Hi, comma

[Loretta]

I have something stuck in my brain that I’m increasingly uncomfortable with.

I have this vague memory of being taught by my English teacher that you should begin a letter with something like[quote]Dear Mr Hill,

thank you for your enquiry about inflatable sheep. Unfortunately…[/quote]
ie Dear [name] comma, leave a line or two, continue the sentence without a capital letter.

It just feels really weird doing this in an email that begins with Hi or Yo or something similarly inane. Most of my emails are inane, so what should I do?

“Yo Sugarbuns, blah blah”
(no space)

"Hey retard!

How’s it hanging?"
(End the sentence after the greeting and start a new one.)

"G’day cobber

Nice to hear from you."
(No punctuation mark, but start the next sentence with a capital.)

FWIW, I can’t just write without punctuation. I need that stuff, but just can’t figure out what the ‘rule’ is these days.

And what should I tell students who need to write friendly business emails. They’re going to use hello or hi.

[engerim]

[quote=“Loretta”]I have something stuck in my brain that I’m increasingly uncomfortable with.
I have this vague memory of being taught by my English teacher that you should begin a letter with something like[quote]Dear Mr Hill,
thank you for your enquiry about inflatable sheep. Unfortunately…[/quote]
ie Dear [name] comma, leave a line or two, continue the sentence without a capital letter.
It just feels really weird doing this in an email that begins with Hi or Yo or something similarly inane. Most of my emails are inane, so what should I do?

“Yo Sugarbuns, blah blah”
(no space)

"Hey retard!

How’s it hanging?"
(End the sentence after the greeting and start a new one.)

"G’day cobber

Nice to hear from you."
(No punctuation mark, but start the next sentence with a capital.)

FWIW, I can’t just write without punctuation. I need that stuff, but just can’t figure out what the ‘rule’ is these days.

And what should I tell students who need to write friendly business emails. They’re going to use hello or hi.[/quote]

Dear Loretta,

I do it in emails too. It gives the reader a moment to check who this letter was addressed to.
Even in internal company mails I always put “Dear,” or “Hi,” other people here don’t and just write the name followed by a comma. As far as I can tell they all leave a space though.

Now, err, why are you uncomfortable with it?

[itakitez]

"Name,

Start e-mail"

Now, the other related “email formaility” is e-mail vs email

I am all pro e-mail because its like e-dictionary, e-times, e-diary, e-commerce…

However, I always end up typing email because Im a lazy git, has the hyphanate debate ended? Or is it still going?

[Stray_Dog]

[quote=“Loretta”]I have something stuck in my brain that I’m increasingly uncomfortable with.

I have this vague memory of being taught by my English teacher that you should begin a letter with something like[quote]Dear Mr Hill,

thank you for your enquiry about inflatable sheep. Unfortunately…[/quote]
ie Dear [name] comma, leave a line or two, continue the sentence without a capital letter.

It just feels really weird doing this in an email that begins with Hi or Yo or something similarly inane. Most of my emails are inane, so what should I do?

“Yo Sugarbuns, blah blah”
(no space)

"Hey retard!

How’s it hanging?"
(End the sentence after the greeting and start a new one.)

"G’day cobber

Nice to hear from you."
(No punctuation mark, but start the next sentence with a capital.)

FWIW, I can’t just write without punctuation. I need that stuff, but just can’t figure out what the ‘rule’ is these days.

And what should I tell students who need to write friendly business emails. They’re going to use hello or hi.[/quote]

If you start with a Hi or Hello, then that is the end of that sentence, and you’d need a full stop after; as always, begin the body of the text with a capital:

[quote]Hi.

You told me to . . . [/quote]

If you say Hi and then the person’s name, a comma precedes the name:

[quote]Hi, Jim.

When do you think . . .[/quote]

If you start with just the name, it’s followed by a comma:

[quote]Sarah,

In three days time . . .[/quote]

If you choose to start politely, with Dear, then it’s the same as above:

[quote]Dear Tata,

Thank you so much . . .[/quote]

With your “Yo, sugarbuns” example, you can decide you want to treat that as a complete sentence (similar to “Hi, sugarbuns.”) followed by a full stop, or as an intro (similar to “Hey, sugarbuns, I was wondering . . .”) followed by a comma.

[Omniloquacious]

I would never dream of lower-casing the first letter of the first word in the first line of the letter proper. Grammatically, yes, it makes sense, but it just doesn’t look right. And I’ve never seen it in any formal letter, either.

Perhaps that’s why the Yanks use a colon instead of a comma after the salutation - then everything fits the rules nicely and is all hunky-dory.

[mintzcandy]

Dear [name] comma, leave a line or two, continue the sentence without a capital letter.

I was taught differently. We start the body with a capital letter. I suppose it kind of makes more sense for it to be in lower case. Hmmmmmm…

[Dragonbones]

@Omniloquacious

I would never dream of lower-casing the first letter of the first word in the first line of the letter proper. Grammatically, yes, it makes sense, but it just doesn’t look right. And I’ve never seen it in any formal letter, either.

Same here.

Perhaps that’s why the Yanks use a colon instead of a comma after the salutation - then everything fits the rules nicely and is all hunky-dory.

We do?

[Tomas]

[quote=“Omniloquacious”]I would never dream of lower-casing the first letter of the first word in the first line of the letter proper. Grammatically, yes, it makes sense, but it just doesn’t look right. And I’ve never seen it in any formal letter, either.

Perhaps that’s why the Yanks use a colon instead of a comma after the salutation - then everything fits the rules nicely and is all hunky-dory.[/quote]

I’ve rarely seen that in the States.

It’s nearly always as you describe it.

[mintzcandy]

I know that the colon is used in most business letters. It is more formal than the comma.

[Omniloquacious]

@Dragonbones

[quote=“Omniloquacious”]Perhaps that’s why the Yanks use a colon instead of a comma after the salutation - then everything fits the rules nicely and is all hunky-dory.

We do?[/quote]

Apparently, yes. I’ve read and responded to countless letters from foreign leaders and officials to Taiwan’s leaders and officials. The Americans and those in their sphere of influence nearly always use the colon, whereas we Brits and our followers nearly always use the comma. I use whichever is appropriate for the recipient.

[Dragonbones]

Oh, well, you’re talking about very formal communications. The OP was about inflatable sheep, in which case civilized people don’t use the colon.

[Chris]

@Dragonbones

[quote]Perhaps that’s why the Yanks use a colon instead of a comma after the salutation - then everything fits the rules nicely and is all hunky-dory.

We do?[/quote]
Yes.

To be more precise, in formal letters, we Americans use a colon. In familiar letters (e.g. to friends and relatives), we use a comma.

In fact, I was taught that it’s very disrespectful to use a comma in a formal letter’s salutation.

[Feiren]

[quote=“itakitez”]"Name,

Start e-mail"

Now, the other related “email formaility” is e-mail vs email

I am all pro e-mail because its like e-dictionary, e-times, e-diary, e-commerce…

However, I always end up typing email because Im a lazy git, has the hyphanate debate ended? Or is it still going?[/quote]

In my view, Donald Knuth ended this debate a number of years ago with this authoritative note on his FAQ:

A note on email versus e-mail

Newly coined nonce words of English are often spelled with a hyphen, but the hyphen disappears when the words become widely used. For example, people used to write non-zero'' and soft-ware’’ instead of nonzero'' and software’‘; the same trend has occurred for hundreds of other words. Thus it’s high time for everybody to stop using the archaic spelling e-mail''. Think of how many keystrokes you will save in your lifetime if you stop now! The form email’’ has been well established in England for several years, so I am amazed to see Americans being overly conservative in this regard. (Of course, ``email’’ has been a familiar word in France, Germany, and the Netherlands much longer than in England — but for an entirely different reason.)

Among other things, Knuth is

the author of Surreal Numbers (1974) ISBN 0-201-03812-9, a mathematical novelette on John Conway’s set theory construction of an alternate system of numbers. Instead of simply explaining the subject, the book seeks to show the development of the mathematics. Knuth wanted the book to prepare students for doing original, creative research.

[Loretta]

@Omniloquacious

I would never dream of lower-casing the first letter of the first word in the first line of the letter proper. Grammatically, yes, it makes sense, but it just doesn’t look right. And I’ve never seen it in any formal letter, either.

I think you’re right. Maybe it’s something I’ve somehow started doing because it ‘makes sense’ but felt wrong. I shall desist!

DB, you’re so funny. Civilised people, indeed!

[Quarters]

@Loretta

If you say Hi and then the person’s name, a comma precedes the name:

[quote]Hi, Jim.

When do you think . . .[/quote]

I know this is the correct method that you explained, however, it just does not sound right when you read it to yourself or out loud. It just sounds odd to me to pause after “Hi” and then say the name.

[color=#4000FF]“Hi…Jim.”[/color] vs [color=#BF0000]“Hi Jim.”[/color]
(… is used as a visual representation of the actual pause from the comma)

Hi Jim. This just sounds better when said out loud.

[Loretta]

[quote=“Quarters”][quote=“Loretta”]

If you say Hi and then the person’s name, a comma precedes the name:

[quote]Hi, Jim.

When do you think . . .[/quote]

[/quote]

I know this is the correct method that you explained, however, it just does not sound right when you read it to yourself or out loud. It just sounds odd to me to pause after “Hi” and then say the name.

[color=#4000FF]“Hi…Jim.”[/color] vs [color=#BF0000]“Hi Jim.”[/color]
(… is used as a visual representation of the actual pause from the comma)

Hi Jim. This just sounds better when said out loud.[/quote]

Are we witnessing an evoultion in the use of English? Oh the horror!

[Stray_Dog]

If Jim is . . . erm, ‘hi’, then by all means modify him with hi as an adjective.

When you mention the name of the person you are addressing, you set it off with commas, for clarity. Consider:

I know, Jim.

I know Jim.

You can choose to make the pause as slight as you like in the first example (as you do when you’re reading aloud Hi, Jim), but it’s there and necessary for clarity.

[Quarters]

[quote=“Stray Dog”]If Jim is . . . erm, ‘hi’, then by all means modify him with hi as an adjective.

When you mention the name of the person you are addressing, you set it off with commas, for clarity. Consider:

I know, Jim.

I know Jim.

You can choose to make the pause as slight as you like in the first example (as you do when you’re reading aloud Hi, Jim), but it’s there and necessary for clarity.[/quote]

Explained well. Thank you for the clarification. I get it now.

[Joesox]

I occasionally receive emails addressed “Hi, Joe.” That always makes me do a mental double take. That usage seems a bit awkward.

I just popped open Outlook to check through some recent emails. All of the ones that start with “hi” and the person’s name are in the “Hi Name,” format.

[Stray_Dog]

[quote=“joesax”]I occasionally receive emails addressed “Hi, Joe.” That always makes me do a mental double take. That usage seems a bit awkward.

I just popped open Outlook to check through some recent emails. All of the ones that start with “hi” and the person’s name are in the “Hi Name,” format.[/quote]

Then feel free to copy and paste my post above for them.