Q. Hello—My husband and I are arguing as to my use of periods at the end of a sentence when “trailing off.” He is unfamiliar with my use of two periods, which I believe is correct if my sentence actually ends there, rather than continuing. Is he (god forbid) right?? Example: He detailed all of the Nordic sports equipment he knew: skis, poles, ski boots, snow shoes.. Or must there be three periods?
A. I’m afraid there’s no softening this blow: you are wrong. (And we try not to use the w word.) Seriously, have you ever seen two periods in a published book or magazine? No. It’s always at least three. To learn more, please read CMOS 13.50–58 on ellipses.
Q. Hello! I’m a freelance editor, and I’m editing a manuscript with more than 300 then words (which the publisher wants left in), mainly used as coordinating conjunctions. Here is an example: He deflated then chuckled. I suggested this to the director: He deflated, then chuckled. Her response: “I don’t see two independent clauses in either of those, so I wouldn’t consider then to be used as a coordinating conjunction. I would also consider the comma to be optional.” Is it okay to leave out the comma when then joins a compound predicate? Am I overboard on this?
A. It sounds like this manuscript is a novel or creative nonfiction, and your director is afraid you will edit out its style or voice. Perhaps she fears, with reason, that technical correctness would ruin the piece of writing. She is confusing things, however, by trying to justify the constructions grammatically instead of simply saying “This is the style we want; don’t mess with it.” It’s conventional to put either a comma or and before then when it’s used as an adverb (He deflated, then chuckled; he deflated and then chuckled), but rather than argue over grammar, it would be better to simply confirm that the more casual style is needed, regardless of technical correctness. There are various kinds of writing where cleaving to the CMOS rules would suck out all the life and character. There’s no shame in avoiding that.
Q. In the example at CMOS 13.53, why is it a period at the end instead of “. . . .”? It’s not the end of the sentence in the original quote, and the period seems to suggest there is nothing further in that sentence with the single period.
A. Although it might be logical to put an ellipsis at the end, that’s not the convention. Quotations are nearly always, by their very nature, excerpted from a longer sentence, paragraph, or document. There’s no need to indicate that with special punctuation. Please see CMOS 13.52: “Ellipsis points are normally not used (1) before the first word of a quotation, even if the beginning of the original sentence has been omitted; or (2) after the last word of a quotation, even if the end of the original sentence has been omitted, unless the sentence as quoted is deliberately incomplete.”
Q. We hired an editor to edit our book (a novel), but several things just seem wrong. Here’s the quote:
“I see you got the water running.” Steve looked from the water canal to the disheveled man before him. “But what in God’s name happened to you?”
She wants to change it to
“I see you got the water running,” Steve looked from the water canal to the disheveled man before him, “but what in God’s name happened to you?”
Which is correct?
A. The first version is correct; the second one creates a run-on sentence. (I hope you got a good deal on that editor.)
Q. What is the correct way to punctuate the following sentence: “Let’s face it, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.” Is it correct to use the comma even though “Let’s face it” is an independent clause?
A. Your sentence is an example of a comma splice. Some readers will be distracted by it; some will consider it incorrect; a few will take it as one more sign that civilization is coming to an end. However, as Bryan Garner writes in Garner's Modern American Usage: “Most usage authorities accept comma splices when (1) the clauses are short and closely related, (2) there is no danger of a miscue, and (3) the context is informal.” That said, a dash or colon in place of the comma in your sentence would be uncontroversial.
Q. I understand that commas should be used to introduce dialogue, typically in the fashion of “He said, ‘Get my copy of CMOS!’” But what about instructions to begin a dialogue, make a statement, or ask a question? Should we use a comma, colon, or nothing in the following sentences:
Ask, “What’s your name?”
Explain: “Today we are going to learn to say our names.”
Say “I like apples.”
The context is a teacher’s manual instructing the reader on how to manage a lesson. My author has used a colon for many of these areas, but in similar sentences with longer introductory text she has instead used a comma or no punctuation as follows:
Explain to your students, “Today we are going to . . .”
Say in your best character voice “I’m ten!”
I find myself leaning toward the colon, but I’m conflicted; as this is a teacher’s manual, there are many such sentences. After setting all instances on a page to colons, I then recoil in horror at the sight of so many colons on my screen! Is there a recommendation?
A. There is a lot of leeway for a writer in choosing punctuation before a quotation; it’s nearly impossible to make a rule. In general, a colon is more emphatic; a comma or no punctuation is less disruptive. Usually an imperative works fine with no punctuation if the quoted material serves as a short and simple direct object:
Ask “What’s your name?”
Say “I like apples.”
Note that a comma may be used in those examples as well. If the quoted material after an imperative functions as an elaboration or demonstration of the command, rather than as a direct object, a colon is more apt:
Explain: “Today we are going to learn to say our names.”
Q. Why do people feel the need to add punctuation to their organization names? I am editing a blog post about a local coalition that has named itself with a word (let’s say it’s “Believe”) followed by an exclamation point. To refer to the coalition by name, the only option seems to be leaving off the exclamation point, correct? Otherwise, it makes for an excessively clumsy sentence that makes no sense at first: “Believe! thinks this legislation is a great idea.”
A. People add punctuation to names when they want to be creative but are bad at it. Readers are actually getting used to this device, however, so it probably won’t cause a problem. Keep the punctuation while making sure that the context provides help to the reader. For instance, avoid putting the organization’s name at the end of a sentence like “The attorneys filing the lawsuit doubt that the contract was broken; although they have never visited the organization, tomorrow they are going to Believe!”
Q. Good day! I want to inquire about your rule in chapter 6 about “smart” apostrophes at the beginning of a word. How come the apostrophe is the same character as the right single quotation mark? What is the implication of an incorrect (character for) apostrophe? Thank you very much.
A. Good day to you! The implication of the incorrect apostrophe symbol is that somebody goofed. The implication of the correct symbol at the beginning of a word is that one or more letters have been omitted: ’tis. An apostrophe is identical in appearance to a right single quotation mark (Unicode U+2019). Please refer to the Unicode.org Code Chart for General Punctuation, which tells us that U+2019 is “the preferred character to use for apostrophe.” A common error in typing an apostrophe is to type a left single quotation mark (or not to notice when Microsoft Word does it for you!).
Q. I’m editing a writing sample and am trying to explain (in writing) one of the rules for using periods within parentheses: “Add a period after sword and make your parenthetical element a stand-alone sentence enclosed in parentheses, like this: ‘(Romans 13 clearly delegates that job to government.).’” Do you see the issue? The two periods are driving me crazy, but because the one within parentheses is necessary to illustrate the grammar rule, I can’t drop it. Nixing the period following the closing parenthesis also feels wrong. Please help me!
A. The problem is that this material isn’t suited to a run-in sentence or paragraph. The example needs its own line:
Add a period after sword and make your parenthetical element a stand-alone sentence enclosed in parentheses, like this:
(Romans 13 clearly delegates that job to government.)
If the material must be formatted the way you have shown, you’re doomed to tolerate those two periods.
Q. I am unable to locate, by any means, where the CMS says that note superscripts follow all punctuation except dashes; I had to Google to find an answer. Why should it be so hard to search? I tried searching semicolon, footnote, etc., and no subhead suggested a likely answer.
A. Try our new search engine, introduced along with the 17th edition. Typing “note number punctuation” will return paragraph 14.26 (on the placement of note numbers) as the first hit. You can also try the chapter 14 table of contents, where you’ll see the same paragraph.
The index is another way to find a topic. For instance, under “note numbers” you’ll find “placement of, 14.26, 14.27.” I hope you find our new search engine to be an improvement—and that you’ll keep all three search methods in mind as you navigate CMOS in the future.