Punctuation
Q. Regarding em dashes, does CMOS continue to unequivocally oppose putting spaces before and after em dashes in typography? The font style on this website leaves at least a tiny space surrounding the em dash. Would it be CMOS heresy for me to stretch that space? Answer »
Q. I have written a novel and am currently working with an editor, and we have different attitudes toward the use of the semicolon. According to my editor I have used semicolons copiously, but I have done so in order to achieve the connection of thoughts and ideas that are related but not so closely that they require a comma, and in order to avoid a series of the staccatolike sentences that so much current literature is subject to. Is this acceptable in today’s modern fiction? Answer »
Q. Can a semicolon ever accompany an exclamation point? I’m not at liberty to share the actual sentence, but here’s an analogous one of my own creation: The missing cookies could mean one of several things: (1) Jane had gotten hungry while she was studying; (2) John had come by and helped himself—that moocher!; (3) I was snacking in my sleep again. I’ve solved the problem in this case by deleting the em dash and enclosing “that moocher!” in parentheses, but I’m wondering what the rule is. Answer »
Q. My author is using the last half of a sentence in an epigraph. He begins it with three dots and a lowercase word. Does this violate the general rule not to use ellipsis points at the beginning of a quotation? Answer »
Q. We’ve been debating this one for quite some time. Should a comma follow a date that begins a sentence? (In 2009, . . .) I feel strongly that this is a proper place to put a comma, but others disagree. Is there a correct or incorrect way to use a comma in this situation? Answer »
Q. The CMOS “rule” is of course that a comma should not be used between the parts of a compound predicate unless necessary for clarification or to indicate a pause, but in editing legal language I find myself intimidated. (I presume the rules are different, and I don’t know them.) I would not myself use a comma, as in the following example, but should I leave it in because it’s legal usage? “Honorary members are not required to pay annual membership dues, but have all of the rights, privileges, and obligations of Regular members.” Answer »
Q. Is there a period after an abbreviation of a country if it is terminating a sentence? “I went to U.K..” Answer »
Q. Consider the following situation. A woman is wearing a sweater which has black and white stripes, and the underlying color is blue (base color), and a short skirt with a tartan plaid pattern involving the following colors: red, black, white. Is the correct way to describe this person as follows: “She is wearing a black-and-white-striped blue sweater and a short plaid skirt (red, black, and white tartan)”? Or “She is wearing a black-and-white-striped, blue sweater and a short, red-black-and-white-plaid skirt (tartan)”? Answer »
Q. I’m going to have signs made for the tennis courts at my rather academic club. I want one of them to say something like this: Answer »
Q. Our marketing department puts a boilerplate on all advertising. It lists the different facilities in our system and each is followed by the city where it is located. I believe that after each city there should be a semicolon. Now it reads, City Hospital, Boston, Regional Hospital, Brookline, Community Hospital, Newton, Union Hospital, Braintree, etc. The boilerplate is five lines long and lists lots of facilities. Answer »
Q. Is it ever allowable to ascribe a comment to an individual by placing the comment in quotation marks if the quoted comment is not exactly what the individual said, but rather a recollection of the writer? Or would the writer have needed to record (by writing or electronic recording) the exact comment if it were intended to be later conveyed in writing within quotation marks? Answer »
Q. How would I punctuate the end of a sentence that ends with an abbreviation? For example, “I attended a meeting at ABC, Inc.” Two periods don’t look right. Answer »
Q. When ending a sentence with an abbreviation, do you need two periods? The event was held in Washington D.C.. Answer »
Q. When the author has a middle initial are two periods used in a bibliography? Jordan, Alyce A.. “Rationalizing the Narrative.” Answer »
Q. Should one put a period on either side of the parenthesis that ends a parenthetical list ending with “etc.” or just one? Example: We have fruit (apples, oranges, etc.). Answer »
Q. In the following sentence, I omitted the period per CMOS 6.123: . . . as shown in the Sony Film Classics 2006 documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”. My colleague, however, said the period should remain, because it belongs to the sentence, not the title of the movie. Answer »
Q. My question is about whether or not periods should be placed at the end of a URL used within a sentence. My coworkers say that we don’t need a period at the end of a website address. Answer »
Q. Is it appropriate to add a semicolon before i.e. or e.g. ? For example, is it correct to say “by focusing on prevention; i.e., identifying and intervening”? Answer »
Q. I am in a writing/editing group, and everyone here uses then as a conjunction. For example: “I plan to work from home until he is finished then I will come to the office.” Sometimes they put a comma before then. Will you please explain how then is to be punctuated? They are editing their customers’ documents so that they now reflect incorrect usage. Answer »
Q. I am a technical writer for a game corporation and we are working on training documents. Is there a rule that I can call attention to in order to discourage the overuse of parentheses? Right now I don’t have anything to show in order to prove my point. Perhaps I am the one who is incorrect; either way, I would like a rule to reference if there is one. Answer »
Q. What’s the proper orientation of the apostrophe when using a contraction such as ’70s or a title such as ’Night Mother? Should it curve as the computer sets it? Answer »
Q. I have a question that involves multiple adjectives and compound adjectival phrases. How would you punctuate the phrase “hard-drinking, hard-drugging, womanizing cowboy-landed-gentry myth,” or should phrases this complex just be avoided? Answer »
Q. Is it ever possible to put a period after other punctuation as in: He had asked, “Will she go?.” Answer »
Q. I was hoping you could tell me if brackets can be used instead of parentheses for most things. For example, HG Blending Salt without any additives (P7-726) and HG Blending Salt (P7-727) with an additive. Could I use brackets instead? Answer »
Q. As you know, CMOS 6.64 says, “When a colon introduces two or more sentences . . . the first word following it is capitalized.” The two examples seem to suggest that the sentences following must comprise a series of some sort. Based on my understanding, I lowercased the first word following the colon in these two sentences: Answer »
Q. Contracts often employ defined terms in quotes and parentheses, e.g., ABC Corp. (the “Seller”) shall sell ten widgets to XYZ Corp. (the “Buyer”). When drafting such a contract, I always put a period after the close parenthesis if it is the end of the sentence, such as in the above example. But it’s like listening to nails on a chalkboard to me to have a period essentially (ignoring the parenthetical) follow the period employed in an abbreviation. What do you recommend? Answer »
Q. Dear CMOS, I am working on a book for children that uses both Spanish and English. CMOS 7.52 notes that translations appear in quotation marks or parentheses, and examples show commas inside the quotation marks. However, I have a sentence that ends with a translated word and an exclamation point. Would the exclamation point (and in other cases, the question mark) come before or after the last quotation mark? The exclamation point must be included. The sentence currently reads: The Spanish word for puzzle means “head breaker!” Answer »
Q. Where does the second comma belong in this phrase: my cousin, Joseph’s son? Is it my cousin, Joseph’s, son? But you wouldn’t say “my cousin son.” Rather it should be “my cousin’s son.” Answer »
Q. Have you dropped use of the printer’s rule? In the 15th edition, it appears that you do not italicize punctuation after italics, whether for titles or in running text. I can’t find a discussion of this point, and wondered if you could clarify how to set punctuation after italics. Thank you. Answer »
Q. Is it always necessary to use an en dash while it is representing a range of numbers(15–30)? Answer »
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