Hey, everyone, welcome to another English grammar lesson. Today we're going to be covering
commas of direct address.
Okay, so notice, in the introduction, that I did not say "address,"
as in where you live. That would be commas with locations, which we've already covered
in another video. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, don’t worry; we’ve still
got you covered. Regardless, commas of direct address are used when you are talking to someone—when
you are directly addressing that person. For example: "Tom can you pass me the pickles?"
We're talking to Tom here—asking him if he can pass the pickles. "Please sit down
Mark." Again, we're talking to Mark. We're directly addressing him. "Hey Joe it's nice
to see you." Same thing again. We are talking to Joe. We are directly addressing Joe. So,
what do we do with the commas for these? Well, it's pretty simple. If you are talking to
someone in your sentence—if you are directly addressing someone—you need to surround
their name with commas, if you can. Now, why do I say “if you can”? Well, let’s look
at the first example. I can't technically "surround" Tom's name because I can't put
a comma before the sentence even starts, right? But I can put one after his name, so that
is what I do. We have a similar situation with the second sentence. Because the name
appears at the end, I can't really “surround” it with commas because there's already a period
on one side. But I can put one before his name. This last one, though, I actually can
surround with commas because it's sort of—you know—in the middle, per se, of the sentence.
So, that's what I do—I surround it. Commas on both sides. Now, it's important to remember
that you only need to use these commas when you are talking to somebody, not about somebody.
Let me show you what I mean. "Have you seen Jack lately?" No one is actually talking to
Jack here. They're just talking about him. Because of that, we do not need commas here.
"Linda is my best friend." The same thing is true for this one. We are not directly
addressing Linda here. We’re not talking to her. We're just talking about her. So,
again, no commas. Basically, what I’m saying is don’t just look for names and start throwing
commas in because that’s not always going to be correct. You only need commas if someone
is being directly spoken to. Also, before we look at some examples, it's important to
remember that it's not always going to be actual names that you're going to see in your
sentences. For example: "Hey guys you need to quiet down." So, here we're actually talking
to "guys," right? Because that's what people say sometimes: “Hey, guys.” “What’s
up, guys?” “Thanks, guys.” I’m talking to the “guys”; I am directly addressing
them. So, I try to surround their "name" with commas. And, in this case, I can—both sides—that’s
what I do. "Goodnight dude." The same thing is true here. I'm using "dude" as a name in
this situation. I'm talking to someone—calling them “dude”—so I need a comma. And,
again, why don't I "surround" the name with commas like I said before? Well, because there's
a period on one side, and you can't stack punctuation like that; that’s not how it
works. So, we just put one where we can. Okay, now, onto some practice ones… "It's so nice
to see you Amy." Okay, so, what do you think? Do we need commas? And if we do, where do
they go? Well, it seems as though we’re talking to Amy here. We are directly addressing
her. And, because of that, we need to try to surround her name with commas. However,
we have a period on one side, so all we can do is throw one in after “you.” Okay,
how about this one: "My dad's name is Barry"? Okay, so we see the name Barry, but if you
look more closely at this sentence, you will realize that no one's actually talking to
Barry. We're just talking about him. And since we’re just talking about him, not to him,
we do not need commas. "Hey Chad how are you?" Okay, what do you see here? Well, we seem
to be talking to Chad—calling out to him—saying “hey.” So, we try to surround his name
with commas, and in this position, we actually can, so we're good. Two more… "Nora should
be here any minute." Okay, so we've got Nora, but are we actually talking to her? Well,
no, we’re just talking about her. And, because of that, we do nothing. "It's good to see
you man." So, we've got the word “man” being used as a name here. And we seem to
be talking to that person, so—easy—put the comma in. Cool! Well, whether you came
here for a refresher or are just now learning this stuff for the first time, I hope this
video helped. Be sure to check out the free practice down in the description, and—uh—we’ll
see you next time. Thanks.