How To Use Commas When Naming Someone

You can also use a comma with a shorter phrase when you want to emphasize it or add a pause for literary effect.

How to use commas when naming someone. In the example above the name of the person being addressed i e maria appears at the beginning of the sentence. I met my wife dorothy at a dance. So basically use commas if the name is for something or someone who is unique and omit them if they re not unique. I married my spouse peter two summers ago. The rule is either have the commas both before and after a name or don t add it at all.

My boss jennifer smith just gave me a bonus. The person or thing being addressed is said to be in the vocative case. 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. Use commas to separate coordinate adjectives. 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.

Because you re addressing a person directly there should be a comma between the greeting and the person s name. 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. You only need to use a comma with the person s name if the phrase serves as a non restrictive modifier. 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.

We could however rewrite the sentence so that maria s name appears at the end of the sentence. For example this is a common but incorrect comma usage. For this reason it s important to include the comma when addressing someone directly. As a rule of thumb if the phrase is longer than about four words use the comma. 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.

They re coordinating if you could place and between them you shouldn t put a comma after the final adjective. When you re describing something with two or more adjectives you can use a comma between them if those adjectives are coordinating. This is because the sentence is talking about a particular person john. This is another common comma error but don t be fooled.