Will You Commit Lynn? On Commas in Direct Address
Written on August 19, 2010 – 5:46 pm | by Matthew Hovell
My husband Michael gets copies of my email. We are in business together, and he keeps track of what comes in when I am busy teaching business writing courses.
Last week Michael received a political email, a persuasive request with the subject line “Will You Commit, ?”
He relaxed when he noticed the comma before my name. Without it, the message might have been distressing: Will You Commit ? One serious interpretation of that question would be “Will you put in an institution for people with mental illness?” A less grave meaning would be “Will you assign to this project?”
But the comma told Michael he was reading a message addressed to me–not about me. The comma indicated “direct address.”
Omitting commas in direct address is the most common punctuation error I see. These sentences from recent emails suffer from it:
Thank you .Many thanks .Wonderful tips .Thanks Ms. Gaertner-Johnston.Thanks for the info .
Because the writers are addressing me, a comma should come before my name.
Will you commit, dear reader, to using a comma when you address your readers directly?
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