Writing skills success - LearningExpress 2009

Lesson 9. “Designer” punctuation
Pretest

My attitude toward punctuation is that it ought to be as conventional as possible. The game of golf would lose a good deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green …

—Ernest Hemingway, American novelist (1899-1961)

LESSON SUMMARY

This lesson covers some of the less commonly used punctuation marks, including hyphens, parentheses, brackets, ellipses, and diagonal slashes. While these marks aren’t necessary all that often, when they are necessary, it’s important to use them correctly.

The punctuation marks covered in this lesson—hyphens, parentheses, brackets, ellipses, and diagonals—are not often used in regular writing. However, they serve very specific purposes. Knowing and understanding their functions gives a writer an advantage in communicating ideas. Since most of these rules are so specialized that only a few people know them, we’ll begin immediately with the lesson rather than with an assessment of your current knowledge. The last part of the lesson discusses using numbers in written text.

Hyphens

The main purpose of a hyphen (-) is to join words in creating compound nouns or adjectives. Hyphens signal words that work together for a single purpose.

Compound nouns may be written as a single word, as two words, or as a hyphenated word. Whenever you are in doubt, consult an up-to-date dictionary. Since language changes constantly, these words also evolve.

A compound noun written as two words may come to be written as a hyphenated word and eventually become a single word. For example, the word semicolon began as two separate words: semi colon. In the late 1950s, dictionaries began listing it as a hyphenated word: semi - colon. A recent dictionary will list it as a single word: semicolon.

■ Use a hyphen to join two coequal nouns working together as one.

Shannon is a teacher-poet.

Pete Rose was a player-coach for the Cincinnati Reds.

Kevin Costner has joined the ranks of well- known actor-directors.

■ Use a hyphen to join multiword compound nouns. fly-by-night, stick-in-the-mud, good-for-nothing, three-year-old

■ Use a hyphen to join two or more words that function as a single adjective preceding the noun.

The hikers saw a run-down cabin in the clearing.

Much has been written about the Kennedy- Nixon debates.

An ill-trained police officer is more of a menace than protector.

The company employed a high-powered consultant.

A soft-spoken answer to the angry accusation ended the disagreement.

His off-the-wall remarks keep our meetings lively and interesting.

The parties finally agreed after three months of hard-nosed negotiations.

A French-Canadian bicyclist won the three-week race.

■ If the words functioning as a single adjective follow the noun, they are not hyphenated.

The cabin the hikers saw in the clearing was run down.

A police officer who is ill trained is more of a menace than a protector.

The consultant employed by the company was high powered.

The parties finally agreed after three months of negotiations that were hard nosed.

■ Use a hyphen to join prefixes such as self, half, ex, all, great, post, pro, and vice, or the suffix elect, to words.*

Harry Truman unleashed the all-powerful atomic weapon.

Abraham Lincoln was a self-made man.

Keep your half-baked ideas to yourself.

Simone spotted her ex-husband walking into the grocery store.

My great-grandfather turns 102 next Wednesday.

Many remember the post-WWII years with great fondness.

The secretary-elect picked up all the records from the presiding secretary.

*Refer to a dictionary for common words to determine if they still use the hyphen or if they are closed up.

Conservatives consider the front-runner to be a proabortion candidate. (per Merriam- Webster)

You are almost halfway through this book. (per Merriam-Webster)

■ Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or awkward spellings.

The coach decided to re-pair [rather than repair] the debate partners.

The neighbors decided to re-cover [rather than recover] their old sofa.

The sculpture had a bell-like [rather than belllike] shape.

■ Use a hyphen to join a capital letter to a word.

The U-joint went out in our second car.

The architect worked with nothing more than a T-square.

■ Use a hyphen to write two-word numbers between 21 and 99 as words.

twenty-six, thirty-three, sixty-four, seventy-two, ninety-nine

■ Use a hyphen to join fractions written as words. three-fifths, five-sixteenths, five thirty-seconds

■ Use a hyphen to join numbers to words used as a single adjective.

three-yard pass, eight-inch steel, two-word sentence, five-stroke lead

NOTE: When a series of similar number-word adjectives is written in a sentence, use a hyphen/comma combination with all but the last item in the series.

Precut particle board comes in two-, four-, and six-foot squares.

Andy scored three touchdowns on eight-, fourteen-, and two-yard runs.

■ Use a hyphen to join numbers and adjectives.

fifty-four-year-old woman, ten-dollar profit, two-thousand-acre ranch, twenty-minute wait

■ Use a hyphen to write the time of day as words.

twelve-thirty, four-o’clock appointment, six- fifteen a.m., one-fifty-five in the morning

■ Use a hyphen to separate a word between syllables at the end of a line. Here are a few guidelines for dividing words:

^■ Never leave a single-letter syllable on a line.

^■ Divide hyphenated words at the hyphen.

^■ Never divide a one-syllable word.

^■ Avoid dividing words that have fewer than six letters.

^■ Avoid dividing the last word of a paragraph.

^■ Avoid dividing a number.

^■ Always check a dictionary if you are in doubt.

Parentheses

■ Use parentheses to enclose explanatory material that interrupts the normal flow of the sentences and is only marginally related to the text.

Thirty-sixth Street (a party street if there ever was one) is a fun place to live.

Our neighbors threw a huge party on New Year’s Eve. (Fortunately, we were invited.)

Unfortunately, another set of neighbors (who was not invited) called the police to complain about the noise.

We party-goers (how were we to know?) were completely surprised by the officers.

Notice the last three sentences. Each set of parentheses contains a complete sentence. If the parenthetical construction comes at the end of a sentence, it is punctuated as its own sentence within the parentheses. On the other hand, if it comes within another sentence, no capital letters or periods are necessary. However, if the parenthetical construction in the middle of another sentence is a sentence that would normally require a question mark or exclamation point, include that punctuation.

■ Use parentheses to enclose information when accuracy is essential.

The two sons of Richard Hannika (Scott and William) are sole heirs to his fortune.

We hereby agree to sell the heirloom for sixty- three dollars ($63.00).

■ Use parentheses to enclose letters or numbers marking a division.

This lesson includes several little-used, often- misused punctuation marks: (a) hyphens, (b) parentheses, (c) brackets, (d) diagonals, and (e) ellipses.

Your task consists of three steps: (1) locating information, (2) writing a report, and (3) delivering a presentation about your findings.

Brackets

■ Use brackets to enclose parenthetical material within parentheses.

Brandi planned to work as an aeronautic engineer (she completed an internship at National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA]) as soon as she completed her doctoral work.

■ Use brackets to enclose words inserted into a quotation.

“The next head nurse [Shawna DeWitt] will face the challenge of operating the floor with a reduced staff.”

■ Use brackets around the word sic to show that an error in a quotation was made by the original writer or speaker.

“Unless we heel [sic] the nation’s economic woes, social problems will continue to mount.”

Ellipses

Points of ellipsis look like periods, but they do not function as end marks. Type three periods to form ellipses. These marks indicate omitted material or long pauses.

■ Use ellipses to show that quoted material has been omitted. If the omission comes at the end of a sentence, follow the ellipses with a period.

“Four-score and seven years ago . . . equal.” “We hold these truths to be self-evident . . .”

■ Use ellipses to indicate a pause or hesitation.

And the winner for “Best Actor” is . . . Dustin Hoffman.

I think that adds up to . . . exactly eighty-three dollars.

Diagonals

Much like the hyphen, a diagonal is a mark used to join words or numbers. The most frequent use of the diagonal is with the phrase and/or, which shows that the sentence refers to one or both of the words being joined.

For breakfast, we can make bacon and/or French toast.

Vinegar and/or egg whites added to plain water will make an excellent hair rinse that leaves hair soft and silky.

■ Use a diagonal to separate numbers in a fraction.

Normally, it takes us 3 1/2 hours to sort the bulk mail at the end of the week.

You’ll need a 1 5/8-inch wrench for this nut.

■ Use a diagonal to show line divisions in poetry.

“Goodnight, goodnight, parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night ’till it be morrow. / Sleep dwell upon thine eyes and peace in thy breast! / Would I were sleep and peace so sweet to rest!”

■ Use a diagonal to indicate per or divided by.

The cars in the new fleet average over 25 miles/ gallon.

Shares are calculated in this way: net profit/ number of shareholders.

Numbers

A few rules guide the use of numbers in writing. In journalistic writing, numbers are preferable to words because they are easier to identify and read. However, a number at the beginning of a sentence is always written as a word. In more formal writing, follow the conventions listed here.

■ Use Arabic rather than Roman numerals: 1, 2, 3, 4 rather than I, II, III, IV.

■ If a number can be written as one or two words, write it as a word. Otherwise, write the numeral: 8, twenty-six, 124, three hundred, 8,549, five million.

■ Always write a number at the beginning of sentence as a word even if it is more than two words.

Practice

Add hyphens and parentheses where they are needed in the following sentences.

1. Cheryl’s ex sister in law is a high powered attorney with twenty five years of experience.

2. Dr. Pratt was so concerned about the two year old girl’s injury that he ordered an X ray.

3. Judy’s well written essay impressed all twenty five judges.

4. For breakfast you may choose from the following options: a sausage and eggs, b a bagel with cream cheese, or c pancakes or waffles.

5. “The Trojan Horse was actually a cleverly plotted red herring decoy created by the Greeks to conceal soldiers waiting to attack the Trojans.”

Add hyphens, parentheses, brackets, ellipses, and diagonals where they are needed in the following sentences.

6. Muhammad Ali one of the greatest boxers of our time wrote a poem describing himself as someone who could “. . . float like a butterflie sic, sting like a bee.”

7. After the workshop, please 1 collect the completed forms 2 compile all the data and 3 leave your report in Mr. White’s right hand drawer.

8. Prizes for the three week contest can be collected in the form of cash and or merchandise and approximately one third of our members will be eligible.

Answers

1. Cheryl’s ex-sister-in-law is a high-powered attorney with twenty-five years of experience.

2. Dr. Pratt was so concerned about the two-year- old girl’s injury that he ordered an X-ray.

3. Judy s well-written essay impressed all twenty- five judges.

4. For breakfast, you may choose from the following options: (a) sausage and eggs, (b) a bagel with cream cheese, or (c) pancakes or waffles.

5. The Trojan Horse was actually a cleverly plotted red herring [decoy] created by the Greeks to conceal soldiers waiting to attack the Trojans.

6. Muhammad Ali (one of the greatest boxers of our time) wrote a poem describing himself as someone who could “. . . float like a butterflie [sic], sting like a bee.”

7. After the workshop, please (1) collect the completed forms, (2) compile all the data, and (3) leave your report in Mr. White’s right-hand drawer.

8. Prizes for the three-week contest can be collected in the form of cash and/or merchandise and approximately one-third of our members will be eligible.

TIP

Look for examples of the punctuation marks from this lesson as you read today. Since they are used less frequently than other marks, you probably won’t see them as often. When you do, try to remember how the mark is used. Be especially aware of hyphens, parentheses, brackets, diagonals, and ellipses in advertising copy; check to see if they have been used correctly.