Hi all,

I've noticed that the head of my department at work, as well as my manager, seem to use punctuation in a way that seems strange to me. (This is in e-mail correspondance.)

While I would write:
Thanks Toon.

They would write:
Thanks, Toon.

Or I might start an e-mail with:
Hello Ray,

They would lead with:
Hello, Ray.

Obviously the BE names are plugged in for easy comprehension. I guess I think of an apostrophe as being used when there would be a natural pause, or to show posession. Which way would you write these phrases? Is one right and one wrong? Or is this a matter of personal preference?

In both cases these are phrases written at the beginning of the e-mail. The first example would be a reply to an original e-mail. The second is the beginning of a new e-mail?

Okay, I know I'm sad for wondering about this, but if I'm writing incorrectly it would be good to know!

Kaffy

Hello Kaffy!

Good post.

FB

, me

Woohoo - so I'm not crazy? You agree that it's weird?

I couldn't bring myself to do that when I replied to them today!

Yep -- the comma's weird.

Regular English practice would be:

Hi Kaffy, or possibly
Dear Kaffy: in a very formal style.

I got used to:
Ciao Kaffy! when living in continental Europe.

But there's no authority in English.

Not meaning to be nitpicky, but are you talking about a comma rather than an apostrophe?

I'm confused on the first one. If you are thanking Toon, you are correct; if you are Toon, and you are signing off, they are more correct, although I use a period after Thanks.

Btw, I have no idea. I always use a comma, not sure where I picked it up at though.....I think here

I concur.

I'm with the boss.. thought you were always meant to put the comma before someone's name. I love commas, but I didn't make that one up.
They are very pesky when it comes to email especially though. So if they are not supposed to be there, I want to know!

Think of it like this:

(a) Hello meauxna,

(b) Hello, Newman.

As far as I'm aware there should be no comma between a greeting and a name.

How many times have you ever received a letter that begins with,

"Dear, Sir" or "Dear, Madam" ?

Hello Kaffy ..... Dear Kaffy ......... Good morning Kaffy = no comma.

LOL They probably went to the same school as I did

I really don't think its nitpicky if it annoys you, then I understand, being one of of the worst grammatically correct folk on BE (moi) they make take the same stance as me, as long as its legible then who cares

As you know I work in Executive managment and the emails and correspondence from CEO's and the such like make me look great lol.

We are all nitpicky about something thats life I guess!

ps I can't answer the question lovey I haven't got a clue

Hello, Jerry.

Hi, Kaffy,
There are loads of interesting differences in our language, and in our pronunciation...and I thought we all spoke English! However, in this case, the Americans are grammatically correct in their punctuation.

The Laird.