Vocative in question. Vocative and the use of the comma

Imagine that you, also expressed in the image, are in charge of becoming a detective whose task it is to discover how many occurrences occur through the suppression of the vocative.

But, wow! It's such a tiny term, syntactically independent... it belongs neither to the subject nor to the predicate... Is it really that important?

Dear user, believe that many people do not give it due importance. Do you know why? They leave you unaccompanied by an essential punctuation mark. Serious fault? Very serious.

Now, a vocative without a comma is not a vocative.
But let's suppose that during your task you have come across statements like these:

Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)

Attention drivers.
Pedestrian cross at the safety lane...

Vocative, where are you that you don't answer?

Calm down, you, as a detective, will find him, and therefore you will show him:

Attention, drivers.
Pedestrian, cross at the security lane.

Let's go to another example:

Catch the thief.

It's different from you saying:
Catch the thief!

So there's only one thing left for you: be aware when your intention is to make a call:

Give the vocative the comma it deserves so much!


By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters

Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:

DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "Vocative in question"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/vocativo-questao.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.

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