A comma after please?

I would write it as you have in 2).

However, if the "please" were at the end, I'd put the comma before it. Pass me the salt, please.

Hi Barbara

Grammar Geek Pass me the salt, please.

Do you notice that the comma is sometimes not used? Do you have any idea why it is disappearing? I remember seeing the comma missing on more than one occasion, perhaps even in a grammar book. I'm confused.

The trend has been to use fewer commas, especially when they don't add clarity. For example, according to "the rules" you're supposed to put a comma after an independent clause as in "John made the pie, and Mary made the cake." Why? What clarity does that lend? The longer the phrase before where the comma is "supposed" to go, the more likely I am to put it in, but in simple things like "Please" or

Grammar Geek For example, according to "the rules" you're supposed to put a comma after an independent clause as in "John made the pie, and Mary made the cake." Why? What clarity does that lend?

It lends clarity that John did not make Mary. It prepares the reader that what follows will be a complete clause with a subject, verb, and object.