Questions tagged [punctuation]
The correct and appropriate usage of punctuation.
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Should an emoji come before or after a full-stop? 🤔
When I make a hilarious joke on social media it's easy to put an emoji/emoticon/smiley on the end. 😀
But sometimes I want to set the context and make a more reasoned argument over a paragraph or so. ...
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The Good, the Bad, and the Semicolon
I completed my novel and an editor friend graciously offered to assist me with formatting. As a former scientist, I am more familiar with technical or academic writing, so formatting fiction can be a ...
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Dashes vs. Commas vs. parentheses?
Occasionally I write sentences containing subparts with extra information. I never know how to block off this information from the rest of the sentence. Three ways I have seen are dashes, commas, and ...
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When writing an error prompt, should we end the sentence with a exclamation mark or a dot?
When writing an error prompt, should we end the sentence with a exclamation mark or a dot?
I am writing an application for iPhone and I have some error prompt in my application like "Your password ...
user36239
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Why am I getting a strange double quote (“) in Open Office instead of the ordinary one (")?
Why am I getting a strange double quote (“) in Open Office instead of the ordinary one (")?
Every time I type the double quote, I get the weird version instead of the ordinary one. How do I get the ...
user36239
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Do you bold punctuation directly after bold text?
Do you bold punctuation directly after bold, linked or italic text?
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How to show a brief hesitation around a word
When we speak, there are often small pauses between syntactic units such as sentences. In writing, these pauses are signified by punctuation:
I can come if you want. (without pause)
I can come, if ...
user5645
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How many commas is too many?
I find myself often in writing using too many commas, but then going through and editing many of them back out again or restructuring to use full-stops.
Is there a rule of thumb I've forgotten from my ...
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Eliminating the Dash in Prose Writing
I have been accused — shock, horror — of using the dash (the one that indicates a three-quarters pause) too much in my fiction. Thing is — I quite like the effect (the space inserted in sentences by ...
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How much leeway can be expected from an editor regarding my preference for nonstandard punctuation?
As I hope to present a unique style to the world, as I am not especially tolerant of being told I'm doing things "wrong" when that's a subjective statement related to writing style, and as I've never ...
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Are modern authors still using colons and semicolons in dialogue?
Not sure if it's just my idea but I rarely see colons and semicolons in dialogue (especially in modern novels). Is it because they don't simulate normal speech? Because their use is more a semantic ...
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Proofreading a novel: is it okay to use a question mark with an exclamation mark - "?!"
Is it ever acceptable to use an exclamation mark following a question mark?
I am proofreading a novel and have been instructed to make no stylistic changes, only errors that impede sense/clarity. The ...
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Ending a line of dialogue with "?!": Allowed or obnoxious?
A dialogue of mine contains the following sentence:
"You fired all three of them?!"
Trouble is, I'm not sure I've ever seen a novel that used a question mark and an exclamation point together - it'...
user36961
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Do I always need a comma after a person's name?
This is a big issue between my husband and me. He says always put a comma after a name, I say only when a break is needed. Example:
A review of the complaint filed by Andrew, shows that Linnea, and ...
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Overuse of bullet points
I collaborate with someone who insists on making every sentence (or two) in a business document into a bullet point, by prefacing it with a bullet.
This is typically done across a multi-page document,...
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Using exclamation points in fiction
I've heard some advice that you're only supposed to use an exclamation point every 100,000 words or so. I'm finding this advice very hard to follow; I've written 2,000 words so far and have about 5 ...
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What is the preferred way to type out ellipses?
I have seen ellipses written out both with ("Well . . . gosh . . .") and without spaces ("Well...gosh...") between the dots. I've also looked at several different online writing style sites, and found ...
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When should I use punctuation with bullets?
When writing bulleted items, what are the rules for placing periods?
Presumably bulleted items that aren't sentences wouldn't require punctuation:
Orange
Apple
Banana
But how about sentence bullets?
...
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When dialog is italicized, should the quotation marks be italicized as well?
For example, in the following exchange,
"Shut up!" she yelled. "I can't think when you ramble."
(For context, it's for a novel or online story publication.) I want to emphasize ...
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How not to overuse ellipsis?
I always… feel… so… expressive when I see this little nicy dots!.. I just can't stop to put them more… and more… and more… Please teach me how to stop!..
Update: I guess people misunderstood me. I ...
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Use of punctuation within quotes with single words or letters
Consider the following sentence:
Huego becomes fuego by discarding its "h" in favor of "f".
Do not omit the trailing "s", which is key to the overall meaning here.
Nueve comes from the Latin word "...
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What's the most effective way to indicate an unknown year in a decade?
I want to indicate that the setting of a story is Los Angeles in the 2030s, but I don't want to specify the year, and I don't want to write it as Los Angeles, 2030s
The Possibilities
Los Angeles, 203-...
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Should you only use colons and full stops in dialogues?
Should you only use colons and full stops in dialogues? I thought about using a semi-colon in one of my dialogues, but I had second thought about it, because when we talk, we don't really ...
user36239
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When quoting, must I also copy hyphens used to divide words that continue on the next line?
I want to quote a text in which re of the word relationships is on one line while lationships is on the next, and a hyphen follows re (re-) to indicate that the word continues on the next line. When I ...
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Using colons and semi-colons in dialogue
I've often heard writers say they don't like using colons and semi-colons in dialogue specifically. I don't often see colons and semi-colons in dialogue, but sometimes it just seems like it's by far ...
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What is the name of the technique where quotation marks are not closed but reopened to indicate a break in speech
The wizard slid the application over to the goblin.
"I'm afraid, Mister Barnes, we cannot accept your letter of resignation at present. You are simply too ugly to qualify for an exit scheme, and ...
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Using ”as” after dialogue tags
Should a comma be used after a dialogue tag and before the word ”as”.
For example:
”I don’t like this at all, ” he said, as the door closed behind them.
Or ”I don’t like this at all, ” he said ...
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What is the correct way to use semicolons vs. commas vs. em dashes?
In Sabriel by Garth Nix, near the beginning of Chapter Two, there is the following sentence:
Anything powerful enough to cross the Wall usually retained enough magic to assume the shape of a soldier; ...
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Shouting in a question
How do I express shouting in a question?
In a non-question sentence, I just put an exclamation mark at the end and/or use words like "shouted"/"yelled"/etc in the "said" tag and it feels fine. But ...
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The difference between dialogue marks
Most authors use dialogue in writing, especially when writing fiction. Now, if I remember my first grade primary school correctly, dialogue can be directly separated from narration in a number of ways....
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Questions with flat tone in dialogue
I'm sure we have all heard people say questions without putting the tone inflection on the end. I am writing a novel and I have a piece of dialogue where a character says:
“Why are you here.”
...
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Capitalization after use of colon?
This is a sentence from a current writing project detailing how people in jail feel about reading.
It provides an escape from the reality of what lies before them: time.
Should "time" be capitalized?...
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Is there a standard for dealing with lyrics in dialogue and narration in creative writing?
I'm peer-reviewing/editing a paper for a final in my English course and in it, the author has a character singing a song (of the author's creation). The character is singing in dialogue, like so:
&...
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How to use parentheses
Parentheses have many uses; I find myself reaching for them often. Increasingly though, I realise I can convey the same meaning without parentheses with little or only minor loss in succinctness. ...
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Multiple sentences in a parenthetical phrase - How do I punctuate properly?
I keep on running into this problem. I will have a parenthetical phrase (which is something set off by parentheses, rather like this, for those of you that do not know), but I need to include multiple ...
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Which comma(s) can I remove in this sentence? I feel like there are too many here but all seem necessary to me
We can see that the London subway system, which was opened in 1863, has the longest total track length, at 394 kilometers, followed by those in Paris and Tokyo, at 199 and 155 kilometers respectively.
...
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'Ellipsis' - what do they convey and how to use them aptly in a Novel?
In the writing practises guides, it is usually mentioned that use of ellipsis is a bad practice.
But I have come across certain usages in professional writing.
To give an example;
In the novel Eat ...
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How to punctuate dialogue tags with action descriptions
Someone told me that it's incorrect or outdated punctuation to put a comma after "said" in dialogue tags such as the following (from an old book we're reprinting):
“I shouldn’t wonder if you could ...
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Dialogue interruptions — using em dashes
This is my first time in writers, so I apologise if I make a mistake. I've searched for this, but I can't find a concrete and complete answer. Please forgive me if I've somehow missed it and it had ...
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Should I be using commas to suggest/enforce cadence?
I always think of commas as indicating pauses in speech, and vice versa.
So I was surprised the other day when I saw somebody's typed-out Pledge of Allegiance, which looked like this:
"I pledge ...
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Is it okay to use a lot of exclamation marks?
I've noticed that I use a lot of exclamation marks when my characters are talking. They appear a lot in action scenes.
Is there any rule of thumb when using exclamation marks?
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How to show that one long line of poetry is only one line
If I'm writing the following clerihew resume where I'm constrained to 40 characters per line.
+----------------------------------------+
|Peter Turner |
|code burner ...
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Correct punctuation for showing a character's confusion
I'm trying to show that the narration (third person limited) is being interrupted by the character's thought process, and I'm not sure what punctuation is best for this situation.
So far, I've tried ...
user36961
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Which is the correct way to punctuate this dialogue with ellipses?
Below are four alternate dialogues that I am confused between. I'd like to know which is the correctly punctuated one. Also please explain how to use ellipses in a dialogue which is interrupted by a ...
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Is a new paragraph line needed in dialogue when a character responds with actions?
For example:
"Move!" I immediately side stepped him.
OR
"Move!"
I immediately side stepped him.
I know a new line of paragraph is needed for each speaker, but does the same rule apply in this ...
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Is it acceptable to punctuate and capitalize a dialogue tag like a separate sentence?
When a piece of writing has a quoted sentence followed by a dialogue tag, the sentence is usually ended with a comma (inside the quotation marks) and the dialogue tag is in sentence case, like this:
&...
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How to express sarcasm in non-dialogue text?
You know how sometimes we say something sarcastically, and do the double-finger twitch that's supposed to symbolize quotation marks? How do you write that in non-dialogue text (narration)? Not ...
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Using dashes in writing dialogue
Does anyone use em dashes (or two hyphens) to denote speakers in dialogue passages? Joyce does this as does William Gaddis. Many others. I practice it, but my only "conceptual understanding" ...
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Hyphen or en-dash
What is the correct dash usage when naming a title?
I have an essay with the title:
The success factors for successful e-commerce - A Linux-based e-commerce platform from an economic perspective
...
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Punctuation-Quote or Quote-Punctuation?
I'm writing a document using the Chicago Manual of Style. I don't have access to the full guide, only to what's provided on-line.
Now I wondering as to whether, in the main text itself, I should use ...
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