JS Tip 514: More Uses for Commas

This is the last of a five-week series on commas. We appreciate your feedback and guidance. Thank you. 

Use commas to separate titles and degrees from names.

Return the application to Charles Tubman, Corporate Personnel Director.

Charlotte Windsor-Bates, Ph.D., will deliver the Tuesday lecture.

Use a comma after the salutation in personal letters and email.

Mom and Dad, 

There’s a hierarchy in the punctuation you might use in a salutation. 

Formal salutations call for a colon: 

The Honorable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 

Informal salutations (most of what you write in business) call for a dash: 

Sally—

Personal salutations call for a comma: 

Mom and Dad, 

Use a comma after the complimentary close.

Sincerely, 

But beware of the overly polite—and smarmy—complimentary close:

Best regards, 

Very truly yours,

I remain your most obedient servant, 

Don’t laugh. It’s been done.

You might want to consider ending your letter or email the way you’d end a conversation: 

Thank you.  

What are your questions? This is fun.