CHAPTER

THE PROBLEMS

“My punctuation is really bad.”  How often have we heard this, not just from students, but from colleagues, some of them professional writers!  What is the difference between a colon and semicolon?  Why are some titles italicized, while others are in quotation marks?  Sometimes you’ll find a particular word or phrase set off by a dash, other times enclosed in parentheses – what’s the difference?

Or, to bring the matter closer to home, instructors would mark each of the following sentences with “PUNC” or something similar to indicate punctuation errors:

• My cousin Titus has just finished his autobiography, which he’s titled “Holding It Together: My Life Collecting Paperclips.”
• While Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub; Perpetua ladled it out with a bucket.
• “Have you read this?” Matthias, plainly shocked, asked his roommates as he show them the daily paper . “In the top story the mayor states, “Because of a clear lack of support, I have been forced to cancel the fireworks for National Colored Pencil Day.”
• At the bazaar we found these three items an embroidered fire screen, an anvil, and a hat rack made of antlers.
• Tilda will travel to Mallorca (Wentworth once took a trip to Utah) for spring break
• “I’m not sure,” remarked Clement, “but – should sparks – and smoke – be coming from – my cell phone?”
• In college, it’s wise to keep a healthy diet! Students should limit their intake of treats like frosted parsnips and honey glazed endive to just three servings per day!
• Because Ivan work’s so hard, I bought him three hotdog’s with extra licorice whips.

We’re not saying that we can explain all the mysteries of punctuation – but we may be able to make punctuation seem less mysterious.

WHAT PUNCTUATION IS AND HOW IT WORKS

This chapter focuses on three basic groups of punctuation outside the comma (we’ve devoted an entire chapter to that tricky devil.)  These three basic groups are marker punctuation:  italics, semicolons, quotation marks, and colons; restriction punctuation:  parentheses and dashes; and warning punctuation:  exclamation points and apostrophes.

1. Marker Punctuation: Italics, Semicolons, Quotation Marks, Colons

You use italics for all titles except articles, poems, short stories, and songs; for foreign words; and, along with an apostrophe, for the plurals of certain letters and numbers.  Thus,

• Annika’s favorite novel is I Love You, Pukey Snot-Ball.
• Drusilla displays a certain savoir faire in upscale knickknack shops.
• Frederica wants to know how many n’s are in the word Kinnickinnic.

(As a side observation, underlining is the same as italics, but you’ll see the latter much more often than the former.)

You can think of a semicolon (;) as a combination of a period and a comma:  You use it as something more than a comma and less than a period. You use a semicolon in the place where you would use a comma and coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) in a compound sentence.

• Alaric suspected that it was a mistake to store condiments in his shirt pockets; he was fearful of the consequences.

In fact, to test whether or not you’ve used a semicolon correctly, you can try replacing it with a comma and coordinating conjunction:

• Alaric suspected that it was a mistake to store condiments in his shirt pockets, and he was fearful of the consequences.

Quotations marks (“) as markers have two main uses.

You use quotation marks to enclose statements:

• “Those certainly aren’t my tarot cards,” observed Great Aunt Graciela tartly.

In addition, you use quotation marks for the titles of articles, poems, short stories, and songs – anything, that is, that appears as a part of a something larger, such as a collection, anthology, or album.

• The English instructor’s favorite song is “The Red Pen Blues.”

Sometimes you may find that you need to use quotation marks within quotation marks, as in this sentence:

• The English instructor said, “My favorite song is ‘The Red Pen Blues.’”

In a sentence of this kind, you replace the double quotation marks with single quotation marks.  Note, too that the period goes inside the quotation marks.

You use a colon (:) mainly to introduce a list of specified items or to introduce a statement.

• In an attempt to appease the English instructor, Ellen bought the following items: champagne, caviar, a silk tie, and an excellent novel.
• She made this statement: “I hope that I may still save my grade for this course.”

Indeed, you can think of a colon as the equivalent of the phrase “that is.”  Look how we can, in both sentences, substitute “that is” for the colon, the sentences make sense:

• In an attempt to appease the English instructor, Ellen bought the following items, that is, champagne, caviar, a silk tie, and an excellent novel.
• She made this statement, that is, “I hope that I may still save my grade for this course.”

2. Restriction Punctuation: Parentheses, Dashes

You use parentheses to indicate information that is not essential and that you wish to deemphasize:

• In the middle of the solarium stood a kangaroo (the kangaroo’s name was Bettina).

You use dashes, on the other hand, to emphasize information, either an sudden change in thought or focus –

• Oh, Margareta, there’s no such thing as ghosts, not even in – What’s that noise?

– or an interruption –

• She insisted – I haven’t the slightest idea why – on wearing gloves in the swimming pool.

– or an emphatic repetition:

• Now, that’s a good plan – a plan even the town council will approve.

3. Warning Punctuation: Exclamation Points, Quotation Marks, Apostrophes

You use an exclamation point to indicate that a statement is being made with a particular force or passion:

• Christiana! This is the third time this week that you’ve left your knitting in the bathtub!

A special use of quotation marks is to enclose slang words or any words used outside of their ordinary sense:

• Adelhilde’s “reward” turned out to be an unwashed goat.

The apostrophe (’) has two main uses.  You use it in contractions to indicate that you have left out a letter or letters.

• You simply can’t [= can not] let little Ezra out of your sight because he’ll take all the lampshades and hide them.

You use an apostrophe along with underlining (or italics) to indicate the plural of individual letters that might otherwise look unclear.

• When she writes, her a’s and i’s look alike. (Otherwise, a’s and i’s would look like as and is.)

(A distinct use of apostrophes is to show possession, to which we’ve devoted an entire chapter.)

THE SOLUTIONS

We’re hoping that they way that we’ve organized the uses of punctuation – you’ve noticed, we hope that we’ve avoided the word “rules” – proves useful.  Let’s go back to the sentences at the beginning of the chapter and reexamine them.

• Problem: My cousin Titus has just finished his autobiography, which he’s titled “Holding It

Together:  My Life Collecting Paperclips.”

• Solution: My cousin Titus has just finished his autobiography, which he’s titled Holding It

Together:  My Life Collecting Paperclips.

The key use of italics is to indicate that words or symbols are being used in way that requires extra attention.  One of these ways, as you’ve learned above, it to italicize titles besides articles, poems, short stories, and songs (most commonly).  As we note above, another way to think about the use of italics is that you use them with “containers”:  a book, an anthology or collection, a newspaper, a magazine or journal, a website, and the like – anything, that is, that “holds” other bits, as a newspaper, for instance, “holds” various articles.

The distinction between when to use italics and when to use quotation marks is particularly important in documenting sources for a research based essay.  Indeed, and depending on context, italics and quotation marks may be your readers’ only way to know what kind of source you mean.  Consider our sentence if we altered it just a little:

• My cousin Titus has just finished writing “Holding It Together: My Life Collecting Paperclips.”
• My cousin Titus has just finished writing Holding It Together: My Life Collecting Paperclips.

In the first sentence, the work in question must be an article:  the quotation marks signal this; in the second, the italics signal that the work must be a book of some sort.  The difference might be significant!

What about the next sentence?

• Problem: While Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub; Perpetua ladled it out with a bucket.
• Solution: Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub; Perpetua ladled it out with a bucket.

The key to a semicolon is, as you now know, that you need to have complete sentences on either side of it.  The first sentence clearly has two complete sentences on either side of the semicolon; the second, alas, does not:  “While Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub” is not a complete sentence, and thus the semicolon in the first sentence is incorrect.  Remember, too, what we might call the semicolon test:  Try replacing it with a comma and a coordinating conjunction :

• While Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub, and Perpetua ladled it out with a bucket.
• Calixtus mixed the punch in the washtub, and Perpetua ladled it out with a bucket.

The first sentence makes no sense, whereas the second does; this tells us that the semicolon is correct.

When you write a research based essay, or even you write out someone’s exact words, how you use quotation marks bear a good deal of weight:

• Problem: “Have you read this?” Matthias, plainly shocked, asked his roommates as he show them the daily paper.  “In the top story the mayor states, “Because of a clear lack of support, I have been forced to cancel the fireworks for National Colored Pencil Day.”

• Solution: “Have you read this?” Matthias, plainly shocked, asked his roommates as he show them the daily paper.  “In the top story the mayor states, ‘Because of a clear lack of support, I have been forced to cancel the fireworks for National Colored Pencil Day.’”

Do you see what’s off here?  The sentence starts correctly by using quotation marks to indicate reported speech, that is, what someone else said – in this case, Martin.  However, a problem arises when Martin reports what someone else – the major – says.  In this instance, you use single quotes within double quotes.  As with titles (above), think of this difference as a kind of signal to readers:  The single quotes within the double let readers know that the speaker is quoting someone else.  And, again:  Note that the period goes inside the quotation marks – both sets!

You know now to use a colon when you specify a list:

• Problem: At the bazaar we found these three items an embroidered fire screen, an anvil, and a hat rack made of antlers.

That’s why this sentence is incorrect, yes?  In order to correct the sentence, one option is of course  to use a colon:

• Solution 01: At the bazaar we found these three items:  an embroidered fire screen, an anvil, and a hat rack made of antlers.

However, you might just as easily slightly rewrite the sentence by taking out the phrase “these three items”:

• Solution 02: At the bazaar we found an embroidered fire screen, an anvil, and a hat rack made of antlers.

The first sentence indicates that a list is going to follow, and thus we use a colon; the second doesn’t, so we don’t.  Remember, too, that if you can substitute the phrase “that is” for your colon and the sentence still sounds correct, you’ve probably used your colon correctly:

• At the bazaar we found these three items, that is, an embroidered fire screen, an anvil, and a hat rack made of antlers.

About parentheses, we state above that you use them “to indicate information that is not essential and that you wish to deemphasize.”  Thus, what’s wrong – if anything – with this sentence?

• Problem: Tilda will travel to Mallorca (Wentworth once took a trip to Utah) for spring break

“Nothing is wrong,” we suppose you might argue.  “The writer wants to deemphasize the bit about the trip to Utah.”  All right; but think:  What does Tilda’s trip to Mallorca have to do with Wentworth’s trip to Utah?  In a fuller context this information might be useful; but here, it seems not merely additional but downright irrelevant!  We’d recommend leaving it out entirely:

• Solution 01: Tilda will travel to Mallorca for spring break

We’re going to pass on to you some handy information that a veteran English instructor gave us years ago:  You can nearly always simply remove from a sentence any information that you put in parentheses.  If the information is in fact significant, then you should take it out of the parentheses – and make clear why you need the information at all:

• Solution 02: Tilda will travel to Mallorca for spring break.  Wentworth, who has only ever traveled to Utah, will travel with her; thus, the trip is will be particularly special for him.

Surely this following sentence must have seemed odd to you:

• Problem: “I’m not sure,” remarked Clement, “but – should sparks – and smoke – be coming from – my cell phone?”

Use dashes sparingly – that is, only when you really need to.  In fact, we could take all the dashes out of this sentence, and the result would be much clearer:

• Solution: “I’m not sure,” remarked Clement, “but should sparks and smoke be coming from my cell phone?”

Sparing use is also the principle behind the use of exclamation points – and links their use to parentheses:

• Problem: In college, it’s wise to keep a healthy diet!  Students should limit their intake of treats like frosted parsnips and honey glazed endive to just three servings per day!

• Solution: In college, it’s wise to keep a healthy diet.  Students should limit their intake of treats like frosted parsnips and honey glazed endive to just three servings per day.

Unless you’re quoting directly – that is, the exclamation points are in the original – it’s best to use them only rarely, and then only when you’re absolutely sure you need them.

Finally, bear in mind that the apostrophe is never used to form the plurals of either verbs or nouns:

• Problem: Because Ivan work’s so hard, I bought him three hotdog’s with extra licorice whips.
• Solution: Because Ivan works so hard, I bought him three hotdogs with extra licorice whips.

Merely because a word ends in an “s” doesn’t mean that you automatically put an apostrophe before it!

ANALOGY

Punctuation is all about giving notice or warning. For the most part, we use it to let our readers know something is happening that will affect the meaning they take from our sentences.

Think of punctuation marks as road signs. There are three general types of road signs: markers (for places you can pass or places you can park), restrictions (limiting your speed or your access to a road), and warnings (of lane closures ahead or work zones or upcoming signal lights).

Punctuation serves the same types of functions.

The upshot of this analogy to road signs is that there is a reason the highway department is concerned about its budget for signing. They want to provide just enough signs but not have to pay for too many. To navigate roads, people needs signs that say exactly what they mean, exactly often enough, in exactly the right places.

Punctuation has meaning only when it’s placed in a sentence, but then it carries meanings of its own. It cannot be slung about here and there, or its effect will be the same as a no parking sign over the passing lane on a freeway. And don’t forget: when you see one misplaced or inaccurate sign, you trust the next one less. It pays to understand and use punctuation well.  When you do, you will give your readers all the information they need for interpreting your writing.

THE BASICS:  PUNCTUATION

• WHAT IS IT? Punctuation functions to guide your reader through your sentences.  Punctuation indicate the relative importance of parts of a sentence or individual words.  It emphasizes, clarifies, and conveys meaning.
• WHEN DO YOU USE IT? You use punctuation – and should use it correctly – every time you write.
• WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? Punctuation outside the period and the comma may be grouped into three basic categories:  marker punctuation, restriction punctuation, and warning punctuation.

• Marker Punctuation
  1. Italics you use for foreign words, for all titles except articles, poems, short stories, and songs, and, along with an apostrophe, for the plurals of certain letters and numbers.
  2. You use a semicolon in the place where you would use a comma and coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.
  3. Quotations marks as markers have two main uses: to enclose statements, and to indicate the titles of articles, poems, short stories, and songs, or anything else that’s part of a collection.
  4. You use a colon mainly to introduce a list of specified items or to introduce a statement. You can think of a colon as the equivalent of the phrase “that is.”

• Restriction Punctuation
  1. You use parentheses to indicate information that is not essential and that you wish to deemphasize.
  2. You use dashes, on the other hand, to emphasize information, either an sudden change in thought or focus, or an interruption, or an emphatic repetition.

• Warning Punctuation
  1. You use an exclamation point to indicate that a statement is being made with a particular force or passion.
  2. A special use of quotation marks is to enclose slang words or any words used outside of their ordinary sense.
  3. Here the apostrophe has two main uses: in contractions to indicate that you have left out a letter or letters, and, along with italic) to indicate the plural of individual letters that might otherwise look unclear.

EXERCISE

Add punctuation to the following sentences.  You will not need to add commas.

1. Don’t forget to cross your ts clearly.
2. Have you read the book How to Succeed in Dirt Farming Without Really Trying?
3. The oboe solo is bad therefore, we have to take drastic action.
4. The Countess was not in her usual place, the roof she could not be found in the maze, either.
5. Prosperzio says that he’s just living la dolce vita, but it looks to me as though he’s sitting in the hot tub all day drinking beer.
6. Well, whatever you do, commented Myrna, don’t let the weasels back into the greenhouse.
7. What on earth is my handbag doing in the fireplace? asked Yvette.
8. I wouldn’t like him to know that I said it, but Leonard is a real spaz at times.
9. Soon in became clear who the real culprit was the goldfish.
10. Our Silver Bullet Repellent is not merely long-lasting one application lasts from one full moon to the next but economical, priced at only $24.95 per can.

QUIZ

Punctuation Quiz and Key