TCMOS – Punctuation – Chapter 6

Sunday, December 15^th, 2019
Blog #6 of my learning from #TheChicagoManualOfStyle.

“Punctuation is like a road sign for a reader; it shows you what the writer intended to say, what his thoughts were and where his story is going. Without the punctuation mark, you will fail to see or interpret incorrectly a lot of the information and perhaps miss totally what was originally conveyed.”

Colette J.

In the previous blogs, we learned about parts of speech. Today we’ll place the cherry on the cake of writing with punctuation.

Periods

A long pause. But where? Known as “a full stop,” a “dot,” or a “period,” it appears inside quotation marks.

(When an entire sentence is inside the parenthesis, a period is on the inside.) 

But when a clause, even if independent, delivers additional information within the parent sentence, place the period outside the parenthesis (Unless this sentence ends in etc., the period belongs with the outside sentence, not here).

For the following, always omit a period at the end of these lines:

1. Chapter title
2. Subhead
3. Running head
4. List
5. Signature (especially the letters in my book)
6. Address

Commas

A small break. Sometimes used to distance parts of a sentence. Always place a comma inside quotation marks, but it varies when used with parentheses.

Commas in pairs

Don’t skip this. If writing dates, or a city, a state, a comma appears twice. See the bolded and highlighted below.

September 1st, 1980, was a Monday.

Kapurthala, Punjab, is a small town most people haven’t heard about.

Skip the last comma only if it’s a title of a book; else use commas in pairs.

Use the Oxford commas as follows: I love roses, lilies, and tulips. But if there’s an & symbol instead of “and,” omit the last comma.

Use a comma with independent clauses (sentences) connected by and, but, or, yet, so, or any other conjunction.

If a predicate precedes the noun, use a comma. 

Omit the comma if the predicate follows.

But I can use this example, if I like. This comma fits because “if I like” is non-restrictive and doesn’t modify the meaning of the rest of the sentence.

My only daughter, Dua, loves to play with dolls.

But . . . 

My son Sahir doesn’t like dolls at all.

No commas are used in the second sentence because I may have over one son. But I have only one daughter, clear by the adjective “only”.

But . . .

“Sahir, my son, doesn’t like dolls at all” takes the commas as “my son” is non-essential. Order matters.

Tip: Use “that” with restrictive clauses and “which” with non-restrictive.

With participial and adverbial phrases:

Having lost the canvases, the artist had to forfeit his commission.

But the artist losing their canvas incurs great losses. 

In the second line, not all artists but only the one who has lost something.

Note: no comma between “caretakers and “was”: Losing her faith in her caretakers was her only option. Because “caretakers” isn’t the subject, but the entire phrase preceding “was” is the subject with a linking verb.

Small phrases don’t require a comma unless used in a nonrestrictive sense. In 1980 I was born. I was born, over three decades ago, in 1980.

The most important rule to remember about comma is whether the clause changes the meaning of the rest of the sentence. This rule applies to all situations.

Yes, no, like, oh, ah take a comma unless they fit with the rest of the short clause.

“Oh, you are wrong.”

“Oh God!”

“No, I don’t want any donuts.”

“No you will not!”

When multiple (coordinate) adjectives describe the same noun, the decision to use a comma rests firmly on:

1. If you can change the order of the adjectives, separate with commas 
2. If you can join the adjectives by “and,” separate with commas
3. Any other case, omit commas 

I have had several lovely experiences in life.

I have had one faithful, steadfast companion in my life.

Repeated adjectives need a comma: Many, many people have crossed this road before.

With dates, remember the rules of commas in pairs. An exception to the double commas are:

1. Only a month and year: My registration expires in November 2022.
2. Name of the day and ordinal: We consider Friday the thirteenth a bad omen.
3. Named day: On Thanksgiving 2010 we went to the Bahamas.

With Addresses: Use commas to separate elements except for state and zip.

The following are correct.

She wondered, Have I made a mistake?

Have I made a mistake? she wondered.

He wants her, not you.

Remember, a comma separates parts of sentences. Occasionally, use a comma to increase the distance; especially for sentences where a phrase/modifier modifies the sentence instead of the word immediately preceding it. To increase the separation, even more, use em dashes or parentheses. Here is an example straight out of TCMOS, 6.23: the last comma is not needed grammatically but added to prevent misreading. “She recognized the man who entered the room, and gasped.” Room didn’t gasp. She did. Note the extra comma.

For “However,” “therefore,” “indeed,” and “the like:

1. Use commas when they start a sentence 
2. Enclose in commas when they appear in the middle of a sentence non-essentially
3. Omit commas when they appear restrictively.

She therefore couldn’t commit to his proposal. However, she loved him dearly.

“That is” takes a comma after it. With too: I love you too. She, too, loves you. Comma aids comprehension in the later.

When you omit a preposition in a series, use a comma.

In math he scored one hundred; In English, eighty; in Science, fifty.

Finally, avoid two verbs back to back but if unavoidable, use a comma. “Whatever is, is good.”

Semicolons

Parts of a sentence are independent but closer to each other to reckon a period—use a semicolon. When using the following: “However,” “thus,” “hence,” “indeed,” “accordingly,” “besides,” and “therefore,” use a semicolon between independent clauses (instead of a comma).

I fear rain while hiking; however, without rain, there are no rainbows.

Colons

Introduce elements of a sentence with a colon. The first word following a colon is lowercase unless:

1. Colon introduces two or more sentences 
2. Colon introduces speech/dialogue/quotation/question

“For example” takes a comma, not a colon just like “namely”.

Accurate use of a colon depends on the following:

1. Omit in front of “for example” and “namely”
2. In front of a series that serves as an object of a verb: “The party included singing, dancing, and painting” is correct; inserting the colon after included is wrong
3. To merit a colon, the clause that introduces the series must form a grammatically complete sentence
   1. The rules are as follows: . . .
   2. “When in doubt, apply the test: . . .” (TCMOS, 6.67)

Question Mark

Direct questions take a question mark. Does that sound circular? Indirect questions don’t take the question mark. How she agreed to go out with him was bothering her. No question mark for rhetoric statements, a polite request disguised as a question: Would you kindly not swear.

Exclamation Mark

Express shock with this punctuation, but when abused, it feels unnatural, arrogant, even contemptuous. So use it sparsely for emphasis. Exclamation mark goes inside a quotation mark, parenthesis, or brackets only when part of the quoted material, but it goes outside if it belongs with the outside sentence.

He shouted, “Go to hell!”

She actually believes that “she sees ghosts”!

Hyphens

Thankfully, a keyboard key exists for this one. Use this, as described in TCMOS’s chapter 7, to combine certain adjectives as follows: ever-ready Sue Miller. The Chapter 1 table contains all the hyphen rules.

En Dashes

En dash is used to connect numbers and is not blessed with a key on your keyboard. To make an en dash, hit <space><hyphen><space><word><space>, and MS Word will make the hyphen little longer; enter en dash.

Usage

The years 1980–2000 were . . . (note the difference between word-separating hyphen, “-” and “–”)

I want to be on the London–Paris train. Someday!

If date range is ongoing, say something like this: (2000–)

Em Dashes

The most commonly used dash, used to separate parts of a sentence like a comma but used to mark the abruptness of thought and make a greater separation.

If my voice is trailing . . .

I use ellipses. 

But if my train of thought is switching abruptly, I use an em dash. “I love him—which is an understatement—but what does he know of love.”

Set off the following with em dashes:

1. Amplifications
2. Explanations
3. Use an em dash as an alternative to parenthesis, commas, colon when an abrupt break in thought occurs

A question mark or exclamation can appear next to an em dash but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon.

2-Em Dashes and 3-Em Dashes

Now things get interesting. Missing word or part of a word? Use 2-em dashes. When whole word is missing, surround by a space, else no spaces. As far as 3 em-dashes go, leave it for your publisher to decide—typically refers to the same author or editor as in the preceding entry.

Parenthesis

They represent separation similar to a dash. If you must nest parenthesis, TCMOS prefers using brackets inside parentheses. Comma, a semicolon, or a colon never precede a closing parenthesis unless after an enumeration. Same rules apply to brackets and braces.

Use brackets to specify material not added by the original writer (added by someone else). Use brackets to enclose editorial interpolations, explanations, translation from other languages, or corrections. (TCMOS, 6.99)

Lists and outline Styles

Use the rules of indentation as described in TCMOS with one consideration of omitting the period at the end of each sentence unless the numbered list forms one sentence.

My Takeaway

Grammar and punctuation down. Next week, it will be titles and names. Until next time, signing off. Stay warm, safe, and happy.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style, SEVENTEEN EDITION.

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