How to Properly Punctuate Salutations

Hello, fellas! :)

Let’s talk about writing a letter -- particularly the greeting or salutation part of the letter.

Did you know that the common practice of many when writing salutation of letters is incorrect?

We can commonly see these ways of writing the greetings of letters:

Hi,

Hello,

Hi Arvie,

Hello Nette,

Dear Yomi,

Sir Santos,

Mr. Reyes,

Are you one of those people who write like that?  =)

Did you know that the above ways of writing greetings is not grammatically correct?

Hi and hello are interjections*. Interjections are words that express emotions -- surprise, happiness, excitement, hurt, etc. -- and they are ‘sometimes’ considered as complete sentences*, despite of being single-worded. Why? Simply because they are already complete in thought.

Help! → It may mean You help me!

Here! → It may mean I’m here! or It’s here!

Hello! → It may mean I say hello to you!

Great! → It may mean That is great!

The four interjections above have invisible (and understood) subjects and direct object.

There are interjections that are more likely a noise than a word, but they still express complete thought.

Ouch! (Someone is hurt.)

Eeew! (Someone is disgusted.)

Wow! (Someone is positively surprised.)

Interjections are commonly used in verbal communication, than in written. They are commonly uttered than write. Most of them are considered as stand-alone sentences, but not always. Interjection can also be followed by comma:

Yes, you are right.

Hello, Arvie. You look busy.

Great, Anne! You got a perfect score.

Hi and hello are interjections that we use in writing salutations. We have learned above that they are already complete sentences and should be punctuated properly.

instead of writing...                                          we should write...

Hi,                                                                    Hi. or Hi!**

Hello,                                                               Hello. or Hello!**

Hi Arvie,                                                          Hello, Arvie. or Hello, Arvie!**

Hello Nette,                                                     Hello, Nette. or Hello, Nette!**

How about if we want the greeting to start with Dear or with the name of the recipient?

‘Dear’ is not an interjection, but an adjective. It cannot stand alone, just like the names. They should be written like these:

Dear Yomi,

Dear Mr. Reyes,

Dear Ms Santos,

Sir Santos,

Mr. Reyes,

The problem is writing the greetings correctly may look weird given the widespread use of the incorrect alternative.

Use your own judgement. Use whatever way you feel is best for you. All I know is there is no better way than following and doing what is right. =)

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*REVIEW:



Interjection - The part of speech that usually expresses emotion and is capable of standing alone. Examples: Hi!, Ouch!, Hello!, Great!, etc. (source: Thefreedictionary.com)

Sentence - A grammatical unit of one or more words that expresses an independent statement, question, request, command, exclamation, etc., and that typically has a subject as well as a predicate, as in John is here.  or Is Johnhere? (source: Dictionary.com) 

**Punctuations depend on how excited you feel about the greeting.