punctuation Archives - Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/tag/punctuation/ Wed, 29 Mar 2017 20:43:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/cropped-WBP-FAVICON_7-32x32.jpg punctuation Archives - Words by a Pro https://old.wordsbyapro.com/tag/punctuation/ 32 32 Style Guides & Manuals: What Are They? https://old.wordsbyapro.com/style-guides-manuals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=style-guides-manuals Wed, 29 Mar 2017 20:42:33 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1960 Perhaps your high school English teacher told you about style guides, but maybe you didn’t even come across them until college when your English Composition instructor informed you, “You must use MLA style or fail this course.” I have said it, and other instructors have insisted on APA or Chicago (Turabian) Style as the style […]

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]]> Questions for a Language Ninja: Why the Dash do I need a Semicolon? https://old.wordsbyapro.com/questions-for-a-language-ninja-why-the-dash-do-i-need-a-semicolon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=questions-for-a-language-ninja-why-the-dash-do-i-need-a-semicolon Wed, 02 Mar 2016 03:18:49 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1615 Q: Why are the rules of punctuation so strict? When is it appropriate to us a comma? When should one use a comma as opposed to a semicolon, or an em-dash, or parentheses? What is the difference between a semicolon and an em-dash, anyway? What is an em-dash, and how did it happen? A: The […]

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]]> Weathering the Storm: Clean Up Your Writing Before Your Editor Does https://old.wordsbyapro.com/weathering-the-storm-clean-up-your-writing-before-your-editor-does/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weathering-the-storm-clean-up-your-writing-before-your-editor-does Wed, 10 Feb 2016 01:25:19 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1602 Editing is the calm after the storm. It’s when the survivors pick through the wreckage, making a semblance of a life again. A little dramatic, perhaps, but it’s apropos. Writing is the storm that messes everything up, throwing words, punctuation, and grammar here and there…and editing cleans it all up. While the chaos of writing […]

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]]> Comma Conundrums: How Grammar Can Keep You Out of Jail https://old.wordsbyapro.com/comma-conundrums-how-grammar-can-keep-you-out-of-jail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=comma-conundrums-how-grammar-can-keep-you-out-of-jail https://old.wordsbyapro.com/comma-conundrums-how-grammar-can-keep-you-out-of-jail/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2016 19:57:31 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=1559 Quick, before the Feds kick down my door—let me tell you a story. This is a case of alleged corruption, unproven fraud, and suspected malfeasance…all made possible by a small grammatical ambiguity. What if I told you that a missing comma nearly let me slip away with half a million dollars of ill-gotten taxpayer money? […]

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]]> https://old.wordsbyapro.com/comma-conundrums-how-grammar-can-keep-you-out-of-jail/feed/ 21 The Terrifying Trend Toward Terrible Brand Name Punctuation https://old.wordsbyapro.com/the-terrifying-trend-toward-terrible-brand-name-punctuation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-terrifying-trend-toward-terrible-brand-name-punctuation Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:39:26 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=799 With October 31st around the corner, it’s the perfect time to discuss a subject that’s near and dear to my heart: What happened to the apostrophe that used to live in Hallowe’en? And how long has it been missing? For years, I thought I’d never find that charming throwback to Ye Olde Worlde punctuation, but […]

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]]> “Who Gives a #@*$ About an Oxford Comma?” https://old.wordsbyapro.com/who-gives-a-about-an-oxford-comma/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=who-gives-a-about-an-oxford-comma Tue, 09 Sep 2014 21:18:48 +0000 https://old.wordsbyapro.com/?p=745 If you have any hipster sensibilities, you may be familiar with New York-based rock band Vampire Weekend and one of its most widely known hits: “Oxford Comma.” The very NSFW lyrics, from which I pulled the title of this post, don’t actually take a side in the classic grammatical debate of “to serial comma or […]

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