Fiction essentials: vocative expressions

I touched on vocative expressions in my blog post on how to punctuate dialogue, but I think it is a topic that deserves a little more exploration.

What are vocative expressions?

A vocative expression is used when someone is addressed directly in dialogue. It is often their name, but it doesn’t have to be – it could be a form of address that relates to their job, indicates their relationship to the speaker, or provides some other means of identifying them (respectfully or disrespectfully).

vocative, adjective
Relating to or denoting a case of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in Latin and other languages, used in addressing or invoking a person or thing.
Lexico

Why are they useful in fiction?

Vocatives can serve many purposes, but there are three key reasons for using them in fiction.

Keeping track

The basic and most obvious reason to use vocatives is to help readers keep track of who is speaking and who they are talking to, especially if there are a few characters involved in the scene.

The Silent Companions (2018) by Laura Purcell, pp. 180–181
‘How now?’ Charles called again. ‘Speak up, little Hetta!’
The boys hooted again.
‘Leave her alone, Charles!’ I snapped, but it only made them laugh harder. They were so excited, I believe they would have laughed at death itself.
‘It is only in jest, Mother.’
‘I really cannot understand what Henrietta Maria is trying to communicate,’ Josiah said. ‘Anne, have you any idea?’

Showing relationships

Vocatives are an effective way to show the reader how characters relate to each other and how they feel about each other. Are they family members? Does one occupy a higher rank than the other? Do they like each other? Do they hate each other?

The Man Who Died Twice (2021) by Richard Osman, p. 199
‘But you can predict things,’ says Ibrahim. ‘The tides, the seasons, nightfall, daybreak. Earthquakes.’
‘None of that is people, though, mate,’ says Ron. ‘You can’t predict people. Like you can guess what they’ll say next, but that’s about it.’

The Way of All Flesh (2019) by Ambrose Parry, p. 66
‘What is your name?’ he asked, almost breathless in his incredulity.
‘It is Sarah,’ she replied, her words barely discernible over the sound of the screaming children.
‘Yes, I know that part. Your surname.’
‘Fisher.’
‘And you are a housemaid, Miss Fisher, are you not?’
‘Yes, sir.’

Conveying emotions

Well-used vocatives can help to show us the emotions of the speaker – they are a great tool for evoking a deeper sense of how the characters are feeling. We might often associate this sort of usage with annoyance, urgency or surprise, but it can show us sorrow, patience or concern just as well.

Seven Devils (2020) by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam, p. 300
Briggs could barely keep his eyes open. His skin was pale. “Hold on, Briggs,” Sher said. ‘We’re getting you out.”

Too many vocatives

Natural speech doesn’t tend to incorporate vocatives as often as you might think – too many will make the dialogue sound stilted and false. And readers are likely to find overuse really quite annoying. There are other ways to indicate who is being talked to, or who is present in the scene, without sprinkling the dialogue with vocatives. Let’s ruin a bit of a very good novel to demonstrate the point:

The Silver Collar (2020) by Antonia Hodgson, p. 307
The town was looking for a new schoolmaster. Was that something I might consider? […]
‘Is that what you want?’ she asked me.
‘I don’t know. Perhaps.’ If you want it, my love.
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Tom, you would hate it.’
‘I would not! Nayland is a very fine town, with plenty of taverns…’
‘A schoolmaster.’
‘A noble occupation.’
‘Yes. One that requires you to sit cooped up in a room for hours—’
‘I can do that!’
‘Sober, Tom. Sober.’

The same scene, but with vocatives turned up to eleven
The town was looking for a new schoolmaster. Was that something I might consider? […]
‘Is that what you want, Tom?’ she asked me.
‘I don’t know, Kitty. Perhaps.’ If you want it, my love.
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Tom, you would hate it.’
‘I would not! Nayland is a very fine town, Kitty, with plenty of taverns…’
‘A schoolmaster, Tom.’
‘A noble occupation, Kitty.’
‘Yes, Tom. One that requires you to sit cooped up in a room for hours—’
‘I can do that, Kitty!’
‘Sober, Tom. Sober.’

The second one is hideous, isn’t it? It’s horrible to read and it totally destroys the impact of when Kitty does address Tom directly. In the original, we can hear her suspicion, mixed with a little frustration and amusement; in our version, the characters might as well be robots.

Punctuating vocatives

We need to use commas to make it clear that a vocative expression is in action, and this is how to do it:

If the vocative expression is at the beginning of the sentence, it needs a comma after it [1]
If the vocative expression is at the end of the sentence, it needs a comma before it [2]
If the vocative expression interrupts the sentence, it needs a comma before and after it [3]

‘Evan, have you seen my ice cream?’
‘That’s my tub of ice cream, Evan.’
‘If you don’t put my ice cream down, Evan, we won’t be friends anymore.’

Vocatives need to be punctuated correctly to prevent ambiguity. We’ve probably all seen the classic ‘Let’s eat Grandma!’ mistake floating around social media, and that’s the sort of thing we want to avoid.

Capitalising vocatives

This is, I think, one of the things that writers struggle with the most. There are some simple guidelines, but sometimes it can be a little more complicated. Remember, these are for forms of direct address – there are different conventions when some of these words are used descriptively.

Names are proper nouns and so they always take an initial capital letter:

‘Where are you going on holiday, Annie?’

Terms of respect and endearment take lower case in general use:

‘I don’t know where your teddy is, sweetie.’
‘Can I help you find your coat, sir?’

Terms of respect used with names become proper nouns and take upper case:

‘Would you like to try the tea, Miss Harwood?’

Titles of rank and nobility take initial capitals:

‘Where, Detective Inspector, did the body go?’
‘I can’t stand any more of this heat, Captain.’

Titles indicating relationships take upper case:

‘Thank you for visiting me, Dad.’
‘Can you teach me how to paint like that, Auntie?’

Why do vocative expressions matter?

Vocatives are a useful tool. They help the writer convey who is being addressed and how they are being addressed, and they can help to give a deeper, richer sense of mood and indicate how the characters feel about and relate to each other. It’s important to be mindful with our usage, though. We don’t want to make the dialogue jarring and annoying to read, and we don’t want to distract the reader with ambiguities.

Resources:

Lexico, online English dictionary (https://www.lexico.com/)

Quoted works:

The Silent Companions (2018), Laura Purcell, Raven Books
The Man Who Died Twice (2021), Richard Osman, Viking (Penguin Books)
The Way of All Flesh (2019), Ambrose Parry, Canongate
Seven Devils (2020), Elizabeth May and Laura Lam, Gollancz
The Silver Collar (2020), Antonia Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton

Hannah McCall is a line-editor, copy-editor and proofreader who specialises in working with independent authors and publishers of commercial fiction, particularly speculative fiction. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).