Punctuating an email?

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Ducklet Cat

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Hi,
Would someone tell me if this email is correctly punctuared?

Dear James,
Good morning.

Please call me when you can.

All the best,
Ducket Cat

And should I place a period after the name at the end or not?

Thanks :)
 

Odessa Dawn

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Hi,



Would someone tell me if this email is correctly [STRIKE]punctuared[/STRIKE] punctuated?
And should I place a period after the name at the end or not?

Thanks :)



***** NOT A TEACHER *****


No, it needs no period/full stop.

 
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Barb_D

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Dear James,
Good morning.

Please call me when you can.

All the best,
Ducket Cat

With an e-mail this short, consider:
Good morning, James.

Please call me as soon as you can.

Thanks,
Barb
 

Odessa Dawn

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Why do some people write their names in bold letters at the end of mails/letters? Do they intend to draw others' attention?
 
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5jj

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'Barb' is not in bold.

'Barb' is.
 

Odessa Dawn

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'Barb' is not in bold.

'Barb' is.

I don't mean Barb, teacher. However, I receive some mails being ended in bold names.
 
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Chicken Sandwich

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I don't mean Barb, teacher. However, I receive some mails being ended in bold names.

NOT A TEACHER

I have never seen it.

By the way, something's wrong with the format of your messages. There's too much unnecessary space.
 

Tdol

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Some Asian writers use bold or capitals to indicate which is their surname as they would generally use the opposite order from English, and want to avoid the confusion about whether they're using their system or ours.
 

emsr2d2

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If someone put their name in bold at the end of an email, I would assume that they were making sure that I understood that the email had come from them, not someone else, and also probably to ensure that I replied to the correct person. It's possible to send an email from a generic email address (ie info @ thomson dot com) but the email itself will have been written by an individual. Perhaps that individual wants any reply sent either direct to them or for their attention.

In general, though, it's not a standard thing to do and I have never received an email from someone who put their name in bold at the end. As far as I'm concerned, in BrE, it doesn't specifically mean anything.
 
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Ducklet Cat

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Thank you all :)

Why would I write:
Good morning, James.
And not
Good morning James,

regarding the bold font thing. I noticed that in French they write the sir name always in capital letters:
Philip LEGRAND.
Not sure why though.

Thanks again.
 

5jj

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To separate with commas the name of the person addressed from other parts of the sentence, Ducklet Cat, is a convention still observed by many.
 

Ducklet Cat

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Thank you.
I still wonder about something:
Why don't we put a period after the sender's name? I know this is the way it is done. But it would be logical to place one. :)
 

Barb_D

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Why? A person's name is not a complete sentence. Why do you see that as logical?
 

Ducklet Cat

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Why? A person's name is not a complete sentence. Why do you see that as logical?
You are right, but it does not sound very right to keep it like that alone.
OK, maybe a comma. But a comma implies that something will come after it.
I guess a period gives the impression that the letter/email is over, and nothing else is written. A name is not a sentence, but I though of adding it to announce the end of the email.
I don't know. I was just thinking aloud.
 

emsr2d2

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You are right, but it does not sound very right to keep it like that alone.
OK, maybe a comma. But a comma implies that something will come after it.
I guess a period gives the impression that the letter/email is over, and nothing else is written. A name is not a sentence, but I though of adding it to announce the end of the email.
I don't know. I was just thinking aloud.

At the beginning of a letter, many people do put a comma after the name and before the first word of the main letter:


Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing to you today ...


However, at the end of a letter, a person's full name usually comes underneath their signature and we never punctuate it. We also frequently put the job title under the name. We don't punctuate that either. So a letter may end:

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

[signature]



David Roberts
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