LAST CHANCE FOR COMMENTS FROM NESs, TEACHERS, AND TUTORS...
INQUIRING MINDS WOULD LOVE TO KNOW YOUR OPINIONS
Salutation:
an act, phrase, or gesture that serves as a greeting / a word or phrase serving as the greeting in a letter or speech
An email opening consists of a greeting and a name.
It can set a formal, informal, or friendly tone.
It seems there are three choices; using a colon, a comma, and even an exclamation mark:
- Dear Mr. Smith:
- Good morning, Bob.
- Hi Bob!
The following grammar sites agree on the convention of inserting a comma between the greeting and the person’s name, for example:
- Hi, Bob.
- Hello, Bob.
- Good morning, Bob.
1) grammarly.com
In formal business emails – use a colon.
- Dear Mr/Mr. Smith:
In a less formal email – use a comma rather than a colon
2) businesswritingblog.com
Use a comma between the greeting and the person’s name.
- Hello, Rene.
- Congratulations, Michael!
Never use a comma after the greeting Dear: Dear, Claudio:
3) grammarunderground.com
In formal business emails – use a colon.
- Dear Mr. Smith:
- Dear Professor Jones:
When the salutation in your email starts with Hello or Hi, you should put a comma before the name of the person you’re addressing. It is also an accepted practice to put a comma after the name of the person you’re addressing.
- Hi, Michael,
Some informal salutations use a period at the end.
- Hi, Michael.
- Hello, John.
4) erinwrightwriting.com
Commas can be used after informal salutations that include an adjective such as “Dear.”
The trick is that you have to decide if your message is formal or informal.
The level of formality in business letters and emails will depend on your work environment and your personal relationship with the recipient.
Letters and emails to family and friends are almost always informal:
- Dear Mom and Dad,
SUMMARY CONSENSUS
It appears we have 3 choices.
Formal: use Dear and a colon
Example: Dear Ms. Watson:
Informal: use a comma between the greeting and the name and a comma or a period at the end
Example: Hello, Kathy, or Hi, Kathy.
Informal: An excited greeting could end with an exclamation point.
Example: Hi, Brad!
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My opinion/preferences
Opinion – I do not like the comma between the greeting and the person’s name, e.g. Hello, Bob
Reason – When spoken, there is no pause between “Hello and Bob”
Opinion – I do not like the period at the end of the phrase, e.g., Hello, Bob.
Reason – The phrase is not a clause nor a sentence, so it doesn’t need a period.
What is your opinion or preference?
Comma may designate new intonational segment, not necessary a pause. For this reason I'm not annoyed anyhow and even fidn natural commas after 'hi'. Again in Russian.
Aнтoн's example illustrates well the difference between "Greetings, Anton" and "Greetings to Anton", and the case system in Russian helps to highlight the distinction; in Irish we have a special case dedicated to direct address (the vocative case) so naturally anything in this case will be separated from the rest of the discourse by commas: "A Risteaird, Dia duit!" (vocative case: "Richard, Hello!"), "Risteard Dia duit!" (nominative case: "the god Richard be with you!").
Dear Richard, hello!
Did you know, Richard, that we (Russian) are taught to separate an addression (we have such word, I don't know what it is in English) by commas.
Without respect to where the addression stands, Richard!
