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For some reason my brain tells me that the following sentence is grammatically correct...

Thanks, John. Your gift was much appreciated.

Instead of...

Thanks John, your gift was much appreciated.

Which should I use?

Matt
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Sam
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    The comma functions as a way to make your meaning clear when there is more than one possible reading. In your examples and in the accepted answer, the commas are traditional, but omitting them does not offer multiple readings. "I ate John." is a more obvious construction that highlights why the comma "rule" exists. – horatio Apr 03 '13 at 18:21

3 Answers3

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John in your sentence is a noun in the vocative case (the case used for the noun identifying the person, animal, object, etc. being addressed) which should be separated with comma(s) regardless of its position in the sentence. Though modern English lacks a formal (morphological) vocative case, I use it only to accurately identify the nouns in this category.

Thanks, John, your gift was much appreciated.

John, come here!

Thank you, John!

Community
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SmokerAtStadium
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    This is quite right as far as the punctuation point goes, but it might be misleading to the OP to speak of the vocative case, because there is really no such thing in English. The only possible inflection of John is John’s. – Barrie England Apr 03 '13 at 14:35
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    @Barrie England You're right. I've edited my answer so it points that out. Thank you – SmokerAtStadium Apr 03 '13 at 15:00
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When you address someone like this, it is usual in writing to set off the name with a comma, or a pair of commas if appropriate. This is a matter not of grammar, but of punctuation.

Barrie England
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    I think to many people, "grammar" still includes "punctuation", even if they don't go so far as to include "spelling" as well. Personally I think fretting about exactly how to "correctly" punctuate OP's quintessentially spoken construction is a bit anal anyway. But my guess is some style guides (particularly, the more recent ones) would endorse a comma here, where some (older ones?) might favour a period. My general principle is we should strive to reduce all non-essential punctuation. Discard commas wherever possible, "downgrade" periods to commas, etc. – FumbleFingers Apr 03 '13 at 16:54
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    @FumbleFingers I'd be careful what I call non-essential since in some cases punctuation can even save lives: Let's eat John! vs Let's eat, John! :) – SmokerAtStadium Apr 03 '13 at 20:07
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    @SmokerAtStadium: But suppose there'd been a dozen other survivors of the plane crash up there in the mountains. It might have saved more lives if you and they had all eaten John, rather than you and John eating all the others. And how often do you pass a written note to someone else suggesting it's time to eat? – FumbleFingers Apr 03 '13 at 22:15
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    @FumbleFingers Does it matter how often something is written when talking about punctuation? – SmokerAtStadium Apr 04 '13 at 05:59
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    @SmokerAtStadium: No, but does it matter that theoretically I could interpret your last sentence as meaning "Does is matter how often you engage in the physical act of writing something (about any subject) at the same time as* talking (actually speaking) about punctuation"? You could have avoided that potential misparsing by including a comma after the word "written"* - but you didn't bother, either because you didn't see the danger, or you didn't feel it was worth bothering with. We punctuate to aid clarity, not to observe "rules of grammar". – FumbleFingers Apr 04 '13 at 14:56
  • @FumbleFingers And isn't punctuation necessary for clarity with nouns in the vocative case (I know English has no such thing)? Besides, if someone would interpret my last comment like you said, they have no business reading anything since it makes no sense regardless of how you look at it. You could do that (miss interpret) any word that has more than one meaning trying to prove your point. That's why I don't think it's a valid argument. – SmokerAtStadium Apr 05 '13 at 09:35
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Both of the original poster's examples are grammatically correct. They are pronounced slightly differently: There is a distinct pause for breath after the period, and less of a pause after the comma. The original poster should use the punctuation that matches his pronunciation.

When writing a letter, it is traditional to use a comma (or maybe a colon) after the salutation. (There is a distinct pause for breath after the salutation.) For example:

Dear John,

   Your gift was much appreciated.
Jasper
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