Conventions

Punctuation Review

Question marks mark questions.

Exclamation points indicate strong emotion or excitement (and should be used sparingly).

Periods end things-a sentence, an abbreviation.  “John bought his gear at The Wilderness Co.” In that sentence, a single period ends both the abbreviation ("Co." and the sentence.  [And note that the period goes inside the quotation marks. Speaking of which . . .]

Quotation marks show that you are quoting words that someone else has said-another writer or speaker, including characters in a story.  Using quotation marks in the first instance-when it’s another person’s words-is particularly important!  If you don’t tell your readers that the words and ideas you are using were written by someone else, you are committing plagiarism, which is a very serious charge (it will get you an F at the very least).  A combination of quotation marks and information about the book or other source will guarantee that credit is given where credit is due.  (Click here to see the section on avoiding plagiarism and using citations.)

Colons are used to introduce another element of the sentence:  a list; another part of the sentence that goes on on explain or clarify the first part.  Another example:

• There are seven days in the week:  Monday, Tuesday, etc.

Semicolons are used in place of commas sometimes, especially if you are separating a list of elements that contain commas.  Example:

• Mr. Brown’s syllabus listed six quizzes, which were scheduled every three weeks; four tests, including the midterm and the final; and two research projects, which consisted of a paper, visual aids, and an oral presentation.

Semicolons are also used to separate two independent clauses (part of a sentence that contains a subject and a predicate or forms a simple sentence by itself) that are closely related.  It is often used with however, therefore, rather to join two sentences. Example: It’s not enough to begin to say money when you are out of school; rather, begin when you are young and you’ll already have saved a substantial amount by the time you graduate.

Apostrophes:

1. Show possession (Joe’s Garage; students’ lockers)
2. Are used in contractions (can’t, won’t, she’s)

Commas

There are so many rules and customs governing the use of commas that if we were to list them all here, your head would spin!  So instead, the following list explains where and when to use commas in some of the most common situations.  Again, be consistent! For more information on using commas, take a look at some of the resources listed in the links section below.

1. When three or more items are listed in a series (e.g., a, b, and c). The comma before the “and c” is known as the serial (or Harvard or Oxford) comma, and is optional, but it makes some sentences less confusing.

   Example: Her desk held books, pencils, pens, and paper.

2. In a sentence in which two complete thoughts are separated by and, but, or, nor, yet, so, and for.

   Examples: George was not in class, nor did he make band practice. Gail didn’t go to the zoo, but she did go to the amusement park.

3. Between consecutive adjectives (remember, an adjective is a word that describes a noun--a pretty, happy face, a cold, gloomy day).

   Example: The dog ran in quick, tight circles.

4. To set off an introductory clause (part of a sentence) that is a necessary part of the sentence.

   Example: Before we can begin the report, we need to do research.

5. To set off information that can be taken out of a sentence without changing the main point of the sentence.

   Example: Mrs. Brown, the English teacher, was a monitor on the field trip.

6. To set off the year if it follows the month and day.

   Example: March 2, 1999.

(Remember, though, that if you just have the month and year, do not use a comma between them. Example: March 2000.)

Common Spelling Errors

If a word look “weird,” it probably is.  And weird (the correct spelling) is only one of many words that people commonly “mispell.” (It’s misspell.)

English is full of contradictions, so even tried-and-true “rules” such as “i before e except after c” don’t work all of the time.

So what do you do to make sure you’re getting it right?

• Use dictionaries and spell-checking utilities.  When in doubt, look it up!
• Keep a reference list of words you commonly misspell. Here are a few to get you started:


• a lot
• governor
• accommodate
• illogical
• acquaint
• jewelry
• adolescent
• judgment
• all right
• knowledgeable
• awkward
• laboratory
• beginning
• license
• calendar
• necessary
• cemetary
• parallel
• embarassed
• privilege
• fascinate
• questionnaire
• February
• skiing
• forty
• vacuum

Commonly Confused Words

affect, effect

• affect means to influence or change
• effect (noun) means the result or impression; or (verb) to cause

disinterested, uninterested

• disinterested means unbiased or neutral
• uninterested means not interested

among, between

• among generally should be used when there are more than two persons or things involved
• between is used when there are two persons or things

farther, further

• farther is used in connection with distance: After I moved, I was even farther away from my job
• further refers to degree or extent in the sense of “I will discuss this no further”; also a shortened version of “furthermore”

imply, infer

• imply means to hint or suggest (the speaker makes the implication)
• infer means to take in a hint or suggested (the listener infers meaning from something that the speaker says)

lay, lie

• lay means to place something or put something: please lay the paper on the desk
• lie means to rest or recline (also means to tell an untruth)

less, fewer

• less is used for quantities: I have less money than you do
• fewer is used for individual numbers or units: I have fewer dollars than you do

me, myself, and I

• Me is appropriate when you are the object of the action (verb): are you talking to me? In general, use “me” if it follows a preposition (i.e., by, for, to, against, between, below, above, etc). A common mistake: “her and I” as in “The boys were talking to Mary and I.” It should be “The boys were talking to Mary and me” (i.e., the boys were talking to Mary [and] the boys were talking to me.
• Myself is reflexive--it has to reflect back on an “I”: I’ll do it myself. Don’t use “myself” when you mean me or I. Wrong: As for myself . . .” Correct: As for me . . .” Wrong: The boys were talking to Mary and myself.” Correct: The boys were talking to Mary and me.”
• I is a nominative (naming) pronoun (along with he, she, we, they, who, you, it). Nominative pronouns serve as the subject in a sentence: I went to the store; he ate a pizza.

who, whom

• Who and whom aren’t difficult to figure out if you remember that “who” is like “I” (it’s a subject) and “whom” is like me, him, her (it’s the object of the verb or preposition).
• Use who and whoever when you could substitute he, she, I, we for who: Who got an A? (She got an A.)
• Use whom and whomever when you could substitute me, her, him, them, us as the object of the verb or object of the preposition: Whom did you talk to today? (Did you talk to him today?)

Links

University of Ottawa has a very complete guide to and discussion of punctuation.

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab has an excellent guide to grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Onelook.com searches through 682 online dictionaries, both general and specialized-- and allows you to search in more than six languages, and does translations too!  Wow!  You can use the search feature to look for meanings of words (and use search tools to help you find words that you’re not sure how to spell!) or browse through each of the 682 dictionaries available.  If you can’t find a word here, it probably doesn’t exist!

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