Ah, dearies, it's so good to visit you in the absence of my sweet niece, the Style Maven. I'm filling in for her because she's quite involved at the moment with another project. However, she sends her greetings and has asked me to share with you some pertinent thoughts on the uses and abuses of the often misunderstood apostrophe. According to The Chicago Manual of Style Seventeenth Edition , the apostrophe—which is not to be confused with its identical twin, the single quotation mark—serves one of three purposes in a sentence: it shows possession; it indicates a contraction, or it signifies the possessive nature of certain expressions. Let's first consider singular and plural possession: The cat's meows awakened me. ( 1 cat) The cats' meows awakened me. (2+ cats) Placement of the apostrophe determines the singularity or plurality of cats. If it sits between  cat  and the s , it denotes just one. If more than one cat is involved, it follows the the plu...

Ideally, we should all be computer-savvy, ready to conquer the newest app or upgrade or whatever with great gusto. Realistically, we aren't all computer whizzes. Some of us old folks (and a few younger ones) shudder at the prospect of interacting with yet another digital innovation that threatens to drive us back to the old, trusty Smith Corona. Yes, the manual typewriter was a pain in the backside because corrections and changes required retyping—sometimes many pages of retyping—but it was what it was, and we knew what to expect. What we could not expect was upgrades (except perhaps to the electrified version); nor could we expect internet access. Hmm. Progress has at least one pro to offset its cons for this senior citizen. Fast forward to today. Speaking only about myself, I am often overwhelmed by the constantly changing landscape of technology. About the time I think I understand something, it's updated to a bigger and better version, and I'm back to square ...

This post was first published on June 11, 2009 My knowledge of all things punctuation-y is flimsy. In the past, I’ve thought- “Okay now I’ve got it” but, sadly, I didn’t, and when someone pointed it out I felt a bit embarrassed about my proclamation made firmly from Dunderhead Land. I bought Eats, Shoots, and Leaves (ESL) and somehow feel I’ve made a breakthrough. I think I now understand the scariest punctuation mark of them all: the semicolon. Before ESL, I avoided the semicolon. I just accepted it was a punctuation mark out of my league. It was for writers who really got it; people who know what a non-defining participle clause is, for example. Those people do not include me. I just accepted that I would make my way through the writing world with the comma and the full stop. I would manage. If I needed more, I might resort to a dash, but that was moving toward shaky ground. It was okay. It was a smaller life, but still a life. But after ESL, I feel I can now use the semicolo...

This post first ran on 1/31/2009 and we still don't like being "scared" this way! ~ Dani Quote marks are probably the most overused form of punctuation. Quote is short for quotation, so essentially, quote marks should be used only to set off a quotation—the verbatim text of something that was said or published. If you’re writing a novel and using quote marks for anything but dialogue—take them out! Writers everywhere like to use quote marks around words they consider special for some reason or around words that are not being used in a traditional way. Old school editors call these scare quotes, a way of alerting the reader that the word may not mean what you think it does. Ninety percent of the time, the marks are completely unnecessary. If you’re writing logical sentences—even using euphemisms—readers know what you mean. Here’s  Here are a few examples of unneeded quote marks. “Quote” is short for “quotation.” (Did anyone misread the sentence when I wrote it...

Punctuation orders thought and clarifies communication. There are rules for its use, which I will leave to our Style Maven to share. I'm headed into more creative territory, where writers also view punctuation as a series of pauses and stops that can order a reader’s emotional response to the work. Noah Lukeman wrote a book about it: A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation . Think punctuation is too dry to hold your interest? Think again. This book kept me reading until its final period, which comes shortly after this insight: If you cultivate awareness and are willing to learn, punctuation will perpetually teach you something new about yourself. As we learned throughout the book, punctuation reveals the writer, and revelation is the first step toward self-awareness. If you are willing to listen to what the page is telling you about yourself, and humble enough to change, you will become a better writer. I find this claim irresistible. Here are three excerpt...

What do new authors hate even more than agents who don’t acknowledge their manuscripts? The apostrophe! Why? It’s like a Christmas gift from an uncle with poor taste. They don’t know where to put it. That was clearly the dilemma of councillors in Mid-Devon this month when they ruled to banish all apostrophes from the county’s street names ‘to avoid confusion’. At a stroke, or lack of it, they have turned ‘Baker’s View’ into ‘Bakers View’, a haiku of enchanting ambiguity. Does ‘Bakers View’ still mean a view once taken by Sir Samuel Baker, the Victorian explorer, after whom the street was named? Or a stance traditionally assumed by local bakers at the summer solstice when they gather to view the rising of the dough? Or does it now mean nothing at all, like a novel by Martin Amis? Yes, punctuation matters! It’s also a dilemma. If we get it wrong as authors, agents won’t read beyond our cover letter. Get it right and somebody in a different culture will chide us for illiteracy....

Solidus, duckies! Well, it certainly sounds like a greeting, doesn't it? Alas, it’s only a dressed-up word for the oft-used forward slash. Let’s have a look at some of the common uses of this leaning tower of punctuation. Probably the most recognized use of the forward slash is to offer alternatives. Choices such as either/or and he/she make use of this informal notation. Spaces on either side of the slash are unnecessary, but can be included if one of the separated terms is, as the Manual states, an open compound. Plain as a trench coat, yes? On we go. If you’re tired of using en dashes when writing dates, you can slip in a forward slash. This is handy when noting a span of two years ( 1973/74) , or when indicating a specific date ( 6/18/42). The Manual suggests using this kind of date notation only in informal pieces, to avoid confusion. While American writers tend to indicate the month first, writers from Europe and Canada more often use the day instead. ...

Good morning, duckies! Lace up your tan shoes with pink shoelaces, because polka-dot vests are in style today. They’re the perfect attire to compliment complement today’s subject, the ill-used and underestimated ellipsis. As defined by The Chicago Manual of Style , “An ellipsis is the omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage.”   Such an omission is indicated by those familiar little spaced dots called ellipsis points.   When used to illustrate suspended thought, they go by the imaginative title of suspension points. I suppose simpler can be better , but still . . . So, how do we use these points?   I could go on and on (just ask my husband), but I’ll try to finish before your coffee gets cold.   There are enough rules regarding these things that we can come back on another day for more details. Let’s start with omission and the not-so-noble art of taking things out of context.   Suppose you’re a fashion designer, eage...

Some time ago I was reading the manuscript of a new critique partner when a punctuation mark sent me into a line editing frenzy. That mark was a period inside a quotation mark at the end of a non-dialogue sentence. But, as it turned out, we were both correct (though on opposite sides of the globe). Something that increasingly perplexes those of us who write using British English is the insistence by writers using American English on slipping unrelated punctuation into a quotation. So insistent, in fact, that it’s even been included in the Chicago Manual of Style as correct style however illogical it might seem to some of us. Here’s an example: N.Am English: Michael told me that he was too “busy .” (period within quote marks) UK English: Michael told me that he was too “busy ”. (full stop outside quote marks) For those of us using UK English rules it is very easy to determine that the punctuation mark following “busy” should occur outside the quote marks. Move the quoted word...

First published here in February 2009 - everything you could ever want to know about the ellipsis. Someone queried the group at Writers Weekly for books dealing strictly with punctuation. Out of curiosity, I went on a search for recently published books on the topic, and found quite a large selection. Who knew all those little marks would one day become popular reading? I'll review a number of these new books here, starting with the one at left, which covers all the nit-picky things we need to know to look like adept writers and editors. Here's an example of a few novel points I learned from the book: We all know an ellipsis represents writing that is supposed to be there, but isn’t. Sometimes it’s a good use of punctuation, for example, to note a popular song without boring the reader with all three verses plus the chorus. Here’s an example: For he’s a jolly good fellow … which nobody can deny. According to Comma Sense: A Fundamental Guide to Punctuation by Rich...

“That’s ridiculous!” you may say. “It’s just a little punctuation mark.” Yes, but this little punctuation mark has big implications—and its placement can change the meaning of a sentence in surprising ways. It can also change (or save—or cost) a life. For a novelist whose protagonist finds himself in a life-threatening situation, its use couldn’t be more crucial. Let’s create a hypothetical scene. We’re writing a Wild West story. Our main character, Jeb Holcomb, has just ridden into Cripple Creek, Colorado, at the end of a long day on the trail. He stops at a saloon for a drink. Sitting alone at a table in the back, he nods a couple of times, downs the last of his second beer, and pushes himself out of his chair. If he doesn’t head over to the hotel right now, he’s going to fall asleep here. The saloon doors burst open. Two town bums charge into the room on the heels of the sheriff. One of the derelicts points to Jeb. “Tha’s ’im!” “Yeah, tha’s ’im!” the other agrees. “You men sure ’bou...

Please welcome our newest editor and blogger, Kathryn Craft. *** It’s just a tiny dot, but it contains great power. Even as words add up to thoughts and thoughts layer with images that eventually result in complex notions capable of changing the world, one adding to the next and to the next within an extended sentence whose natural rhythms flow, then ebb, then surge in a manner seemingly dictated by the moon, it can dam. It can introduce staccato beats. Ramp up tension. Create edginess. Excite. It can introduce a contemplative space where ideas can be absorbed. It can cast a spotlight on the word just before it when the weapon of word order is carefully wielded. Calling it the “stop sign of the punctuation world,” literary agent and author Noah Lukeman devotes his entire opening chapter—22 pages!--to the period in his book A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation. Lukeman underscores the period’s importance by listing the dangers of overuse (insufficient communication; chop...

I recently edited a manuscript that was rife with sentences combined with the word “then.” Like this one: She pulled the lever, allowing the big steel blades to catch the wind. At first nothing came then finally a small trickle of water splashed into the trough . My red pencil itches to add a comma. It’s two separate actions. The “and” seems to be understood and to me is redundant. At first nothing came, and then finally a small trickle of water splashed into the trough . If you use “and,” do you even need “then?” But in this case, “and” just doesn’t say the same thing. According to grammar gurus, this is called a “comma splice” and is supposedly a no-no. As one grammarian put it, “It feels so right. It flows so well. It looks so pretty. But technically, it’s as wrong as wearing wooly socks with strappy summer sandals.” This same source reminds us of an acronym to remember what a coordinating conjunction is: FANBOYS : F or- A nd- N or- B ut- O r- Y et- S o. But, she says, be careful of...

There are only four specific uses for a comma according to R.L. Trask in his Guide to Punctuation : Listing, Joining, Gapping, and Bracketing. If the comma you want to use doesn't fit into any of those categories then the comma is the wrong choice of punctuation. This is my interpretation and summary of Trask's section on commas. Listing Commas These are the commas we're most familiar with. Apples, oranges, grapes, and pears The serial (or "Oxford") comma (the comma before "and") is not compulsory, but it does help to avoid ambiguity, such as in the infamous example: I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God. It is only important to be consistent in your choice to use, or not use, the serial comma. If one of your sentences contains an ambiguity that requires a serial comma, you must edit every other sentence that contains a list where the serial comma has been omitted. Joining Commas A joining comma joins two sentences together w...

Language is not static. Language evolves over time. Words come en vogue (or are invented) and some words become passé or even archaic. As language changes, so do the “rules” of its use. For example: someone says to you that “every sentence ends with a period and that rule will never change.” Oh, really? That’s news to me! Here are examples where a period does not end a sentence: It ends with a question mark It ends with an exclamation point It ends with a colon “Never start a sentence with a conjunction.” But why not? This can be a personal preference or a “house rule” for a publisher or publication, but it is not a law and if you break it you go to jail. My husband, who also edits, follows this “rule” but I don’t. We still manage to have a happy, loving marriage despite this difference in our editing preference. “Sentence fragments are wrong.” Baloney. What kind of writing are you doing? I would say this is true for academic and professional writing, but in fiction writing, ...