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Guidelines for Good Punctuation
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Apostrophe
- Unless it would cause confusion, do not use an apostrophe to form plurals of single or multiple letters, hyphenated phrases, and numbers used as nouns.
- Examples:
- hand-me-downs
- in twos and threes
- IOUs
- the 1990s
- Punctuate year of college classes with an apostrophe.
Bullets
- Use bullets to designate items in a list. Lists shouldn't be numbered unless the items appear in some order (e.g., chronological) important to the meaning. Bulleted lists shouldn't begin with a capital letter or include end punctuation unless each item is a complete sentence. Multiple lines should be indented under the bullets.
- Examples:
- Teachers in the Northern Arizona Writing Project will learn:
- how the writing process will stimulate learning
- how research supports what good teachers often learn by intuition
- how teacher consultants inspire other teachers by sharing workable, proven materials, methods, and results
- Check the photocopy of your thesis to make sure:
- All pages are present and in order.
- No pages are backward or upside-down.
- No pages are photocopied crooked.
- The margins are correct on each page.
- All pages are legible and of uniform darkness.
Comma
- The preferred style is to use a comma to separate three or more elements in a series. When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, use a comma before the conjunction.
- Example:
- paper, pencils, books, and computers
- Use commas to set off the day and year in a date. Do not use a comma when only the month and year are written.
- Examples:
- On March 11, 1999, NAU will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
- NAU will celebrate its 100th anniversary in March 1999.
- In general do not use commas after short introductory adverbial phrases, unless misreading is likely.
- Examples:
- On Monday Jane had an appointment with her art history professor.
- But: Before eating, the members of the faculty met in the library. (not Before eating the members of the faculty....)
Dash
- There are several kinds of dashes, each with its own uses. The most commonly used is the em dash. The em dash is used to indicate sudden breaks and abrupt changes in a sentence or to give added emphasis or explanation. It is considered stronger than a comma and more relaxed than parentheses.
- Examples:
- The professor-delighted at the students' test scores-dismissed class a little early on Friday.
- As we approached the bottom of the hill, the brakes made an odd noise-a loud, squealing, grinding kind of noise.
- (Note: To create an em dash in Microsoft Word for Macintosh, simultaneously press the Option, Shift, and hyphen keys.)
Hyphen
- Do not hyphenate words beginning with "non," except those containing a proper noun and those in which the second element consists of more than one word.
- Examples:
- nonresident, non-German, non-degree-seeking
- Do not hyphenate most compounds formed with prefixes.
- Examples:
- anticlimactic
- coauthor, co chair
- multipurpose
- nonviolent
- overanalyzed
- postdoctoral
- reelect
- semi opaque
- underused
- Hyphenate compounds only when the word would be ambiguous without a hyphen.
- Example:
- When the server crashed, Johnny had to re-create the entire file. (not recreate)
- Also hyphenate when the second element in the compound is a capitalized word and when the second element of the compound is a numeral.
- Do not hyphenate words with the suffix "wide."
- Examples:
- communitywide, university wide, statewide, nationwide, worldwide
- Hyphenate "part-time," "full-time," "on-campus," and "off-campus" only when they're used as compound modifiers.
- Examples:
- a full-time student
- attending school full time
- living on campus
- on-campus housing
- clean-up committee
- clean up after the party
- Do not use a hyphen to connect an adverb ending in "ly" with a participle or adjective.
- Example:
- Highly qualified applicant
Period
- In general do not use periods in acronyms (e.g., GPA, not G.P.A.).
- Exceptions: U.S. (the adjective) and academic degrees (B.S., M.A., etc.).
Quotation Marks
- Enclose in quotation marks the titles of songs and short compositions, but italicize the titles of operas, oratorios, motets, epic poems, and long musical compositions.
- Example:
- NAU Opera gave a flawless performance of "Vilya" from The Merry Widow.
- Enclose in quotation marks the titles of articles and features in periodicals and newspapers, chapter titles, titles of short stories, short poems, essays, and individual sections in books. Italicize titles of published books, periodicals, newspapers, motion pictures, and television and radio series.
- Example:
- The chapter titled "The Martyred President" in Platt Cline's book Mountain Campus is about native-German Rudolph H.H. Blome's misfortune to be president of NAU as America prepared to enter World War I.
- If several paragraphs are to be quoted from one source, use quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph but only at the end of the last paragraph.
- Examples:
- Alex F. Osborn said, "Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud."
- "Any of us will put out more and better ideas if our efforts are appreciated."
- The period and comma precede quotation marks; question marks and exclamation points may go inside or out, depending on the meaning.
- Examples:
- The professor said, "Your assignment is due today."
- The student asked, "Can I turn my paper in tomorrow?"
- The professor replied, "Not if you want to pass!"
- Who was it who said, "These are the times that try men's souls"?
Semicolon
- Less commonly used than the comma or colon, the semicolon is still useful when a break in the sentence calls for more than a comma. The semicolon should be used between the two parts of a compound sentence when they're not connected by conjunctions such as "and" or "but."
- Example:
- The outdated poster had been removed from the bulletin board; in its place were current news bulletins.
Web Style
- Although worldwide is one word, World Wide Web is standard usage. When abbreviating, lowercase www. Capitalize Internet.
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| Last Updated (
Friday, 24 October 2003 ) |
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