Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 01:32:32 -0400 From: Geek 999 Subject: Writing Lessons 4 Writing Lesson 4 by Ernie (geek999@earthlink.net) PUNCTUATION ----------- Punctuation is the usage of periods, commas, colons, semicolons, question marks, hyphens, exclamation marks, dashes, parentheses, quotes, apostrophes, and other obscure symbols. The rules of punctuation are complicated and not used the same around the world. For example, the British generally use single quotes (' ') to enclose dialogs, while Americans use double quotes (" "). And the French don't use either: they use an m-dash instead. Germans have their own quote symbols -- the opening symbol looks like a standard double quote (") except that is lowered, so it looks like a double _comma_. Other people use guillemots (<< >>) instead of double quotes. Same with commas, semicolons, and everything. In Spanish you use upside-down exclamation and question marks at the start, and the standard mark at the end. Considering the wide diversity of usages, it would be pointless to ennumerate the rules of punctuation; it's just something you have to learn by reading as much as possible. When you read text to learn punctuation, be sure you read _modern_ writings; William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift wrote wonders, but their punctuation reflects obsolete rules. Even Edgar Allan Poe's writings seem a bit odd because of that reason. Instead of listing the rules, therefore, allow me to give you a few "don't do this" suggestions. * Do not put a comma after a period unless the period is part of an abbreviation. "I visited the U.K., France, and Germany" reflects good punctuation. '"I am ready.," he said' is wrong. * Do not put a comma after an exclamation or question mark. * The correct symbol for ellipsis is a series of three or four consecutive periods... without any intervening spaces. Therefore, do not type ". . ." but "...". * The 4-period ellipsis is nothing but a 3-period ellipsis immediately followed by a full period. Personally, I never use 4-period ellipses. * I've seen many stories in which the writer types a comma followed by an ellipsis (",..."). I wish I understood why they do this -- it's incorrect. Another error is using _commas_ instead of periods, as in ", , ,". * '"What do you want for lunch", I asked?' is wrong. The question mark must go at the end of the question, not the sentence that contains the question. Therefore, the correct punctuation is '"What do you want for lunch?" I asked'. * '"This is bullshit." I said' is also wrong. There should be a comma after "bullshit" because the sentence hasn't finished yet: '"This is bullshit," I said' is correct. This error usually creates another one: wrong capitalization. '"This is bullshit." He said' has wrong usage of period _and_ capitalization. As before, it should have a comma. And the word "he" therefore should _not_ be capitalized. * In most cases it's unnecessary to use two or more exclamation or question marks. If you must, use two but never more. This gives the reader the idea that the sentence is emphasized, without making him count the number of exclamation points to determine whether "Good!!!!!" or "Good!!!!!!" is stronger. * Commas are useful symbols, but please don't overuse them. "This is, he thought, possibly, although not probably, enough" uses too many commas. Consider an alternative: "He thought that this is possibly (although not probably) enough". * Semicolons are useful too. Instead of "I'm not old, just experienced" is better with a semicolon instead of the comma: "I'm not old; just experienced" looks much better. * Always leave one space after periods, commas, semicolons, colons, exclamation and question marks, and closing parentheses. Like me, many people learned to type on actual typewriters, and the textbooks and teachers used to make students leave two spaces after periods and colons. This practice is no longer necessary. Although it's not truly required, it's better to put a space both before and after a dash to make this dash impossible to confuse with a hyphen. * For plurals, always use a simple "s" except for single letters, which should have "'s" instead. For example, "I got all A's in my tests" is okay, but "My collection of CD's" is not; it should be "CDs". Also, don't use "'s" to pluralize numbers: "The roaring 20's" should be "The roaring 20s" (or even "The roaring '20s"). CAPITALIZATION -------------- * Capital letters must be used when starting a new sentence or paragraph. * The pronoun "I" is _always_ capitalized. (Then why the pronoun "me" is not? Never mind...) * Proper names always begin with a capital letter. This includes person names, geographical names, days of the week, months -- but not the seasons nor the points of the compass! So it's "Friday" and "January", but "winter" and "north". * Acronyms and abbreviations usually begin with capital letters: "U.S.A." (an acronym) and "Dr." (an abbreviation). Incidentally, most acronyms look better without the periods ("USA"), and the British omit the period after titles such as "Dr", "Mrs", etc. * Titles should be written such that each word begins with a capital letter except the so-called "little" words. For example: "Life of a Boy" is correct. * Try to avoid using ALL CAPITALS as much as possible. If you need to emphasize a word or group of words, use italics instead. If writing plain text, put an underscore (_) before and another underscore after. Typing several consecutive words in ALL CAPITALS makes the text more difficult to read and gives the impression that you're shouting. *END*