Troublesome Punctuation

1. Troublesome Punctuation With examples blatantly stolen from Bill Bryson’s “A Dictionary of Troublesome Words.”

2. The Apostrophe: ’

3. Possessives. • Contractions. • NOT plurals. • But what about multiple possessives?

4. In conditions of shared ownership: • Example: Two cats share a single water dish. • Incorrect: "The white cat's and black cat's water dish." • Correct: "The white cat and black cat's water dish."

5. Do the cats have separate water dishes? • "The white cat's and the black cat's water dishes."

6. Use a possessive apostrophe for units of measure: • Incorrect: "Ms. Tanovitz had nineteen years experience." • Correct: "Ms. Tanovitz had nineteen years' experience."

7. Minor uses of the apostrophe • To fill in missing figures in dates: • The winter of ‘04 • To fill in the omission of letters: • Cat-o’-nine tails • “I s’pose we should have done something.” • Irish names • Scarlet O’Hara • Eugene O’Neill

8. Annoying exceptions • ‘N Sync (Proper Noun) • Achilles’ Heel (Long term use trumps consistent grammar) • St. Thomas’ Hospital (Proper noun and long term use) • Jeff Bridges’ performance (the name ends in an “iz” sound)

9. The colon : • Marks an introduction or indicates the start of a series. • Not used to separate a verb from its object. • Incorrect: "The four states bordering Texas are: New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.”

10. Correct: "Texas is bordered by four states: New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana." • Correct: "The four states bordering Texas are New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.”

11. The comma, When do you need a comma? 1. Use a comma when the information provided is clearly parenthetical.

12. Correct: "Mr. Lawson, the energy secretary, was unavailable for comment." • Correct: "The ambassador, who arrived in Britain two days ago, yesterday met with the Prime Minister." • In both statements, the sentence would read clearly without the phrase between commas.

13. Parse this statement without the parenthetical phrase: • "At nine she won a scholarship to Millsfield, the private school, for bright children of the rich.”

14. 2. Use a comma when the information is nonrestrictive. • Nonrestrictive: "John Fowler's first novel, The Collector, was a bestseller." • Restrictive (no comma needed): "John Fowler's novel The Collector was a bestseller."

15. Incorrect: "Mrs. Thatcher and her husband Denis left London yesterday.” • Correct: “Mrs. Thatcher and her husband, Denis, left London yesterday.”

16. 3. Use a comma with forms of address. • Incorrect: "Good Morning America" • Correct: "Good Morning, America"

17. Are you telling Mr. Herriot that you're choking? • Correct: "I'm choking, Mr. Herriot" • Incorrect "I'm choking Mr. Herriot"

18. 4. Optional: Use a comma with interpolated words or phrases. • Interpolated words and phrases? • However, moreover, so, fortunately, contrary to popular opinion...

19. Examples: • "However, when the roads are wet..." • "Meanwhile, on the other side of town..." • Not always necessary, but recommended.

20. The dash — • Used in pairs to enclose parenthetical matter. • He fell there — cold and bleeding — on the stone marble floor. • Used singly to indicate a sharp break in a sentence. • He cried out — but no one came. • Used to emphasize a point. • Use dashes sparingly — not just to replace more appropriate punctuation.

21. Ellipsis... • Used to indicate that material has been omitted. • When ending a sentence with an ellipsis, a final period (making four, total) is not necessary.

22. The exclamation point! • Used to show strong emotion. • Correct: "Look! Up in the sky! It's Superman!" • Incorrect: Virtually anywhere in formal writing.

23. The question mark? • Appears at the end of a question. • This isn't a problem for most people. • However, it shouldn't appear at the end of a sentence that isn't a question. • Question marks appear at the end of direct questions, but not at the end of indirect questions.

24. Direct questions: • "How old are you?" • "Why should I care?"

25. Indirect questions: • "I asked how old you were." • "Tell me why I should care."

26. “Quotation marks” • Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. • “The Fish,” “Poetry,” and “The Monkeys” are in Marianne Moore's Selected Poems.

27. For quotes within quotes, use a single quotation mark. • “He said ‘I will not go.’” • (Note: Unable to find rules for quotes within quotes within quotes.)

28. Question marks in quotations: • The question mark goes inside the quotation mark if the quotation is asking a question. • Example: The child asked “Will we be leaving soon?”

29. The question mark goes outside the quotation mark if the overall statement is asking a question. • Example: Did you just say “I don’t know”?

30. Avoid quotation marks around indirect quotations. • Incorrect: After leaving the scene of the domestic quarrel, the officer said "he was due for a coffee break."

31. Correct: After leaving the scene of the domestic quarrel, the officer said he was "due for a coffee break." • Better still: After leaving the scene of the domestic quarrel, the officer said he was due for a coffee break.

32. The semicolon; • The semicolon connects independent clauses not joined by a conjunction. • "Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice." - H.L. Mencken

33. It can also be used to separate items in a series containing internal punctuation. • "The only sensible ends of literature are first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash." - Nathaniel Hawthorne