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Hi I'm Kari Wethington for expertvillage.com. Today we are going to be doing Writer's Guide:
Self Editing Basics Another way commas are often misused is when
you are directly addressing someone. You're going to want to use a commas to set off that
person's name before or after, depending on the structure of the sentence. Let's look
at an example. Here are a couple of examples of when to use commas when you are directly
addressing someone. Here we've got, Good work Pamela. Without the comma it just runs together
and it doesn't have the same impact so if you use the comma it says, "Good work, Pamela."
You know who you are addressing and it is a cleaner way to write it. The second example:
Let's see Jason where your suitcase is. Without the comma it sounds awkward. With the commas
added it sets it apart. Let's see, Jason, where your suitcase is. It puts a little more
emphasis on who you are addressing and it makes the sentence make more sense. So to
reiterate, it is always important if you are directly addressing someone to make sure you
are using the comma correctly. So look for that in your own writing.