Writing techniques #1: How to use the vocative case for powerful direct address
Introducing the vocative case
What if tv ads addressed you by name?
You know it’s going to happen. With the dawn of AI and hyper-personalisation, we can’t be far from our tvs and video streams talking directly to us during an ad break:
“Hey, [insert name], are you hungry? Well, Gino’s Italian on London Road have the perfect new vegetarian pasta dish for you!”
It’s coming. We all know it.
And that, my friends, would be the vocative case in action. More direct and personal than “you”, it creates an intimate connection with the reader.
And intimate connection = impactful and memorable.
Harness the power of this writing technique and you can take direct address to the next level. Which is why writers and marketers need to know about it.
Once you know what it is, and how it works, you can add it to your writing arsenal and apply it consciously, knowing it will have great effect.
But what is the vocative case?
Funny you should ask, oh curious one. The vocative case uses named direct address, as opposed to the non-specific ‘you’. And it’s a wonderful tool for engaging the reader.
In theory, any name that’s directly addressed is in the vocative. However, there is a condition – the name must be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma (yes I’m looking at you, kid).
As with many grammar rules and writing tools, it’s highly likely you’re already using the vocative case. You just didn’t know it had a name (unless you did – hi fellow grammar geeks 
). However, because it’s not a term that’s widely known, not many people know where to look for it, or how to spot it.
Isn’t this an archaic and obsolete way of writing?
One of the most famous uses of the vocative case is in the epilogue of Jane Eyre where she names her audience and speaks to us directly “Reader, I married him.”
Oscar Wilde also employs the vocative in The Importance of Being Earnest when Lady Bracknell learns of Jack’s family background:
“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
From this, you could infer that the technique belongs back in the 19th century.
But you’d be missing out.
With a little help from the Twitterati, I’ve dug out some excellent examples of current, practical application of the vocative case. Examples that will demonstrate just how you can harness the power of named direct address. Read on, my good word sleuths, to find out more.
The vocative case on packaging
This sophisticated example from Innocent Smoothie packaging is crafted to make you feel like you’re overhearing an intimate conversation between a son or daughter and their mum:
“So, mum, they are really good for you. They are made with 100% pure fresh fruit. They contain loads of vitamin C (a day and a half’s worth). They are as fat-free as an apple or banana, and that’s because they are just fruit. Is that good enough for you mum?”
Image credit to London Copywriter and Innocent
Here, the vocative case of the writer speaking directly to ‘mum’, enables us to create a world in our mind. We can imagine a whole back story for these characters and their relationship. It feels familiar, like it could be about our relationship with our own mum. Cleverly, it facilitates the listing of the fruit and health benefits, but through the medium of what feels like a genuine, relatable, human interaction. It’s also a nice example of borrowed authority – if mum is on board, then it must be good.
The vocative case in advertising
Here Spotify harnessed the vocative to bring their personalised playlist campaign to life:
Credit to Spotify
In “Thanks 2016, it’s been weird” the vocative serves to personify 2016. It’s the perfect writing device to showcase the individual nature of a personal playlist and the level of customisation Spotify offer. It also paved the way for even greater personalised communication – every Spotify user received an email with their own personal recap of 2016. You can read more about this campaign here
In conversational writing
Finally, the awesome gem Higgins applies the vocative case weekly in her powerful problem-exploring newsletter, the #RoséHandFiles.
Her use of named direct address not only makes the anonymous question-poser feel like Gem truly understands them, it brings us along for the journey.
Taking their alias as a name, she addresses the reader in this example as Contemplative “But, I would offer you, Contemplative, what does it matter?”. Any of us could be Contemplative, so it becomes easy to put ourselves in their shoes.
The power of this writing also comes from getting swept along with the empathy and intimacy of the style, feeling like gem is speaking to the ups and downs of our own lives, and understands us, too. It’s the vocative that facilitates that connection.
(And, if you’re not signed up, do so now.)
Spotting the vocative in the wild
Well, my erstwhile wordsmiths, now that you’ve been shown the vocative case in action, I hope you can see the benefits of adding it your writing toolkit.
If you spot any examples of the vocative in the wild, please post and tag me on Twitter. Because the more you get used to spotting it, the more confident you will feel using it.
And my final question – how many uses of the vocative did you find in this blog? Send your tally to me on the socials! I’ll reveal the answer in my next newsletter.
If you’ve found this blog helpful and useful, you can sign up for my newsletter here, for fortnightly info on writing techniques and creativity, straight to your inbox.