Write Right - Jan Venolia 2001

Punctuation pointers
The tools of writing

Anyone who can improve a sentence of mine by the omission or placing of a comma is looked upon as my dearest friend.

—George Moore

Punctuation marks guide your readers. Think of them as language traffic signals: Slow Down, Go That Way, Notice This, Detour. Misleading punctuation can interrupt the flow of ideas and distort meaning, but properly used punctuation helps readers grasp your meaning.

If you find a sentence particularly hard to punctuate, consider rewriting it; the problem may be one of style rather than punctuation. The well-written sentence almost punctuates itself.

Apostrophe

The apostrophe has moved to the head of my list of misused punctuation marks. Not only is it sometimes omitted where it’s needed, but even more often the apostrophe pops up where it doesn’t belong (as in it’s conclusion).

Wrong: Who’s chili is tastiest?

Right: Whose chili is tastiest?

Wrong: Tomato’s for Sale

Right: Tomatoes for Sale

Wrong: The cell phone is our’s.

Right: The cell phone is ours.

Before using an apostrophe, stop to consider whether it fills any of the following needs: to show possession, to show contraction (omission of letters or numbers), or to form plurals of certain letters or words.

Use an apostrophe to show possession in the following cases.

✵ With singular nouns that don’t end in s, add ’s.

This rule also applies to proper nouns.

Groucho Marx’s mustache

Canada’s climate is nine months winter and three months late fall.—Evan Esar

There are two schools of thought about adding ’s to singular nouns that end in s. The traditional approach (Strunk and White, The Elements of Style) favors using ’s at the end of all singular nouns including those ending in s.

the boss’s decision the witness’s testimony

The modern approach (N.Y. Public Library Writer’s Guide) is to use the apostrophe only.

the boss’ decision the witness’ testimony

I guess that makes me a traditionalist, since the boss’ decision makes me wonder how to pronounce it, and such a distraction seems undesirable. However, certain expressions ending in s (or an s sound) traditionally require the apostrophe only.

for goodness’ sake in Moses’ lifetime

Rewriting is often the solution for an awkward possessive.

Awkward: Dickens’s novels a friend of mine’s car

Better: the novels of Dickens a friend’s car

✵ With plural words that end in s, add only an apostrophe.

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents’ shortcomings.—Laurence J. Peter

When forming the possessive of a plural noun, be sure to start with the correct plural.

the Joneses’ guesthouse

✵ With plural words that do not end in s, add’s.

children’s hour women’s issues other people’s business

Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns (its, hers, his, theirs, yours, ours, whose). By definition, these words are already possessive.

The next move is yours (not your’s).

Wrong: The apostrophe seems to have a life of it’s own.

Right: The apostrophe seems to have a life of its own.

Above all, remember that it’s is a contraction for it is or it has.

It’s easy to put the apostrophe in its place.

✵ If two or more individuals possess a single item, add’s to the last name only.

Tom and Dick’s boat (one boat)

✵ If two or more individuals possess two or more items, add ’s to each noun.

Tom’s and Dick’s boats (two boats)

✵ With singular compound words, add ’s to the end of the last word.

✵ With plural compound words, use a phrase beginning with of to show possession.

Awkward: the attorneys general’s meeting

Better: the meeting of the attorneys general

See this page regarding formation of plural compounds.

✵ Use ’ or ’s in established idiomatic phrases even though ownership is not involved.

five years’ experience (or five years of experience)

Sometimes a hyphenated form is better: a two-week vacation.

Use an apostrophe in contractions to indicate omission of letters or numbers.

I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish: God Almighty made ’em to match the men.—George Eliot

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, then you’ve never spent a night in bed with a mosquito.—Anita Roddick

Contractions create a friendly, informal tone that may not be suitable in formal writing.

If you aren’t sure about a contraction, mentally reinsert the missing letters to see if it makes sense.

You’re welcome to stay here. (You are …)

If, upon doing this, you uncover a grammatical error, rewrite.

Wrong: There’s three reasons …(There is three reasons … Oops!)

Right: There are three reasons …

Use an apostrophe to form certain plurals.

✵ In abbreviations that have periods

M.D.’s Ph.D.’s

✵ With letters when the addition of s alone would be confusing

p’s and q’s

The instructor handed out few A’s.

✵ In words used merely as words without regard to their meaning

Don’t give me any if’s, and’s, or but’s.

Avoid using ’s in the following cases:

✵ With titles

Poor: All’s Well That Ends Well’s ending

Better: the ending of All’s Well That Ends Well

✵ With abbreviations or acronyms

Poor: NHL’s rulings

Better: NHL rulings

✵ With awkward possessives

Use an of phrase to avoid an awkward possessive.

Poor: the Tower of London’s interior

a relative of mine’s estate

Better: the interior of the Tower of London

 the estate of a relative of mine

✵ With a name or title that is more descriptive than possessive

Actors Equity Publishers Weekly

But be careful! When I saw the following headline, I wondered how the employees had been “done” in the first place.

Wrong: Stanford Employees Report Being Redone

Better: Stanford Employees’ Report Being Redone

Colon

The colon is a mark of anticipation, as the following rules illustrate.

Use a colon in the following cases:

✵ To introduce a list, summary, long quotation, or final clause that explains or amplifies what precedes the colon

People have one thing in common: They are all different.

—Robert Zend

That money talks, I’ll not deny.

I heard it once: It said “Goodbye.”

—Richard Armour

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: “His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.”—Hillaire Belloc

In two words: im possible.—Samuel Goldwyn

Capitalize the first letter following the colon only if it begins a complete statement or a quotation. (See this page.)

✵ Following the words as follows or the following

The recipe called for the following ingredients: black chanterelle mushrooms, Thai fish sauce, chipotle peppers, and golden caviar.

The concept of “as follows” may be implicit.

In our country we have three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.—Mark Twain

✵ In formal salutations

Dear Senator Blowhard:

✵ With ratios

2:1

✵ To indicate dialogue

Margaret Fuller: I accept the universe.

Thomas Carlyle: Gad! She’d better!

✵ To separate a title and subtitle

Better Letters: A Handbook of Business and Personal Correspondence

Do not place a colon immediately after a verb.

Wrong: Prerequisites for the course are: two years of history, Sociology 101, and fluency in Spanish.

Right: Prerequisites for the course are two years of history, Sociology 101, and fluency in Spanish.

Comma

When you have trouble getting the commas right, chances are you’re trying to patch up a poorly structured sentence.—Claire Kehrwald Cook

In their search for an all-purpose rule, some writers place a comma wherever they would pause or take a breath when speaking. This heavy-breathing school of punctuation may leave readers feeling somewhat winded. On the other hand, too few commas create misunderstandings. You need to chart a course between those extremes, placing commas where they help readers grasp your meaning.

Use a comma to separate independent clauses that are joined by coordinating conjunctions.

An independent clause, also know as the main clause, makes a complete statement; the coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so. (The clauses are underlined in the following examples.)

The English are not a very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity.—George Bernard Shaw

The writer is not the person, yet both natures are true.—Fay Weldon

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true.—James Branch Cabell

Acrobats start their children on the high wire as soon as they can walk, and a writer ought to begin before he has graduated to solid food.—Robertson Davies

Unless a comma is needed to prevent misreading, you may omit it between short, closely related clauses.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.—Helen Keller

I saw the angel in the marble and I just chiseled till I set him free.—Michelangelo

Give a little love to a child and you get a great deal back.—John Ruskin

Any fool can make a rule and every fool will follow it. —Henry David Thoreau

If the clauses are long and contain commas, separate them with a semicolon rather than a comma.

If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.—Francis Bacon

Use a comma between the dependent and main clauses only when the dependent clause precedes the main clause. (Dependent clauses are incomplete statements; they are underlined in the following examples.)

As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of demand.—Josh Billings

If you keep your mind sufficiently open, people will throw a lot of rubbish in it.—William A. Orton

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t take any more chances.—Kin Hubbard

Run-ons and comma faults are common errors. A run-on, as its name suggests, is two independent clauses that are not separated by punctuation or a conjunction. To correct the error, provide the separation by adding a period, semicolon, or comma.

Run-on: A good catchword can obscure analysis for 50 years it’s the difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.

Corrected: A good catchword can obscure analysis for 50 years. It’s the difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.

Run-on: Teamwork is not a preference it’s a necessity.

Corrected: Teamwork is not a preference, it’s a necessity.—John Wooden

A comma fault is two independent clauses connected only by a comma or by a conjunctive adverb such as however. Correct the error by replacing the comma with a semicolon or period.

Comma fault: The trial itself was televised, however, reporters were barred from the courtroom during jury selection.

Corrected: The trial itself was televised; however, reporters were barred from the courtroom during jury selection.

Comma fault: Some sentences are too long, they should be broken up into more manageable chunks.

Corrected: Some sentences are too long. They should be broken up into more manageable chunks.

Use commas to separate three or more items in a series.

peanuts, popcorn, and potato chips

Early to rise and early to bed

Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead.

—Ogden Nash

Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen, and not a shadow of an idea of what you’re going to say.

—Francoise Sagan

Although journalists tend to omit the final comma to save space, language authorities recommend retaining the final comma to avoid confusion. In the following sentences, you can see the kind of trouble caused by omission of the final comma.

In the tabloids, you can read about alien life forms, the woman who gave birth to 27 babies and Elvis Presley.

The 15-member marching band, a drum major carrying the flag and 20 Girl Guides were all part of the Canada Day parade.

The elements in a series may be short independent clauses.

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.—Mark Twain

Animals have these advantages over man: They have no theologians to instruct them, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.—Voltaire

Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second, and hold him against the wall until the tag line.—Paul O’Neil

First have something to say, second say it, third stop when you have said it, and finally give it an accurate title.—John Shaw Billings

In America only the successful writer is important, in France all writers are important, in England no writer is important, and in Australia you have to explain what a writer is.—Geoffrey Cotterell

When each element in the series is joined by conjunctions such as and or or, omit the commas.

As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.—Noam Chomsky

Use commas between consecutive adjectives that modify the same noun.

an inexpensive, worthwhile program

Both inexpensive and worthwhile modify the noun program.

Conscience is a still, small voice that makes minority reports.—Franklin P. Jones

The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes.—Lloyd Alexander

When the first adjective modifies not the noun alone but a combination of the second adjective and the noun, omit the comma.

Average modifies urban voter, not just voter; white modifies tennis shoes, and so on.

One way to determine whether consecutive adjectives modify the same noun (a young, energetic student) is to insert the word and between the adjectives. “Young and energetic student” makes sense, but “short and attention span” doesn’t. Use a comma between adjectives only if and would be a plausible alternative.

The phrase an ugly, old fur coat illustrates both where to use a comma and where to omit it. Ugly and old sounds right, but old and fur coat doesn’t; hence, only ugly and old are separated by a comma.

Use commas where needed for clarity.

✵ To separate identical or similar words

Whatever you’re going to do, do it right.

✵ To provide a pause or avoid confusion

Fashion passes, style remains.—Coco Chanel

Most of us would momentarily misread sentences such as the following, from which I removed the commas.

If he chooses Williams can take over the program.

Even though I was young when she told me that I understood her meaning.

There were no frontiers left behind which one could hide.

As the corpse went past the flies left the restaurant table in a cloud and rushed after it.—George Orwell

✵ To indicate omission of a word or words

When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.—Thomas Jefferson

Use commas to set off certain elements.

✵ Contrasting words or phrases

Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.—Cicero

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.—Benjamin Disraeli

The less you write, the better it must be.—Jules Renard

A writer doesn’t die of heart failure, but of typographical errors.—Isaac Bashevis Singer

The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.—Robert Cormier

My objective is to show what I found, not what I was looking for.—Pablo Picasso

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.—Albert Einstein

Fiction is not photography, it’s oil painting.—Robertson Davies

✵ Phrases that are parenthetical, disruptive, or out of order

Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.—Arnold Bennett

Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibers.—Victor Hugo

Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler.—Samuel Johnson

Books, if you don’t put them first, tend to sulk. They retreat into a corner and refuse to work.—Salman Rushdie

✵ Nonrestrictive phrases (phrases that add nonessential information)

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.—William James

To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.—George Santayana

An appositive (an explanatory phrase immediately following the word it explains) is often a nonrestrictive phrase.

My mother, the family historian, found some startling information in the 1890 Census.

I have only one mother, so the appositive the family historian is not needed to identify her.

Stuart Keate, former publisher of the Vancouver Sun, once wrote that Canada is the vichyssoise of nations—cold, half-French, and difficult to stir.

Omit the commas if the phrase is defining (restrictive). In the following examples, the restrictive phrases are underlined; they define which noted economist, which form of taxation, and so on.

The noted economist Milton Friedman described inflation as the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.

The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.—Will and Ariel Durant

✵ Introductory phrases

Fortunately, there are those among us who have a healthy irreverence toward power, even as they seek it.—Weir Reed

In the long run, it is the sum total of the actions of millions of individuals that constitutes effective group action.—Paul Ehrlich

✵ Direct address

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you are a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.—Mark Twain

No, Agnes, a Bordeaux is not a house of ill-repute. —George Bain

I recently received a promotional letter from a magazine publisher with the following teaser on the envelope:

Are you always the first to know Jan Venolia?

Actually, I know her rather well, but that’s not what was meant. Avoid this kind of goof by putting a comma before the name of the person being addressed.

✵ Direct quotation

John Ciardi said, “A dollar saved is a quarter earned.”

When asked to describe Charles DeGaulle, Winston Churchill responded, “He looks like a female llama who has just been startled in her bath.”

“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. “I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.” “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter. “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”—Lewis Carroll

But commas are not needed before quoted material such as the following:

Clever sayings abound on the Internet, such as “Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.”

See this page regarding other punctuation marks with quotations.

✵ Following the words for example, that is, and namely

The evidence all pointed to one conclusion; namely, that the defendant was innocent.

The abbreviations for these phrases are based on Latin words and should also be followed by commas.

e.g. = exempli gratia (for example)

i.e. = id est (that is)

viz. = videlicet (namely)

The city council considered a proposal to streamline election procedures (i.e., to allow voting by mail).

✵ Conjunctive adverbs

Put a comma after adverbs that are functioning as conjunctions if you wish to indicate a pause. Examples of conjunctive adverbs are however, therefore, indeed, thus, and consequently.

A shortage of platinum has halted production; consequently, we are unable to fill your order at this time.

The punctuation mark preceding the conjunctive adverb should be either a semicolon or a period, not a comma. (See this page.)

✵ Informal salutations

Dear Tom,

✵ Dates and numbers

Your letter of July 4, 1776, answers all my questions.

Put commas both before and after the year when a date is written in month-day-year order. If the date is written in day-month-year order, omit the commas.

Your letter of 4 July 1776 answers all my questions.

For U.S. style, the use of a comma in a four-digit number is preferred (1,000); British and scientific styles omit the comma (1000). European style separates large numbers (five or more digits) with thin spaces rather than commas.

Do not use commas in the following cases:

✵ Between subject and verb

Wrong: Placing a comma between subject and verb, is incorrect.

Wrong: Riding motorcycles, hang-gliding, and skydiving, were the main pastimes in her short life.

This error frequently occurs when a comma is placed following the last item in a series.

✵ Between modifier and the word modified, unless what intervenes is parenthetical or nonrestrictive (See this page)

Wrong: a concise, readable, report

Right: a concise, readable report

Right: a concise, though readable, report

✵ Between elements of a compound predicate

Wrong: On Friday I phoned his office, and was told he was not in.

Right: On Friday I phoned his office and was told he was not in.

He sows hurry and reaps indigestion.

—Robert Louis Stevenson

✵ Between an independent and a dependent clause when the independent clause comes first (See this page)

You never realize how short a month is until you pay alimony.—John Barrymore

Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else.—Will Rogers

You must always plant your feet firmly on the ground if you want to be able to jump up in the air.—Joan Miró

Dash —

Years ago, all you needed to know about typing a dash was that it consisted of two hyphens, with no spaces before or after it. Now, with the refinements of desktop publishing, you should know the difference between the four kinds of dash: the em, the en, the 2-em, and the 3-em dash. By choosing the right dash for the job, you produce copy that more closely resembles typeset material.

Use the em dash (two hyphens on a typewriter keyboard) for emphasis, to indicate an abrupt change, or with explanatory words or phrases.

It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong—but that is the way to bet. —Damon Runyon

People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy—and I keep it in a jar on my desk.—Stephen King

Use a pair of em dashes to replace parentheses.

Though motherhood is the most important of all the professions—requiring more knowledge than any other department in human affairs—there was no attention given to preparation for this office.—Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Dashes used in this way may indicate sloppy writing. Can you substitute a comma, colon, or parentheses? Reserve the dash for those instances when you want a sharper break than a comma would provide or a more dramatic aside than you would achieve with parentheses.

Unwarranted dashes, the lazy author’s when-in-doubt expedient, typify the gushy, immature, breathless style associated with adolescent’s diaries.—Claire Kehrwald Cook

Use the en dash (one hyphen on a typewriter keyboard) between inclusive numbers or dates.

1920—1930

pp. 106-7

Do not use an en dash following words like from or between.

Wrong: from 1920—30

Right: from 1920 to 1930

Wrong: The document was written between 1875—1880.

Right: The document was written between 1875 and 1880.

Use the en dash with compound modifiers consisting of two or more words or a hyphenated word.

St. Paul—Minneapolis area

part-Hawaiian—part-Asian ancestry

Use the en dash to join a prefix or suffix to a compound.

post—World War I

Use the 2-em dash (four hyphens on a typewriter keyboard) to show that part of a word or name has been omitted.

Ms. S——

d——n

Use the 3-em dash (six hyphens on a typewriter keyboard) to show that an entire word has been omitted and to avoid repeating an author’s name in a bibliography.

The suspects,——— and ———, were led away shouting.

Venolia, Jan, Better Letters, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 1995.

———, Kids Write Right!, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000.

———, Rewrite Right!, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000.

Ellipsis points

Ellipsis points are three equally spaced periods; they indicate omission of words or the trailing off of a thought at the end of a sentence.

Use ellipsis points to indicate an omission in quoted material.

In the middle of a sentence, use three periods.

The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation … is frequently a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.—John Kenneth Galbraith

Between sentences, retain the period or other punctuation mark that ends the sentence before the omission.

The speaker may be forgiven if he becomes entangled in a hopeless sentence structure, but not so the writer.… The speaker can use intonation, facial expression, and gesture to help where his language is lame, but written words lie quietly on the page.—Theodore Bernstein

Retain punctuation on either side of the ellipsis points if it helps clarify the meaning.

Virtually every important domestic change in the United States in recent years has been bottom up. From civil rights to the women’s movement to tax revolt,… the public has been the leader and the leadership has been the follower. —Daniel Yankelovich

If entire paragraphs are omitted, retain the end punctuation of the paragraph preceding the omission and add three dots. Additional dots at the beginning of the next paragraph are unnecessary unless words are also omitted from the opening sentence.

Exclamation point

The exclamation point is included in this listing of punctuation marks not so much to suggest ways to use it as to caution against overusing it. Since exclamation points add urgency, surprise, or disbelief to a statement, a reader subjected to many of them begins to discredit the emotion and feel somewhat pummeled. Make the words themselves do the work.

The limited usefulness of exclamation points is brought home by the writing instructor who warns her students they will have only three exclamation points to use during their entire lifetime. A book reviewer reveals a similar viewpoint with his comment that “the book bristles with exclamation points.” That said, here’s where to use them.

Use an exclamation point in the following cases:

✵ Following an interjection

Oops! Congratulations! Cool!

✵ Following an exclamatory statement

I couldn’t believe it when I heard the words “and the Oscar goes to …”!

✵ Following an imperative statement

Don’t do that again!

Place exclamation marks within quotation marks only when they are part of the quotation.

We were startled to hear someone yell, “Man overboard!”

Hyphen

Whether to use a hyphen involves some individual choices. One person may write a compound as one word because that’s what the dictionary advocates, while another sticks with the hyphenated form because it’s easier to read. I tend to fall in the latter category.

I’ll give the last word on hyphens to the editors of Stet Again! More Tricks of the Trade for Publications People:

Hyphens exist primarily to avoid ambiguity and speed readers along.… Everyone agrees it’s better to use a hyphen where it’s not needed than to leave it out where it’s essential for sense.

See this page for more discussion of compound words; See this page for capitalization of hyphenated words.

Use a hyphen with certain prefixes:

✵ With self-, ex-, and vice-

self-made ex-wife vice-chair

✵ To avoid doubling or tripling a letter

✵ If the root word begins with a capital letter

sub-Saharan non-Euclidean pre-Columbian

✵ To promote clarity

Confusing: Recovering the sofa is next on my list of household jobs.

Clear: Re-covering the sofa is next on my list of household jobs.

Use a hyphen to form certain compound words.

Compound words unite two or more words, with or without a hyphen, to convey a single idea. Wherever possible, write compound words as one word (download, webmaster, turnkey, stockbroker); however, retain the hyphen in the following cases:

✵ In compound nouns, where needed for clarity or as an aid to pronunciation

Since television, the well-read are being taken over by the well-watched.—Mortimer Adler

✵ In titles that describe a dual function

secretary-treasurer soldier-statesman CEO-Chair

but not job titles that describe a single function.

attorney general chief executive officer

✵ With improvised compounds

know-it-all  stick-in-the-mud

Johnny-come-lately ne’er-do-well

He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.—P.G. Wodehouse

The authors adopted an I-can-laugh-at-it-now-but-it-was-no-laughing-matter-at-the-time attitude.—Theodore Bernstein

✵ With “suspended compounds”

first-, second-, and third-quarter earnings

✵ In compound adjectives (unit modifiers) when they precede the word they modify

off-the-record statement well-known fact

user-friendly software state-of-the-art technology

cost-of-living increase London-based company

It is important to possess a short-term pessimism and a long-term optimism.—Adrienne Rich

If modifiers follow the words they modify, they are no longer compound adjectives, and no hyphens are used.

The unit is well designed.

Their accounting methods are up to date.

Idiomatic usage retains the hyphen in certain compounds regardless of the order in which they appear in the sentence.

Tax-exempt bonds can be purchased.

The bonds are tax-exempt.

Be sure to hyphenate all the words that are to be linked.

10-year-old boy, not 10-year old boy

If each of the adjectives could modify the noun without the other adjective, more than a single idea is involved (i.e., it is not a compound adjective), and a hyphen is not used.

a happy, healthy child

a new digital alarm clock

Helpful lists of compound words can be found in the New York Public Library Writer’s Guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the Style Manual published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. A recent-edition dictionary will provide their editors’ views on the status of various compound words (two words, hyphenated, one word). See this page for more about compound words.

Is a misreading or alternative meaning possible when you omit a hyphen? If you mean re-creation, for example, you would give readers the wrong idea if you wrote recreation. Avoid creating confusing or unintentionally humorous phrases by adding all the necessary hyphens.

Use a hyphen in the following cases:

✵ In fractions and compound numbers from 21 to 99

three-fourths thirty-seven

Writing is one-third imagination, one-third experience, and one-third observation.—William Faulkner

✵ To combine numeral-unit adjectives

✵ To combine an initial capital letter with a word

✵ To divide a word at the right-hand margin

Do not hyphenate adverbs ending in -ly when combined with an adjective or participle.

Wrong: widely-held stock highly-regarded individual

Right: widely held stock highly regarded individual

See this page for capitalization of hyphenated words.

Parentheses

Parentheses are dropped into a sentence to enclose less important or explanatory information. They have the effect of an aside, as if you were trying to say the words behind your hand, so they are easily overused.

Use parentheses in the following cases:

✵ To set off explanatory or nonessential matter

It is only in good writing that you will find how words are best used, what shades of meaning they can be made to carry, and by what devices (or lack of them) the reader is kept going smoothly or bogged down.—Jacques Barzun

✵ To provide or spell out an acronym

Global oil supply is influenced by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries).

Punctuate sentences with parentheses as follows:

When the parenthetical matter is a complete statement, enclose punctuation within the parentheses.

(Don’t expect me until nightfall.)

When a parenthetical item falls in the middle or at the end of a sentence, place the necessary punctuation after the closing parenthesis.

If I arrive late (and it’s quite likely), I’ll let myself in.

Do not put a comma, semicolon, or dash before an opening parenthesis.

Wrong: When I arrive, (even if it’s late), I’d appreciate a cup of soup.

Right: When I arrive (even if it’s late), I’d appreciate a cup of soup.

The New York Public Library Writer’s Guide suggests keeping the following distinctions in mind: Parentheses deemphasize information, dashes emphasize information, and commas indicate that the information is simply part of the sentence.

Question Mark

Place a question mark at the end of an interrogative sentence.

How do I know what I think until I see what I say?

—E. M. Forster

I love revisions. Where else in life can spilled milk be transformed into ice cream?—Katherine Paterson

Do not place a question mark at the end of an indirect question or courteous request.

He asked who would be writing the report.

Will you please sign all the documents at the space provided.

Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are useful for setting off dialogue, quoted material, and special uses of words.

Use quotation marks to indicate a direct quotation.

Oscar Levant said of a politician, “He’ll double-cross that bridge when he gets to it.”

“I’m world famous,” Dr. Parks said, “all over Canada.”—Mordecai Richler

Balanchine wanted to get me not to worry about making a masterpiece every time. “Just keep making ballets,” he used to say, “and every once in a while one will be a masterpiece.”—Jerome Robbins

Do not use quotation marks for an indirect quotation (a restatement of someone’s words).

According to Robert Frost, a jury is twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

If a quotation consists of several paragraphs, do one of the following:

✵ Place a quotation mark at the beginning of each paragraph and at the end of the final paragraph.

✵ Indent and single-space the text, omitting the quotation marks.

Use single quotation marks to indicate a quote within a quote.

Friedrich Nietzsche said, “He who has a ’why’ to live can bear almost any ’how.’ ”

Kin Hubbard wrote, “When a fellow says, ’It ain’t the money but the principle of the thing,’ it’s the money.”

Punctuate quoted material as follows:

✵ Place the comma and final period inside the quotation marks.

When asked by an anthropologist what America was called before the white man came, a Native American said simply, “Ours.”—Vine Deloria, Jr.

✵ Place other punctuation marks outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the material being quoted.

She had the audacity to say “No”!

You’ve heard of the three ages of man: youth, middle age, and “You’re looking wonderful!”—Cardinal Spellman

Do you watch “Nova”?

On being told that President Coolidge had just died, Dorothy Parker asked, “How could they tell?”

Use quotation marks in the following cases:

✵ To set off individual words or a word or phrase that is being defined

A mystery is a book the publisher thinks will sell better if it has “mystery” on the cover.—Donald E. Westlake

The word “ventana” is Spanish for window.

“Qualifying small businesses” means those with fewer than 250 employees.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are “Check enclosed.”—Dorothy Parker

✵ To enclose words or phrases following such terms as entitled, the word(s), the term, marked, designated, classified, named, endorsed, or signed

The document was signed “John Hancock.”

I always wanted to write a book that ended with the word “mayonnaise.”—Richard Brautigan

A commentary on the times is that the word “honesty” is now preceded by “old-fashioned.”—Larry Wolters

Every word she writes is a lie, including “and” and “the.”—Mary McCarthy (about Lillian Hellman)

✵ To indicate a misnomer or special meaning

Some “antiques” would be more accurately described as junk.

You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a “realist,” he is preparing to do something he is secretly ashamed of doing.—Sydney Harris

A word of caution: There’s an implicit sneer in this particular use of quotation marks. Don’t overdo it. There is also the danger that you might be misunderstood. You’ll find an amusing collection in the Gallery of “Misused” Quotation Marks at www.juvalamu.com/qmarks/. A few examples from the Web site:

✵ A list of ingredients that includes “real” bacon bits (maybe those are for vegetarians?)

✵ The law firm brochure that claims to maintain “honor and integrity” in the legal profession

✵ The sign in a market window that reads “Fresh” Fish

Presumably the person putting the quotation marks around a word like “fresh” did not intend to cast doubt on the word, but that’s the effect created by this usage.

Unfortunately, new sightings of misused quotation marks are reported to the Web site regularly, so the list grows.

Do not use quotation marks to set off an expression that follows such words as known as, called, and so-called unless the expression is a misnomer or slang.

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.—James Harvey Robinson

Use quotation marks to enclose titles of parts of whole publications.

✵ Chapters or other divisions of a book

✵ Articles in a periodical

✵ Stories, essays, poems, and the like, in anthologies or similar collections

See this page for rules regarding italicized titles.

Use quotation marks to enclose titles of songs and television and radio programs.

“Rule, Brittania”

“60 Minutes”

“A Prairie Home Companion”

Semicolon

The semicolon provides a stronger break than a comma, a weaker break than a period. It is a useful punctuation mark that careful writers employ to good effect.

It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period.… You get a pleasant feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer.—George R. Will

However, not all writers feel so sanguine toward semicolons.

Semicolons are pretentious and overactive.… Far too often, they are used to gloss over an imprecise thought. They place two clauses in some kind of relationship to one another, but relieve the writer of saying exactly what the relationship is.—Paul Robinson

If you decide that semicolons are a pleasure rather than pretentious, here’s how to use them.

Use a semicolon in the following cases:

✵ Between closely related independent clauses that are not joined by a conjunction

The believer is happy; the doubter is wise.—Hungarian proverb

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.—George Bernard Shaw

Journalism allows readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers the opportunity to live it.—John Hersey

The semicolon gives equal weight to the clauses it joins, though each needs the other for full meaning.

✵ To separate long or complicated items in a series

The lottery winners included an elderly gentleman who had never before bought a lottery ticket; a high school student hoping to use the winnings for college; and a reporter who had bought her ticket while covering corruption in the lottery system.

✵ Between independent clauses that are long or contain commas

A neurotic is the man who builds a castle in the air; a psychotic is the man who lives in it; and a psychiatrist is the man who collects the rent.—Lord Webb-Johnson

✵ Between explanatory phrases that are introduced by such words as for example, that is, or namely

The students are preparing sophisticated entries for next week’s Science Fair; for example, one electronics whiz is building a virtual-reality robot.

✵ To separate independent clauses when they are linked by such conjunctive adverbs as however, thus, accordingly, indeed, and therefore

Wrong: The coach will be late for the award ceremony, however, he does plan to attend.

Right: The coach will be late for the award ceremony; however, he does plan to attend.

Slash

The slash is also known as the virgule, diagonal, and slant. Although it appears in informal writing more frequently now than when Write Right! was first published, it has limited use in formal writing.

Use the slash as a stand-in for a word or words.

✵ For the word to

price/earnings ratio

✵ For the word per

100 miles/hour

✵ For the word or

and/or his/her

✵ For the word and

the July/August issue

✵ To shorten a popular expression

24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

However, not all of these uses of the slash can be justified. And/or smacks of legalese and may leave readers puzzled as to whether the slash replaces and or or. End the confusion by using one or the other. I find he/she hard to read, and s/he even more so. To avoid gender bias, use the alternatives suggested on this page.

Occasionally, the slash indicates that the writer didn’t take the time to think clearly and just cobbled together a couple of words for the reader to sort out. If a slash represents sloppy writing, rewrite.

Poor: The actress met with me to promote her movie and to dispel/explain her tumultuous offscreen image.

Better: The actress met with me to promote her movie and to dispel some of the myths behind her offscreen image.

My favorite commentary on the slash was written by Don Hauptman; it first appeared in the New York Times and has been widely reprinted.

Gender/Gap

The neutral pronoun “he (slash) she”

has come into its glory.

In conversations, though, some say,

it tends to sound quite gory.

The British, in their wisdom, call

the “/” an oblique stroke,

Which offers a solution for

the language as it’s spoke.

To dodge offensive references

say “he (oblique stroke) she,”

So no one claims that you endorse

such gross misogyny.

For surely here’s a case in which

we each react uniquely.

Faced with a choice, would you opt to

be slashed—or stroked obliquely?

Whether you call it oblique stroke or slash, I still don’t like he/she.