-
a comma
Hi, dear teachers,
Here’s from EMAIL REMOVED - Send PM to This User Instead:
A vocative is always treated as a parenthetical element and is thus set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (if it appears within the flow of a sentence).
Excuse me, Mr. Smith, for not recognizing you.
Why do I seem to be the only one to use a comma after Hi and Hello? Is it an exception?
Thanks in advance.
-
Re: a comma
"The comma is often omitted today in direct address, especially in the opening line of an e-mail message or an informal memo. We see "Hi Bill" instead of "Hi, Bill." Read more here, Grammar Gremlins: E-greetings don't need a comma.
-
Re: a comma
David Neely, author of the article Escape from the Grammar Trap, writes, "it's a matter of style. _I_ certainly don't use a comma after "Hello", especially when "Hello" is followed by someone's name, but I don't think using the comma in that situation is incorrect punctuation.
I differentiate between punctuation that is essential or at least very important to convey the intended meaning and punctuation that is a stylistic preference that is not needed to convey the intended meaning. A comma after "Hello" definitely falls in the second category." Source
-
Re: a comma
From How to write E-mail
It is also becoming quite common to write the greeting without a comma,
e.g. Dear Miss Lawson
e.g. Dear KK
========
On matters of etiquette, Judith Martin, author of “Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated” has this to say about the correct way to begin an e-mail. “With almost anything civil. Or even nothing, because an informal e-mail is like a memorandum and doesn’t require a salutation, although an abbreviated one may be used. The Internet is an informal means of communication. But that is presuming that informality is understood not to be a euphemism for rudeness or sloppiness.”
so, what’s the appropriate way to begin a formal e-mail message? “There is no such thing as a formal e-mail, any more than there is a formal telephone call,”...Source
Similar Threads
-
By gjo123 in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 09-Jan-2007, 12:19
-
By scripto in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 26-Oct-2006, 23:52
-
By cleung in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 8
Last Post: 15-Jul-2006, 16:25
-
By Unregistered-jack in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 1
Last Post: 15-Dec-2005, 01:41
-
By Anonymous in forum Ask a Teacher
Replies: 3
Last Post: 25-Feb-2004, 13:07
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules

Search Engine Optimization by
vBSEO 3.6.1