Yes, Ma'am or Yes Ma'am?

[kokomoj0]

That is the question?

My girlfriend believes the proper punctuation is Yes, Ma'am is linguistically correct. I on the other hand think, (and she is far better at this than I), that it can be either way; Yes,(comma) Ma'am or Yes(no comma) Ma'am depending on sentence structure.

My question is which way is it and what are the rules that determine how to properly write it?

TIA!
Kj

 

[Anglika]

Correctly there is a comma when a person is addressed by name or title in dialogue.

Hello, Harry, how are you

Hey, Gina, long time no see.

Yes, George, you are right.

No, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

 

[Tdol]

By the way, it is pronounced with a short A, not a long one. ;-)