Punctuation
Apostrophes, commas, colons
23 articles tagged punctuation, drawn from across the archive.
Apostrophes: A Simple Guide
The apostrophe Many writers (even good ones) mis-use the apostrophe. But you will find that editors appreciate articles with...
Colon
You need advice about the colon (:) . . . a full stop on top of a full stop. It's different to the semi-colon (;) which is a full...
Commas: The Essential Guide
A comma is a useful and important punctuation mark. And it is commonly mis-used. Too many commas in the one sentence A sentence...
Dates
You must write dates correctly. I had students who thought it amusing to write dates like this: Monday, the 11th day of the month...
Ellipsis...
You have not used the ellipsis correctly. An ellipsis is three fullstops or dots, like this . . . It's not four or five dots or a...
Elmore Leonard's Rules: Hooptedoodle
Easy on the adverbs, exclamation points and especially hooptedoodle By ELMORE LEONARD Elmore Leonard's Rules of Writing 1170...
Exclamation Marks: Stop Overusing Them!!!
!!!!! I caution you against the use of the exclamation mark, or 'exclaimer'. Children and teenagers use a lot of exclaimers...
Foreign words
Regarding the use of foreign words in articles. The English language uses lots of foreign words that become so familiar, they...
Full Stops: Keep It Simple
The fullstop I thought you might benefit from some information on the fullstop (or periods or dot, as the Americans call it)...
Hyphen-dash
You are mixing up the hyphen and the dash. A hyphen is this: - It's usually used to join words together such as 'joint-owners' or...
Indirect quotes
You may misunderstand the term 'indirect quote'. A quote is something someone says. Your interviewee might have said verbatim...
Its-it's
You've mixed up its and it's as many people do. its is the possessive form. This is one of the few possessive forms of a word in...
Metric
Metric You must use metric measure in your writing. It's decades since Australia switched to metric. You should use only metric...
Numbers
NUMBERS must be written correctly Be sure to re-read an edition of your target publication and check how it uses numbers, because...
Photo Libraries
Photo libraries. The way they work is fairly simple. They accept good photographs from photographers. They sell 'usage rights' to...
Queries What purpose
Regarding stupid, stupid query letters. Yes, I still remain resolutely opposed to them. I find them to be often my student's...
Quotes direct-indirect
Here's some advice on direct quotes and indirect quotes. When you use quotes, you are using fresh words said to YOU the...
Quotes use more
Do you think you could make more use of quotes? I think you should. Why use quotes? Because in mainstream articles, reading the...
Quotes, how to write quotes
How to write quotes (6 pages) Punctuation Of Quotes You must use quotations 100% correctly. You will find different rules about...
Research & quotes - difference
Remember that research and quotes are quite different. When you use research, you use facts and figures from sources such as...
Semi-colon
A comment on the semi-colon (;) which is a full stop on top of a comma. I never use semi-colons. In all writing I have ever seen...
Very
What's the difference between '?' and 'very?'? You're using that pesky word 'very'. 'Very' is a word to be used sparingly, in...
When Quote Marks Are Unnecessary
You wrote ' ' with quote marks around it. You are unnecessarily using quotation marks around words and phrases, and this is now...