Grammar 101: Punctuation, Part 3
Welcome to the final Grammar 101 post on Punctuation. Today we'll cover hyphens, en dashes, slashes, quotation marks, and apostrophes, with examples from Stargate SG-1 and Harry Potter.
Hyphens
Hyphens ( - ) are commonly used for:
En dashes
Speaking of hyphenating compound words, en dashes ( - ) are used in typesetting when the compound involves an open compound (two or more words that don't take a hyphen) combining with another to become a modifier.
Kelowna's level of World War II-era technology was, in retrospect, troublesome.
En dashes are also used to indicate a range of numbers, whether finished or not.
The plaque recognizing Daniel's accomplishments has already been changed from "1965-" to "1965-1997" to "1965-" to "1965-2001" back to "1965-" again.
You can set an en dash in HTML by typing & ndash ; without the spaces. When setting a proper en dash isn't an option, use a single hyphen.
Slashes
A slash ( / ) is also known as a virgule, forward slash, stroke or oblique stroke (British)-not to be confused with a backslash ( \ ), used for some computer directory paths.
One of the most common uses of a slash is to indicate and. Fanficcers took hold of this meaning when they shortened "the Kirk and Spock relationship" to "Kirk/Spock," launching an entire genre named for a punctuation mark.
Hammond looked around at the mess in dismay. This could set back Earth/Tok'ra relations years.
Jack was taken aback by the number of Danning/Levant fics on Wormhole X-Treme fansites.
Paradoxically, slashes are also used to indicate alternatives, or or.
Until the hex wore off, Harry could only blink in response to yes/no questions.
Jack frisbeed the subscription form to Daniel. "Why do they only ask if you're Mr./Ms./Dr.? Why can't National Geographic send my magazines to Col. Jack O'Neill?"
Slashes are used to separate numbers in dates (07/05/1965). Fractions in text are commonly indicated with a slash, although a typesetter uses a solidus (a more heavily tilted slash).
Slashes are used for some abbreviations.
Hermione looked over the note Arthur handed her:
1 PK/child, w/o time, c/o AD@HH
"Harry wants us to send one portkey per child, without timers on them, in care of Aberforth at the Hog's Head."
Finally, slashes are used to indicate poetry or lyric line breaks when printed on one line. This is the only use with which there are spaces on either side of the slash.
"There once was a man from South France / Whose hands played around in his pants / When he tickled-"
"Sir! No poetry until the ceremonial toast wears off. Please."
Quotation Marks
Americans use double quotation marks ( " " ) for quoted material, and single quotation marks ( ' ' ) for quotes within quotes. The British use the opposite. Please see Single Quotation Marks for more on the use of single versus double quotation marks.
The most common use of quotation marks is to enclose spoken dialogue.
"Well," Sam said thoughtfully, "a focused neutrino stream might work."
If the quoted material is longer than a paragraph, set the opening quotation mark at the beginning of the quote and at the start of each paragraph in the quote. Do not set a closing quotation mark until the end of the quote.
A selection of text quoted from another source should go inside quotation marks. If the text is longer than a few sentences, however, set it indented instead. (In HTML, use < blockquote > without the spaces to set indented quotes.)
Jack was not inclined to be a "theirs is not to reason why" kind of officer.
Daniel plucked the note from his office door.
Daniel,
This dialect from P36-489 isn't making any sense, unless maybe the goa'uld actually defeated his foe with springtime. Or maybe powers his ship with pregnant women. I even tried Budge, I'm that desperate. Come take a look?
Robert
Daniel sighed. He was never going to get home.
Quotation marks are also used to indicate irony, or deliberate misuse of language-also known as scare quotes. (However this can quickly become annoying, so use sparingly.) They can also be used to emphasize use of a word as a word.
Teal'c glared at Urgo. He was more than fed up with their "guest."
Daniel thought that "childish" might be the appropriate word for Jack's behavior.
American style requires that all periods and commas appear inside the quotation marks. Colons, semicolons, exclamation points and question marks should be placed as appropriate for meaning; only if the quoted material was an exclamation or a question does the mark go inside.
Daniel sighed. Possible translations included "zero," "one," and "infinity"; unfortunately the wrong translation would be fatal.
Daniel and Jack looked around the empty clearing. Hadn't Sam said, "I'll meet you back at the Gate at 1600 hours"?
Amazingly, Jack actually managed to distract Her'ur's Jaffa for a moment by shouting "Kree!"
In British style, periods and commas are also placed according to the meaning of the quoted material versus the surrounding material.
With two stinging hexes, an "Expelliarmus", and a "Petrificus Totalus", Harry had Draco out of his way.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes ( ' ) are most frequently used for abbreviations and contractions, and for possessives.
We've had some coverage of contractions when discussing the homonyms there/their/they're, and its/it's and your/you're. The commonality between they're, it's, and you're is that the apostrophe stands in for a missing letter or letters.
Abbreviations and contractions allow your text to mimic spoken word. Common contractions (I'm, he'd, we're) help your text flow more easily to the reader. Other contractions may be the most accurate way of representing your character's speech.
Jack: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll?
Jack: And then they gave me something that reminded me of the '70s.
(Please note that without abbreviation "1970s" is the correct plural, no apostrophe.)
Apostrophes are used with nouns and proper nouns to form possessives. Possessive pronouns (his, her, its) do not need apostrophes.
Hermione was all too aware of her mother-in-law's desire for grandchildren.
See Possessives and Sibilants for more on forming possessives with words that end in "s" or other sibilants.
Only very rarely are apostrophes used to form the plural: to avoid confusion when describing plural lowercase letters, and plural abbreviations with two or more interior periods or with capital and lowercase letters.
Flitwick warned the class, "Do not confuse your b's and v's! The results could be disastrous."
Hermione was sure to get the most N.E.W.T.'s of anyone in their class.
"That's Daniel Jackson, three Ph.D.'s, thank you very much."
And that is the last of the punctuation marks, as well as the finale for our Grammar 101 feature. Please be sure to ask a question if you would like an in-depth clarification on a grammar or punctuation question.
Source:
The Chicago Manual of Style. 2003.
Hyphens
Hyphens ( - ) are commonly used for:
- compound modifiers (beat-up old Tel'tak)
- prefixes and suffixes
- splitting words and line breaks
- denoting syllables or other separations
En dashes
Speaking of hyphenating compound words, en dashes ( - ) are used in typesetting when the compound involves an open compound (two or more words that don't take a hyphen) combining with another to become a modifier.
Kelowna's level of World War II-era technology was, in retrospect, troublesome.
En dashes are also used to indicate a range of numbers, whether finished or not.
The plaque recognizing Daniel's accomplishments has already been changed from "1965-" to "1965-1997" to "1965-" to "1965-2001" back to "1965-" again.
You can set an en dash in HTML by typing & ndash ; without the spaces. When setting a proper en dash isn't an option, use a single hyphen.
Slashes
A slash ( / ) is also known as a virgule, forward slash, stroke or oblique stroke (British)-not to be confused with a backslash ( \ ), used for some computer directory paths.
One of the most common uses of a slash is to indicate and. Fanficcers took hold of this meaning when they shortened "the Kirk and Spock relationship" to "Kirk/Spock," launching an entire genre named for a punctuation mark.
Hammond looked around at the mess in dismay. This could set back Earth/Tok'ra relations years.
Jack was taken aback by the number of Danning/Levant fics on Wormhole X-Treme fansites.
Paradoxically, slashes are also used to indicate alternatives, or or.
Until the hex wore off, Harry could only blink in response to yes/no questions.
Jack frisbeed the subscription form to Daniel. "Why do they only ask if you're Mr./Ms./Dr.? Why can't National Geographic send my magazines to Col. Jack O'Neill?"
Slashes are used to separate numbers in dates (07/05/1965). Fractions in text are commonly indicated with a slash, although a typesetter uses a solidus (a more heavily tilted slash).
Slashes are used for some abbreviations.
Hermione looked over the note Arthur handed her:
1 PK/child, w/o time, c/o AD@HH
"Harry wants us to send one portkey per child, without timers on them, in care of Aberforth at the Hog's Head."
Finally, slashes are used to indicate poetry or lyric line breaks when printed on one line. This is the only use with which there are spaces on either side of the slash.
"There once was a man from South France / Whose hands played around in his pants / When he tickled-"
"Sir! No poetry until the ceremonial toast wears off. Please."
Quotation Marks
Americans use double quotation marks ( " " ) for quoted material, and single quotation marks ( ' ' ) for quotes within quotes. The British use the opposite. Please see Single Quotation Marks for more on the use of single versus double quotation marks.
The most common use of quotation marks is to enclose spoken dialogue.
"Well," Sam said thoughtfully, "a focused neutrino stream might work."
If the quoted material is longer than a paragraph, set the opening quotation mark at the beginning of the quote and at the start of each paragraph in the quote. Do not set a closing quotation mark until the end of the quote.
A selection of text quoted from another source should go inside quotation marks. If the text is longer than a few sentences, however, set it indented instead. (In HTML, use < blockquote > without the spaces to set indented quotes.)
Jack was not inclined to be a "theirs is not to reason why" kind of officer.
Daniel plucked the note from his office door.
Daniel,
This dialect from P36-489 isn't making any sense, unless maybe the goa'uld actually defeated his foe with springtime. Or maybe powers his ship with pregnant women. I even tried Budge, I'm that desperate. Come take a look?
Robert
Daniel sighed. He was never going to get home.
Quotation marks are also used to indicate irony, or deliberate misuse of language-also known as scare quotes. (However this can quickly become annoying, so use sparingly.) They can also be used to emphasize use of a word as a word.
Teal'c glared at Urgo. He was more than fed up with their "guest."
Daniel thought that "childish" might be the appropriate word for Jack's behavior.
American style requires that all periods and commas appear inside the quotation marks. Colons, semicolons, exclamation points and question marks should be placed as appropriate for meaning; only if the quoted material was an exclamation or a question does the mark go inside.
Daniel sighed. Possible translations included "zero," "one," and "infinity"; unfortunately the wrong translation would be fatal.
Daniel and Jack looked around the empty clearing. Hadn't Sam said, "I'll meet you back at the Gate at 1600 hours"?
Amazingly, Jack actually managed to distract Her'ur's Jaffa for a moment by shouting "Kree!"
In British style, periods and commas are also placed according to the meaning of the quoted material versus the surrounding material.
With two stinging hexes, an "Expelliarmus", and a "Petrificus Totalus", Harry had Draco out of his way.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes ( ' ) are most frequently used for abbreviations and contractions, and for possessives.
We've had some coverage of contractions when discussing the homonyms there/their/they're, and its/it's and your/you're. The commonality between they're, it's, and you're is that the apostrophe stands in for a missing letter or letters.
Abbreviations and contractions allow your text to mimic spoken word. Common contractions (I'm, he'd, we're) help your text flow more easily to the reader. Other contractions may be the most accurate way of representing your character's speech.
Jack: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll?
Jack: And then they gave me something that reminded me of the '70s.
(Please note that without abbreviation "1970s" is the correct plural, no apostrophe.)
Apostrophes are used with nouns and proper nouns to form possessives. Possessive pronouns (his, her, its) do not need apostrophes.
Hermione was all too aware of her mother-in-law's desire for grandchildren.
See Possessives and Sibilants for more on forming possessives with words that end in "s" or other sibilants.
Only very rarely are apostrophes used to form the plural: to avoid confusion when describing plural lowercase letters, and plural abbreviations with two or more interior periods or with capital and lowercase letters.
Flitwick warned the class, "Do not confuse your b's and v's! The results could be disastrous."
Hermione was sure to get the most N.E.W.T.'s of anyone in their class.
"That's Daniel Jackson, three Ph.D.'s, thank you very much."
And that is the last of the punctuation marks, as well as the finale for our Grammar 101 feature. Please be sure to ask a question if you would like an in-depth clarification on a grammar or punctuation question.
Source:
The Chicago Manual of Style. 2003.