The cab driver, a talkative Italian, sped through the heavy traffic.
That’s easy, right? Well, there is just a bit more about appositives. Things aren’t always as cut and dry as the first example.
The chef, Randall Owens, is cooking the celebration dinner.
The chef Randall Owens is cooking the celebration dinner.
Both of the above sentences are correct, but each one says something different. In the first sentence, chef is the subject of the sentence, and Randall Owens restates chef. So the name is an appositive.
In the second sentence, Randall Owens is the subject, not an appositive. Since there is no comma, this tells the reader that there could have been other chefs who had a chance of cooking this dinner. Randall Owens just happens to be the one who was selected.
Direct Address
What is direct address? Is it a person’s home address? No, not quite. Direct address is a name, or it can be a name used instead of a person’s real name. It is a name that one person calls another person.
When a direct address is used, even if it isn’t the person’s real name, it should be set off with commas.
So, what are some examples of direct address names?
Amanda, Kyle, Tom, friend, young lady, darling, doctor, professor, ma’am, sir, etc.
Hello, Stacy.
No, Dad, I don’t want to go to the library.
Yes, sir, I realize that cheating is wrong.
Darling, I love you so much.
Hey, Mrs. Jenkins!
Miss, can you give me directions?
Do you know what common grammatical mistake that most people make when they write an email or letter greeting? I have been guilty of making this mistake many times myself.
Especially in an email, it is common to begin it like this:
Hey Amy,
Hi Mandi,
Hello Mr. Stevens,
Greetings everyone,
The above examples are all wrong. Amy, Mandi, Mr. Stevens, and everyone are direct addresses and should be set off with commas. The examples are written below in the correct way.
Hey, Amy,
Hi, Mandi,
Hello, Mr. Stevens,
Greetings, everyone,
Does this mean that it is wrong to write Dear Amy, or Dear Sirs, at the beginning of a letter? No, it is correct to write those because dear is an adjective modifying Amy or sirs or whatever name is used. When written that way, dear becomes part of the noun phrase, therefore, it is part of the direct address.
Recommended Articles:
Conjunctions and Commas
Single Quotation Marks vs. Regular Quotation Marks vs. Italics
The Classy Colon & the Sassy Semicolon
Dialogue Tags
That Troublesome Apostrophe
Comma Splices
