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No comma before the vocative

Posted: 04 May 2024, 11:28
by Ludovica Peruzzi
Hello, everyone. I'm writing up a review for the book I've just finished reading and I'm confused as to whether I should mark some mistakes I've found as typos or write them off as a matter of personal style.

Throughout the book, the author never uses commas before, and sometimes even after, vocatives. Some examples are "You must be mistaken sir", "Drop that chair leg my lad", "Come on Berman" and so on. There are also no commas in internal dialogue: "He must be careful he thought" instead of "He must be careful, he thought". Now, my questions are:

1. Should I count all of these as objective typos, or do I just think of them as part of the author's style, since this is how he writes all throughout?
2. Even if you ascribe them to personal style, should I at least mark them down as typos in the cases where not using a comma actually changes the meaning of the sentence (for example "Let him be lads" instead of "Let him be, lads", "I am mistress" instead of "I am, mistress")?

Thanks in advance!

Re: No comma before the vocative

Posted: 05 May 2024, 12:45
by Diana Lowery
As long as you can support those errors with a credible source, I would report them as objective errors. Sometimes the issue is a matter of following British grammar rules, but I don't think that is the case here.

Re: No comma before the vocative

Posted: 05 May 2024, 16:08
by Alissa Nesson
I would say those are objective errors, especially because writing them without the comma can sometimes change the meaning.

Re: No comma before the vocative

Posted: 05 May 2024, 16:18
by Ludovica Peruzzi
Thank you both! That's what I thought, but I've marked them as uncounted errors to be safe.