By Salutation, Commas

I specifically remember this, too. i was told by a former boss it was "Ungrammatical" -- why did I listen to that idiot? I finally did a little research and found the comma is indeed grammatical.

I don't think you are remembering anything incorrectly, but I do think that these days, that comma ("Hello Dolly") is very rarely used. I certainly don't.

I'm sorry, but that was totally not what I was looking for... The reference to the used comma is the one that is BETWEEN Hello and Dolly: Hello, Dolly. As far as other punctuation, that is not my concern but thanks for the response anyway.

Hi Anon Now it seems as if everyone is writing: Hello Dolly or Hi John - with no comma. In modern English, the stress is on less punctuation. For example, it was formerly Mr. (in BrE), but nowadays, it is Mr (without period). However, in AmE, a period is inserted after after Mr. I believe...

I specifically remember learning this punctuation in grade school and high school: Hello, Dolly. (Hi, John.) I remember learning to put the comma after a casual opening, but if it was "Dear" or "To", etc., you would not put the comma there (Dear John, -or- To Whom It May Concern: ). Now it...

Open punctuation has no punctuation after the salutation or complimentary closing, no commas in the addressee's address and no periods after abbreviations:The President of the United StatesWashington DC Dear Mr BushSincerely yoursClosed punctuation has punctuation after the salutation and...

corrections in bold and other areas you need to look at are highlighted for you. Watch out for the length of your sentences. You tend to run on and try to connect too many ideas and are not using enough commas. Dear Sir or Madam (US uses colon, UK uses comma or nothing after salutation) This...

I think the American style is often to complete a salutation with a colon : but not a full stop.

That would be a very informal letter so I'm not sure you need to worry too much about 'rules' anyway (are you sure the US would finish a salutation with a full stop?). Hi Peter, is the form I would think is most common in the UK to match with the more formal 'Dear Peter,'

I'd just like to point out that this isn't grammar - this is "style." And different style guides will tell you different things. American: Colons after the salutation in a business letter, comma after the closing. Do NOT indent the paragraphs in a business letter. Save that for letters...