Chapter 5: The Writing Process—Editing

Whatever you do, don’t quit now! Self-correction is an essential part of the writing process, one that students or professionals skip at their peril. Say you flew through drafting a quick email. Glancing back to ensure that it’s correct in terms of its grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics helps you avoid confusing your reader or embarrassing yourself. Communication errors within emails are like stains on your shirt or rips in your uniform: they give the impression that you are incompetent or apathetic about your messaging; professors and employers believe this shows a lack of attention to detail. In fact, they may even believe that poor messaging is a malware or phishing attack (Parsons et al., 2016).

Always keep in mind that people generalize to equate the quality of your writing with the quality of your work. Because readers tend to be judgmental, they may even draw bigger conclusions about your level of education, work ethic, and overall professionalism from even a small writing sample. When assessing résumés and cover letters—where your words are the first impression employers have of you—employers are judgmental about your writing because their customers will do so. Employers do not want their employees to represent their company in a way that makes it look like their organization produces shoddy and amateur work.

The final stage of the writing process involves managing your readers’ impressions by editing your draft from beginning to end. Initially, this involves returning to your goals at the start of the writing process and assessing where your document is in relation to the strategy set to achieve it. When you get a sense of how far your document is from achieving that primary purpose, you realize what needs to be done to close that gap—what you need to add, rewrite, delete, and improve. Your next move is a two-step editing process of substantial revisions and proof-editing. The order of these is crucial to avoid wasting time. You wouldn’t proofread for minor grammatical errors before substantial revisions because you may end up deleting paragraphs you meticulously proofread with a fine-tooth comb. Divide the editing process in the following order:

Figure 5: The four-stage writing process and stage 4 breakdown

• 5.1: Substantial Revisions
• 5.2: Proofreading for Grammar
• 5.3: Proofreading for Punctuation
• 5.4: Proofreading for Spelling
• 5.5: Proofreading for Mechanics

5.1: Substantial Revisions

Before you begin your editing process with a bird’s-eye view of the whole document, it might be a good idea to step away from it altogether. Distancing yourself from the work you just drafted helps you approach it again with fresh eyes. This requires effective time management so that you have a solid draft ready well ahead of a deadline. Leaving enough time to shift attention to other work projects or your personal life, however, helps you forget a little what you were doing with the document in question. Ask yourself, Will that target reader understand what you’ve written in the order you’ve presented it? To complete their understanding of your topic, what do they need to see that isn’t in your draft yet? What parts are redundant, confuse the reader, or otherwise get in the way of their understanding and can just be deleted?

Alienating yourself from your own work helps give you the critical distance necessary to be more ruthless toward it than you are at the drafting stage. You cling too personally to the words you come up with at the drafting stage, whereas you would be more critical of the same words if they were written by someone else. Creating that critical distance helps you:

1. Re-arrange the order that you originally plotted out at the outlining step, if need be
2. Recognize gaps that must be filled with yet more draft material
3. Chop out parts that don’t contribute to the purpose you set out to achieve, difficult as it may be to delete words that you labored into being

Before returning to the topic of trimming, however, let’s consider what you’re looking for when you evaluate your draft.

• 5.1.1: Evaluating Your Draft
• 5.1.2: Reorganizing Your Draft
• 5.1.3: Adding to Your Draft
• 5.1.4: Trimming Your Draft

5.1.1: Evaluating Your Draft

When considering how your draft meets the objectives you set out to achieve at the outset, use a few different lenses to assess that achievement. Each lens corresponds to a step in the drafting process, as shown in the table below.

Table 5.1.1: Evaluation Lenses and Corresponding Steps in the Drafting Process

Approaching the text critically as if you were the reader you’re catering to—not as the words’ sentimental and protective parent—means keeping the most effective and clear concepts and assuring they flow together into a cohesive narrative.

When evaluating for content, consider what your audience needs to see for understanding the topic. Ask yourself if your coverage is thorough or if you’ve left gaps that would confuse your target audience. Do any concepts need further explanation? Less? With constraints on the length and scope of your document in mind, consider if there are digressions present that would send your reader down off-topic dead ends. Have you given your audience more than what they need? Will your document overwhelm them? Finally, have you fact-checked all of your information to ensure that it is true and accurately cited?

When evaluating for organization, consider the flow of content to determine if the document leads the reader through to the intended understanding of the topic. Is it clear that you’re taking the direct approach by getting right to the point when you need to do so, or is it obvious that you’re taking the indirect approach as necessary? Would it be clear to your reader what organizing principle you’ve followed? When you outlined your draft, you did so from a preliminary understanding of your topic. As you have drafted your message, do you see that something you first thought made sense near the end of your draft makes more sense at the beginning? Shifting paragraphs around for flow is a part of the editing process that will assure related concepts are close.

When evaluating for style, again consider your audience’s needs, expectations, and abilities. Did you draft in an informal style but now realize that a slightly more formal style is more appropriate or vice versa? If you produced a 6 Cs style rubric for Exercise #1 at the end of §4.5.3, apply it now to your draft to determine if it meets audience expectations in terms of its clarity, conciseness, coherence, correctness, courtesy, and confidence. Now would also be a great time to assess whether your style is consistent or whether you started off formal but then lapsed into informality or vice versa.

When evaluating for readability, consider your audience’s needs in terms of the many features that frame and divide the text so that your reader doesn’t get lost, confused, overwhelmed, repulsed, or bored. Check for whether you can do the following:

• Clarify titles
• Add headings or subheadings to break up large chunks of text
• Use lists to enable readers to skim over several items
• Add visuals to complement your written descriptions

The conclusions you draw from these evaluations will help inform and motivate you toward the substantial revisions explained below.

5.1.2: Reorganizing Your Draft

When you first move into a new apartment or house, you have a general idea of where all your furniture should go based on where it was in your previous place. After a few days, however, you may realize that the old arrangement doesn’t make as much sense in the new layout. A new arrangement would be much more practical. The same is true of your document’s organization once you’ve completed a working draft. You may realize that your original outline plan doesn’t flow as well as you thought it would now that you’ve learned more about the topic in the process of writing on it.

Moving pieces around is as easy as highlighting, copying (Ctrl c), cutting (Ctrl x), and pasting (Ctrl v) into new positions. When moving a whole paragraph or more, however, ensure coherence by rewriting the transitional element in the concluding sentence of the paragraph above the relocated paragraph so that it properly bridges to the newly located topic sentence below it. Likewise, the relocated paragraph’s (or paragraphs’) concluding sentence must transition properly to the new topic sentence below it. Additionally, any elements within the relocated text that assume knowledge of what came just before such as abbreviations (e.g., ADA) that the reader hasn’t seen fully spelled out yet must be fully spelled out here and can be abbreviated later in the text.

5.1.3:Adding to Your Draft

In furnishing your new apartment or house, especially if it’s larger than what you had before, you’ll find that merely transplanting your old furniture isn’t enough. The new space now has gaps that need to be filled—a chair here, a couch there, perhaps a rug to tie the whole room together. Likewise, you’ll find when writing a document that gaps need to be filled with more detail. Knowing your organizing principles well is helpful here. If you’re explaining a procedure in a chronological sequence of steps, for instance, you may find that one of the steps you describe involves a whole other sequence of steps that you’re sure your audience won’t know. In this case, embedding the additional sequence using a sub-list numbered with roman numerals (if you used Arabic numerals in the main list) completes the explanation. Of course, keep in mind any stated maximum word or page requirements in case your document exceeds the acceptable range. If it does, then you must be ruthless about chopping anything unnecessary out of your draft.

5.1.4: Trimming Your Draft

As #2 in the 6 Cs of good writing, conciseness means using the fewest words possible to achieve the goal of communication, which is for your reader to understand your intended meaning. Many college students who stretched out their words to reach 1,000-word essays are relieved to find that college and professional audiences prefer writing that is as terse as a text. Indeed, because typing with thumbs is inefficient compared with 10 fingers on a keyboard and no one wants to read more than they must on a little screen, texting helps teach conciseness. Although professional writing requires a higher quality of writing than friends require of texts, the audience expectations are the same. The more succinct your writing is without compromising clarity, the more your reader will appreciate your writing. Given the choice between an article of 500 words and one of 250 that says the same thing, any reader would prefer the 250-word version. We all have better things to do in our jobs than read long-winded blather. Anything that doesn’t contribute to the purpose of your message or document as you conceived it back in Step 1.1 of the writing process must go.

The first trick to paring down your writing is to really want to make every word count and to see excess words as grotesque indulgence. So, pretend that words are expensive. If you had to pay a cent of your own money for every character you wrote in a document that you had to print 1,000 copies of, you would surely adopt a frugal writing style. You would then see that adding unnecessary words is doubly wasteful because time is money. Time spent writing or reading tiresome pap is time you and your reader could spend making money doing other things. Terse, to-the-point writing is both easier to write and easier to read than insufferable rambling. After putting yourself in a frugal frame of mind that detests an excessively wordy style, follow the practical advice in the subsections below to trim your writing effectively.

1. Mass-delete Whatever Doesn’t Belong

The first practical step toward trimming your document is a large-scale purge of whatever doesn’t contribute to the purpose you set out to achieve. The order is important because you don’t want to do any fine-tooth-comb proof-editing on anything that you’re just going to delete anyway. This is probably the most difficult action to follow through on because it means deleting large swaths of writing that may have taken some time and effort to compose. You may even have enjoyed writing them because they’re on quite interesting sub-topics. If they sidetrack readers, whose understanding of the topic would be unaffected (at best) or (worst) overwhelmed by their inclusion, those sentences, paragraphs, and even whole sections simply must go. Perhaps save them in an “outtakes” document if you think you can use them elsewhere. Otherwise, like those who declutter their apartment after reading Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014), the release that follows such a purge can feel something like enlightenment. Highlight, delete, and don’t look back.

2. Delete Long Lead-ins

The next-biggest savings come from deleting lead-ins that you wrote to gear up toward your main point. In ordinary speech, we use lead-ins as something like throat-clearing exercises. In writing, however, these are useless at best because they state the obvious. At worst, lead-ins immediately repulse the reader by signaling that the rest of the message will contain some time-wasting verbiage. If you see the following crossed-out expressions or anything like them in your writing, just delete them:

• I’m Jerry Mulligan and I’m writing this email to ask you to please consider my application for a co-op position at your firm.
• You may be interested to know that you can now find the updated form in the company shared drive.
• To conclude this memo, we recommend a cautious approach to using emojis when texting clients, and only after they’ve done so first themselves.

In the first example, the recipient sees the name of the sender before even opening their email. It’s therefore redundant for the sender to introduce themselves by name and say that they wrote this email. Likewise, in the third example, the reader can see that this is the conclusion if it’s the last paragraph, especially if it comes below the heading “Conclusion.” In each case, the sentence really begins after these lead-in expressions, and the reader misses nothing in their absence. Delete them.

3. Pare Down Unnecessarily Wordy Phrases

We habitually sprinkle long stock phrases into everyday speech because they sound fancy merely because they’re long and sometimes old-fashioned, as if length and long-time use grants respectability (it doesn’t). These phrases look ridiculously cumbersome when seen next to their more concise equivalent words and phrases, as you can see in Table 5.1.4.3 below. Unless you have good reason to do otherwise, always replace the former with the latter in your writing.

Table 5.1.4.3: Replace Unnecessarily Wordy Phrases with 1–2 Word Equivalents

Again, the reader misses nothing if you use the words and phrases in the second column above instead of those in the first. Also, concise writing is more accessible to readers who are learning English as an additional language.

4. Delete Redundant Words

Like the wordy expressions in Table 5.1.4.3 above, our speech is also riddled with redundant words tacked on unnecessarily in stock expressions. These prefabricated phrases strung mindlessly together aren’t so bad when spoken because talk is cheap. In writing, however, which should be considered expensive, they make the author look like an irresponsible heavy spender. Be on the lookout for the expressions below so that you are in command of your language. Simply delete the crossed-out words if they appear in combination with the other words:

• absolutely essential (You can’t get any more essential than essential)
• future plans (Are you going to make plans about the past? Plans are always future)
• small in size (The context will determine that you mean small in size, quantity, etc.)
• refer back to
• in order to (Only use “in order” if it helps distinguish an infinitive phrase, which begins with “to,” from the preposition “to” appearing close to it)
• each and every or each and every (or just “all,” as we saw in Table 5.1.4.3 above)
• repeat again (Is this déjà vu?)

5. Delete Filler Expressions and Words

If you audio-record your conversations and make a transcript of just the words themselves, you’ll find an abundance of filler words and expressions that you could do without and your sentences would still mean the same thing. A few common ones that appear at the beginning of sentences are “There is,” “There are,” and “It is,” which must be followed by a relative clause starting with the relative pronoun that or who. Consider the following, for example:

In the first and third cases, you can simply delete “There are” and “It is,” as well as the relative pronouns “who” and “that,” respectively, leaving the sentence perfectly fine without them. In the second case, deleting “There is” requires slightly reorganizing the word order but otherwise requires no additional words to say the very same thing. In each case, you save two or three words that simply don’t need to be there.

Other common filler words include the articles a, an, and the, especially in combination with the preposition of. You can eliminate many instances of of the simply by deleting them and flipping the order of the nouns on either side of them.

Obviously, you can’t do this in all cases (e.g., changing “first of the month” to “month first” makes no sense). When proofreading, however, just be on the lookout for instances where you can.

The definite article preceding plural nouns is also an easy target. Try deleting the article to see if the sentence still makes sense without it.

Though the above excess words seem insignificant on their own, they bulk up the total word count unnecessarily when used in combination throughout a large document. They are like dog food fillers such as “powdered cellulose” (a.k.a. sawdust). They provide no nutritive value, but manufacturers add them to charge you more for the mere volume they add to the product. Please don’t cut your writing with filler.

6. Delete Needless Adverbs

Streamline your writing by purging the filler adverbs that you pepper your conversational speech with. In writing, these add little meaning. Recall that adverbs are words that explain verbs (like adjectives do nouns) and typically, but not always, end in -ly. Some of the most common intensifying adverbs include the following:

• actually
• basically
• completely
• definitely
• extremely
• fairly
• fully
• greatly
• hugely
• literally
• quite
• rather
• really
• somewhat
• terribly
• totally
• very
• wholly

Perhaps the worst offender in recent years has been literally, which people overuse and often misuse when they mean “figuratively” or even “extremely,” especially when exaggerating. Saying, “I’ve literally told you a million times not to exaggerate” misuses literally (albeit ironically in this case) because telling someone not to exaggerate a million times would literally take about 20 days if you did nothing but repeat the phrase constantly all day every day without sleeping. That’s not going to happen. If you say, “I’m literally crazy for your speaking style,” you just mean “I’m thrilled by your speaking style.” Using “literally” in this case is just babbling nonsense.

If you find yourself slipping in any of the above adverbs in your writing, question whether they need to be there. (In the case of the previous sentence, leaving out “really” before “need” doesn’t diminish the impact of the statement much.) Consider the following sentence:

7. Favor Short, Plain Words and Use Jargon Selectively

If you pretend that every character in each word you write costs money from your own pocket, you would do what readers prefer: use shorter words. The beauty of plain words is that they are more understandable and draw less attention to themselves than big, fancy words while still getting the point across. This is especially true when your audience includes ESL readers. Choosing shorter words is easy because they are often the first that come to mind, so writing in plain language saves you time in having to look up and use bigger words unnecessarily. It also involves vigilance in opting for shorter words if longer jargon words come to mind first.

Obviously, you would use jargon for precision when appropriate for your audience’s needs and your own. You would use the word “photosynthesis,” for instance, if (1) you needed to refer to the process by which plants convert solar energy into sugars and (2) you know your audience knows what the word means. In this case, using the big, fancy jargon word achieves a net savings in the number of characters because it’s the most precise term for a process that otherwise needs several words. Using jargon words merely to extend the number of characters, however, is a desperate-looking move that your instructors and professional audiences will see through as a time-wasting smokescreen for a lack of quality ideas.

Table 5.1.4.7 below lists several polysyllabic words (those having more than one syllable) that writers often use when a shorter, more plain and familiar word will do just as well. There’s a time and place for fancier words, such as when formality is required, but in routine writing situations where there’s no need for them, always opt for the simple, one- or two-syllable word.

Table 5.1.4.7: Favor Plain, Simple Words over Polysyllabic Words

Source: Brockway (2015)

The longer words in the above table tend to come from the Greek and Latin side of the English language’s parentage, whereas the shorter words come from the Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) side. When toddlers begin speaking English, they use Anglo-Saxon-derived words because they’re easier to master and therefore recognize them as plain, simple words throughout their adult lives.

Avoid using longer words when they are grammatically incorrect. For instance, using reflexive pronouns such as “myself” just because it sounds fancy instead looks foolish when the subject pronoun “I” or object pronoun “me” are correct.

The same goes for misusing the other reflexive pronouns “yourself” instead of “you,” “himself” or “herself” instead of “him” or “her,” etc.

Sometimes, you see short words rarely used in conversation being used in writing to appear fancy, but they just look pretentious, such as “said” preceding a noun.

Usually, the context helps determine that the noun following “said” is the one mentioned earlier, making “said” an unnecessary, pompous add-on. Delete it or use the demonstrative pronouns “this” or “that” if necessary to avoid confusion.

Finally, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a simple style is the same as being simplistic. Good writing can communicate complex ideas in simple words just like bad writing can communicate simple ideas with overly complex words. The job of the writer in professional situations is to make smart things sound simple. Be wary of writing that makes simple things sound complex. You probably don’t want what it’s selling.

8. Simplify Verbs

Yet another way that people overcomplicate their writing involves expressing the action in as many words as possible, such as by using the passive voice, continuous tenses, and nominalizations. We’ve already seen how the passive voice rearranges the standard subject-verb-object word order so that, by going object-verb-subject, an auxiliary verb (form of the verb to be) and the preposition by must be added to say what an active-voice sentence says without them. Consider the following sentences, for instance:

Here, the active-voice construction on the right uses two fewer words to say the same thing. Though we saw in §4.3.4 that there certainly are legitimate uses of the passive voice, overusing the passive voice sounds unnatural and appears as an attempt to extend the word count or sound more fancy and objective. Because the passive voice is either more wordy or more vague than the active voice, however, readers prefer the latter most of the time and so should you.

Another common annoyance to busy readers is using continuous verb forms instead of simple ones. The continuous verb form uses the participle form of the main verb, which means adding an -ing ending to it, and adds an auxiliary verb (form of the verb to be, which differs according to the person and number) to determine the tense (past, past perfect, present, future, future perfect, etc.). In the table below, you can see how cumbersome continuous forms are compared with simple ones.

Table 5.1.4.8: Favor Simple Verb Forms Instead of Continuous Forms

There are certainly legitimate reasons for using continuous verb forms to describe actions stretching out over time. In the case of the present tense, saying, “I am considering my options” is more appropriate compared with “I consider my options” because you really are in the process of considering your options. In other tenses, however, people who use word-count-extending strategies favor continuous verb forms because they think those forms sound fancier. Overused or misused, however, such verb forms just annoy the reader by overcomplicating the language.

Yet another strategy for extending the word count with verbs is to turn the main action they describe into nouns, a process called nominalization. This involves taking a verb and adding a suffix such as -ant, -ent, -ion, -tion, -sion, -ence, -ance, or -ing, as well as adding forms of other verbs, such as to make or to give. Nominalization may also require determiners such as articles (the, a, or an) before the action nouns. Consider the following comparisons of nominalized-verb sentences with simplified verb forms:

You can tell that the above sentences where the simple verb drives the action are punchier and have greater impact than those that turn the action into a noun and thus require more words to say the same thing. Indeed, each of the verb-complicating, word-count-extending strategies throughout this subsection is bad enough on its own. Writing riddled with nominalization, continuous verb forms, and passive-voice verb constructions muddies writing with an insufferable multitude of unnecessary words.

The final trick to making your writing more concise is the Editor feature in your word processor. In Microsoft Word, for instance, you can set up the Spelling & Grammar checker to scan for all the problems above by following the procedure below:

1. Go to File (Alt + f) and, in the File menu, click on Options (at the bottom; Alt + t) to open the Word Options control panel.
2. Click on Proofing in the Word Options control panel.
3. Check all the boxes in the “When correcting spelling and grammar in Word” section of the Word Options control panel.
4. Click on the Settings… button beside “Writing Style” under the check boxes to open the Grammar Settings control panel.
5. Click on all the check boxes in the Grammar Settings control panel, as well as the Okay button of both this panel and the Word Options panel to activate.
   

   

6. Go to the Review menu tab in the tool ribbon at the top of the Word screen and select Spelling & Grammar (Alt + r, s) to activate the Editor that will, besides checking for spelling and grammar errors, also check for all of the stylistic errors you checked boxes for in the Grammar Settings control panel.

When you finish running your grammar, style, and spellchecker through your document, a dialog box will appear showing readability statistics. Pay close attention to stats such as the average number of words per sentence and letters per word. If the former exceeds thirty and the latter ten, your writing might pose significant challenges to some readers, especially ESL. Do them a solid favor by breaking up your sentences and simplifying your word choices.

Rather than suck the life out of language by adding useless verbiage, make your writing like a paperclip. A paperclip is beautiful in its elegance. It’s so simple in its construction and yet does its job of holding paper together perfectly without any extra parts or mechanisms like staples that need to fasten pages together and unfasten them. A paperclip does it with just a couple of inches of thin, machine-bent wire. We should all aspire to make our language as elegant as a paperclip so that we can live a life free of time-wasting writing.

5.2: Proofreading for Grammar

Grammar organizes the relationships between words in a sentence, especially between the doer and action, so that the reader can understand in detail who’s doing what. When you botch those connections with grammar errors, however, you risk confusing the reader. Severe errors force the reader to interpret what you meant. If the reader then acts on an interpretation different from the meaning you intended, major consequences can ensue, including expensive damage control. You can avoid being a liability and embarrassing yourself by following some simple rules for how to structure your sentences grammatically. By following these rules habitually, especially when you apply them at the proofreading stage, not only will your writing be clearer to the reader and better organized, but your thought process may become more organized as well.

• 5.2.1: Sentence Errors
• 5.2.2: Grammar Errors

5.2.1: Sentence Errors

Readers who find comma splices, fragments, and run-on sentences lose confidence in the writer’s command of language and thus the quality of their work. Such giveaways suggest that the writer doesn’t know much about sentence structure and punctuation. This is especially bad coming from native English speakers in their 20s or older because it says that they still don’t understand the basics of their own written language even after decades of using it. It’s important to know what to look for, then, when proofreading your draft for sentence errors.

• 5.2.1.1: Comma Splices
• 5.2.1.2: Run-on Sentences
• 5.2.1.3: Sentence Fragments

1. Comma Splices

A comma splice is simply two independent clauses separated by only a comma. Perhaps the error comes from writers thinking that, because the two clauses say closely related things, they need something a little “lighter” than a period to separate them. While separating them with a comma is certainly possible, doing so with a comma alone shows that the writer doesn’t fully understand what a sentence is and what commas do.

Spotting a comma splice requires being able to identify an independent clause—that is, the combination of a subject and predicate (noun + verb) that can stand on its own as a sentence. In the Figure 5.2.1.1 example above, the first independent clause’s subject is “The sale” and its predicate is “begins on Saturday” (sale + begins), so it can stand on its own as a sentence if it ended with a period. The second is an imperative clause with the main verb being “let,” so it too can stand on its own as a sentence. When proofreading, be on the lookout for commas that have independent clauses on either side—that is, clauses that can stand on their own as sentences.

Fixing a comma splice is as easy as swapping out the comma for the correct punctuation or adding a conjunction, depending on the relationship you want to express between the two clauses. Altogether, you have four options in correcting a comma splice—two that replace the comma with other punctuation and two that leave it as-is but add a conjunction:

• Replace the comma with a period to turn the two independent clauses into two sentences if each is a distinct enough complete thought. Don’t forget to capitalize the letter that followed the comma. Correcting the comma splice in the Figure 5.2.1.1 example would look as follows:

The sale begins on Saturday. Let’s get there at 9 a.m.

• Replace the comma with a semicolon to form a compound sentence if the two independent clauses are related enough to be in the same sentence:

The sale begins on Saturday; let’s get there at 9 a.m.

If the writer wanted something a little lighter than a period to separate the two clauses, then a semicolon fits the bill.

• Add a coordinating conjunction (e.g., and, but, so; see Table 4.3.2a for all seven of them) to form a compound sentence if it clarifies the relationship between the independent clauses:

The sale begins on Saturday, so let’s get there at 9 a.m.

Note that if you see three or more independent clauses with commas between them and an and or or before the last one, then it’s a perfectly correct (albeit probably too long) compound sentence that combines whole clauses rather than just nouns or verbs. See the final example given in Comma Rule 4 below for a sentence organized into a list of clauses.

• Add a subordinating conjunction (e.g., when, if, though, etc.; see Table 4.3.2a for more) to form a complex sentence (see Table 4.3.2b for more on complex sentences):

When the sale begins on Saturday, let’s get there at 9 a.m.

Though each of the above comma-splice fixes is grammatically correct, the last two are best because adding a conjunction clarifies the relationship between the ideas expressed in the two clauses.

A common comma-splice error involves “however” following a comma that separates two independent clauses. Consider the following sentences that are grammatically equivalent:

The company raised its rates, however, we were granted an exemption.

= The company raised its rates, however we were granted an exemption.

= The company raised its rates, we were granted an exemption.

Seeing that you have independent clauses on either side of the comma preceding “however” is easier if you imagine the sentence without both “however” and the comma following it, as in the third example sentence above. Fixing the error is as easy as replacing the comma preceding “however” with a semicolon and ensuring that a comma follows “however,” which is a conjunctive adverb (see Comma Rule 2 below):

The company raised its rates; however, we were granted an exemption.

This is somewhat tricky because “however” can be surrounded by commas if it’s used as an interjection between the subject and predicate (see Comma Rule 3 below) or between clauses in a complex sentence:

This particular company, however, had been delaying raising its rates for years.

With the company raising its rates, however, we had to apply for an exemption.

Because you see the first clause beginning with “With” in the second example, you know that it’s a dependent clause that will end with a comma followed by the main clause. It’s thus possible to add “however” where the comma separates the subordinate from the main clause.

When proofreading, be on the lookout for “however” surrounded by commas. If the clauses on either side can stand on their own as sentences, fix the comma splice easily by replacing the first comma with a semicolon. If one of the clauses before or after is a subordinate clause and the other a main clause, however, then you’re safe (as in this sentence). For more on comma splices, see the following resources:

• Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices (Purdue OWL)
• Fixing Comma Splices (Plotnick, 2003)

2. Run-on Sentences

Whereas a comma splice places the wrong punctuation between independent clauses, a run-on (a.k.a. fused) sentence simply omits punctuation between them. Perhaps this comes from the second clause following the first so closely in the writer’s free-flowing stream of consciousness that they don’t think any punctuation is necessary between them. While it may be clear to the writer where one idea-clause ends and the other begins, that division isn’t so clear to the reader. The absence of punctuation will cause them to trip up, and they’re forced to mentally insert the proper punctuation to make sense of it, which is frustrating.

Spotting a run-on is easy if it’s just commas missing before coordinating conjunctions. If you string together the last couple of sentences concluding the above paragraph, for instance, and use conjunctions to separate the four clauses without accompanying commas, you’ll get a cumbersome run-on:

That division isn’t so clear to the reader and the absence of punctuation will cause them to trip up and they’re forced to mentally insert the proper punctuation to make sense of it and that’s frustrating.

“Run-on” is a good description for sentences like this because they seem like they can just go on forever like a toddler tacking on clause after clause using coordinating conjunctions (… and … and … and …). Though the above sentence would be perfectly correct if commas preceded “and” and “so,” adding further clauses would just exhaust the reader’s patience, commas or no commas. A run-on is not necessarily the same as a long sentence. Such a long sentence can become convoluted, however, especially for audiences who may struggle with English, such as ESL learners.

Sometimes spotting a run-on is just a matter of tripping over its nonsense. Say you’re reading your draft and then come across the following sentence:

We’ll have to drive the station is too far away to get there on foot.

You’re doing just fine reading this sentence up until the word “is,” since, the way things were going, you probably expected a vehicle to follow the article “the.” Assuming “drive” is being used as a transitive verb (Simmons, 2007) that takes an object, “station wagon” would make sense. When you see “is” instead of “wagon,” however, you might go back and see if the writer forgot to put “to” before “station” to make “drive to the station.” That doesn’t make sense either, however, given what follows. Finally, you realize that you’re really dealing with two distinct independent clauses starting with a short one and that some punctuation is missing after “drive.” The sentence is like a chain with a broken link.

Once you’ve found that missing link, fixing a run-on is just a simple matter of adding the correct punctuation and perhaps a conjunction, depending on the relationship between the clauses. Indeed, the options for fixing a run-on are identical to those for fixing a comma splice. Following the same menu of options as those presented above, you would be correct doing any of the following:

• Add a period between the clauses (after “drive”) and capitalize “the” to form two sentences:

We’ll have to drive. The station is too far away to get there on foot.

• Add a semicolon between the clauses to form a compound sentence:

We’ll have to drive; the station is too far away to get there on foot.

This is the easiest, quickest fix of them all.

• Add a comma and coordinating conjunction to form a compound sentence:

We’ll have to drive, for the station is too far away to get there on foot.

• Add a subordinating conjunction to form a complex sentence:

We’ll have to drive because the station is too far away to get there on foot.

Again, though each of the above run-on fixes is grammatically correct, only the last one best clarifies the relationship between the ideas expressed in the two clauses. For more on run-on sentences, see the following resources:

• Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices (Purdue OWL, n.d.)
• Grammar: Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments (Walden University, 2016)

3. Sentence Fragments

A sentence fragment is one that’s incomplete usually because either the main-clause subject, predicate, or both are missing. The most common sentence fragment is the latter, where a subordinate clause poses as a sentence on its own, usually with its main clause being the preceding or following sentence. If the final example in §5.2.1.2 above were a fragment, it would look like the following:

We’ll have to drive. Because the station is too far away to get there on foot.

Recall that a complex sentence combines a main (a.k.a. independent) clause with a subordinate (a.k.a. dependent) clause, and the cue for the latter is that it begins with a subordinating conjunction (see Table 4.3.2a for several examples). In the above case, the coordinating conjunction “because” makes the clause subordinate, which must join with a main clause in the same sentence to be complete.

The fix is simply to join the fragment subordinate clause with its main clause nearby so that they’re in the same sentence. You can do this in one of two ways, either of which is perfectly correct:

• Delete the period between the sentences and make the subordinating conjunction lowercase if the subordinate clause follows the main clause:

We’ll have to drive because the station is too far away to get there on foot.

• Move the subordinate clause so that it precedes the main clause, separate the two with a comma, and make the first letter of the main clause lowercase:

Because the station is too far away to get there on foot, we’ll have to drive.

The same applies to sentences that begin with any of the seven coordinating conjunctions. These are technically fragments but can be easily fixed by joining them with the previous sentence to make a compound. You could also change the conjunction to something else, such as a conjunctive adverb like “However” for “but” or “Also” for “and” followed by a comma:

You may also encounter fragments that are just noun phrases, verb phrases, prepositional phrases, and so on. Of course, we speak often in fragments rather than full sentences, so if we’re writing informally, such fragments are perfectly acceptable. Even in some formal documents, such as résumés, fragments are expected in certain locations such as the Objective statement (an infinitive phrase) and profile paragraph (noun phrases) and in the Qualifications Summary.

If we’re writing formally, however, these fragmentary phrases are variations on the error of leaving sentences incomplete. The easy fix is always to re-unite them with a proper sentence or to make them into one by adding parts.

The beauty of the English language is that there’s an endless number of ways to say something and still be grammatically correct as long as you know what makes a proper sentence. If you don’t, review §4.3.1 and §4.3.2 till you can spot the main subject noun and verb in any sentence, as well as tell if they’re missing. For more on fragments, see the following resources:

• Sentence Fragments (Purdue OWL, n.d.)
• Grammar: Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments (Walden University, 2016)

For exercises in spotting and fixing comma splices, run-ons, and fragments, see the digital activities at the bottom of the Guide to Grammar and Writing pages linked above (Purdue OWL, n.d.), as well as Exercise: Run-ons, Comma Splices, and Fused Sentences (Purdue OWL, n.d.).

5.2.2: Grammar Errors

Let’s focus on some of the most common grammar errors in college and professional writing:

• 5.2.2.1: Subject-verb Disagreement
• 5.2.2.2: Pronoun-antecedent Disagreement
• 5.2.2.3: Faulty Parallelism
• 5.2.2.4: Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

1. Subject-verb Disagreement

Perhaps the most common grammatical error is subject-verb disagreement, which is when you pair a singular subject noun with a plural verb (usually ending without an s) instead of a singular one (usually ending with an s) or vice versa. Spotting such disagreements of number requires being able to identify the subject noun and main verb of every sentence and hence knowledge of sentence structure. The search for the main subject noun and verb is complicated by the fact that many other nouns and verbs in various phrase types can crowd into a sentence. The following subject-verb agreement (abbreviated “Subj-v Agr.”) rules help you know what to look for.

Quick Rules

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common subject-verb disagreement errors associated with each one.

Subj-v Agr Rule 1.1:

Singular subjects take singular verbs.

The first of many cuts is going to be the deepest.

Subj-v Agr Rule 1.2:

The indefinite pronouns each, either, and neither, and those ending with -body or -one take a singular verb.

If each of you chooses wisely, someone is going to win the prize, but everybody wins because neither really loses.

Subj-v Agr Rule 1.3:

Collective nouns and some irregular nouns with plural endings are singular and take a singular verb.

The band isn’t going on stage until the news about the stage lighting is more positive.

Subj-v Agr Rule 2:

Plural noun, compound noun, and plural indefinite pronoun subjects take plural verbs.

The rights of the majority usually trump those of minority groups, except when money and politics conspire, and both usually do.

Subj-v Agr Rule 3:

Compound subjects joined by or or nor take verbs that agree in number with the nouns closest to them.

Neither your lawyers nor the justice system is going to be able to adequately punish this type of crime.

Subj-v Agr Rule 4:

The verb in clauses beginning with there or here agrees with the subject noun following the verb.

There are two types of people in the world, and here comes one of them now.

Extended Explanations

Subj-v Agr. Rule 1.1: Singular subjects take singular verbs.

When the subject of the sentence—the doer of the action—is a singular subject (i.e., one doer), the verb (the action it performs) is always singular. Watch out, though: this rule holds even if phrases modifying the subject or intervening parenthetical elements are plural. You just have to be able to tell that those phrases and parenthetical elements aren’t the main subject and therefore don’t count when determining the number of the verb.

Correct:

Our investment is paying off nicely.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject “investment” takes the singular verb “is,” which is the third-person singular form of the verb to be.

Correct:

The source of all our network errors disappears whenever you do a system restart.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject “source” takes the singular main verb “disappears”; the plural noun “errors” immediately before the verb is just the last word in a prepositional phrase (“of . . .”) modifying the subject.

Correct:

Stalling for time to think of better responses doesn’t work in a job interview.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject “stalling,” a gerund (action noun), takes the singular main verb “does”; the plural noun “responses” immediately before the verb is just the last word in a prepositional phrase (“of . . .”) embedded in an infinitive phrase (“to think . . .”) embedded in another prepositional phrase (“for . . .”).

Correct:

The singer-songwriter, along with new additions to her five-piece backup band, arrives at the press conference at 1:30 p.m.

Why it’s correct: Despite the parenthetical addition of other actors, the grammatical subject (“singer-songwriter”) is still singular and takes a singular verb.

How This Helps the Reader

Following this rule helps the reader connect the doer of the action with the main action itself, especially when a variety of phrases, including nouns of different number, intervene between the subject noun and main verb.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for subject nouns (the main doers of the action) and the main verbs that the subject noun takes, then ensure that both are singular. Look out especially for verbs that are wrongly plural in form because the nouns immediately preceding them are plural despite the fact that they are only part of phrases modifying the main subject noun.

Incorrect:

The best vodka in the opinion of all the experts at international competitions are surprisingly the bottom-shelf Alberta Pure.

The fix:

The best vodka in the opinion of all the experts at international competitions is surprisingly the bottom-shelf Alberta Pure.

Incorrect:

The lucky winner, as well as three of their best friends, are going on an all-expenses-paid trip to beautiful Cornwall, Ontario!

The fix:

The lucky winner, as well as three of their best friends, is going on an all-expenses-paid trip to beautiful Cornwall, Ontario!

In the first incorrect example sentence above, the proximity of the plural nouns “experts” and “competitions” to the main verb (form of to be) probably made the writer think that the verb had to be plural, too. The true subject noun of the sentence, however, is “vodka,” which is singular and therefore takes the singular verb “is” no matter what comes between them. In the second incorrect sentence, the grammatical subject is the singular “winner,” so the main verb should be the singular “is,” not the plural “are.” A parenthetical interjection between the subject and the verb, even if it appears to pluralize the subject with “as well as,” “along with,” “plus,” or the like, technically doesn’t make a compound subject (see Subj-v Agr. Rule 2 below for more on compounds).

Subj-v Agr. Rule 1.2: The indefinite pronouns each, either, neither, and those ending with -body or -one take a singular verb.

When the subject noun of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun either, neither, each, anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody, anyone, everyone, someone, no one, or none (see Table 4.4.2a above on pronouns), it is singular and takes a singular verb.

Correct:

Each has enough personal finance know-how to handle her own taxes.

Why it’s correct: The subject pronoun “Each” can be thought of as the singular “Each one” and therefore takes a singular verb. In this case the verb is “has” rather than the plural “have” that would be appropriate if the subject were “All of them.”

Correct:

Either is fine.

Why it’s correct: The subject pronoun “Either” can be thought of as the singular “Either one,” despite implying a pair of options, and therefore takes a singular verb—in this case “is.”

Correct:

“Perhaps none is more vulnerable than James, a soft-spoken 19-year-old who is quick to flash a smile that would melt ice” (Chianello, 2014, ¶24).

Why it’s correct: The subject pronoun “none” in this case can be thought of as the singular “no one” because the topic of the sentence concerns a single person. The pronoun therefore takes a singular verb—in this case “is” rather than the plural “are.”

Exception: None can sometimes be a plural indefinite pronoun depending on what comes later in the sentence.

Correct:

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” (Goethe, 1809, p. 397).

Why it’s correct: The subject pronoun “none” can be thought of as “no people,” consistent in number with the later pronoun “those,” and thus a plural pronoun that takes a plural verb—in this case “are,” not “is.”

How This Helps the Reader

Following this rule helps the reader see that the “one” or “body” suffix in each of these indefinite pronouns is singular, even if the word applies to many people, and therefore takes a singular verb form.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for any indefinite pronouns ending with -one or -body taking a plural main verb and change the verb to the singular form.

Incorrect:

Everybody here share our opinion on quantitative easing.

The fix:  Everybody here shares our opinion on quantitative easing.

The fix:  All here share our opinion on quantitative easing.

Incorrect:

Each of you send enough carbon into the atmosphere to poison a river.

The fix: Each of you sends enough carbon into the atmosphere to poison a river.

The fix:  All of you send enough carbon into the atmosphere to poison a river.

Here, the “every” part of the word everybody in the first incorrect sentence and the fact that the second addresses a group suggests to the confused writer that a plurality of actors is at play, thus requiring the plural verbs “share” and “send.” Wrong! The “body” part of the word is the operative one; being singular, it takes a singular verb—“shares” in this case—and “Each” is short for “Each one.” Another fix in each case is to make the subject the plural “All” and keep the verbs plural.

Subj-v Agr. Rule 1.3: Collective nouns and some irregular nouns with plural endings are singular and take a singular verb.

Collective nouns such as “group” are grammatically singular and thus take a singular verb despite meaning several people or things. The following are common collective nouns:

The same is true of any company name that ends in s or has a compound name (e.g., Food Basics, Long & McQuade), as well as any compound of inanimate objects treated as a singular entity (e.g., meat and potatoes is considered one dish; see Subj-v Agr. Rule 2 below for more on compounds). Likewise, some special-case words that look like plurals because they end with s instead take singular pronouns and verbs, especially names for games and disciplines or areas of study, as well as dollar amounts, distances, and amounts of time:

Note that most of these words will be plural if used other than meaning disciplines, fields of study, games, or number of units. For instance, when you’re playing darts, you would use the plural verb in “Three darts remain” to refer to three individual darts in your hand but use a singular verb when saying “Darts is a way of life” because you’re now using “darts” in the sense of the game rather than the object.

Correct:

The committee demands action on the latest media blunder.

Why it’s correct: The collective noun “committee” is singular, despite being comprised of several people, and therefore takes the singular verb “demands,” not the plural “demand.”

Correct:

A demolition crew of three sledgehammer-wielding heavies is leveling the house as we speak.

Why it’s correct: The collective noun “crew” is singular despite being followed by a prepositional phrase detailing how many people are in the crew. Despite also the plural noun “heavies” preceding the main verb, the singular “is” is the correct verb rather than the plural “are.”

Correct:

Food Basics has a deal on for ice cream right now, and Dolce & Gabbana has some fresh new styles coming this season.

Why it’s correct: Though the subject nouns seem plural because one ends with s and the other compounds two names, being a single corporate entity in each case makes them singular and take the singular verb “has” rather than the plural “have.”

Correct:

Oh look, green eggs and ham is on the menu.

Why it’s correct: Though the subject noun seems plural because it is a compound of a plural and singular noun, it is considered one singular dish and therefore takes the singular verb “is” rather than the plural “are.”

Correct:

The news is so depressing today.

Why it’s correct: Though the subject noun seems plural because it ends with s, “news” is a singular noun taking the singular verb “is,” not the plural “are.”

Correct:

Ethics isn’t an optional field of study for business professionals.

Why it’s correct: Though the subject noun seems plural because it ends with s and the singular “ethic” is also a legitimate word, it acts in this case as a singular entity because it is a field of study and therefore takes the singular verb “is.”

Correct:

Five dollars donated to the right charities is all that’s needed to save a life.

Why it’s correct: Though the subject noun seems plural because it contains more than one dollar, it acts as a singular entity and thus takes the singular verb “is” regardless of the noun “charities” that comes before it in a prepositional phrase.

Correct:

Ten kilometers is too far to walk because those ten kilometers are going to make us late.

Why it’s correct: The first “Ten kilometers” is a grammatically singular subject because the distance as a whole is meant. The second instance refers to each individual kilometer together with the others, however, so it is grammatically plural, taking the plural pronoun “those” and verb “are.”

How This Helps the Reader

Following this rule helps the reader connect the singular grammatical subject performing a single action in concert as one entity with the main verb, especially when phrases of different number come between them.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for count nouns, as well as special-case nouns that look plural but are actually singular, such as games and areas of study, like those identified above. Ensure that the main verb following them is singular rather than plural.

Incorrect:

A pack of lies averaging around twenty per day are winning over a confused and angry swath of the electorate.

The fix: A pack of lies averaging around twenty per day is winning over a confused and angry swath of the electorate.

Incorrect:

The acoustics in here are so bad that it makes me want to study acoustics, which are all about how sounds behave in certain environments.

The fix: The acoustics in here are so bad that it makes me want to study acoustics, which is all about how sounds behave in certain environments.

In the first incorrect sentence above, the collective noun “pack” is grammatically singular and must therefore take the singular verb “is,” not the plural verb “are”, despite it being comprised of a plurality of things (“lies”) identified in the prepositional phrase following it. In the second incorrect sentence, we see two different types of the word “acoustics.” One type means “sound quality,” acts as a plural grammatical subject, and therefore takes the plural verb “are.” The other, meaning the study of how sounds interact with the environment, takes the singular verb “is,” not the plural verb “are.”

Subj-v Agr. Rule 2: Plural noun, compound noun, and plural indefinite pronoun subjects take plural verbs.

When the subject of the sentence is plural or contains two or more nouns or pronouns joined by and to make a compound subject, the verb describing the action they perform together is always plural regardless of whether the nouns are singular or plural. The verb is plural even if the compounded subject noun closest to the verb is singular. Other word types that take plural pronouns and verbs include:

• The indefinite pronouns both, few, many, several, and others
• Some items that seem singular because they are assembled into one unit, such as binoculars, glasses, jeans, pants, scissors, shears, and shorts
• Sport teams with singular names, such as the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning
• Bands of musicians with singular-sounding names such as the Tragically Hip and Arcade Fire

Correct:

Self-driving cars are going to revolutionize more than just the auto industry.

Why it’s correct: The plural subject noun “cars” takes the plural main verb “are.”

Correct:

Goodness, we have our work cut out for us.

Why it’s correct: The plural subject pronoun “we” takes the plural main verb “have”

Correct:

All the network systems and the mainframe we’ve been updating are going to have to be liquidated now.

Why it’s correct: The compound subject with the plural noun “systems” and singular noun “mainframe” takes the plural main verb “are.” All the other verbs are part of embedded phrases that don’t affect the verb number.

Correct:

A few of them say they can’t go, but several are still going.

Why it’s correct: The plural indefinite pronouns “few” and “several” take the plural verbs “say” and “are,” respectively.

Correct:

These pants don’t fit, these scissors don’t cut, and these shears are kaput.

Why it’s correct: Though each of these subject nouns sells as one item, they are considered pairs grammatically and therefore take plural verbs such as “don’t” instead of the singular “doesn’t.”

Correct:

The Tragically Hip are playing their final concert in Kingston, where they played their first show 32 years earlier.

Why it’s correct: As a five-piece band of musicians, the Tragically Hip are a grammatically plural noun despite having a singular-sounding name and therefore take the plural verb “are.”

How This Helps the Reader

Following this rule helps the reader connect the doer of the action with the main action itself, especially when a variety of phrases, including nouns of different numbers, intervene between the subject noun and main verb.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for subject nouns (the main doers of the action) and the main verbs that the subject noun takes, then ensure that both are plural. Look out especially for compound subjects with a singular noun close to the verb tricking you into making the main verb singular.

Incorrect:

Most major auto manufacturers and, of course, Tesla is leading the way toward self-driving cars via a switch to all-electric drivetrains.

The fix: Most major auto manufacturers and, of course, Tesla are leading the way toward self-driving cars via a switch to all-electric drivetrains.

Incorrect:

I can respect their musicianship, but Rush just annoys me, or maybe it’s just Geddy Lee’s voice.

The fix: I can respect their musicianship, but Rush just annoy me, or maybe it’s just Geddy Lee’s voice.

In the first incorrect example above, the proximity of the singular noun “Tesla” to the main verb probably made the confused writer think that the verb had to be the singular “is,” too. The subject is in fact a compound, however: “manufacturers and . . . Tesla.” Changing the main verb to a plural form easily fixes the subject-verb disagreement of number.

In the second incorrect example, the band Rush seems like it should be a singular noun and take the singular verb “annoys” because the word rush is singular; as a trio of musicians, however, the band is grammatically plural and takes the plural verb “annoy.” Notice, when we use the noun “band” in front of “Rush” so that “band” is grammatically the subject noun, however, we use a singular verb following Subj-v Agr. Rule 1.3 above.

Subj-v Agr. Rule 3: Compound subjects joined by or or nor take verbs that agree in number with the nouns closest to them.

When the subject of the sentence is a compound joined by the coordinating conjunction or or nor, the number (singular or plural) of the verb is determined by the subject noun that comes immediately before it.

Correct:

Either the players or the coach is going to take the fall for the loss.

Why it’s correct: Though this is a compound subject comprised of the plural “players” and singular “coach,” the main verb is the singular “is” because “or” joins the two subject nouns and the one closest to the verb, “coach,” is singular.

Correct:

When neither the project lead nor dozens of engineers dare to doubt the safety of the launch, you have all the makings of a Challenger-like disaster.

Why it’s correct: The plural subject pronoun “dozens,” as the second part of the compound subject including the singular “lead,” takes the plural main verb “dare” because it is closer.

How This Helps the Reader

Following this rule helps the reader see the two compounded subject nouns as separate actors performing the verb action independently of one another rather than together.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for plural verbs that disagree in number with singular subject nouns closest to them when the subject nouns are joined by or or nor.

Incorrect:

A rock or a hard place are your only choice in this situation.

The fix: A rock or a hard place is your only choice in this situation.

In the incorrect example above, the compounding of the two singular nouns likely made the confused writer think that the verb should be plural as it is when and compounds subject nouns. When or or nor compounds subjects, however, the verb must agree with whatever subject noun comes immediately before it.

Subj-v Agr. Rule 4: The verb in clauses beginning with there or here agrees with the subject noun following the verb.

When a sentence or clause begins with the pronoun there or here, the subject noun follows the verb and therefore determines whether the verb should be singular or plural. In other words, what comes before the verb usually determines whether the verb is singular or plural, but in this case, what comes after the verb does that. In such expletive constructions, as they’re called, here or there are not actually subjects.

Correct:

There appears to be a mighty storm approaching on the horizon.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject noun “storm” following the verb takes the singular verb “appears.”

Correct:

Here is a pencil and here are some forms you need to fill out.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject noun “pencil” following the main verb takes the singular verb “is” in the first clause. The plural subject noun “forms” in the second clause takes the plural verb “are.”

Correct:

There happen to be six conditions on which the growth of our business depends.

Why it’s correct: The plural subject noun “conditions” following the verb takes the plural verb “happen” rather than the singular “happens.”

Correct:

There is nothing to the allegations of wrongdoing.

Why it’s correct: The singular subject noun “nothing” following the verb takes the singular verb “is” regardless of the plural noun “allegations” in the prepositional phrase modifying the subject noun.

Correct:

There are too many applications to sort through in the given timeframe.

Why it’s correct: The plural subject noun “applications” following the verb takes the plural verb “are.”

How This Helps the Reader

In sentences beginning with the pronoun there, following this rule cues the reader toward the number of the subject noun before it appears.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for sentences or clauses beginning with there and ensure that the verb agrees with the noun that follows it. The verb isn’t necessarily singular just because there comes before the verb (where the subject is usually located) and seems like a singular pronoun.

Incorrect:

I can’t believe there just happens to be two tickets to the show you wanted to see in my pocket here.

The fix: I can’t believe there just happen to be two tickets to the show you wanted to see in my pocket here.

Incorrect:

Here is a bar graph and pie chart you can extrapolate results from.

The fix: Here are a bar graph and pie chart you can extrapolate results from.

In the first incorrect sentence above, the pronoun “there” is not the subject noun of the relative clause following “that”; the plural noun “tickets” is the subject and therefore takes the plural verb “happen” rather than the singular “happens.” In the second incorrect sentence, the grammatical subject is the compound noun “bar graph and pie chart” following “Here,” so the main verb must be the plural “are,” not the singular “is.”

For more on subject-verb agreement and how to correct disagreement, see the following resources:

• Making Subjects and Verbs Agree (Paiz, Berry, & Brizee, 2018)
• Self Teaching Unit: Subject-Verb Agreement (Benner, 2000), including exercises

2. Pronoun Errors

For more on pronoun-antecedent disagreements of number (e.g., Everybody has an opinion on this, but they are all wrong), ambiguous pronouns (e.g., The plane crashed in the field, but somehow it ended up unscathed—was the plane or field left unscathed?), and pronoun case errors (e.g., Rob and me are going to the bank—would you say “me is going to the bank”?), see the following resource:

• Common Pronoun Errors (Brigham Young University-Idaho, 2019)

3. Faulty Parallelism

For more on parallelism, see the following resource:

• Parallel Structure (Purdue OWL, n.d.)

4. Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

For more on dangling modifiers, see the following resource:

• The Dangling Modifier and The Misplaced Modifier (Simmons, 2011)

5.3: Proofreading for Punctuation

As the little marks added between words, punctuation is like a system of traffic signs: it guides the reader toward the intended meaning of the words just as road signs guide drivers to their destination. They tell the reader when to go, when to pause, when to stop, when to go again, when to pay close attention, and when to turn (Truss, 2003, p. 7). They’re also crucial for avoiding accidents. A paragraph without punctuation—no periods, commas, apostrophes, etc.—quickly spins out into utter nonsense and kills the reader’s understanding of the writer’s meaning.

Punctuation that’s merely missing or unnecessary here and there can confuse a reader and even lead to expensive lawsuits if such errors plague contentious documents like contracts. To anyone who knows how to use them, seeing punctuation mistakes in someone else’s writing makes that other person look sloppy and amateurish. Punctuation errors by adult native English speakers look especially bad because they reflect poorly on their education and attention to detail, especially if they’re habitual mistakes. The critical reader looks down on anyone who hasn’t figured out how to use their own language in their 20+ years of immersion in it. Not knowing the difference between a colon and semicolon, for instance, is like not knowing the difference between a cucumber and a zucchini; sure they look alike from a distance, but they’re completely different species and serve different culinary functions. If you don’t know these differences by the time you’re an adult, however, it doesn’t take much to learn.

In this section, we focus on how to spot and correct common punctuation errors, starting with commas because most problems with people’s writing in general are related to missing and misused commas. The goal is to help you avoid making mistakes that can potentially embarrass you in the eyes of people who should be taking you seriously.

Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

• 5.3.1: Commas ( , )
• 5.3.2: Apostrophes ( ’ )
• 5.3.3: Colons ( : )
• 5.3.4: Semicolons ( ; )
• 5.3.5: Parentheses ( )
• 5.3.6: Brackets [ ]
• 5.3.7: Quotation Marks ( “ ” )
• 5.3.8: Hyphens ( – )
• 5.3.9: Long Dashes ( — )
• 5.3.10: Question Marks ( ? )
• 5.3.11: Exclamation Marks ( ! )
• 5.3.12: Periods ( . )

5.3.1: Commas

Most punctuation problems are comma-related because of the important role commas play in providing readers with guidance on how a sentence is organized and is to be read to understand the writer’s intended meaning. As we saw in §4.3.2, commas signal to the reader where one clause ends and another begins in compound and complex sentences, but they serve several other roles as well. We use commas in four general ways, each with several variations and special cases. To these we can add rules about where not to add commas, since many writers confuse their readers by putting commas where they shouldn’t go. Most style guides advocate for using as few commas as possible, though you certainly must use them wherever needed to avoid ambiguities that lead readers astray. Closely follow the sixteen rules below to guide your reader toward your intended meaning and avoid confusing them with comma misplacement.

Quick Rules: Commas

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common comma errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Comma Rule 1.1: Put a comma before coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences.

Put a comma before the coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses in a compound sentence. A compound sentence contains two or more clauses that can stand on their own as sentences (see Table 4.3.2b for more on compound sentences) with a different subject in each clause.

Correct:

We were having the time of our lives, and our lucky streak was far from over.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “and” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “We” and another beginning with the subject “our lucky streak.”

Correct:

The first round of layoffs was welcomed by all, but the second devastated morale.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “but” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “The first round” and another beginning with the subject “the second.”

Correct:

The management blamed external factors, yet none of the company’s blunders would have happened under good leadership.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “yet” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “The management” and another beginning with the subject “none.”

Correct:

You can take advantage of this golden opportunity, or a thousand other investors will take advantage of it instead as soon as they know about it.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “or” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “You” and another beginning with the subject “a thousand.”

Correct:

He didn’t see the necessity of lean principles, nor would they have made sense in a business model based on inefficiency.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “nor” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “He” and another beginning with the subject “they.”

Correct:

Market forces left them behind, for the law of supply and demand isn’t necessarily a force for social justice.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “for” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “Market forces” and another beginning with the subject “the law.”

Correct:

The competition started to heat up, so we did everything we could to protect our assets.

Why it’s correct: A comma precedes the coordinating conjunction “so” joining the independent clause beginning with the subject “The competition” and another beginning with the subject “we.”

Exception: If the two independent clauses are short (five words or fewer), the comma may be unnecessary.

Correct:

You bring the wine and we’ll make dinner.

Why it’s correct: A comma is unnecessary before the coordinating conjunction “and” joining the two short, four-word independent clauses beginning with the subjects “You” and “we.”

How This Helps the Reader

The comma tells the reader to pause a little after one independent clause ends and before the coordinating conjunction signals that another (with a new subject) is joining it to make a compound sentence. In each of the example sentences above, the independent clause on either side of the comma-conjunction combination could stand on its own as a sentence. In the first example above, for instance, we could replace the comma and conjunction with a period, then capitalize the o in “our,” and both would be grammatically correct sentences. We combine them with a comma and the conjunction and, however, to clarify the relationship between the two ideas. The comma signals that these are coordinated clauses rather than noun or verb phrases.

If the subject were the same in both clauses, however, both the comma and subject of the second clause would be unnecessary. In that case, the sentence would just be a one-subject clause with a compound predicate—that is, two coordinated verbs (see Comma Rule 4.4 below). Consider the following examples:

Correct:

We were having the time of our lives and would continue to enjoy that lucky streak.

Why it’s correct: The subject “we” is the same in the independent clauses “We were having the time of our lives” and “we would continue to enjoy that lucky streak,” so the comma and second “we” are omitted to make a compound predicate joining the verbs “were having” and “would continue” with the coordinating conjunction “and.”

Correct:

They won the battle but lost the war.

Why it’s correct: The subject “They” is the same in the independent clauses “They won the battle” and “they lost the war,” so the comma and second “they” are omitted to make a compound predicate joining the verbs “won” and “lost” with the coordinating conjunction “but.”

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for run-on sentences (see §5.2.1.2 above), which are sentences that omit a comma before the coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses. Keep an eye out for the seven coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (see Table 4.3.2a and use the mnemonic acronym fanboys to remember them). Simply add a comma before the conjunction if the independent clause on either side of the conjunction could stand on its own as a sentence because it has a subject and predicate (see §4.3.1 for more on sentence structure).

Incorrect:

We were losing money with each acquisition but our long-term plan was total market dominance.

Incorrect:

We were losing money with each acquisition but, our long-term plan was total market dominance.

The fix:

We were losing money with each acquisition, but our long-term plan was total market dominance.

In the example above, the coordinating conjunction “but” joins the two independent clauses beginning with the subjects “We” and “Our long-term plan.” Omitting the comma in the first example makes the sentence a run-on. Misplacing the comma after the conjunction in the second miscues the reader to pause after, rather than before, the conjunction. The easy fix is just to add the comma or move it so it goes before the conjunction.

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Comma Rule 1.2: Don’t put a comma between independent clauses in a compound sentence if not followed by a coordinating conjunction.

Don’t put a comma between two independent clauses if it’s not followed by a coordinating conjunction because this is a comma splice sentence error (see §5.2.1.1 above). We have two distinct ways of forming a compound sentence (see §4.3.2) and a comma splice confuses the two. One way of making a compound sentence is to join independent clauses by placing a comma and one of the seven “fanboys” coordinating conjunctions between them (see Table 4.3.2a for the coordinating conjunctions). Simply omitting the coordinating conjunction after the comma makes a comma splice. The other way of making a compound sentence is to end the first clause with a semicolon when it doesn’t make sense to use any of the coordinating conjunctions to establish a certain relationship between the clauses (see Table §4.3.2b on sentence varieties for more on compound sentences and Semicolon Rule 1 below). Using a comma instead of a semicolon in such compound sentences makes a comma splice.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for commas separating two independent clauses (clauses that can stand on their own as sentences because they each have a subject and predicate) without any of the seven coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so) following the comma.

Incorrect:

The first proposal was from the Davidson group, the second came from a company we hadn’t seen before.

The fix:

The first proposal was from the Davidson group; the second came from a company we hadn’t seen before.

The fix:

The first proposal was from the Davidson group; but the second came from a company we hadn’t seen before.

The fix:

Though the first proposal was from the Davidson group, the second came from a company we hadn’t seen before.

In the incorrect example above, the comma separates two independent clauses that can stand on their own as sentences if you replaced the comma with a period and capitalized the t in “the second.” You have three options for fixing the comma splice corresponding to the three examples above:

1. Replace the comma with a semicolon to make a compound sentence.
2. Add a coordinating conjunction, such as but, to make a compound sentence that clarifies the relationship between the clauses.
3. Add a subordinating conjunction, such as Though, at the beginning of the first clause to make it a dependent (a.k.a. a subordinate) clause. This makes the sentence a complex one (see §4.3.2 for more on subordinating conjunctions and complex sentences).

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Comma Rule 2.1: Put a comma after introductory subordinate clauses, phrases, or words preceding main clauses.

Put a comma before the main clause (a.k.a. independent clause) when it is preceded by an introductory word, phrase (e.g., a prepositional or participial phrase), or subordinate clause (a.k.a. dependent clause) in a complex sentence.

Correct:

If we follow our project plan’s critical path down to the minute, we will finish on time and on budget.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the subordinate clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction “If” from the main clause (beginning with the subject “we”) that follows it.

Correct:

When my ship comes in, I’ll be repaying every favor anyone ever did for me.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “When,” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “I.”

Correct:

To make ourselves better understood, we’ve left post-it notes all around the room.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory infinitive phrase, beginning with the infinitive verb “To make,” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “we.”

Correct:

After the flood, the Poulins took out some expensive disaster insurance.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory prepositional phrase, beginning with the preposition “after,” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “the Poulins.”

Correct:

Greeting me at the door, she said that I was a half hour early and would have to wait to see the director.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory participial phrase, beginning with the present participle (Simmons, 2001a) “Greeting,” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “she.”

Correct:

The downturn of 2008 now forgotten, the investors threw other people’s money around like it was 2007 again.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory absolute phrase, ending with the past participle (Simmons, 2001a) “forgotten,” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “the investors.”

Correct:

Delighted, she accepted their offer even with the conditions.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the single-word introductory past-participle appositive (Simmons, 2001b) “Delighted” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “she.”

Correct:

Therefore, you are encouraged to submit your timesheet the Friday before payday.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory conjunctive adverb (Simmons, 2007b) “Therefore” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “you.”

Correct:

However, there’s not much we can do if the patient refuses our help.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the introductory conjunctive adverb “However” from the main clause that follows it, beginning with the subject “you.”

Correct:

Yes, please go ahead and submit your payment.

Why it’s correct: The comma separates the single-word introductory interjection “Yes” from the main imperative clause that follows it, the core of which is the verb “go.”

Correct:

Hello, Claude:

Why it’s correct: The comma marks the pause between the greeting word and name address in a respectful, semiformal salutation opening email.

Exception: The comma is unnecessary if the introductory dependent clause or prepositional phrase is short (fewer than four words) and its omission doesn’t cause confusion.

Correct:

At this point we’re not accepting any applications.

Why it’s correct: Omitting the comma after the short, three-word prepositional phrase doesn’t cause confusion.

How This Helps the Reader

The comma tells the reader to pause a little prior to the main clause as if to say, “Okay, here’s where the sentence really begins with the main-clause subject and predicate.” The main clause is the main point, whereas the subordinate clause that precedes it is relatively minor, providing context.

Recall from the lesson on sentence varieties (§4.3.2) that a complex sentence is one where a subordinating conjunction begins an independent or subordinate clause, which cannot stand on its own as a sentence. A subordinate clause (a.k.a. dependent clause) becomes part of a proper sentence only when it joins a main (a.k.a. independent) clause. When that subordinate clause precedes the main clause, a comma separates them. The same is true when that main clause is preceded by a phrase (e.g., prepositional, infinitive, participial, gerund, etc.) or even just a word such as an appositive participle (as in the “Delighted” example above) or conjunctive adverb, as in the “Therefore” example above.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for words, phrases, or clauses preceding the main clause without a comma separating them. For this, you must know how to spot the main clause when it comes later in the sentence; in other words, you need to be able to spot the main grammatical subject (the doer of the action) and predicate (the action itself; review §4.3.1’s introduction to sentence structure). If the main subject is preceded by words, phrases, or clauses but not a comma, then you need to add one before the main clause.

Incorrect:

Because first impressions are lasting ones you must always come out swinging at the beginning of your presentation.

The fix:

Because first impressions are lasting ones, you must always come out swinging at the beginning of your presentation.

In the example above, “you” is the main grammatical subject that begins the main clause, whose main verb is “come.” The subordinate clause begins with the subordinating conjunction “Because” and ends at “ones,” so the comma must follow “ones” to separate it from the beginning of the main clause.

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Comma Rule 2.2: Don’t put a comma after main clauses followed by subordinate clauses or phrases unless the latter strikes a contrast with the former.

Don’t put a comma after a main clause (a.k.a. independent clause) if it is followed by a subordinate (a.k.a. dependent) clause or phrase in a complex sentence. If the subordinate clause begins with a contrasting subordinating conjunction such as “although,” a comma must separate the two clauses.

Correct:

You can’t apply for permits from the city because you haven’t even secured funding yet.

Why it’s correct: A comma is unnecessary because the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “because,” follows the main clause rather than precedes it, so you can read it without a pause.

Correct:

We will finish on time and on budget if we follow the critical path of our plan to the minute.

Why it’s correct: A comma is unnecessary because the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “if,” follows the main clause rather than precedes it, so you can read it without a pause.

Correct:

I’ll be repaying every favor anyone ever did for me when my ship comes in.

Why it’s correct: A comma is unnecessary because the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “when,” follows the main clause rather than precedes it, so you can read it without a pause.

Correct:

The Poulins took out some expensive disaster insurance after the flood.

Why it’s correct: A comma is unnecessary because the prepositional phrase, beginning with the preposition “after,” follows the main clause rather than precedes it, so you can read it without a pause.

Correct:

We’re not accepting any applications at this time, though we might make an exception for a truly remarkable applicant.

Why it’s correct: A comma is necessary because the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “though,” strikes a contrast with the main clause that precedes it, making a pause appropriate.

Correct:

We could easily hire a new full-time assistant in the fourth quarter, unless our profit margin drops below 5% in the third.

Why it’s correct: A comma is necessary because the subordinate clause, beginning with the subordinating conjunction “unless,” strikes a contrast with the main clause that precedes it, making a pause appropriate.

How This Helps the Reader

The absence of the comma tells the reader to keep reading smoothly without pause between the main and subordinate clauses. In the case of the contrasting subordinate clause, however, the comma signals a pause as if to say that the subordinate clause is a kind of afterthought or qualification added to the main clause.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for commas unnecessarily added before subordinating conjunctions (see Table 4.3.2a for a list of subordinating conjunctions) in complex sentences where the subordinate clause follows the main clause and doesn’t strike a contrast with it.

Incorrect:

The technician is switching to plan B, because the manifold blew a gasket.

The fix:

The technician is switching to plan B because the manifold blew a gasket.

Incorrect:

The Goliath Games label was founded in 2003, to create the most innovative and progressive interactive entertainment.

The fix:

The Goliath Games label was founded in 2003 to create the most innovative and progressive interactive entertainment.

In the examples above, the comma is simply unnecessary and should be deleted. It would be necessary, however, if the first sentence began with the subordinate clause beginning with “Because . . . ” or after the infinitive phrase if the second sentence began with “To create . . . .” In those cases, the comma would follow “gasket” and “2003,” respectively, and you would change the first letter in the main clauses to lowercase.

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Comma Rule 3.1: Put commas around parenthetical words, phrases, or clauses.

Put commas before and after parenthetical or non-essential words, phrases, or clauses that would leave the sentence grammatically correct if you omitted them. Placed in the middle of a sentence between the subject and predicate or at the end of the sentence, however, those elements lend further detail to the words or phrases that come just before them. Commas in this way function as a lighter form of parentheses.

Correct:

The promotion went to Mr. Speck, who neither wanted nor deserved it, to make it look like something was being done about the glass ceiling.

Why it’s correct: Like parentheses, the commas mark off the relative clause beginning with the relative pronoun “who” in the middle of the sentence, lending more information to the word coming just before (“Mr. Speck”).

Correct:

Global Solutions went on a hiring spree, which was well-timed given the change in telecoms legislation that was about to come down.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks the switch to a restrictive relative clause beginning with the relative pronoun “which” after the main clause, lending more information to its final word, “hiring spree.” The restrictive relative clause is non-essential in the sense that the main clause still means the same thing if the restrictive clause were omitted.

Correct:

We’ll get back to you as soon as possible, needless to say.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks the switch to an interjection tacked onto the end of the sentence.

Correct:

The second customer, on the other hand, absolutely loved the new color.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off a parenthetical prepositional phrase separating the subject from the predicate in the middle of the sentence.

Correct:

The time for expressing interest in the buy-out option, however, had long since passed.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the conjunctive adverb “however” interjected between the subject and the predicate in the middle of the sentence.

Correct:

We’ve heard that, in fact, the delegation won’t be coming after all.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off a parenthetical prepositional phrase interjected between the subject and the predicate in the middle of the sentence.

Correct:

Always treat the customer with respect, unless of course certain behaviors, such as belligerent drunkenness, compel you to take a firm stand against them.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off a parenthetical phrase offering an example interjected between the subject and the predicate in the middle of the dependent clause.

Correct:

The nicest thing about you, Josh, is that you get the best work out of your employees by only praising achievements rather than criticizing mistakes.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off a parenthetical appositive address clarifying who “you” is between the subject and the predicate in the middle of the sentence.

Correct:

I sent the application to Grace Garrison, the departmental secretary, last Tuesday.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off a parenthetical appositive noun phrase identifying the role of the person named.

Exceptions: When the appositive is so close to the noun it modifies that the sentence wouldn’t make sense without it, omit the commas. Also omit commas:

• Before such as when exemplifying non-parenthetically
• Around restrictive relative clauses (i.e., those beginning with that; see Comma Rule 3.6)
• If too many commas would clutter the sentence, in which case you would drop any comma that wouldn’t cause confusion if omitted

Correct:

Departmental secretary Grace Garrison received the application Tuesday.

Why it’s correct: You can omit commas around the appositive following “Departmental secretary” because “Departmental secretary received the application” wouldn’t make sense unless “The” preceded it.

Correct:

They offer competitive fringe benefits such as health and dental coverage, three weeks’ paid vacation per year, and sick leave.

Why it’s correct: A comma would be excessive before the “such as” phrase introducing the list of examples unless it appeared as a parenthetical aside in the middle of the sentence.

Correct:

We don’t have to go, and of course they don’t have to take us.

Why it’s correct: Adding commas around “of course,” though technically correct, would be excessive and look cluttered, so the parenthetical commas drop in priority to the comma separating compounded independent clauses.

How This Helps the Reader

As light alternatives to parentheses, these parenthetical commas tell the reader to pause a little when a non-essential (a.k.a. parenthetical) point is interjected or tacked on to explain the word or phrase preceding it. Common parenthetical phrases include:

Interestingly, this rule also helped the Atlantic Canada telephone company Bell Aliant cancel a contract with Rogers Communications over the use of telephone poles prior to Rogers’s intended five-year term, costing Rogers a million dollars and resulting in a bitter court battle in 2006. The dispute concerned the following sentence in the middle of the 14-page contract:

This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.

Without the comma after “terms,” you could read the contract as Rogers intended, which was to say that it could be terminated with a year’s notice any time after the first five years. By adding the second comma to make the “and thereafter” phrase parenthetical and therefore non-essential, however, Rogers in effect made the “unless . . .” clause apply to the first five-year term as well as to any subsequent term. That one misplaced comma thus gave Bell Aliant the right to cancel at any time.

Citing this parenthetical comma rule, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled in favor of Bell Aliant at Rogers’s expense (Austen, 2006). The CRTC later reversed its ruling when Rogers invoked the less ambiguous French version of the contract to force Aliant to return to its contractual obligations. Still, Rogers ultimately paid heavily for un-recouped losses during the contract’s cancellation and in legal fees throughout the contract dispute, which dragged out till 2009 (Bowal & Layton, 2014). You can bet Rogers pays people to ensure its contracts are punctuated unambiguously now.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for words, phrases, or clauses that could be deleted from a sentence without making it grammatically incomplete. Add commas if none mark off the parenthetical word, phrase, or clause or if the first is there but not the second (or vice versa) in the case of parenthetical elements ending a sentence.

Incorrect:

Emphasizing your spoken points with gesticulation which may sound like a dirty word can certainly help your audience understand them better.

The fix:

Emphasizing your spoken points with gesticulation, which may sound like a dirty word, can certainly help your audience understand them better.

Here, the non-essential parenthetical relative clause beginning with the non-restrictive relative pronoun “which” and ending with “word,” could be deleted from the sentence and leave it grammatically complete. However, as an interjection, it clarifies the word that precedes it (“gesticulation”), and therefore has a place in the sentence, albeit one set apart from the rest.

Incorrect:

Let’s start cooking Grandpa!

The fix:

Let’s start cooking, Grandpa!

Here, the comma is crucial in signaling that Grandpa is being addressed. Without the comma, the sentence recommends preparing Grandpa to be cooked and presumably eaten, which is hopefully not the intended meaning.

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Comma Rule 3.2: Put a comma before contrasting coordinate elements, end-of-sentence shifts, and omitted repetitions.

Put commas before end-of-sentence:

• Questions that seek confirmation of the main-clause point by asking the opposite
• Phrases that begin with not and state what the main-clause point seeks to correct
• Coordinate elements that contrast or further extend the main-clause point

Correct:

This presentation seems like it’s gone on for days, doesn’t it?

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off the question added to the end of the sentence to ask whether the opposite of the main-clause point is true as a way of seeking agreement with it.

Correct:

Please send the document to Accounts Receivable, not Payable.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off the contrasting element added to the end, abbreviating the clause “do not send the document to Accounts Payable,” which has the exact structure of the main clause but shows only the words that differ from the main-clause wording rather than repeating most of it to make a compound sentence.

Correct:

The potential we envision for AI is that it will at best bring a world of convenience and leisure, at worst total annihilation.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off the clause that states the complementary contrast to the first statement by omitting the repeated relative clause root “it will . . . bring.”

Correct:

The president’s statement to the media seemed incoherent, even demented.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off the clause that extends the main clause statement assuming the same root structure.

How This Helps the Reader

The comma cues the reader to pause before the sentence shifts to contrasting elements, as well as to indicate that some phrasing from the first part of the sentence is being assumed rather than repeated in the second.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for run-on-like gaps where no punctuation separates the main clause from questions or contrasting phrases tacked on to the end of a sentence, and add the comma.

Incorrect:

This is a great time to be alive isn’t it?

The fix:

This is a great time to be alive, isn’t it?

Here, the main clause ends with “alive,” and the follow-up recasting of the statement as an interrogative sentence (“isn’t this the best time to be alive?”) abbreviated as “isn’t it?” forms a run-on without any punctuation separating it from the main clause. The comma added between the clauses represents the words that were omitted to avoid repetition.

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Comma Rule 3.3: Put a comma before sentence-ending free-modifier phrases that describe elements at the beginning or middle of sentences.

Put commas before phrases that appear at the end of a sentence but modify (describe) actions or things at the sentence’s beginning or middle. As long as such phrases don’t cause confusion with their ambiguity, they are free to either follow the noun they modify or appear at the end.

Correct:

The MC desperately cued for applause, clapping aggressively.

Why it’s correct: The comma marks off the sentence-ending participial phrase starting with the present participle “clapping,” which describes the action “cued” in the middle of the sentence.

How This Helps the Reader

The comma signals to the reader that the phrase ending the sentence refers to something that came earlier in the sentence. Without a comma, the phrase would describe what came immediately before it.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for phrases (especially participial phrases—words ending in -ing) at the end of sentences without commas preceding them but not making sense. If they indeed have commas preceding them but the participle could refer to more than one thing in the main clause, resolve the ambiguity by moving the phrase closer to the thing it modifies.

Incorrect:

The bellhop held out his hand for a gratuity smiling obsequiously.

The fix:

The bellhop held out his hand for a gratuity, smiling obsequiously.

Here, the omitted comma makes it seem like the gratuity is smiling obsequiously, which doesn’t make sense. Adding the comma before “smiling” makes it clear that the bellhop mentioned earlier in the sentence is the one smiling.

Incorrect:

The MC invited the plenary speaker to the stage, bowing graciously.

The fix:

Bowing graciously, the MC invited the plenary speaker to the stage.

The participial phrase is ambiguous when placed at the end of the sentence because it’s unclear whether the MC or plenary speaker is bowing graciously. Moving the participial phrase to the beginning so that it is in appositive relation to the noun it modifies clarifies the sentence to say that the MC is bowing.

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Comma Rule 3.4: Put commas around higher levels of organization in dates, places, addresses, names, and numbers.

Put commas around the:

• Year when preceded by a month and date
• Date when preceded by a day of the week
• Larger geographical region (e.g., province, state, country, etc.) when preceded by a smaller one (e.g., city or town) in a sentence or long address line
• Title or credential (e.g., ND, MD, PhD) following a name
• Groups of thousands in large numbers

Correct:

The release date of April 14, 2019, will be honored if there are no delays.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the year as parenthetical in the three-part date to ensure that there is no ambiguity about which April 14 (2018? 2020?) is intended.

Correct:

We agreed to continue our meeting on Thursday, January 28, to cover the agenda items we didn’t get to on Monday.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the calendar date as parenthetical after the day of the week to ensure that there is no ambiguity about which Thursday is intended.

Correct:

Gord Downie was born in Amherstview, Ontario, to a traveling salesman father and stay-at-home mother.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the province as parenthetical after the smaller town to ensure that there is no ambiguity about which town is intended, assuming other towns in other provinces may share the same name.

Correct:

Bowie was born David Robert Jones in London, England, on 8 January 1947.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the country as parenthetical after the city within it to ensure that there is no ambiguity about which city is intended (i.e., not the one in Ontario, Canada).

Correct:

Send your inquiries to 1385 Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa, ON K26 1V8.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the larger geographical region in which the street is situated.

Correct:

Please welcome Daria Rimini, RN, to the department.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the person’s credentials as non-essential to her name rather than initials in her name.

Correct:

Send your inquiries to Albert Irwin, Jr., at the email address below.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the generational tag following the name.

Correct:

You can always trust old George Wilson, Professor of English, to make a mountain of a molehill.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off the individual’s professional title following their name.

Correct:

The awards for damages ranged anywhere from a token $4,882 to a whopping $13,945,718.

Why it’s correct: The commas mark off every group of thousand (three digits) to help the reader quickly recognize the magnitude of the number without counting the number of digits.

Exceptions: Don’t surround a year with commas if it follows only a month; use them only around years following a month and date. Also, drop the second comma if the larger geographical region is possessive in form.

Correct:

Recording began in November 2005 and continued to February 2006.

Why it’s correct: Commas are unnecessary in general two-part dates.

Correct:

The charm of London, Ontario’s street buskers almost rivals that of its UK namesake.

Why it’s correct: A comma following the possessive form of the larger geographical region would look even more awkward than this. Of course, the sentence could be reworded as “The street buskers’ charm in London, Ontario, almost . . . .”

How This Helps the Reader

The commas tell the reader to pause a little within a detailed series of time, geographical, or name designations when adding a higher order of organization just as commas were used as light alternatives to parentheses in Comma Rule 3.1.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for years added to three-part dates, larger geographical regions added after cities and towns, or credentials added after names with either no comma added on either side of that year, region, or credential or added only before it but not after. Add both or the second comma. If the date only has the month and year, but a comma or two surrounds the date, delete commas.

Incorrect:

We can probably fit you in for the procedure on Tuesday December 12.

The fix:

We can probably fit you in for the procedure on Tuesday, December 12.

Here, the month and date follow the day of the week without a comma. Just add one between them.

Incorrect:

They moved the release date to March 14, 2020 to allow enough time for post-production.

The fix:

They moved the release date to March 14, 2020, to allow enough time for post-production.

Here, the year gets the first of its two parenthetical commas but not the second, so just add one after the year.

Incorrect:

The company was founded in July, 1978, to address an urgent need.

The fix:

The company was founded in July 1978 to address an urgent need.

The commas around the year are unnecessary because it’s only a two-part date. Just delete them.

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Comma Rule 3.5: Put a comma between a signal phrase and a quotation.

Put commas between signal phrases and the quotations they introduce when the signal phrases end with a verb that gives rise to the quoted words or thoughts.

Correct:

The chair of the meeting shouted, “We cannot proceed unless we have order.”

Why it’s correct: A comma separates the signal phrase ending with a verb from the quotation it introduces.

Correct:

“Stay the course,” the supervisor advised, “and you shall soon find success.”

Why it’s correct: The parenthetical commas mark off the signal phrase interjected between quoted clauses.

Correct:

You could tell she was thinking, “Is this guy for real?”

Why it’s correct: A comma separates the signal phrase ending with a verb from the quotation it introduces even if the quotation is merely thought rather than said.

Exception: A comma is unnecessary if the signal phrase ends with the restrictive relative pronoun that or the quotation is a phrase incorporated into the sentence rather than a sentence or clause on its own.

Correct:

The customer service rep said that “The offer expired on August 23, not the 24th” and they have a “no exceptions” policy due to the perishable nature of the product.

Why it’s correct: The signal phrase ends with the restrictive relative pronoun that, which a comma doesn’t follow but could replace, and “no exceptions” is a phrase rather than a clause or sentence.

Correct:

The customer service representative confirmed “August 23, not the 24” was the expiration date.

Why it’s correct: No comma follows the signal phrase because the quotation is just a phrase excerpt rather than a clause or sentence.

How This Helps the Reader

The comma cues the reader to pause as it abbreviates the relative pronoun that, which makes the comma unnecessary if it’s included.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for missing commas around quotations and add them between the signal phrase ending with a verb and the quotation, or look for unnecessary commas that split a sentence unnaturally, such as going before or after the that that precedes a quotation if present, and delete them.

Incorrect:

The authorization said “Go for it.”

The fix:

The authorization said, “Go for it.”

Here, the signal phrase omits a comma between the main verb and the quotation, so adding one corrects the error.

Incorrect:

The current contract says clearly that, “overtime is time and a half.”

The fix:

The current contract says clearly that “overtime is time and a half.”

Here, a comma unnecessarily follows the relative pronoun that, perhaps because the writer thought that a comma should always precede the quotation. You could either delete the comma or “that,” but not both.

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Comma Rule 3.6: Don’t put commas around restrictive relative clauses (before that).

Don’t put a comma before a restrictive relative clause (e.g., beginning with the relative pronoun who or that) following a main clause.

Correct:

The stocks that we all thought were going to offer the best returns are doing the worst.

Why it’s correct: No commas surround the restrictive clause from “that” to “returns,” which is somewhat parenthetical in that the sentence could grammatically function without it (“The stocks are doing the worst”). However, this would be misleading because it implies that all the stocks are failing expectations, whereas the sentence focuses on only a subset. The vagueness resulting from omitting the restrictive clause proves that it is essential to the sentence’s clarity.

Correct:

The students who presented first set the bar high for those who followed.

Why it’s correct: No commas surround the restrictive clause from “who” to “first.” The clause is restrictive because it specifies a small group of students. Adding commas around the clause would make it non-restrictive (see Comma Rule 3.1 above) and would change the meaning of the sentence: it would mean that all the students presented first.

Correct:

She didn’t say that we couldn’t work together.

Why it’s correct: No comma precedes the restrictive clause beginning with “that.”

How This Helps the Reader

The absence of the comma tells the reader that the relative clause starting with the relative pronoun that or who is essential to the meaning of the sentence and should be read smoothly without pauses around it.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for commas preceding that or who and determine whether the meaning of the sentence would be significantly changed if you deleted the restrictive relative clause. If it would be, delete the commas.

Incorrect:

You don’t have to cite common-knowledge facts, that every source you can find agrees on.

The fix:

You don’t have to cite common-knowledge facts that every source you can find agrees on.

Here, the restrictive relative clause beginning with that is essential to the meaning because it clarifies what kind of facts are common knowledge. It is not interchangeable with the non-restrictive relative clause beginning with which, which requires a comma before it because it is non-essential (see Comma Rule 3.1 above). In the UK, writers often use “which” instead of “that” even in non-restrictive relative clauses without the comma preceding them. In North America, however, we distinguish the relative clause types by using a comma and which for non-restrictive clauses and that without a comma for restrictive clauses.

Incorrect:

The students, who were caught plagiarizing, were each given a zero, whereas the rest did quite well.

The fix:

The students who were caught plagiarizing were each given a zero, whereas the rest did quite well.

Here, the commas in the incorrect sentence say that all students were caught plagiarizing. Deleting the commas to make “who were caught plagiarizing” a restrictive relative clause brings the sentence back to the intended meaning, which is that a subset of students were caught plagiarizing and the rest did well.

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Comma Rule 3.7: Don’t put commas between subjects and their predicates.

Don’t put a comma between a clause’s subject (even if it’s a long one) and predicate (the main verb action) if there are no parenthetical elements between them.

Correct:

Participants who quit smoking because of the new treatment option were twice as likely to remain smoke-free as those who quit cold turkey.

Why it’s correct: No comma separates the subject “Participants who . . . option” from the predicate “were . . . turkey” even though the subject is quite long at ten words.

Exception: Adding a pair of commas between the subject and predicate is acceptable when they are divided by an interjection. See the fourth and fifth correct examples illustrating Comma Rule 3.1.

How This Helps the Reader

The absence of the comma tells the reader to read smoothly across the subject and predicate because they are the integral parts of a unified clause even if the subject is long.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for commas that separate the subject from the predicate when there are no parenthetical words or phrases, or non-restrictive clauses, separating them. For this, you must know how to spot the main-clause subject and predicate and delete any stray commas that come between them.

Incorrect:

All the businesses that benefited from the new regulatory environment following the passing of Bill 134, have given back to their community.

The fix:

All the business that benefited from the new regulatory environment following the passing of Bill 134 have given back to their community.

The subject of the above sentence is a long one because, following the core noun “businesses,” it contains a restrictive relative clause beginning with that, which contains prepositional phrases (“from the new . . .” and “of Bill 134”) and a participial phrase (“following . . .”). None of these length-extending units change the fact that there is no legitimate parenthetical interjection requiring commas between the subject and the predicate that begins with “have given.” The easy fix is just to delete the comma.

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Comma Rule 4.1: Put commas between each item in a series, including the last two items.

Put commas between each item in a series, including before the and or or that separates the second-to-last (a.k.a. penultimate) and last items, whether those items be words, phrases, or even clauses in a series.

Correct:

NASA sent the space shuttles Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour on 135 orbital missions from 1982 to 2011.

Why it’s correct: A comma follows each noun in a series up to the penultimate one before the and joining the last two.

Correct:

I gave them the option of either researching the content, preparing the PowerPoint, or doing the actual presentation.

Why it’s correct: A comma follows each participial phrase in a series up to the penultimate one before the or joining the last two.

Correct:

The presenters rehearsed before Week 5, during Reading Week, and again after Week 7.

Why it’s correct: A comma follows each prepositional phrase in a series up to the penultimate one before the and joining the last two.

Correct:

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards set the stage for other singer-guitarist power duos like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Freddie Mercury and Brian May, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Axl Rose and Slash, and Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante.

Why it’s correct: A comma follows each compound noun phrase in a series up to the penultimate one before the and joining the last two pairs.

Correct:

I can’t stand comma splices, you have no patience for run-ons, and she won’t tolerate sentence fragments.

Why it’s correct: In a compound sentence containing three independent clauses, a comma follows each clause up to the penultimate one before the and joining the last two.

How This Helps the Reader

The serial commas help separate each item in the series, and the one that comes before the coordinating conjunction and that joins the last two items (a.k.a. the “Oxford comma”) helps resolve various ambiguities that may arise without it (see some below). The question of whether to use the Oxford comma has been a long-running debate. Some style guides, such as the Canadian Press and Associated Press, and even institutions like Algonquin College recommend omitting it because they advocate for as few commas as possible. However, they say nothing about situations where omitting the Oxford comma creates unavoidable ambiguity—that is, two interpretations that mean two very different things. The anti-Oxford comma side even has an anthem in the Grammy-winning indie band Vampire Weekend’s 2008 debut-album single “Oxford Comma,” which opens with the lyric “Who gives a f**k about the Oxford comma?”

However, grammarians, readers, and writers who care about clarity in writing, and even the plaintiffs awarded $5 million in a US civil suit (as well as the defendants paying the price), certainly care about the Oxford comma. The significant confusion and even conflict that results from its absence in clutch situations justifies its inclusion in all. For instance:

• In a 2017–2018 civil case that went nearly as far as the US Supreme Court, Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine, was ordered to pay its delivery drivers $5 million due to the ambiguity caused by an omitted Oxford comma in state law. The law was soon amended to separate the last two items in a list of overtime pay exemptions to resolve the ambiguity (Victor, 2018).
• The inclusion or omission of the Oxford comma leads to two entirely different interpretations when names are listed. If you were to say, for instance, that you and two others must go to court, you would say, “Beth, Ian, and I must go to court.” Without the Oxford comma, however, you would be addressing Beth (who now isn’t going to court) to tell her that just you and Ian are going: “Beth, Ian and I must go to court,” which is not what you originally meant.
• Appositive relations between items in a series also create ambiguities when omitting the Oxford comma. If an actor winning a big award in front of a national audience were to say, “I would like to thank my parents, God and Buffy Sainte-Marie,” the absence of an Oxford comma makes “God and Buffy Sainte-Marie” appear to be an appositive noun phrase modifying “parents”—that is, she would imply that her parents are God and Buffy Sainte-Marie. By using the Oxford comma, she avoids this absurdity by thanking three entities: her parents, God, and Buffy Sainte-Marie—as intended.
• Omitting the Oxford comma is especially confusing if the items listed are a combination of paired and single items. If the list of pairs in the fourth correct example above omitted the Oxford comma, it would end with the absurdity of having the last four items appearing as singles with “and” awkwardly separating each: “. . . Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Axl Rose and Slash and Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante.” Knowing the context of these pairings would help resolve the ambiguity, but if you were reading a list of unknown mixed single and paired items, you wouldn’t know which was a single and which was a pair near the end without the Oxford comma. A list such as “A, B and C, D, E and F, G, H, I, J and K and L” would be ambiguous because you wouldn’t know if the last three items paired J with K (and L is single) or K with L (and J is single).

If the Oxford comma is necessary to avoid ambiguity in such cases, it should be used as a rule in all cases. Writers shouldn’t have to make a subjective judgment call about whether the reader would find it ambiguous with or without the Oxford comma because some readers are more astute than others. Except perhaps in titles where brevity is highly valued and no ambiguities of the kind listed above can confuse the reader, the Oxford comma should always be used.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for a list of three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. If you don’t see a comma before the and that separates the last two items, add one there.

Incorrect:

Our group is full of non-contributors, my friend and me.

The fix:

Our group is full of non-contributors, my friend, and me.

Omitting the Oxford comma in the incorrect example above suggests that you and your friend are non-contributors because “my friend and me” are in appositive relation to “non-contributors.” Though you did not mean to say this, you are in effect offering yourself and your friend as particular examples of non-contributors. By adding the Oxford comma, however, you now say that the group is comprised of you, your friend, and some non-contributors. With the Oxford comma, you and your friend are productive members rather than non-contributors despite being grouped with them.

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Comma Rule 4.2: Put commas between two or more coordinate adjectives.

Put commas between two or more coordinate adjectives that refer to the same noun. Coordinate adjectives are those stacked in front of a noun in no particular order to describe the noun in multiple ways. You can tell that they’re coordinate adjectives if you can (1) change their order and (2) add and between each without changing the meaning either way.

Correct:

The new hires turned out to be dedicated, ambitious employees.

Why it’s correct: Both adjectives, “dedicated” and “ambitious,” describe the noun “employees” in no particular order, and you can replace the comma with an and to make “. . . dedicated and ambitious employees.”

Correct:

Would you like a nice, new, clean, dry diaper?

Why it’s correct: All four coordinate adjectives describe the noun “diaper” in no particular order.

Correct:

The incessant, thunderous drum beat changed the rhythm of their hearts.

Why it’s correct: The comma goes between “incessant” and “thunderous” because they are coordinate. The comma doesn’t go between “thunderous” and “drum” because they are non-coordinate in that you can’t change their order and add and between them without changing the meaning.

Correct:

Use SMS for brief, fast text message exchanges.

Why it’s correct: The comma goes between “brief” and “fast” because they are coordinate. The comma doesn’t go after “fast,” “text,” or “message” because they are non-coordinate in that you can’t change their order and add and between them without changing the meaning.

How This Helps the Reader

The commas distinguish coordinate from non-coordinate adjectives and therefore what adjectives are incidental and which are intrinsic qualities of the noun they describe. For more, see Comma Tip 6: Use Commas Correctly with a Series of Adjectives (Simmons, 2018a).

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for a series of two or more adjectives preceding a noun without commas between them. If you can put and between them and change their order without changing the meaning of the sentence, they’re coordinate adjectives that need commas between them.

Incorrect:

The day started off with a vicious unrelenting freezing rain.

The fix:

The day started off with a vicious, unrelenting freezing rain.

The only adjectives that could be swapped around and have and added between them are “vicious” and “unrelenting.” The adjective “freezing” is locked in its position before the noun “rain” to mean the type of rain that makes the outside one huge ice rink. Therefore, you need to add a comma between “vicious” and “unrelenting,” but not between “unrelenting” and “freezing.”

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Comma Rule 4.3: Don’t put a comma after the final coordinate adjective.

Don’t put a comma after the second of two (or third of three, etc.) coordinate adjectives—i.e., between the final coordinate adjective and the noun it describes. See Comma Rule 4.2 above for a further explanation of coordinate vs. non-coordinate adjectives.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for coordinate adjectives preceding a noun with commas between them. If you can put and between them and change their order without changing the meaning of the sentence, they’re coordinate adjectives that need commas between them.

Incorrect:

Select and use common, basic, information technology tools to support communication.

The fix:

Select and use common, basic information technology tools to support communication.

The only adjectives that could be swapped around and have and added between them are “common” and “basic.” In this case, “information technology” (a.k.a. “IT”) is a noun phrase that modifies the noun “tools,” so their order is locked in, making them non-coordinate.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Comma Rule 4.4: Don’t put a comma between non-coordinate adjectives.

Don’t put commas between non-coordinate adjectives—that is, between adjectives that are in a fixed order before the noun they modify and cannot have and added between them without changing the meaning of the sentence. See Comma Rule 4.2 above for a further explanation of coordinate vs. non-coordinate adjectives.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for coordinate adjectives preceding a noun with commas between them. If you can’t put and between them and change their order without changing the meaning of the sentence, they’re non-coordinate adjectives. Any commas between them must be deleted.

Incorrect:

Send the black, Pearl, drum kit to the heavy, metal drummer.

The fix:

Send the black Pearl drum kit to the heavy metal drummer.

The order is important in the first set of non-coordinate adjectives describing the noun “kit” because the type of kit we’re dealing with is a drum kit, so “drum” must come immediately before “kit.” The brand of drum kit is Pearl (capitalized because it is a proper noun), so “Pearl” precedes “drum kit.” The only adjective preceding these non-coordinate adjectives is “black,” but it is unaccompanied by another to make it a coordinate adjective, so there are no commas. Likewise, inserting a comma between “heavy” and “metal” splits the musical genre “heavy metal” serving as a non-coordinate adjective to “drummer,” so it misleadingly implies that the drummer is a 400 kg lead statue.

Comma Rule 4.5: Don’t put commas between two coordinate nouns or verbs.

Don’t put commas between two nouns (or noun phrases) or verbs (or verb phrases) joined by the coordinating conjunction and in a compound subject, predicate, or object.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for commas appearing before or after the coordinating conjunction and when it comes between nouns (or noun phrases) or verbs (or verb phrases), then delete them.

Incorrect:

The communications director from your company, and the same from our company met to discuss a common strategy.

The fix:

The communications director from your company and the same from our company met to discuss a common strategy.

The above sentence features a compound subject, meaning that two subjects (the two communications directors) perform the main action (“met”). Though each is followed by a prepositional phrase (“from . . .”), the comma between them must be deleted in the incorrect sentence to avoid impeding the reader.

Incorrect:

They applied for an extension, and worked all weekend on the report.

The fix:

They applied for an extension and worked all weekend on the report.

The sentence above has a compound predicate, meaning that the one subject (“They”) performed two actions (“applied” and “worked”). Again, the comma is unnecessary between them and must be deleted from the incorrect sentence. The comma would be necessary if the second verb had a different subject performing the action, in which case they would be two independent clauses in a compound sentence (see Table 4.3.2b and Comma Rule 1.1).

Incorrect:

They can’t expect us to write both the report and memo, and not pay us.

The fix:

They can’t expect us to write both the report and memo but not pay us.

The above sentence also has a compound predicate (“can’t expect” and “not pay”). Adding a comma makes this out to be a compound sentence, which it isn’t because the subject “They” is common to both actions. To avoid an “X and Y and Z” structure caused by having a compound object (“report and memo”) appearing just before the conjunction coordinating the second verb, the “and” joining the two verb phrases can simply be changed to “but.”

Incorrect:

The teacher gave us a new deadline based on the revised schedule, and a slightly revised end-of-semester timeline.

The fix:

The teacher gave us a new deadline based on the revised schedule and a slightly revised end-of-semester timeline.

The above sentences have a compound object, meaning that two objects (“deadline” and “timeline”) are acted upon by the verb “gave.” The objects here are in somewhat long noun phrases, but to add a comma between them (after “schedule”) would mislead the reader into thinking that this is a compound sentence with a new independent clause following “and.” Deleting the comma would ensure that the reader understands the sentence instead as a simple sentence with a compound object.

For more on commas, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Comma page (Penn, 2011a)
• The Grammar Book’s Commas page and its Commas Quiz 1 and Commas Quiz 2 (Straus, 2018a)

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5.3.2: Apostrophes

Apostrophes are mainly used to indicate possession and contraction but are probably the most misplaced punctuation mark after commas. They can embarrass the writer who misuses them, show a lack of attention to detail, and confuse readers about whether a noun is singular or plural, possessive, a contraction, or just a misspelling. Used properly, apostrophes at the end of a noun cue readers that the noun following is possessed by what the noun preceding refers to. For instance, in “Uncle Tom’s cabin,” the apostrophe indicates that the cabin (noun) is owned by Uncle Tom. Placement of apostrophes before or after the s ending a word determines if the noun is plural or singular. They’re also used for contractions in informal writing such as you see at the beginning of this sentence. You have four main rules to follow when using apostrophes, as well as several special cases.

Quick Rules: Apostrophes

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common apostrophe errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Apostrophe Rule 1.1: Put an apostrophe before the s ending a singular possessive noun.

Put an apostrophe before the s added to the end of a singular noun when the noun or noun phrase following belongs to the noun preceding it. In the case of joint ownership in compound nouns (when two or more nouns have joint possession of the noun following), the apostrophe-s goes only at the end of the second or final noun.

Correct:

Have you heard the story of Albert Einstein’s brain?

Why it’s correct: The brain belongs to Einstein (singular), so the apostrophe and s indicate possession.

Correct:

Grace Jones’s formidable presence in 1985’s A View to a Kill electrified audiences.

Why it’s correct: The “formidable presence” belongs to Grace Jones. Though her name ends with an s, she is grammatically singular and therefore receives an apostrophe and s just like any other singular noun. The apostrophe and s are also added to the end of years to indicate that the noun following (in this case a James Bond film) occurred in that year.

Correct:

I’ve always heeded my brother-in-law’s financial advice.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe and s are added to the end of a compound noun.

Correct:

Reznor and Ross’s first soundtrack won a 2010 Oscar for Best Original Score.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe and s are added to the end of the final noun in cases of joint possession. Saying “Reznor’s and Ross’s first soundtrack” would refer to solo soundtracks by each.

How This Helps the Reader

The apostrophe before the s signals to the reader that the preceding singular noun is in possession of the noun or noun phrase following. To test whether you are dealing with a case of possession, you can flip the order and insert “of the” between the nouns or noun phrases. In the first example above where the brain belongs to Einstein, for instance, “the brain of Einstein” is a wordier equivalent of “Einstein’s brain” but confirms possession.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for s added to the end of words when your intention is to show possession but you’ve omitted the apostrophe, making the word look like a simple plural. Add the apostrophe. Also, in cases where an apostrophe is added to the very end of a singular noun that ends in s to show possession (see the second correct example above), add another s rather than imply that the singular noun is plural.

Incorrect:

Mr. Davis’ companies proposals request is for a 33% funding increase.

The fix:

Mr. Davis’s company’s proposal’s request is for a 33% funding increase.

The incorrect sentence above contains three apostrophe errors:

• The company belongs to Mr. Davis, who is just one person and is therefore grammatically singular despite having a name ending in s. Perhaps the writer heard that you can’t have an “s’s” due to pronunciation concerns, but usually we pronounce this Day-viss-ez to indicate possession. Thrown by this and confusing the singular and plural possessive forms, the writer who omits the s may cause the same confusion can avoid doing so by adding it.
• The proposal belongs to the company, but the apostrophe is omitted and the plural form of company (“companies”) is given instead of “company’s.” The error is likely due to the fact that the plural noun and singular possessive noun forms are homophones—they sound exactly alike but are spelled differently and mean different things (see homophone.com for several examples of such homophones). Correcting this is a simple matter of replacing “ies” with “y’s” at the end of the word.
• Finally, the request is in the proposal and thus belongs to it. Omitting the apostrophe makes the plural noun “proposals,” and fixing it is just a matter of adding the apostrophe before the final s.

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Apostrophe Rule 2.1: Put an apostrophe after the s ending a plural possessive noun.

Put an apostrophe after the s at the end of a plural noun (a noun of two or more people, places, or things) when the noun or noun phrase following belongs to it.

Correct:

The two companies’ merger was finalized last month.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe goes at the end of the plural noun “companies” to indicate that the noun following (“merger”) belonged to both.

Correct:

The Joneses’ family tradition includes rescuing ancient artifacts from dastardly villains.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe is added to the end of “Joneses,” the plural of the surname “Jones,” meaning each individual Jones family member is in joint possession of the noun phrase following (“family tradition”).

Correct:

I listed having had three years’ experience in C++ coding on my résumé.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe comes at the end of the plural “years” to indicate that the noun following happened in those years. This is a more concise alternative to saying “three years of experience.”

Exception: When the plural form of the noun is irregular in that it doesn’t end in s (e.g., “feet,” “children,” “men,” “mice,” “teeth”), use the singular possessive apostrophe-s.

Correct:

Can you please point me to the men’s room?

Why it’s correct: The singular possessive apostrophe-s form is added to the end of an irregular plural noun that doesn’t end in s to indicate possession.

How This Helps the Reader

The apostrophe after the s tells the reader to read the noun as being a plural in possession of the noun or noun phrase following, as opposed to the apostrophe before the s signaling a singular possessive.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for plural words that end in s being in possession of the noun following without an apostrophe at the end or the apostrophe added before the s. Either add the apostrophe to the end of the word or move it there.

Incorrect:

We’ve been granted two months grace.

Incorrect:

We’ve been granted two month’s grace.

The fix:

We’ve been granted two months’ grace.

Here, the grace period belongs to the two months (plural), so omitting the apostrophe is incorrect because it leaves “months” as a simple plural. The apostrophe-s ending is also incorrect because it makes “month” singular, which disagrees with the “two” preceding. To correct these errors, the apostrophe must go after the s at the end of “months.”

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Apostrophe Rule 2.2: Don’t put an apostrophe before the s ending a non-possessive plural decade

Don’t put an apostrophe between the 0 and s when writing a plural decade that’s not possessive (e.g., 1990s). Put an apostrophe at the end only if the decade is in possession of the noun or noun phrase following.

Correct:

The 1980s’ main contribution to popular music was excessive cheesy synthesizers.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe follows the plural decade (meaning everything that happened from January 1, 1981, to December 31, 1990) to show possession of the noun phrase “main contribution.” You could also say, “The main contribution of the 1980s to popular music was . . . .”

Correct:

1980’s Academy Award for Best Picture went to Ordinary People.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe precedes the s to mean that the event following happened in the year 1980.

How This Helps the Reader:

The apostrophe after the s signals to the reader that the noun or noun phrase following happened in the decade given. Some mistakenly put an apostrophe between the 0 and s when referring to the simple plural of a decade (e.g., 1990’s), but this conflicts with the singular possessive form of the year (see the “1980’s” example above). If the decade were also possessive, “1990’s’” (with two apostrophes—one before and one after the s) would look awkward. The non-possessive apostrophe between the 0 and s is probably confusing the rule that places the contraction apostrophe before the last two digits of the year or decade (see the third example in Apostrophe Rule 3 below).

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for an apostrophe-s added to the end of a decade and delete the apostrophe if the decade (or year at the beginning of the decade) isn’t in possession of the following noun or noun phrase.

Incorrect:

The 1990’s were a colorful decade in men’s fashion.

The fix:

The 1990s were a colorful decade in men’s fashion.

The ’90s were a colorful decade in men’s fashion.

In the incorrect sentence above, “1990’s” is the singular possessive form of “1990,” meaning something belonging to the year 1990 should follow it rather than a verb. Perhaps the writer confused “1990’s” with the contraction “’90s.” The apostrophe before the s must be deleted to make the simple plural “1990s,” meaning all the years from 1991 to 2000 inclusive.

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Apostrophe Rule 3: Put an apostrophe where letters are omitted in contractions.

Put an apostrophe wherever letters and characters (including spaces) have been omitted in contractions. Contractions are two (sometimes more) words combined into one word to represent the way they’re often said quickly as one word in informal speech. In the examples below, the contractions would be incorrect if formal writing were expected by the audience but are correct as informal writing.

Correct:

There’s going to be a huge reckoning when markets adjust, and it won’t be pretty.

Why it’s correct: The first apostrophes replace the omitted i in “There is” and the second for the o in “will not.”

Correct:

I woudn’t’ve have said that if I knew you were sensitive about your nose.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophes replace the omitted o and a in the three-word phrase “would not have” contracted into one word.

Correct:

She’s been bangin’ out hit records since the ’70s.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophes replace the omitted space and ha in “She has,” final g in “banging,” and 19 in “1970s.”

Correct:

It’s a pretty bad cold, sure, but ’sbeen a while and ’tis the season, as they say.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophes replace the omitted space and i in the contraction for “It is,” it ha in “it has been,” and first i in “it is.”

Exceptions: Many contractions at the far end of informality typically omit even contractions.

Correct:

I’m gonna get me a cold beer when this shift’s over.

Why it’s correct: The first apostrophe replaces the omitted space and a in “I am,” and the second replaces the space and i in “shift is.” As a convention in the writing of gonna as a contraction of “going to,” apostrophes aren’t used to replace the omitted i, g, t, and o.

How This Helps the Reader

The apostrophe replaces omitted letters in contractions and thus signals informal writing meant to represent the way we speak words informally, though they would be unacceptable in formal writing. Some common contractions that often confuse readers because they are homophones with other words include:

Table 5.3.2: Commonly Confused or Misspelled Contractions

For a more exhaustive set, see the List of English contractions (Wikipedia, 2018).

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for the absence of apostrophes in contractions and add them. Your spellchecker will help catch these in most cases (see Figure 5.1.4.8 above), but you must be especially careful in seeking them out if your spellchecker has any difficulty. Ensure also that you always use the form of apostrophe that looks like a small superscript “9,” not “6” (the opening of single quotation marks; see Quotation Marks Rule 2) especially when placed at the beginning of words or numbers.

Incorrect:

Its not like there gone to kick us out if im late and your hammered.

The fix:

It’s not like they’re gonna kick me out if I’m late and you’re hammered.

The many errors in the incorrect sentence can be corrected in the following ways:

• It’s (for “it is”) is meant rather than the third-person possessive pronoun Its
• they’re (for “they are”) is meant rather than the pronoun there
• gonna (for “going to”) is meant rather than “gone to”
• I’m (for “I am”) is meant rather than “im”
• you’re is meant rather than the possessive pronoun “your”

Incorrect:

I cant imagine life without ‘70’s rock ‘n roll.

The fix:

I can’t imagine life without ’70s rock n’ roll.

The errors in the incorrect sentence can be corrected in the following ways:

• can’t (for “cannot”) is meant rather than cant, meaning “slang.”
• ’70s (for 1970s with the apostrophe like a superscript “9”) is meant rather than the opening single quotation mark (like a superscript “6”); the trick to getting the correct direction of apostrophe is to type any letter first, then the apostrophe to orient it in the form appearing as a small superscript “9,” and then go back to delete the letter in front of it
• n’ (for “and”) is meant rather than the opening single-quotation mark (like a superscript “6”) appearing before the n; an apostrophe replacing the a, in addition to the one for d, is seen as excessive

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Apostrophe Rule 4: Put an apostrophe before a plural s following single letters.

Put an apostrophe wherever adding an s to make a simple plural would be confusing, such as pluralizing a single letter.

Correct:

As my mom always said, “Mind your p’s and q’s, dot your i’s, and cross your t’s.”

Why it’s correct: The apostrophes help form the plurals of the lowercase letters when they would otherwise look confusing as “ps” and “qs” or ambiguous as “is.”

Correct:

I’m aiming for straight A’s this semester.

Why it’s correct: The apostrophe helps form the plural of the uppercase letters when it would otherwise look ambiguous as “As.”

How This Helps the Reader

The apostrophe helps the reader see these as plural forms of letters rather than as misspellings or typos.

What to Look for When Proofreading

In the rare case of using a plural form of a letter, separate the letter and its s with an apostrophe if you have omitted it.

Incorrect:

You need to practice rolling your rs if you want to nail the Italian accent.

The fix:

You need to practice rolling your r’s if you want to nail the Italian accent.

In the example above, omitting the apostrophe makes the plural of the letter r appear as a typo.

For more on apostrophes, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Apostrophe page (Penn, 2011b)
• The Grammar Book’s Apostrophes page and its Apostrophes Quiz 1 and Apostrophes Quiz 2 (Straus, 2014a)

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5.3.3: Colons

Colons and semicolons are often confused because of the similarities in both their names and form, though they perform quite different punctuation roles. A colon looks like a period stacked on top of another and is mainly used to equate information on either side of it somewhat like an equals sign (=) in math. A semicolon, on the other hand, looks like a period stacked on top of a comma. The semicolon usually separates independent clauses from one another in a compound sentence as an alternative to using a comma and a conjunction. They both have additional specific uses as we shall see below, starting with the colon.

Quick Rules: Colons

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common colon errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Colon Rule 1.1: Put a colon at the end of a clause or phrase introducing a list.

Put a colon after a clause or phrase that introduces a list formatted either as a series separated by commas in the sentence or a bulleted or numbered stack down the page.

Correct:

We’re going to need some branded stationery: business cards for all associates, letterhead and memo templates, post-it notes, pens, and USB sticks.

Why it’s correct: The colon ends an independent clause (complete with a subject and predicate) that introduces a list arranged within the sentence.

Correct:

To find the date of a web page that doesn’t otherwise have one:

1. Type “inurl:” into the Google Search field, then copy and paste the URL of the web page whose date you’re looking for immediately after it
2. Hit Enter and add “&as_qdr=y15” to the end of the search result URL in the address bar above the results page, which should show the title of the web page whose date you’re looking for, but without the date yet
3. Hit Enter again and you’ll see the date appear in gray font below the web page title in the updated results list

Why it’s correct: The colon ends an infinitive phrase that, as a dependent clause, is completed by each imperative sentence in the numbered list of procedural steps arranged down the page.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon cues the reader to read the information following as a list of items in parallel delivering on the promise made in the clause or phrase preceding it.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for lists either in sentence form with each item separated by a comma or in the form of a numbered or bulleted list. If no colons separate the introductory clauses or phrases from the lists that follow, add them. If semicolons or commas introduce the lists (see Semicolon Rule 3 below), replace them with colons.

Incorrect:

Four obstacles infuriate me on my rush to class through the hallways; inattentive people texting while walking, slow walkers, people who stop suddenly as if there’s no one behind them, and 4–5 people walking side-by-side, taking up the whole hallway.

The fix:

Four obstacles infuriate me on my rush to class through the hallways: inattentive people texting while walking, slow walkers, people who stop suddenly as if there’s no one behind them, and 4–5 people walking side-by-side, taking up the whole hallway.

In the example above, the writer made the common mistake of confusing a semicolon for a colon. Fixing it is a simple matter of replacing one with the other. See the example correct sentence for Colon Rule 2.1 below for a handy mnemonic for getting the right punctuation in these cases.

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Colon Rule 1.2: Put a colon at the end of an opening salutation in formal emails and letters.

Put a colon at the end of the opening salutation line where you address the recipient by name at the opening of a formal email or letter. In a semiformal email, a comma at the end of the salutation is fine. If an email is formal, however, a comma follows the greeting word (e.g., Hello) and the colon follows the recipient’s name.

Correct:

Greetings, Greta:

Why it’s correct: The colon following the semiformal email’s opening salutation cues the recipient (Greta) to read the message following it.

Correct:

Dear Mrs. Jackson:

Why it’s correct: The colon following the formal letter’s opening salutation cues the recipient (Mrs. Jackson) to read the message following it.

Exception: In an informal message, a comma following the recipient’s name (but not the greeting word) strikes a more casual tone in the opening salutation.

Correct:

Hi Hank,

Why it’s correct: The comma following the informal message’s opening salutation cues the recipient (Hank) to read the message following it.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon cues the reader to read the message following the salutation that addresses them by name.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for either no punctuation used at the end of an opening salutation address or other punctuation inappropriate for the occasion, such as a comma in a letter’s salutation, or incorrect, such as a semicolon.

Incorrect:

Dear Mr. Bobrovsky,

Incorrect:

Dear Mr. Bobrovsky;

The fix:

Dear Mr. Bobrovsky:

In the first incorrect example, a comma used at the end of an opening salutation addressing the reader in a letter is too informal for the given channel. This suggests to the professional reader that the writer isn’t up to date on business letter writing conventions. Modern business writers use a colon instead of a comma. Worse, the semicolon suggests that the writer is confused about the respective roles of colons and semicolons despite having had ample opportunity to learn them throughout their English-speaking lives.

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Colon Rule 2.1: Put a colon between an explanation and its introductory independent clause.

Put a colon after an independent clause followed by a statement that explains in further detail what the introductory clause states in general. An independent clause is one that can stand on its own as a sentence beginning with a capital and ending with a period because it expresses a complete thought with a subject (doer) and a predicate (action; see §4.3.1 above). This colon usually stands for the causal transition phrase “—that is, . . . .”

Correct:

Imagining the colon elongating into an equals sign (=) is a useful way to remember what it does: equate information on either side of it.

Why it’s correct: The independent clause ends with a colon and the verb phrase following explains what “does” means. Since the material to the right of the colon is a verb phrase rather than a complete sentence, the e in “equate” remains lowercase.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon cues the reader to read the phrase or clause to the right of the colon as an explanation of what the clause to the left of it says.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for combination statement-explanation sentence structures with either no punctuation between them or the wrong punctuation, such as a semicolon, comma, or long dash (em dash).

Incorrect:

You have only one option left—delete the corrupted file from your hard drive and download the last version you saved to the cloud.

The fix:

You have only one option left: delete the corrupted file from your hard drive and download the last version you saved to the cloud.

In the incorrect sentence above, the writer made the common mistake of using the long dash as multipurpose punctuation for any pause you hear in speech. Fixing the sentence is a simple matter of replacing the long dash with a colon. You could alternatively add “that is,” between the long dash and “delete,” but the colon makes for a more concise sentence with two fewer words.

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Colon Rule 2.2: Put a colon between a quotation and its introductory independent clause if the latter is a complete sentence.

Put a colon after an independent clause that introduces a quotation. Like the clause followed by an explanation in Colon Rule 2.1 above, it must be a complete clause that can stand on its own before the colon and quotation.

Correct:

The first joke he told was a groaner of the highest order: “What did the fish say when you put him in his tank? . . . ‘Hey, how do you drive this thing?’”

Why it’s correct: The quotation is introduced by an independent clause that ends with a colon, whereas a signal phrase that ends with a verb such as “said” is followed by a comma.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon cues the reader to read the quotation to the right of the colon.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for quotations preceded by a complete independent clause. If they don’t have a colon separating them from the quotation, add one. Also, look for colons used to set up quotations when a comma is more appropriate, such as if the last word before the quotation is a verb, which would make the clause preceding the colon incomplete. In such cases, you would either replace the colon with a comma or rephrase the introductory fragment to make it an independent clause.

Incorrect:

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said: “No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”

The fix:

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”

The fix:

Mama called the doctor and the doctor gave her an ultimatum: “Look, if another one of your children falls off the bed and gets a concussion, I’ll be reporting you to the Children’s Aid Society.”

In the example above, the clause preceding the colon and quotation is a compound with a fragmentary second clause missing an object after the transitive verb “said,” whereas it would have to be a complete independent clause to use a colon. Correcting it would be a simple matter of replacing the colon with a comma (see Comma Rule 3.5 above). Alternatively, you could make the introductory clause a complete and independent one, meaning it could stand on its own as a sentence, then use a colon before the quotation.

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Colon Rule 2.3: Don’t put a colon before an explanation or quotation preceded by a fragment.

Don’t put a colon before an explanation or list if the clause that precedes it is not an independent one—that is, if it cannot stand on its own as a sentence.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for colons ending phrases or incomplete clauses with lists or explanatory statements following and simply delete them or rephrase the incomplete clause as a complete one. The incorrect sentence at the end of Colon Rule 2.2 above exemplifies an incomplete clause preceding a quotation; below is one preceding a list:

Incorrect:

The remaining tasks include: picking up the birthday cake, putting up the streamers, and wrapping the presents.

The fix:

The remaining tasks include picking up the birthday cake, putting up the streamers, and wrapping the presents.

The fix:

The following tasks remain: picking up the birthday cake, putting up the streamers, and wrapping the presents.

In the example above, the colon ends an incomplete clause—incomplete because it has a subject and only half of the predicate. The verb “include” is transitive, which means that an object (a thing acted upon by the verb) must follow it (Simmons, 2007a). The objects here are gerunds, which are verbs in noun form ending in -ing (Simmons, 2018b), and are all on the other side of the colon, so the colon can just be deleted. Alternatively, the incomplete clause can be completed by changing the subject to “The following tasks” to set up the list and changing the verb to the intransitive “remain”—intransitive because it doesn’t take an object (Simmons, 2008).

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Colon Rule 3.1: Put a colon between a main title and its subtitle.

Correct:

The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man.

Why it’s correct: The colon separates main title from subtitle.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon distinguishes what should be known as the main title of the book, film, report, assignment, etc. Often this is a catchy, snappy handle for what to call it. The subtitle usually provides a little more practical information about what the work is about.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for titles that have any punctuation other than colons between main titles and subtitles. Often the cover of a book positions the subtitle below the main title and in a smaller font, in which case a colon must be added when transcribing the title into a document.

Incorrect:

Amusing Ourselves to Death / Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.

The fix:

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

In the example above, the absence of punctuation separating the main title from the subtitle on the cover may have prompted the writer to make one up by using a slash. The convention for representing main titles and subtitles, however, is to separate them with a colon.

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Colon Rule 3.2: Put a colon between publisher locations and names in bibliographical references.

Correct:

Toronto: ECW.

Why it’s correct: The colon separates location and publisher.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon is merely a convention for separating the publisher location and name. Readers like to know if the book is published in the major centers like New York or London or if they’re more local like Toronto or Vancouver.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for the part in bibliographical references of books where the publisher information is given. If any punctuation other than a colon separates them, replace it with a colon.

Incorrect:

New York, Random House.

The fix:

New York: Random House.

In the example above, the comma is non-standard punctuation separating the city where the book publisher is based and the name of the publisher. It must be replaced with a colon.

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Colon Rule 3.3: Put a colon between numbers in ratios and times.

Put a colon between numbers in mathematical ratios and to separate hours, minutes, and seconds when indicating time.

Correct:

A globe scaled 1:50,220,000 (or 790 miles to the inch) is one you can grip in the palm of your hand.

Why it’s correct: The ratio colon indicates the relative size difference between the model (given as 1 here) and the real thing, which in this case is over fifty million times bigger than the model.

Correct:

Clocking in at 3:24:56, that film was three hours, twenty-four minutes, and fifty-six seconds too long.

Why it’s correct: The colons divide units of time into hours, minutes, and seconds. After seconds, decimal-periods are used for fractions of seconds.

How This Helps the Reader

The colon expresses mathematical relationships and the division of units between numbers in a space-efficient manner.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for ratios and times to ensure that a colon is being used and that there are no spaces between it and the numbers on either side.

Incorrect:

My first marathon time was 3: 22: 15 and my second was a slower 3.26.44.

The fix:

My first marathon time was 3:22:15 and my second was a slower 3:26:44.

In the example above, errors in spacing and using non-standard punctuation are easily corrected by deleting spaces between the numbers and colons in the first time written and using colons instead of periods in the second.

For more on colons, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Colon page (Penn, 2011c)
• The Grammar Book’s Colons page and its Semicolons and Colons Quiz 1 and Semicolons and Colons Quiz 2 at the bottom (Straus, 2015a)

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5.3.4: Semicolons

Semicolons and colons are often confused because of the similarities in both their names and form, though they perform quite different punctuation roles. A semicolon looks like a period stacked on top of a comma and is mainly used to separate independent clauses from one another in a compound sentence as an alternative to using a comma and a conjunction. A colon, on the other hand, looks like a period stacked atop another and is mainly used to equate information on either side of it somewhat like an equals sign (=) in math. They both have additional specific uses as we saw above with colons in §5.3.3 above and will now see with semicolons.

Quick Rules: Semicolons

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common semicolon errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Semicolon Rule 1: Put a semicolon between related independent clauses to make a compound sentence.

Put a semicolon between independent clauses whose content is so closely related that it makes sense to keep them in the same sentence, though they have different grammatical subjects (doers of the action). An independent clause is one that can stand on its own as a complete sentence because it has a subject (doer) and predicate (action). A compound sentence joins two independent clauses either with a comma and coordinating conjunction (and, but, so, etc.; see Table 4.3.2a) or with a semicolon. Doing neither would make a run-on sentence, and using only a comma between the clauses would make a comma splice. Use a semicolon in compound sentences where none of the seven coordinating conjunctions is appropriate to use or where you need to be as concise as possible and can do without the conjunction without sacrificing clarity.

Correct:

The new website is nearly ready to launch; we just need to set some SEO controls and publish it.

Why it’s correct: The semicolon joins the independent clause beginning with the subject “The new website” and the other with the subject “we.” Both could stand on their own as sentences but are closely related enough to be in the same sentence.

How This Helps the Reader

The semicolon helps the reader see where one clause ends and another (with a different grammatical subject) begins. It also signals that these are two closely related ideas worth joining in the same sentence.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for compound sentences punctuated with anything other than a semicolon (e.g., a comma, which makes a comma splice) or with no punctuation at all between them. For this you really must know sentence structure well enough to spot the grammatical subject of a main (a.k.a. independent) clause so that you can tell if a second subject begins a new independent clause within a sentence but without the necessary punctuation preceding it. Review §4.3.1 on sentence structure if you need a refresher.

Incorrect:

We would like to see less personal cellphone use from employees during working hours, however you can of course use your cellphone in an emergency.

The fix:

We would like to see less personal cellphone use from employees during working hours; however, you can of course use your cellphone in an emergency.

The incorrect sentence above is a comma splice because it uses only a comma to separate two independent clauses (see Comma Rule 1.2). The error is easier to spot if you imagine deleting the conjunctive adverb however. Replacing the comma with a semicolon and adding a comma after the conjunctive adverb easily fixes the problem.

Incorrect:

You can put the meeting in the calendar make it so we get a notification the day before.

The fix:

You can put the meeting in the calendar; make it so we get a notification the day before.

The incorrect sentence above is a run-on sentence because it contains two independent clauses without any punctuation between them. Adding a semicolon quickly makes the sentence a properly punctuated compound sentence.

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Semicolon Rule 2: Put a semicolon between sub-lists in a series of lists in a sentence.

Use semicolons as “super commas” between groups of items in a long list of items arranged in a sentence.

Correct:

Please send T4s to Brenda, Albert, and Joan in Accounting; Jeremy, Lorraine, and Drew in Marketing; and Jasmine, Lily, and Alphonso in Legal.

Why it’s correct: The semicolon acts as a “super comma” that separates three sub-lists of three employees each according to their respective department in an office.

How This Helps the Reader

The semicolon helps the reader see subgroups within a long list that would be confusing if it included ands between the two last items in each subgroup throughout.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for sentences that contain long lists and see if there are internal groupings that can be separated with semicolons rather than commas.

Incorrect:

She was a kind mother, sister, and daughter, a dedicated public servant, business owner, and campaigner for progressive issues, as well as a kind soul with an insatiable curiosity, a brilliant mind, and a big heart.

The fix:

She was a kind mother, sister, and daughter; a dedicated public servant, business owner, and campaigner for progressive issues; as well as a kind soul with an insatiable curiosity, a brilliant mind, and a big heart.

In the incorrect example above, the long list of items is internally organized into groups of family and professional roles, as well as personal qualities. To help the reader follow these divisions as they switch from one group to another, the semicolon acts as a “super comma.”

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Semicolon Rule 3: Don’t put a semicolon where a colon should be used.

Don’t use semicolons as if they were interchangeable with colons. They are different punctuation marks performing different functions. Review the semicolon rules above and compare with §5.3.3 on uses for colons.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look for semicolons and determine if they are being used appropriately in the manner described in the rules above or if they are actually performing the functions of colons explained and exemplified in §5.3.3 above. You can jump straight to every instance of a semicolon throughout your document by performing a word search (Ctrl + f) and just typing in a semicolon (;).

Incorrect:

Please send notifications to the following people; your family, friends, employer(s), legal representative(s), and financial planner(s).

The fix:

Please send notifications to the following people: your family, friends, employer(s), legal representative(s), and financial planner(s).

In the incorrect example above, the semicolon is being used to introduce a list of items, which is the function of a colon (see Colon Rule 1). Simply replacing the semicolon with a colon corrects the error.

For more on colons, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Semicolon page (Penn, 2011d)
• The Grammar Book’s Semicolons page and its Semicolons and Colons Quiz 1 and Semicolons and Colons Quiz 2 at the bottom (Straus, 2014b)

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5.3.5: Parentheses

Parentheses are often confused with brackets because they look alike and perform similar functions. Parentheses are curved lines that surround qualifying, non-essential elements, whereas brackets are squared, open-ended boxes used for very specific parenthetical situations. Let’s take a closer look at the occasions for which we would use parentheses rather than brackets or even commas.

Quick Rules: Parentheses

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common parentheses errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Parentheses Rule 1.1: Put parentheses around qualifying interjections of lesser importance within and between sentences.

Use parentheses around interjections within a sentence where using parenthetical commas would lead to confusion. You can also use parentheses around an entire sentence that offers an aside that helps explain something said in the sentence previous. Parentheses always come in pairs: an opening parenthesis signals the beginning of an interjection of lesser importance, and a closing parenthesis signals the return to the sentence proper. When used around an entire sentence, the closing parenthesis goes after the sentence-ending period; otherwise, it goes before.

Correct:

We called pest control to get our office back from the vermin (silverfish, mites, house flies, fruit flies, and spiders) that seem to have taken up residency this past year.

Why it’s correct: The parentheses mark off a list that digresses from the main point of the sentence with a series of illustrative examples. Parentheses are a better alternative to parenthetical commas because they would confuse the reader with two different types of commas: parenthetical and series.

Correct:

I’ve come around in my opinion of the common house centipede. (I used to squash them at first sight.) It turns out that they’re effective pest control agents themselves.

Why it’s correct: The parentheses mark off a whole sentence as a slightly digressive aside interrupting the flow of the main point.

How This Helps the Reader

The parentheses guide the reader toward reading the words, phrases, and clauses surrounded by them as being of lesser importance but still offering insight into what comes immediately before them.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look to make sure that the parentheses you use genuinely set off words, phrases, or clauses that help explain those that came before them and that the parentheses both open and close. If you use parentheses around a whole sentence, ensure that the closing parenthesis goes to the right of the period rather than to the left.

Incorrect:

I know house centipedes, scutigera coleoptrata, are ugly, but I’m sure you would much rather have them in your home than the vermin they feed on.

Incorrect:

I know house centipedes (scutigera coleoptrata, are ugly, but I’m sure you would much rather have them in your home than the vermin they feed on.

The fix:

I know house centipedes (scutigera coleoptrata) are ugly, but I’m sure you would much rather have them in your home than the vermin they feed on.

The incorrect example above uses parenthetical commas to set off the Latin name of the insect referred to in the first clause, then uses a Rule 1.1 comma to crowd the area with commas. Parentheses would be more appropriate here, as well as in the second incorrect example that omits the closing parenthesis. The second sentence also places the parenthetical element at the end of the clause rather than where it should be: immediately after the common name of the insect it explains.

Incorrect:

The next time you see a house centipede stuck in your bathtub, throw it a lifeline. (Don’t try to pick it up; they’re extremely fragile and fall apart at the slightest touch). Just rest one end of a meter stick on the edge of the tub and put the other end inside so the little guy can use it as a ramp to climb up and out.

The fix:

The next time you see a house centipede stuck in your bathtub, throw it a lifeline. (Don’t try to pick it up; they’re extremely fragile and fall apart at the slightest touch.) Just rest one end of a meter stick on the edge of the tub and put the other end inside so the little guy can use it as a ramp to climb up and out.

The incorrect sentence places the closing parenthesis to the left of the period ending the parenthetical sentence; if the parenthetical sentence were deleted along with the parentheses, the period would be stranded between sentences. Correcting this involves simply moving the period so it goes to the left of the closing parenthesis.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Parentheses Rule 1.2: Don’t use parentheses where parenthetical commas would do.

Don’t overuse parentheses, especially where parenthetical commas would be more appropriate. Recall that, according to Comma Rule 3.1, commas can surround parenthetical, non-essential words, phrases, and clauses added to explain immediately what came before. Whether you use commas or parentheses, the sentence must make grammatical sense without the interjected element. The problem with overusing parentheses, however, is that it clutters up your writing with distracting asides, so the less conspicuous comma is preferable in situations where a parenthetical element doesn’t need full parentheses.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look to make sure that the parentheses you use can’t be replaced with commas without causing confusion. In other words, if the parenthetical element follows Comma Rule 3.1 and doesn’t involve other types of commas covered by the other rules, then use commas instead of parentheses.

Incorrect:

At the same time, the market dropped a few thousand points (which wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t stay down for so long), so no one was buying anything.

The fix:

At the same time, the market dropped a few thousand points, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it didn’t stay down for so long, so no one was buying anything.

The incorrect example above includes a restrictive relative clause beginning with which, which is a perfect example of a non-essential parenthetical clause that we saw being set off from the main clause in Comma Rule 3.1 above. In this case, commas would be better to use than parentheses.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Parentheses Rule 2: Put parentheses around in-text citations crediting research sources in APA and MLA documentation styles.

Correct:

Others argue that “text neck” is neither a true epidemic nor even a true ailment (Skwarecki, 2018), just as “book neck” was never a condition that concerned anyone.

Why it’s correct: The parentheses mark off an APA-style in-text citation.

How This Helps the Reader

The parentheses tell the reader that the quotation, paraphrase, or summary came from the author or authors named within the parentheses. The reader can then consult the References section at the end of the document and easily find the full bibliographical reference for that source by searching out the same author last name in the alphabetical list of source authors. When citing multiple works by the same author, the year of publication in the citation allows the reader to distinguish between them.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look to make sure that you use parentheses rather than brackets if your documentation style is APA or MLA. IEEE, on the other hand, does use brackets, albeit with a numerical citation rather than author and year.

Incorrect:

“Text neck” results from people straining their necks hunched over cellphones for several more hours per day, and thousands more per year, than they would if they were just reading books [Shoshany, 2015].

The fix:

“Text neck” results from people straining their necks hunched over cellphones for several more hours per day, and thousands more per year, than they would if they were just reading books (Shoshany, 2015).

The incorrect sentence above uses brackets rather than parentheses to mark off an in-text citation. Use parentheses for APA or MLA in-text citations.

For more on parentheses, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Parentheses page (Penn, 2011e)
• The Grammar Book’s Parentheses and Brackets page and its Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 1 linked at the bottom (Straus, 2014c)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.6: Brackets

Brackets are often confused with parentheses because they look alike and perform similar functions. Brackets are squared open-ended boxes used for more specific parenthetical situations than their curved-line counterparts. Let’s take a closer look at the occasions for which we would use brackets rather than parentheses.

Quick Rules: Brackets

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common bracket errors associated with each one.

Extended Explanations

Brackets Rule 1.1: Put brackets around changes or additions to the wording of quotations.

Correct:

The president tweeted that “All of the phony T.V. commercials against [him were] bought and payed [sic] for by SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS.”

Why it’s correct: The first brackets change the original “me are” to “him were” to be consistent with the third-person orientation and past-tense verb in the signal phrase. The bracketed “[sic]” indicates that the quotation’s spelling mistake was in the original source and intentionally kept rather than introduced by the writer when repeating the quotation.

How This Helps the Reader

The brackets indicate what changes the writer makes to a quotation, whether to lend clarity to the original wording or to make it grammatically consistent with the sentence around it. Doing so shows a concern for both quoting accurately and writing correctly. Sneaking in some changes to a quotation to suit your purposes is called misquoting. Sometimes the additions draw attention to errors in the original, such as corrections to the spelling or the use of “[sic],” short for the Latin sic erat scriptum (“thus was it written”), to preserve the author’s error.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Ensure that quotations are exact transcriptions of the original to avoid misquoting. If you find any intentional changes, surround them with brackets. Ensure also that any errors in the original quotation are preserved but identified with “[sic]” immediately following.

Incorrect:

Apple’s 1997 slogan encourages you to “Think different” by using their computers for outside-the-box solutions.

The fix:

Apple’s 1997 slogan encourages you to “Think different [sic]” by using their computers for outside-the-box solutions.

The fix:

Apple’s 1997 slogan encourages you to “Think different[ly]” by using their computers for outside-the-box solutions.

The incorrect example above contains a quotation that is grammatically incorrect in its original form. Adding “[sic]” ensures the reader that the critical writer is well aware that, with “think” being a verb, “different” would have to be the adverb “differently” to be correct. Adding the -ly ending in brackets takes a more corrective approach to the error.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Brackets Rule 1.2: Don’t put brackets around what should have parentheses.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Ensure that the brackets you use don’t follow either of the parentheses rules explained in §5.3.5 above.

Incorrect:

I know house centipedes [scutigera coleoptrata] are ugly, but I’m sure you would much rather have them in your home than the vermin they feed on.

The fix:

I know house centipedes (scutigera coleoptrata) are ugly, but I’m sure you would much rather have them in your home than the vermin they feed on.

The incorrect example above mistakenly uses brackets around the parenthetical Latin name of the insect identified just before by its common name. Following Parentheses Rule 1.1, however, you would just replace the brackets with parentheses.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Brackets Rule 2: Put brackets around parenthetical elements within parentheses.

Use brackets whenever you have parenthetical elements within a phrase or clause that is already surrounded by parentheses.

Correct:

Though “text neck” is controversial (some argue that it was only ever a chiropractors’ marketing gimmick [Skwarecki, 2018]), it makes sense that neck strain sustained for several hours daily harms our musculoskeletal health.

Why it’s correct: The brackets mark off an in-text citation within a parenthetical statement. If not within parentheses, the citation would be framed by parentheses instead of brackets.

How This Helps the Reader

Brackets help the reader keep track of nested parenthetical elements. Switching to brackets for parenthetical elements within parentheses also helps avoid the awkwardness of “double-chin” parentheses such as “)).”

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look to make sure that you don’t double up parentheses with “))” anywhere in your document.

Incorrect:

The snake-oil rhetoric of Dr. Fishman’s website undermines the credibility of his “text neck” concept (with a chronic lack of proper citations for research supporting his claims (Fishman, 2018)).

The fix:

The snake-oil rhetoric of Dr. Fishman’s website undermines the credibility of his “text neck” concept (with a chronic lack of proper citations for research supporting his claims [Fishman, 2018]).

In the incorrect sentence above, parentheses are used within parentheses. Simply replace the inner parentheses with brackets.

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

Brackets Rule 3: Put brackets around IEEE-style numerical in-text citations crediting research sources.

Correct:

Physiopedia recommends holding up your mobile device so that it’s level with your eyes and avoiding “prolonged static postures” [4].

Why it’s correct: The brackets mark off an IEEE-style numerical in-text citation.

How This Helps the Reader

The brackets tell the reader that the quotation, paraphrase, or summary came from the research source numbered within the brackets. The reader can then consult the References section at the back and easily find the full bibliographical reference for that source by the corresponding number.

What to Look for When Proofreading

Look to make sure that you use brackets rather than parentheses if your documentation style is IEEE, as opposed to APA or MLA, which use parentheses.

Incorrect:

Shoshany argues that “Text neck” results from people straining their necks hunched over cellphones for several more hours per day, and thousands more per year, than they would if they were just reading books (5).

The fix:

Shoshany argues that “Text neck” results from people straining their necks hunched over cellphones for several more hours per day, and thousands more per year, than they would if they were just reading books [5].

In the incorrect example above, parentheses are used rather than brackets to mark off an in-text citation. The correct in-text citation style for IEEE is to use brackets instead.

For more on brackets, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Brackets page (Penn, 2011f)
• The Grammar Book’s Parentheses and Brackets page and Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 1 linked at the bottom (Straus, 2014c)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.7: Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are mostly used to set reported speech or text apart from the author’s words. They essentially say, “These are someone else’s words, not mine.” But some writers confuse double quotation marks (simply called “quotation marks” here) with single quotation marks, as well as misplace punctuation around quotation marks, so let’s focus on when and how to use quotation marks, as well as single quotation marks, properly. Since the absence of quotation marks when using research sources in your document can result in plagiarism, knowing how to use them correctly is vitally important to your success as a student and professional.

Quick Rules: Quotation Marks

Click on the rules below to see further explanations, examples, advice on what to look for when proofreading, and demonstrations of how to correct common quotation mark errors associated with each one.

For more on quotations see the following resources:

• The Purdue OWL’s series of modules, starting with How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL, n.d.) and ending with the exercises in the fifth module
• The Grammar Book’s Quotation Marks page and its Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 1 and Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 2 linked at the bottom (Straus, 2007a)

5.3.8: Hyphens

Using hyphens between two or more words in combination helps the reader treat them as if they were one word when the words around them would create ambiguity without the hyphen(s). We do this especially with compound modifiers, which are two or more adjectives that modify the same noun in combination. For instance, if you said that there was funding available for small business owners, does that mean funding is only available for people who are under five feet tall? (In that case, “business owners” is read as a compound noun and “small” is the adjective modifying it.) If you mean that funding is available for business owners who employ fewer than 15 people, then you want to use the compound-modifier hyphen to pair up “small” and “business” so that they are read as if they were one adjective modifying the noun “owners”: small-business owners. Hyphens help the reader by guiding them toward what words to pair up when it could go either way.

The same is true of hyphens used in compound nouns. Saying, “It was a light year” means something completely different from “It was a light-year.” In the first case, you’re saying that nothing much happened that year; in the second, you’re saying that something spanned nearly 6 trillion miles. Hyphens matter!

• http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chapsect2&info0=2

5.3.8.1: Compound-modifier Hyphens

The most common use of hyphens is for compound modifiers—that is, two or more adjectives that must be read in combination before a noun they describe. In fact, the hyphen you see between “compound” and “modifier” in the heading above exemplifies how this works: since both of those words together (and in that order only) modify the noun “hyphen” (“modify” meaning that they tell you what kind of hyphen it is), the hyphen helps the reader identify which words functions as modifiers and which as nouns, since “modifier” in this case behaves as an adjective rather than a noun. Without the hyphen, the reader might make the mistake of taking “modifier hyphen” as a compound noun, as in the case of “small business owners” above.

If you were to say that the USSR was the first second world country to de-communize, the combination “first second” would surely trip up the reader. But pairing “second” and “world” with a hyphen resolves the ambiguity to say “The USSR was the first second-world country to de-communize.”

Table 5.3.8.1a: Common First-term Nouns in Compound Modifiers

Table 5.3.8.1b: Common Adverbs in Compound Modifiers

Exception: Don’t add hyphens after adverbs ending in -ly.

Table 5.3.8.1c: Common Prefixes Making Compound Modifiers

Table 5.3.8.1d: Common Middle-term Prepositions in Three-part Compound Modifiers

Table 5.3.8.1e: Common Three-part Compound-modifier Phrases

Table 5.3.8.1f: Common Foreign-phrase Compound Modifiers

Don’t hyphenate more recently imported foreign phrases that are still italicized.

Table 5.3.8.1g: Common End-term Nouns in Compound Modifiers

Table 5.3.8.1h: Common Past-participles Following Nouns

Table 5.3.8.1i: Common End-term Present-participle and Gerund Compound-modifier Adjectives

Table 5.3.8.1j: Common End-term Preposition Compound-modifier Adjectives

Table 5.3.8.1k: Common Number + Time-period Compound Modifiers

But some have become one word, like handwritten, handmade, and standalone.

Compound Adjectival Numbers

Suspended Hyphens

Prefixes

• Big hair in the mid-1980s
• Populism results in new accusations of anti-Americanism (because “America” is capitalized).
• My ex-girlfriend and I haven’t spoken in a decade.
• I re-wrote the essay.
• Not with adverbs ending in -ly

Compound Nouns

Again, the use of a hyphen starting with “self-” (e.g., self-starter, self-esteem, self-care), starting with “great-” (e.g., great-grandmother, great-uncle), or ending with “-in-law” (e.g., mother-in-law, sister-in-law) and numbers above 20 (twenty-one, forty-three). If someone said that you have poor people skills, does that mean you have skill in dealing with poor people? By hyphenating “people-skills,” they make it clear that you could be better at dealing with people in general.

Table 5.3.8.2a: Common Compound Units of Measurement

Table 5.3.8.2b: Common Prefixes Making Compound Nouns

Table 5.3.8.2c: Common Three- or Four-term Compound Nouns

Some words have become one word like headache, checkout, checkbook, uproar, downpour, input, sunrise, clearinghouse, bookkeeper, housekeeper, sightseeing, shipbuilding, cabinetmaker, blackboard, redhead, workplace, and even email (learn more about How to Hyphenate a Compound Noun).

Compound Verbs

Usually pairing a noun with a verb, but some are now combined into one word.

Source: Grammar Usage – Compound Verbs (Jamieson, 2010)

For more on hyphens, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Hyphens page (Penn, 2011g)
• The Grammar Book’s Hyphens page and its Hyphens Quiz 1 and Hyphens Quiz 2 at the bottom of the page (Straus, 2007b)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.9: Long Dashes

For more on long dashes, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Hyphen and Dashes page (Penn, 2011h)
• The Grammar Book’s Dashes page (Straus, 2018b)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.10: Question Marks

Question marks obviously follow questions. However, if the question is a polite request for action rather than one where a Yes or No answer is expected—i.e., a rhetorical question—end the sentence with a period rather than a question mark (Jamieson, 2014).

For more on question marks, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Question Mark page (Penn, 2012)
• The Grammar Book’s Question Marks page and its Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 1 and Question Marks, Quotation Marks, and Parentheses Quiz 2 linked at the bottom (Straus, 2014d)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.11: Exclamation Marks

For more on exclamation marks, which should be used sparingly, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Exclamation Point page (Penn, 2011i)
• The Grammar Book’s Exclamation Points page (Straus, 2015b)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.3.12: Periods

For more on periods, see the following resources:

• The Punctuation Guide’s Period page (Penn, 2011h)
• The Grammar Book’s Periods page (Straus, 2014e)

Return to the Complete List of Punctuation Covered in This Chapter Section

5.4: Proofreading for Spelling

With the help of technology such as spellcheck features in Microsoft Word and online apps, as well as auto-correct and -complete on mobile devices, we can be better spellers than ever. We also must be better spellers than ever because, assuming we’re making full use of these technological aides, audience expectations demand impeccable, error-free spelling. At the same time, the secondary school system has for decades relaxed its teaching of writing basics such that many students enter the post-secondary system lacking basic writing skills (“University Students Can’t Spell,” 2010). Between high school and the professional world, college students must not only quickly learn these basics, such as not confusing its and it’s, but also develop the attitude that such details matter.

Using technology close at hand to improve your spelling is crucial to helping you get there. Follow the procedure in §5.1.4.8 above (and shown in Figure 5.1.4.8; click on the thumbnail above-right to return to it) to set up your spellchecker in Microsoft Word so that it identifies errors as you go. Though it’s a good idea to draft quickly and leave the pace-killing attention to detail for the editing stage, you can look up spellings for words that you struggle with as you go by just highlighting them, going to the Review tool ribbon, and clicking on the Spelling & Grammar tool at the far left (or Alt + R, S). The feature will activate to suggest the correct spelling of just that word. Always also run a spellcheck sweep of your entire document by scrolling up to the top of your document and, without anything highlighted, following the same procedure to activate the spellchecker to examine each error and the tool’s suggested corrections before you finalize your document for submission.

What about spellchecking when writing outside of your word processor, such as in an email? For this you must ensure that your internet browser spellchecker is on and properly set up. In Google Chrome, for instance, you would just:

1. Click on the Settings icon (three stacked periods at the top right).
2. Click on the Settings option from the drop-down menu.
3. Scroll down and click on Advanced Settings.
4. Scroll down to the Languages section and click on the Spell check to expand the control panel.
5. Click on English (Canada) to toggle on the feature so it turns blue. You will see there that you can also add custom words.

With the spellchecker turned on, your browser will identify misspelled words by red-underlining them. If you have any additional difficulties, you can also move text to your word processor, use its more advanced spellchecker and editing features, then copy and paste your draft back into the email.

As good as the spellcheckers can be if you set them up properly, you must also know what to look for on your own so that you know what to approve when the spellchecker suggests edits. We’ll divide this self-editing skill into two of the biggest challenges to spellcheckers:

• 5.4.1: Spelling Names
• 5.4.2: Spelling Homophones

5.4.1: Spelling Names

How do you feel when someone misspells your name? If you’re like most people, you feel a little insulted, especially if the offending person had easy access to the correct spelling. Spelling people’s names correctly is not only an essential principle of netiquette but also key to maintaining your credibility in correspondence. If you’re addressing a hiring manager in the cover letter to a job application, for instance, and her first name happens to be one of the 155 unique spelling variants of the name Caitlin (Burch, 2001), your livelihood depends on spelling her name just as she does herself. Otherwise, your lack of attention to detail becomes an invitation for her to deposit your application directly in the shredder.

Be especially vigilant with names during the proofreading stage of the writing process and use technology to help. With naming trends in the last couple of decades tending toward unique spellings both for people and products, spellcheckers may be of little help at first. Your best bet is to carefully confirm the name of the person in question by finding multiple sources that confirm their name (e.g., documents at hand, as well as their LinkedIn profile online), or the name of the product by consulting the company website, and add it to your spellchecker. When your spellchecker is doing an active sweep and grapples with the unfamiliar name, click on the “Add to Dictionary” option. That way, you can teach your spellchecker to be vigilant for you.

5.4.2: Spelling Homophones

Many spelling errors involve homophones, words that sound the same in speech but are spelled and used differently in writing. When you mean there but write their or they’re in your draft, a sophisticated grammar and spellchecker will mark it as an error because it’s incorrect in the context of the words around it despite being spelled correctly on its own. Just in case your checker is fooled by it, however, familiarizing yourself with the most common homophone-driven spelling errors is wise. Ensure at the proofreading stage that your writing hasn’t fallen into any of these traps.

Table 5.4.2: Common Homophone Misspellings

For more on this topic, see Homophones (Singularis, 2013).

5.5: Proofreading for Mechanics

The very last target for proofreading as you finalize your draft for submission is mechanics. In English writing, mechanics relates to typographic style such as the choice between UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, italics or boldface type and plain style, as well as using figures (e.g., 1, 2, 3) or written out numbers (e.g., one, two, three). Professionals follow stylistic conventions for mechanics much like they do punctuation rules. If you don’t know these conventions, making them up as you go along may produce unprofessional-looking documents. Consider the following as your guide for how to get your writing mechanics right.

• 5.5.1: Capitalizing
• 5.5.2: Italicizing, Underlining, and Bolding
• 5.5.3: Numbering

5.5.1: Capitalizing

One of the worst mistakes you can make in a high-priority document like a cover letter is a glaring capitalization error such as not capitalizing the first letter in a sentence or writing “im” or “ive” instead of “I am” or “I have.” These errors are fine when texting your friends. To a hiring manager, however, the red flags they raise concerning the literacy, work ethic, and even maturity of the applicant might land that application in the shredder. At the other typographic extreme, those who use all-caps for anything other than abbreviations, as in “SEND ME THAT REPORT RIGHT NOW,” look emotionally unstable. In normal writing, we use conventional combinations of capitals and lowercase letters meaningfully to guide our readers through our sentences. Let’s take a closer look at when to capitalize and when not to capitalize letters.

• 5.5.1.1: What to Capitalize
• 5.5.1.2: What Not to Capitalize
• 5.5.1.3: Abbreviations

5.5.1.1: What to Capitalize

You can’t go wrong if you capitalize in the following situations:

• First letter of the first word of a:
  • Sentence; e.g., These pretzels are making me thirsty.
  • Full-sentence quotation even if it appears after a signal phrase; e.g., A great American humorist put it best when he said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” (Twain, 1869, p. 333).
  • Rule following a colon in a sentence; e.g., My mother taught me the golden rule: Treat others the way you’d like to be treated yourself.
  • Point in a bullet-point or numbered list regardless of whether it’s a full sentence or just a noun phrase, as in this list
• The first-person personal pronoun “I”
• Major words in titles, including the first letter of the first word no matter what it is, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, but not short prepositions such as in, of, on, or to, nor coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, for, or so, unless they’re the first word (see Table 5.5.2.1 below for several example titles)
• The first letter of proper nouns, which include the types given below in Table 5.5.1

Table 5.5.1.1: Proper Nouns

5.5.1.2: What Not to Capitalize

Don’t capitalize the following:

• Directions if they’re not in a geographical name; e.g., We drove east to North Bay, Ontario, from the Pacific Northwest.
• Professional roles on their own without a name following (e.g., the prime minister) or if they follow the person’s name; e.g., Patrick Grant, professor of English
• Celestial bodies when used outside of the context of celestial bodies; e.g., He’s really down to earth. I love you to the moon and back. Here comes the sun.
• The seasons, despite the fact that the days of the week and months are capitalized (e.g., We’re heading south for the winter.) unless they’re part of a title (e.g., Fall 2019 semester)
• Century numbers; e.g., the nineteenth century
• Words that came from names or geographical regions; e.g., pasteurize, french fries, italics, roman numerals, arabic numerals
• Fields of study; e.g., history, biology, physics, economics, dentistry
• Some academic degrees; e.g., master’s degree, bachelor’s degree
• Citations at the page and line level: page 6, lines 23–27; p. 24, ll. 12–14

What to Look for When Proofreading

Pay close attention to the beginning of sentences, each point in a list, titles, and proper nouns. Determine whether you should capitalize or leave letters lowercase depending on the conventions given above.

Incorrect: let’s go South to visit the President and stay with vice president Frito.

The fix: Let’s go south to visit the president and stay with Vice President Frito.

The fix: Let’s go south to visit President Comacho and stay with Frito, his vice president.

In the drafting process, you might delete the original capitalized opening to a sentence while trying out another style of sentence and forget to capitalize the new beginning. The proofreading stage is when you can catch glaring errors such as this. Also, the convention for geography is to capitalize directions only if they’re part of place names but not when they’re mere compass directions. Finally, capitalize professional titles only when they precede a name.

Incorrect: In addition, im proficient in the use of Microsoft office, such as Powerpoint.

The fix: In addition, I am proficient in the use of Microsoft Office, such as PowerPoint.

Texting habits might die hard. A crucial step in professionalizing yourself, however, is to correct informal spellings such as im so that they are the more correct I’m or more formal I am, especially in job application documents. Also, be especially careful with capitalization around proprietary names such as software, which may include internal capitalization as we see in PowerPoint or YouTube.

Incorrect: I had to read the textbook Communication At Work for my Algonquin college communications course in the accounting program.

The fix: I had to read the textbook Communication at Work for my Algonquin College Communications course in the Accounting program.

The titling convention is to capitalize major words but not short prepositions such as at. Since academic courses, institutions, and programs are proper nouns like the names of people, capitalize them all.

5.5.1.3: Abbreviations

Fully spell out abbreviations the first time you mention them and put the abbreviation in parentheses. For example, if you were to say, “The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is reporting an above-average number of flue deaths this year,” subsequent mentions of the agency can appear as simply “PHAC.” Institutions that are so common as names (proper nouns) in their abbreviated form (e.g., CBC, which stands for the “Canadian Broadcasting Corporation”) can be given as abbreviations unless introduced to an audience that wouldn’t know them. As you can see here, avoid adding periods after each uppercase letter in an abbreviation.

For more on capitalization, see The Grammar Book’s Capitalization Rules page (Straus, 2014).

5.5.2: Italicizing, Underlining, and Bolding

The standard typeface options of italics, bold, and underline allow writers to draw attention to their text in varying degrees. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage comes from overuse, which diminishes their impact. Taking advantage of their ability to draw the reader’s eye and communicate information beyond the words they express requires following certain conventional uses for each. We’ll start with the most meaningful in terms of the information it can convey.

As the typeface option that slants the top of each letter to the right, italic typeface performs several possible functions related to emphasizing words. Italics can also resolve ambiguities that would cause confusion without it. Use italics for the following purposes:

• Emphasis: Use italics sparingly to emphasize particular words or phrases; e.g., “I’ve asked them no less than three times to send the reimbursement check.” If we were saying this aloud, you would raise your volume and slow down your enunciation to emphasize “three times.” Italicizing is more mature and professionally appropriate than using all-caps to emphasize words.
• Words under Discussion: Italicize a word, phrase, or even a full sentence when discussing it. For instance, you see throughout this textbook example words italicized, such as just above in §5.5.1.1.
• Foreign Words and Phrases: Italicize foreign words that have not yet become part of the English vernacular. For instance, italicize the binomial Latin name of a species (e.g., branta canadensis for Canada goose) or the French phrase déjà vu but not the more familiar borrowed French words “bourgeois,” “brunette,” “chauffeur,” “cliché,” “depot,” “entrepreneur,” “résumé,” or “souvenir.” If the foreign word is in most English dictionaries, it is probably safe to write it in plain style rather than italics.
• Titles: Use italics when referring to the title of a longer work such as a book, film, or newspaper. See Table 5.5.2.1 below for a full list of the types of works you would italicize as opposed to shorter works (or titled sections within longer works) you would put in quotation marks without italics.

Table 5.5.2.1: Italicized Titles

When words are already italicized, such as a sentence under discussion or a book title within a book title, then de-italicize the title back into plain style (e.g., Vision in Shakespeare’s King Lear). Exceptions to the rule of italicizing books are holy texts such as the Bible and Koran, though specific editions should be italicized (e.g., The New American Standard Bible).

Underlining is normally an old-fashioned alternative to italicizing because it identified titles written on typewriters before modern word processors made italicization feasible. Today, underlining is mainly used to emphasize words within italicized titles or as an alternative to boldface type.

More than any other typeface, bold is best at emphasizing words because it draws the reader’s eyes more effectively than italics or underlining, especially for document titles and section headings. In casual emails, you can also use it to highlight a main action point that’s surrounded by plain-style text to ensure that the reader doesn’t miss it. Avoid bolding, underlining, italicizing, and using all-caps in combination merely to lend added emphasis to words. Use whichever one is most appropriate in context.

For more on italics, underlining, and bolding, see the following resources:

• Your Dictionary’s When to Italicize (2009)
• WikiHow’s How to Use Italics (Morgan, 2015)
• Butterick’s Practical Typography’s Bold or Italic (Butterick, 2013)

5.5.3: Numbering

When do you spell out a number (e.g., ten) and when do you use a figure (e.g., 10)? What are the conventions for academic and professional situations? It depends on your purposes, but in routine formal situations and in APA style, spell out numbers from one to ten and use figures for 11 and up. In MLA, spell out any number if it’s only a word or two, but use figures for numbers that require three or more words (Becker, 2014). In informal and technical writing, however, using only figures ensures accuracy, consistency, and brevity. Let’s look at the formal APA conventions in more detail in Table 5.4.3.

Table 5.5.3: Formal Numbering Conventions

What to Look for When Proofreading

Determine whether you should replace your spelled-out numbers with figures or vice versa according to the conventions given above.

Incorrect: Only 2 people showed up.

The fix: Only two people showed up.

In formal writing, spell out one- or two-word numbers rather than use figures lazily. However, feel free to use figures, no matter how small the number, in informal writing where concision matters most.

Incorrect: She was charged nine-hundred-and-thirty-six dollars and ninety-eight cents for the repair.

The fix: She was charged $936.98 for the repair.

Incorrect: The chances of life existing on other planets are quite high if there are, by extrapolation, roughly 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 star systems with earth-like planets in the universe (Frost, 2017).

The fix: The chances of life existing on other planets are quite high if there are, by extrapolation, roughly 19 billion trillion star systems with earth-like planets in the universe (Frost, 2017).

Incorrect: 23,000 units were sold in the first quarter.

Incorrect: Twenty-three thousand units were sold in the first quarter.

The fix: In the first quarter, 23,000 units were sold.

Though you should use a figure to represent a number above ten and spell out a number appearing at the beginning of a sentence, re-word the sentence if that number is more than two words.

Incorrect: We’ve moved the meeting to 05/04/18.

The fix: We’ve moved the meeting from Tuesday, April 2, to Friday, April 5, 2018.

The fix: We’ve moved the meeting from Tuesday the 2nd of April to Friday the 5th, 2018.

Though the above correction sacrifices brevity, the gains in clarity can potentially prevent expensive miscommunication. The correction prevents the message recipients from misinterpreting the new meeting date as being May 4th and helps them pinpoint which date in their calendars to click and drag the original meeting from. Providing the days of the week also helps the recipients determine at a glance whether the new date conflicts with regularly scheduled weekly appointments.

Incorrect: Let’s meet at number ninety, 6th Avenue, at fourteen o’clock.

The fix: Let’s meet at 90 Sixth Avenue at 2 p.m.

Though “ninety” would be correct in some contexts (MLA style) because it is a one-word number, APA address conventions require you to use figures for address numbers and to spell out numerical street/avenue numbers from first to tenth, then to use figures from 11th onward. Also, the English convention for representing time of day is to use the twelve-hour clock, whereas the French convention is to use the twenty-four-hour clock.

Incorrect: Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m 64?

The fix: Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?

Unless the age follows a person’s name as an appositive (e.g., Paul, 64, is losing his hair) or is part of a series that identifies several ages (e.g., a program for those of 4 to 6 years of age, with some 7-year-olds) or combines one person’s age in years and months, spell out ages up to one hundred.

Incorrect: The one expedition cataloged thirty-four new types of spiders, 662 new types of beetles, and 178 new types of ants.

The fix: The one expedition cataloged 34 new types of spiders, 662 new types of beetles, and 178 new types of ants.

Though normally you would spell out two-word numbers, maintaining consistency with the related numbers in the series, which are figures here because they are over ten, takes precedence.

Incorrect: The program has 2 streams, one for the 4-year-olds and another for the 5-year-olds.

The fix: The program has two streams, one for the 4-year-olds and another for the 5-year-olds.

This looks at first as if all three of these are related numbers in a series and therefore must all be figures. The related-numbers convention applies to only the last two numbers (ages), however, whereas the first number is not an age, hence not part of the series. Since the first number can be spelled out as one word, two, it is not given as a figure.

Incorrect: If your gym orders more than 20 100-lb. weights, you’ll get every additional unit for half price.

The fix: If your gym orders more than twenty 100-lb. weights, you’ll get every additional unit for half price.

To avoid “20 100-lb.” being misread as “20100-lb.,” bend the rule about using figures for numbers above ten to spell out the first of the consecutive numbers and use a figure for the second since it’s a weight. (If the first number were more than two words spelled out and the weight only one, however, “150 thirty-pound weights” would be preferable.)

For more on numbers, see APA Style’s Comparing MLA and APA: Numbers (Becker, 2014).