Punctuation Brain Freeze

[barry1010]

Such a simple thing yet I am suddenly unsure of the correct way to punctuate a very short sentence. I want to thank Bill. Is it:
a) Thank you, Bill.
b) Thank you Bill.

I know I knew this yesterday but I don't today.

[Jackdaw33]

The 'thank you' is a red herring. Any personal pronoun followed by identification requires a comma, e.g. 'They, Liverpool, have won the league.

[allenlondon]

I’m still waiting to have ‘Thank you Bill’ explained as a sentence. Maybe ‘thank’ is the subject, ‘you’ is the verb, and ‘Bill’ the object.

Or not.

[Jackdaw33]

The subject is understood and not expressed, (I).
Thank is the verb.
You and Bill are the object.

[JimF]

You cannot possibly be a verb!

"Thank you, Bill" is correct. If you wanted to be uber-pedantic, the full sentence would be "I thank you, Bill.", where I is the subject, thank is the verb and you is the object. The omission of the subject is accepted usage, just as in "(I wish you a) Good morning".

As for the exclamation mark, that conveys the sense of emphasising the sentence, implying that it is not heard every day. "Thank you, Bill!" could be construed as "My goodness, Bill - I never thought you'd do that. Thank you so much, mate! What a surprise!" Etc.

[Mamyalynne]

Next time buy Bill a pint.

[JimF]

"You and Bill are the object."

No, Bill is the subject, the recipient of the action of the verb. There is no subject in the sentence "Thank you, Bill."

[elliemay1]

It is an IMPERATIVE SENTENCE. An imperative sentence is one that issues an order or makes a request. In such sentences, the subject is often not mentioned but it is implied. In this case, the subject is ‘I’. The complete sentence would look like this:(I) thank you.
where: I = subject, thank = verb, you = object.

[THECORBYLOON]

"(I) thank you - subject I, verb = thank, Object = you."

What about, "Congratulations, Bill!"? The same rule applies but there's no verb.

[albaqwerty]

Mamya, a good idea.
I'm feeling sorry for poor, neglected Ben.

[elliemay1]

^ sorry, I forgot about Bill!

[Mamyalynne]

He went to the bar hours ago ;-)

[elliemay1]

Wouldn't blame him!

[bednobs]

I always think if I don't add the comma (at the end of my emails; Thank you, Bednobs) I sound slightly passive-aggressive like I am saing they should be thanking me :)

[ichkeria]

Sometimes punctuation issues can be overthought. There’s no right or wrong answer there.
The link quoted at BA merely has a series of differing opinions. As here

[barry1010]

Thanks, all :D

[Iremic]

Thank you Bill, if you put a comma you are saying that you are Bill

[AuntPollyGrey]

Thank you: This is the verb ‘to thank’, with a direct object ‘you’ therefore no comma is correct.

i.e. "Thank you (Bill) for your letter of 23 June 2004."

B) "Thank you, Bill. " suggests Bill is thanking an unknown direct object (You)

i.e. " Thank you for your letter of 23 June 2004, Bill"

Thankyou is a correct word and can be both a noun :
"He gave a great big thankyou to all concerned."
and an Adjective:
"He gave a thankyou card to his mother."

[aelmpvw]

i bet barry wishes bill hadn't bothered . . .

[Sipowicz]

Bill responds, "Don't mention it!"