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Should you use a comma after a greeting?
Should you use a comma or a colon after a greeting?
Do you put a comma in an email salutation?
Do I need a comma between a person's name and a greeting?
Feb 25, 2022 · Comma rules for greetings. Hello, comma, my old friend. When it comes to greetings and commas, there is one general rule that you should follow: place the comma after the greeting but before a person’s name. Regardless of what your greeting is, this rule will usually guide you to success.
Use a comma after 'hello,' 'hi,' and terms like 'good morning' at the start of an email or letter. Do not use one after 'Dear' in a phrase like 'Dear John.'.
- What Is A Comma?
- When to Use Commas
- Commas with Lists
- Serial Comma
- Commas with But
- Commas with and
- Avoiding Comma Splices
- Commas with Relative Clauses
- Commas with Appositives
- Commas with Introductory Phrases
While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. Some writers think of a comma as a soft pause—a punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a sentence.
Commas have quite a few uses in English: 1. Separating items in a list of three or more 2. Connecting two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction 3. Setting apart non-restrictive relative clauses 4. Setting apart nonessential appositives 5. Setting apart introductory phrases 6. Setting apart interrupters and parenthetical elements 7. Se...
When you have a list that contains more than two elements, use commas to separate them. (The comma before the andin a list of three or more items is optional. See below, under “Serial comma,” for more information.) Your list might be made up of nouns, as in the example above, but it could also be made up of verbs, adjectives, or clauses. Imagine, f...
As mentioned above, when you are listing three or more items, commas should separate each element of the list. However, the final comma—the one that comes before the and—is optional. This comma is called the serial comma or the Oxford comma. Whether or not you use the serial comma is a style choice. Many newspapers do not use it. Many trade books d...
Use a comma before the coordinating conjunction but if it is joining two independent clauses: If butis not joining two independent clauses, leave the comma out.
When correcting a comma splice by adding and—that is, when joining two independent clauses with and as a coordinating conjunction—put the comma before and. When you have a list that contains only two items, don’t use a comma before the and.
When you want to join two independent clauses, you need a conjunction or a semicolon; a comma alone isn’t strong enough to join them. This kind of mistake is called a comma splice. You can fix a comma splice by adding a conjunction or changing the comma to a semicolon. Or you can simply write the two independent clauses as separate sentences.
A clause that is nonrestrictive offers extra information about something you have mentioned in a sentence, but that information isn’t essential for identifying the thing you’re talking about. Nonrestrictive clauses are usually introduced by which or who and should be set off by commas. The clause “which Chester recommended” is nonrestrictive becaus...
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that refers to the same thing as another noun in the same sentence. Often, the appositive provides additional information about the noun or helps to distinguish it in some way. If you could remove the appositive without changing the meaning of the sentence, it is said to be nonessential and should be set off w...
A comma normally follows a participialphrase that introduces a sentence: Grabbing her umbrella, Kate raced out of the house. Confused by her sister’s sudden change in mood, Jill stayed quiet. When an adverbial phrasebegins a sentence, it’s often followed by a comma, but it doesn’t have to be, especially if it’s short. As a rule of thumb, if the phr...
May 12, 2023 · Use a colon after a greeting in a business letter or email in U.S. style. It’s also fine to use a comma, but the colon is more formal. The preferred way to greet someone formally is Dear So-and-So (with title and last name or full name) rather than with an informal greeting like Hi or Hello.
To elaborate, let’s begin with the fact that a greeting such as Hi or Hello is technically considered a direct address. A direct address would normally be followed by a comma, just as if you were to use the other person’s first name or title (e.g., Mr. Clinkenshire, please pass the gravy.).
Jan 17, 2017 · Yes, you need to use a comma between the person’s name and the greeting. The reason is “direct address.” We use commas to show that we are talking to the reader, not about the reader.
Apr 12, 2023 · When using casual greeting expressions like “hi” or “hello,” the comma should come before and after the addressee’s name or only after it. For formalistic emails and business letters, a colon should be used instead.
