Punctuation Archives - Kris Spisak

Writing Tip 369: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (yes, the comma goes there)

We’re not talking about any “merry gentlemen” here, folks. Did you ever notice the correct comma placement within this opening line of the classic Christmas carol?

From Rudolph to the Grinch to Deck the Halls, yes, my holiday song breakdown continues…

Plus, you now have some nostalgic new slang to drop with your friends. What’s not to love?

Rest ye merry, everybody!

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Authors on Editing: Interview with Jon Pineda

So many of us dream of being poets. The dream starves a bit amidst tiresome email correspondences or other words in our daily lives thrown down quickly and without much introspection, with no intention more than making a point as simply as possible—though, perhaps “simple” is the wrong word to contrast with a poem. Perhaps the opposite of poetry is plainness.

There is a time to be plain, but there is also a time to be astonishing. That’s why I’m thrilled that the talented poet Jon Pineda joined me to chat about his editing process.

Jon Pineda interview More

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Trivia: Non-hyphenated

Today’s deep thought…

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Writing Tip 167: Straight vs. Curly Quotation Marks

Someone recently asked, “Grammar mistress, what’s the difference between straight vs. curly quotation marks?” A couple things about this question make me happy. First, I’m kind of digging “grammar mistress,” and second, these are the subtleties that no one ever seems to talk about. So let’s talk about it.More

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Writing Tip 163: Asterisks & Footnote Symbols

Asterisk is one of those words that you just can’t say ten times fast. Try it. I’ll wait…

How’d it go? Turn any heads? Get any “bless you”s?

There are risks to the asterisk*—and not only in saying it correctly with any amount of speed. Asterisks muffle curses, and they are often followed by daggers. And if that doesn’t sound like the start of a really bad grammarian murder mystery, I don’t know what is.

When to use an asterisk

When replacing letters in words (such as curse words) or names you don’t want to spell out (e.g., “wow, what a grammar b**** that Kris is” or “From your secret crush, K***”)
When pointing a reader to further information, as in a footnote.
When showing the passage of time in the case of a section break in a story.
I’m sure there’s a good kissing emoticon out there with an asterisk, right?

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Writing Tip 161: Writing Time (“A.M.”/”P.M.” vs. “a.m.”/”p.m.” vs. “am”/”pm”)

Is your alarm clock set for 6am, 6AM, 6 A.M., or 6 a.m? (Don’t mind me; I’m just hitting the snooze button while you ponder that one.)

AM vs. a.m vs. A.M. - Writing Time — Meanwhile, what’s up with this clock? Is it the white rabbit’s? There’s a story here…

The answer here brings out the Latin dictionaries. This is an abbreviation, after all, just like “i.e.” or “e.g.” When it comes to time, “a.m.” stands for ante meridiem or “before noon,” and “p.m.” stands for post meridiem or “after noon.” So for those of you paying attention, you’ve figured out the answer.

The above time is correctly written as “6 a.m.” Notice the space between the number and the abbreviation? That’s a part of the correct answer too.

In an era of quick emails, writing the time as “10am” or “4pm” has been gaining popularity, but there are a lot of sticklers out there about this one. Give the numbers some space. Give the abbreviations the periods. Keep it in lower case, folks.

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Writing Tip 158: I Wonder About Punctuation?

punctuation around "wonder" statements — This seal wonders why there’s a camera pointing at him. Maybe he would wonder at this shape we call a question mark.

Punctuation around the word “wonder” seems to commonly baffle writers. I wonder what the source of this is? (See what I just did there? It’s wrong. Did you catch it?)

Reminder: just because something raises a question does not mean that it is a question. Think long and hard about that question mark.

Statements that begin “I/she/he wonders…” are most commonly just that. Statements. There is no question about whether or not the subject wonders.

For example:More

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Writing Tip 151: Misleading Quotation Marks

Beware. Coffee is "hot." (Or is it?) — Beware. Coffee is “hot.” (Or is it?)

Quotation marks never create emphasis. They only cause confusion. Are you using yours properly?

It makes me smile every time I see bungled quotation marks on store signage, business marketing materials, or even in personal communications. Please don’t continue this downward trend. If you want to emphasize your language, use bold, italics, an underline, or even surround something with *asterisks* if you must, but do not—I beg you—use quotation marks.

Besides where to put them around other punctuation and when to use single versus double quotes (which we’ve already covered), here’s …More

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Writing Tip 109: Who’s vs. Whose

Who’s on first? Whose shoes are those? Who’s that girl? Whose cupcake is that? Can I have it?

Wait, before I get distracted by my sweet tooth, let’s dive into the differences between “who’s” and “whose” today. Logic doesn’t always apply easily to grammar. This one—like “its” and “it’s”—is another exception to the rule that possessives have the apostrophe “s.”

“Who’s” is a contraction—just like can’t, you’re, or y’all—short for “who is” or sometimes “who was” or “who has.”

“Whose” is the possessive form.

Yes, it’s true. Every time you’ve assumed “who’s” was possessive, you’ve been wrong. Hopefully, those were just emails to your friends, not your boss’s boss’s boss. My fingers are crossed for you.

We’ve talked “who” vs. “whom,” but this simpler distinction is sometimes equally as confused. Or perhaps it’s less confused and just typed quickly without thinking about it. Either way, it’s time to pause and get it right, don’t you think?

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Writing Tip 104: Parentheses vs. Brackets (and Braces too!)

parentheses vs brackets vs braces — Some see shapes in the clouds; I see punctuation marks in rock formations.

We all know (and love) parentheses, but I wonder if you know when to use related punctuation. Brackets, for example, are handier for more than just playoffs. And what about braces? Where do they fit into the equation? Bonus question: do you know where brackets and braces are found on your keyboard? How many of you just looked down?

Parentheses: Parentheses are used within sentences to include non-mandatory information that adds to the sentence. So in other words, if you took that information out, nothing would be lost from the sentence. The difference between when to use parentheses versus commas or dashes is a matter for another tip (perhaps next week).More