The Best Punctuation Book, Period. by Casagrande, June -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction: Punctuation Is Easy, Except When It’s Not

What Is Style?

How to Use This Book Part I. Guidelines

1 — Apostrophe

Apostrophe to Show Possession

Most Singular Nouns Singular Common Nouns Ending in S Singular Proper Nouns Ending in S Plural Nouns Ending in S Plural Nouns not Ending in S Plurals of Family Names Apostrophes with Proper Names No Apostrophe in Possessive Its No Apostrophe in Possessive His, Hers, Yours, Theirs, or Ours Exceptions to the Basic Rules for Forming Possessives Shared vs. Independent Possessives Quasi Possessives Possessives of Compound Terms Possessive vs. Adjective Forms Possessive with Gerund Double Possessives

Apostrophes in Contractions and to Indicate Other Omitted Characters

Contracted vs. Possessive’s

The Direction of the Apostrophe Capitalizing a Sentence That Begins with an Apostrophe Apostrophes to Prevent Confusion When Forming Plurals

Apostrophes in Plurals of Letters No Apostrophe in Plurals of Numbers

Proper Names Containing a Possessive Apostrophe

Plural Singular Possessive Plural Possessive

Abbreviations as Verbs Apostrophes with Other Punctuation

2 — Comma

Minimal Style Variance Comma to Separate Items in a Series

Exception: Noncoordinate Adjectives Before a Noun Exception: Series with Internal Commas and Other Unwieldy Lists Comma in List with Ampersand in Place of And Comma to Separate Multiple or Repeated Adverbs

Comma After an Introductory Word or Phrase Comma to Separate Clauses

Independent Clauses Compound Predicates, Compound Subjects, and the Like Dependent Clause Before a Main Clause Dependent Clause After a Main Clause

Comma to Set Off a Nonrestrictive or Parenthetical Word, Phrase, or Clause

Commas to Set Off a Nonrestrictive Relative Clause Comma to Set Off an Appositive Comma to Set Off Adjectives, Adverbs, and Other Inserted Descriptors Comma to Set Off Inserted Thoughts and Observations

Comma to Indicate Direct Address Comma to Set Off a Quotation

Exceptions

Comma to Indicate Omitted Words in a Repeated Pattern Comma Between Repeated Words Like Is Is, In In, and That That Commas in Location Addresses Comma with Age, City of Residence, and Political Party Affiliation Comma in Measurements Commas with Specific Words and Terms

Too, Also, and Either However, Therefore, and Indeed Including, Such as, and Similar Terms Etc. Et al., and So Forth, and the Like, and Similar Terms Yes and No Respectively Oh, Um, Ah, and Well Inc., Ltd., and Similar Abbreviations PhD, MD, MA, DDS, JD, and Other Academic Credentials Jr., Sr., II, III, and the Like States, Countries, Provinces, and the District of Columbia Date and Year Institution Name Containing an Internal Comma Composition Title Containing an Internal Comma Not Phrases Not Only … But… Phrases and Similar Terms Please The More … The Less, the More … The More, and Similar Terms

Comma Placement Relative to Other Punctuation

Quotation Mark Single Quotation Mark Apostrophe Parenthesis Ellipsis Hyphen or En Dash Prime Symbol and Other Measurement Symbols

Gray Areas of Comma use

Adding a Comma as Needed for Clarity Comma After a Proper Name Ending in an Exclamation Point or Question Mark Omitting a Comma to Avoid Excessive Punctuation + Some Punctuation Panel Comma Rulings

3 — Period

Period to End a Sentence or Sentence Fragment Spacing After a Period Periods in Initials, Abbreviations, and Acronyms

Initials of a Person’s Name Initials of Nonhuman Proper Nouns Except States and Provinces Abbreviations of States, Canadian Provinces, and the District of Columbia Abbreviations of Generic Nouns Periods with Acronyms

Periods After URL Addresses Period Placement Relative to Other Punctuation

Quotation Mark Single Quotation Mark Apostrophe Parenthesis or Bracket Prime Symbol and Other Measurement Symbols Dash Ellipsis Omitting a Period to Prevent Double Punctuation

Rhetorical Questions

4 — Colon

Colon to Illustrate or underscore a Prior Statement Colon to Introduce a List

No Colon After Including to Introduce a List

Colon to Introduce a Quotation, Dialogue, or Excerpt Colon with As Follows, The Following, and Similar Expressions Colon After a Greeting Colon in a Ratio Colon in Other Numeric Terms Colon Between a Title and a Subtitle Colon in Source Citations Spacing After a Colon Capital or Lowercase Letter After a Colon Colon with Other Punctuation

Parenthesis Quotation Mark Exclamation Point or Question Mark as Part of a Proper Name or Title

5 — Semicolon

Semicolon to Connect Closely Related Independent Clauses

Before However, Therefore, Indeed, and Similar Conjunctive Adverbs Before That is, Namely, for Example, and Similar Expressions Between Clauses Containing Extensive Punctuation

Semicolon to Separate Items in Lists

Semicolon in Indexes, Text Citations, and the Like

6 — Quotation Mark

Quotation Marks to Indicate a Direct Quotation or Dialogue

Alternative Method for Longer Quotations

Quotation Marks to Indicate Unusual or Ironic Meaning Quotation Marks for Words Discussed as Words No Quotation Marks with So-Called Quotation Marks vs. Italics for Titles of Works

(N) Quotation Marks Around Composition Titles in News Style (S) Italics Instead of Quotation Marks Around Composition Titles in Science Style (B) (A) Italics vs. Quotation Marks for Titles in Book and Academic Styles Quotation Marks vs. Italics for Titles of Works

Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

Period Comma Question Mark Exclamation Point Single Quotation Mark Colon Semicolon Ellipsis

Forming the Plural of Text in Quotation Marks Forming the Possessive of Text in Quotation Marks Direction of Quotation Marks Quotation Mark as Distinct from Double Prime Symbol

7 — Single Quotation Mark

Quotation Within a Quotation Single Quotation Marks Not for Words As Words Single Quotation Marks in Article Titles Single Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation Single Open Quotation Mark as Distinct from Apostrophe Single Quotation Mark as Distinct from Prime Symbol

8 — Question Mark

Spacing After a Question Mark Question Mark to Replace a Comma Question Mark to Replace a Period Question Mark with an Exclamation Point Question Mark to Preclude Another Question Mark Question Mark in the Middle of a Sentence Question Mark After a Statement Question Mark Omitted in Rhetorical Questions Question Mark Not Preferred in Guess What

9 — Exclamation Point

Spacing After an Exclamation Point Exclamation Point to Replace a Comma Exclamation Point to Replace a Period Exclamation Point with a Question Mark Exclamation Point to Preclude Another Exclamation Point

10 — Ellipsis

Spacing Between Dots Spacing Before and After the Ellipsis Ellipses and Line Breaks No Ellipsis Needed at Beginning or End of a Quotation Ellipsis After a Complete Sentence Ellipsis with Other Punctuation Ellipsis to Indicate Interrupted or Faltering Speech

11 — Hyphen

Compound Modifiers

Compound Modifiers Listed in the Dictionary Compound Modifiers not Listed in the Dictionary Exceptions and Special Circumstances for the Basic Compound Modifiers Rule Compound Adjectives Containing Specific Words Compound Adjectives of Specific Types and Forms Suspensive Hyphenation Gray Areas of Hyphenating Compound Adjectives Compound Adverbs

Compound Nouns

Recommended Guidelines and Style-Specific Rules

Compound Verbs Prefixes

Style-Specific Exceptions

Suffixes

Style-Specific Exceptions

Ratios Betting Odds Ranges Spelled-out Words Hyphenated Names

12 — Em Dash

Breaks in Sentence Flow

Parenthetical Insertions Insertions of Additional Information A Change of Sentence Structure or Thought Dashes vs. Parentheses and Commas

Em Dashes for Dialogue Em Dashes in News Article Datelines Em Dashes in Lists Spacing of Em Dashes

13 — En Dash

En Dash to Mean To, Through, or Until En Dash in Unwieldy Compound Adjectives

14 — Parenthesis

Inserting Information

Examples Additional Information Reference Information

Grouping and Setting Off Numbers and Letters

Telephone Area Codes Mathematical Groupings Setting Off Numbers and Letters

Parentheses vs. Dashes and Commas Placement of Parentheses Relative to Other Punctuation

Period Question Mark or Exclamation Point Comma Semicolon Colon Dash Hyphen Quotation Mark Parentheses Within Parentheses

More Than One Sentence in Parentheses

Initials and Acronyms

15 — Bracket 16 — Slash and Backslash

Slash to Mean Or, And, Through, or Per Slashes in Web Addresses, Dates, and Telephone Numbers

17 — Lists

List in Running Text List Set Off from Preceding Paragraph

Lists That are Part of the Preceding Sentence Lists That are not Part of the Preceding Sentence

18 — Numbers and Addresses

Numerals vs. Spelled-Out Numbers

Dates

Written Out vs. Fully Numeric Commas to Set Off Year Order of Month and Day Abbreviating vs. Spelling Out Months in Dates Decades Ordinal Numbers not Preferred

Time of Day Street Addresses

Building Numbers Abbreviation of Street, Avenue, etc. Numeric Street Names Compass Points Abbreviation of States PO Box Addresses

Telephone Numbers E-mail Addresses and URLs

Hyphenation of E-mail Line Breaks in E-mail Addresses How to Write Urls Line Breaks in Urls Punctuation After Urls

Part II. Punctuation A to Z

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Appendix A: Understanding Grammatical Units: Phrases, Clauses, Sentences, and Sentence Fragments

Phrases Clauses Sentences Sentence Fragments

Appendix B: Identifying Parts of Speech for Better Punctuation

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Conjunction Preposition

Acknowledgments About the Author and Punctuation Panel Index

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