One of our readers asks, “How many exclamation marks are too many? What is the standard usage on number of exclamation marks in a sentence or on a page?”

This sounds like a question born in the era of OMG!!!!!1!!1eleventy!, but questions around overuse of exclamation marks-or exclamation points in American English-have been around for much longer ( Read more... )

The question we'll be answering this week deals with whether or not there should be an apostrophe in "heads up".

( With examples from NCIS )

The Grammarians have been asked "How do you use quotation marks and colons/semicolons together?"

This combination really does conjure up visions of a punctuation traffic jam. Let's take a closer look, and we'll work it out -- one way or another.
( With examples from a pair of fantastic journeys: Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollboth and C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader... )

It is with great pleasure that I answer the 200th question at fandom_grammar! 200 questions is a lot of grammar and we’re looking forward to answering 200 more.

How do you indicate pauses or hesitation in narration and dialogue? (ex. hesitant speech, for emphasis, pauses for breath)
( with examples from Stargate: SG-1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Doctor Who. )

rotaryphones wants to know: Where does the apostrophe go in "children's book"?

This is covered obliquely in the Possessives and Sibilants post, but it's worth addressing directly for greater clarity. ( Our friends from Due South will help us determine the answer. )

Not sure when it's appropriate to use an apostrophe? The Oatmeal can help. Just click on the image below to find out more about apostrophes-now with velociraptors and bacon hats!


( Read more... )

( Read more... )

A graphical explanation on how to use a semicolon, provided by The Oatmeal.

Here's a teaser-click the image for the complete explanation!


( Read more... )

In the previous punctuation post, skroberts discussed terminal punctuation-punctuation that ends sentences-and punctuation that is used to hang related thoughts together. In this post I'll be discussing punctuation that is used to give additional information, as in a parenthetical, punctuation that is used to pause or omit, and the almighty comma.

( Onward to Commas, Em Dashes, Ellipses, Parentheses, and Square Brackets )

Is it Ms. or Ms?

The answer is, well, either--and it will take a little more exploration to determine which to use. ( with examples from Alias and James Bond )