Nouns of Address

What is a Noun of Address?

A Noun of Address is not the address that we commonly think. It certainly is not the address where someone lives. A Noun of Address is an address to whom or to which we deliver a speech. We usually use it to catch attention.

example:

"This, girls, is the book I was telling you about.”

girls - noun of address

The person is talking to the girls, so she/he calls them by the word "girls" to emphasize that she/he is talking to them. 

Nouns of Address are like Interjections. Whether we put them or not in a sentence, the sentence's meaning does not change at all.

Like this:  

Even if we remove the word 'girls', the sentence still has the same meaning, given that we are facing the audience at the time of the speech, which lets them know we are talking to them.

"This is the book I was telling you about."

more examples:

"When I ring the bell, students, you should stop writing and submit your papers right away."

students - noun of address

"I tell you, young lady, that whoever sent you this bouquet sure knows your taste."

young lady - noun of address

"Brother, don't start a fight."

brother - noun of address

Placement of Nouns of Address

We can put Nouns of Address in three areas of a sentence:

1. At the beginning of the sentence

example:

"Mark, can you light this candle for me?"

2. In the middle of the sentence

example:

"Can you, Mark, light this candle for me?"

3. At the end of the sentence

example:

"Can you light this candle for me, Mark?"

Placement of the Comma

Notice how we placed the comma with the noun of address, Mark.

• In the first method, we placed the comma after Mark, the noun of address.

• In the second method, we placed it on both sides of the noun of address, Mark.

• In the third method, we placed it before the noun of address, Mark.