Using "Hi' instead of "Dear" in a letter

Question

If I were to begin a letter with "Hi" instead of "Dear", would there be a comma after Hi? In other words, which is right: "Hi, Mom", or "Hi Mom" ? Thanks!

Nona the brit · Accepted Answer

No apostrophe required but I don't suppose your mom will care either way!

Anonymous · Answer

Yes, you need a comma. If you say it out loud, as if you just walked up to her, you will hear a pause which sets off the address "Mom" from the greeting "Hi." Inside of prose you would use a period after "Mom" because, when spoken, it's used as a complete sentence. So if you were opening the letter more formally you could type "Dear Mom and Dad, >enter<>enter< Hi, Mom. I've missed you so much. Dad, I hope you enjoyed your last trip." When writing a formal letter you should also follow "Dear ____" with a comma, but still start the opening line of the body with a capital. If you use "Hi, Mom," and neither the grammatically correct period nor the comma borrowed from the traditional greeting seems right to you, you could try a colon, as is used with "To ... :" in many business letters. Or just omit the punctuation altogether, if that looks better to you, and hope that no one notices it as an error.If you want to attach the greeting to the body (skip the >enter<>enter< part), it might be good to also use an informal salutation, such as "~?M.E.," but be sure to separate the salutation by clicking >enter

Using "Hi' instead of "Dear" in a letter

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