Sean and the Vocative Comma

In the supermarket yesterday I saw a TV listings magazine with the strapline "Don't Marry Sean" near the bottom. I think it was referring to a character in a TV soap opera. What immediately struck me, however, was what a good example of the importance of the vocative comma this was. (And yes, I know this probably indicates that I should get out more often...)

For those who may not know, the vocative comma is the comma (or commas) required when someone is addressed directly by name or some other title in speech. The comma is required to offset the person's name in each case. Here are a few examples:

"What time is it, John?"
"You can't park there, mate."
"Excuse me, Sara, are you listening?"
"Philip, is that you?"

So if you wrote, "Don't marry, Sean" it would be an appeal to Sean not to wed. But if you wrote, "Don't marry Sean" the meaning would be quite different. In that case, you would be advising another person against tying the knot with the unfortunate Sean. As it happens, closer inspection of the magazine cover revealed that this was indeed the intended meaning - a young woman was clearly advising her friend in the illustration - so the non-comma version was quite correct.

Another of my favourite examples of why you need the vocative comma is, "What's on, Jane?" In this case, the speaker is asking Jane what's on (television, presumably). But if you drop the comma so it becomes, "What's on Jane?" then the implication is that something unpleasant or at least unexpected has found its way on to Jane, probably without her knowledge. So that little comma really does play a very important role!