tb wrote:
Compound adjective. The hyphen is essential.
(unless you're exclaiming in surprise at discovering some level English, of course. "O, level English!"
No, that would be "Oh, level English", shurley?
"O" on it's own in would be used in an entreating context, as in "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt". "Oh" tends to suggest surprise, etc.
If you were addressing level English directly, you might or might not use a comma. For example
"O Hamlet, speak no more!"
"O, speak to me no more!"
Both usages are admirably exemplified in one of the most beautiful passages of English conversation ever written, between Hamlet and Gertrude, in the following exchange:-
Gertrude. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Hamlet. O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other halfUnless you're American, in which case you'd say "Oh! Carol".
