Q. Hi there! Which of the following is correct? (1) “Here you go, dear” or (2) “Here you go dear”? The way I see it, a comma should not precede dear because dear is an adjective and not an interjection. “Here you go dear” is not the same as “Here you go, sir [or Stan].”
A. Dear is actually a noun here, since it stands for a person’s name, and grammatically “Here you go, dear” is exactly the same as “Here you go, sir [or Stan].” In direct address, a comma prevents misreading. A popular example demonstrating this is “Let’s eat, Grandma!” versus “Let’s eat Grandma!”