Kristy Taylor

When it comes to writing quotes and speech many writers get confused about the use of quotation marks and the placement of closing punctuation.

What makes things even more confusing is that these same elements are used differently in different countries.

Quotation marks are mostly used to show direct speech and to quote the work of other writers. They are also used for song titles, journal article titles, unpublished document titles, chapter titles of published works, essays, lectures, and to draw attention to certain words (sometimes called scare quotes).

According to the Style manual for authors, editors and printers (6^th edn) single quotation marks are used in Australian government publications, with a push towards this minimalistic use of punctuation to be accepted across the board. Whereas in America, double quotation marks are preferred.

When closing quotations, the decision of where to place the closing punctuation can be a tricky one. If the punctuation mark is part of the quote, keep it inside the quotation mark. If it is not, place it outside the quotation mark.

Though interestingly this is in direct contrast to what is followed in America, with most closing punctuation being place inside the quotation mark.

Example:

‘I do love you’, she replied. (Australian)

“I do love you,” she replied. (American)

Notice the difference in the closing quotation marks, one being before the punctuation and the other being after.

It is not necessary to use quotation marks with indirect speech, to enclose familiar expressions, or when following the expression so called.

Quotations that are more than thirty words long should be indented from the margin and set in a smaller type, and do not require any quotation marks (but remember to cite your source). 

If at all possible it is best to follow the required style of the intended publication, as the editor will most likely change all of the punctuation to their house style anyway. But if all else fails and the writer is still confused, just sticking to the style they know best should get them through.

Confused about when to use commas? Here are 5 tips that you may find helpful when trying to control your commas.

1. Use commas between the clauses in compound sentences. This is where you join two sentences together with a conjunction – a word like and, but, so.

Example: The cat leapt, but the mouse escaped.

The two clauses could form two separate, simple sentences.

2. Put commas around words that you can leave out and still have a sentence that makes sense. The words inside the commas will be clauses or phrases that give additional meaning.

Example: As the cat leapt from the garden wall, the mouse, which had been snuffling around the flower bed, scuttled back into its hole.

This simple advice is particularly helpful because you don’t have to recognise a phrase, or know the difference between an adjectival or an adverbial clause, or a dependent or independent clause, and you can still get it right.

The clause about the mouse in example 2 above is adjectival. It is also a dependent clause, because if we read it on its own, we don’t know what it refers to. But none of that really matters when you’re writing, because you know it gives extra meaning and you have to put commas around it.

3. About the exception for clauses or phrases after conjunctions.

In the middle sentence of the paragraph above, there is a comma before the word because, but not after it to separate the clause, if we read it on its own. That is an exception to the rule we’ve just been discussing. If it follows a conjunction like and, so, but, or because, there is no need for a comma before the clause. This is an important one to note, because, if, as I am deliberately doing here, you include these commas, your work reads in a stilted, difficult way, and you could be accused of overuse of commas.

4. Adverbial clauses are clauses which tell more of the why, where or when of the activity of the sentence – the verb. Sometimes they are crucial to the meaning of the sentence. If that is the case, there is another rule exception; they don’t have to follow a comma.

Example: The cat leapt from the garden wall when it saw the mouse snuffling around the flower bed.

However, if you make that last clause an introductory one, you must include the comma.

Example: When it saw the mouse snuffling around the flower bed, the cat leapt from the garden wall.

5. With clarity of meaning the comma changes the meaning in the examples below.

Example: Alice thought the mouse had been snuffling around the flower bed.

Example: Alice, thought the mouse, had been snuffling around the flower bed.

These are not the only uses for commas, but they are often the ones writers get wrong. With a little extra knowledge about sentence structure that includes phrases and clauses, they are less likely to make mistakes with commas.

© Kristy Taylor 2008

Perhaps the best way to illustrate the importance and effect of proper punctuation is to imagine reading a piece of writing without it. Supposing you were to read this entire article – all 900 words of it – with absolutely no punctuation. Not just the obvious periods and commas, but no colons, dashes, exclamation marks or question marks.

Punctuation hasn’t always been a part of writing. It evolved over time, as the printing process itself evolved. Prior to the development of printing, punctuation was almost non-existent and when William Caxton first printed books in English, he used three basic punctuation devices, mainly to indicate pauses and sentence endings.

Throughout the 17th century, more punctuation was devised, the most recent being the quotation marks. Eventually we had punctuation as we know it today, consisting of at least a dozen different punctuation devices (depending on your definition) – although some people would have difficulty naming all of them.

A book, article or essay can be well researched and written, but without the correct use of grammar and punctuation, a piece of writing can fail. The well-known book title “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” makes the point well – in this case, a single comma makes all the difference to the meaning.

Most of us who write fiction – or anything else – understand the basics of when to use punctuation, such as the comma, period and question mark. Often, even experienced writers can have trouble determining when to use the dash, the apostrophe, the semi-colon and the exclamation mark.

The semi-colon and the colon can both be tricky to use correctly. A semi-colon indicates a natural pause in a sentence that is greater than a comma, but not as firm as the period. An example might be this sentence; it’s also an example of the use of the apostrophe.

A scenario where you would use the colon is to introduce a list or to introduce a character’s speech. A good writer needs to have the following skills: patience, dedication, the ability to research accurately and perhaps a thick skin.

The dash can be used effectively to emphasize a point, or to indicate a sudden change in the focus of a sentence such as the following one. I have to admit I have not written anything worthwhile for many years, but enough about me – how is your new book coming along? Two dashes are used almost like parenthesis in that they enclose something that is separate from the rest of the sentence. I have lived for many years in London – although I prefer Paris – and know the city just about as well as anybody can.

The dash can also serve as a neat device for logically tying up a series of connected points. The book I just read had an interesting plot, strong characters, good descriptive writing and an unexpected twist at the end – I really enjoyed it. The dash summarizes the points made, without having to start another sentence. However, too many dashes can make a piece of writing seem less formal.

The exclamation mark is an example of punctuation that is sometimes overused! It isn’t necessary to use exclamation marks all the time! Be sparing with them! Although a plethora of exclamation marks can admittedly make a dull passage in fiction seem that little bit more interesting.

An exclamation mark should be used to indicate a strong emotion, such as surprise (I’m going to be a father!) and it’s often used in fiction dialogue to indicate somebody raising their voice or arguing. And if your character is insulting another person, the exclamation mark also gets the point across well.

The apostrophe is a small thing, but it can cause big problems. The overworked apostrophe can have several uses – one of which is to take the place of a letter that is missing. If I had written “to take the place of a letter that’s missing” the meaning would have been the same.

Another common use of the apostrophe is when it is used to designate possession. Most of the time, an apostrophe plus the letter s will suffice. An example would be – I met my friends last night at Michael’s party – in other words, the party belongs to Michael.

The tricky part happens when the possessive noun ends in the letter s. Sherlock Holmes’ house was at 221b Baker Street, London. In this case you put the apostrophe after the letter s, rather than before.

The question mark. Surely the question mark is one of the easiest pieces of punctuation to use correctly? Apart from obviously putting it at the end of a question, it can also be used to turn a statement into a question, as in the previous sentence.

Punctuation is certainly not the most exciting or glamorous aspect of writing fiction. But correct punctuation can make or break a novel, or any other type of writing, as most of us know only too well. When we come across poor punctuation or grammar, just remember that all-important comma in “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”!

And by the way, if you are still puzzling over them, here are ten punctuation marks that most of us are familiar with: the comma, apostrophe, quotation marks, exclamation mark, question mark, parenthesis, dash, colon, semi-colon and period.

© Kristy Taylor 2006

When is a comma not a comma? When it’s missing! The most important job for a comma is to prevent confusion for the reader. If a comma isn’t there, the reader may become lost.

With faster technologies comes faster communication, which in turn leads to less punctuation as we pound our fingers across the keyboard at an ever increasing speed. And as a result, many pieces of writing, whether they be fiction or non-fiction, are appearing without the use of commas.

Let’s re-write that last sentence without the commas-

And as a result many pieces of writing whether they be fiction or non-fiction are appearing without the use of commas.

How many times did you need to read it before you grasped its meaning? Most readers will need to read an un-punctuated sentence at least twice before they subconsciously add their own punctuation. If you are making your readers work twice as hard when they are reading your work they will not enjoy what they are reading.

Some of the many reasons to use commas are-

·       To define run-on lists

·       To avoid ambiguity

·       To define strings of adjectives

·       To separate coordinate clauses

·       To define a coordinate conjunction

·       To define defining and non-defining clauses and phrases

·       To introduce adjectival clauses and phrases

·       To introduce adverbial clauses and phrases

·       To define introductory and transitional expressions

·       To enclose parenthetic expressions

·       To isolate an apposition

·       To define a shared element of a statement

·       To show omissions where words or numerals are expressed

·       To separate titles from affiliations

We usually use commas to separate different parts of sentences in order to make the sentence easier to understand. Comma use in general can cover a large area so we will only touch on one area in this article.

The most commonly confused use for commas is in a run-on list. An example: Tom, Dick, and Harry. When a list is used within a sentence a comma is used to separate each item. The debate still rages, though, as to whether a final comma is needed (as in the example above).

The Australian style manual says not to use a final comma unless it is needed for clarity, yet many American style manuals say to always include the final comma. And the classic from Strunk also says to include the final comma. This type of comma is often referred to as a serial or Oxford comma.

It is also suggested that the writer should gage whether adding the final comma will aid the reader in understanding the sentence’s meaning, and if so, add it. Newspapers often leave out the last comma to save space, and many magazines and publishers will have their own style guides for writers to follow. Whichever you choose, be sure to stay consistent throughout.

Many grammar experts claim that the use of commas is on the decline. And some even say that it is a good thing as it allows the writer to develop their own style. So the use of commas can be a matter of judgment and personal preference, but always try to aim for clarity.

© Kristy Taylor 2007

Let’s start with the end – the full stop. There’s nothing worse than being led down the garden path with a long winding sentence, that doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, that slowly starts to bore you to death with all of the commas, and don’t forget the conjunctions, that are trying to hold the terribly long sentence together. Now, wasn’t that boring? Didn’t it make you want to tear your hair out? Not a full stop to be seen.

When sentences are too long they tend to fall apart and become a burden to the reader. The reader has to try and make sense of what they just read. This can become frustrating if the reader has to mentally rewrite your words before they can understand them.

‘When in doubt, leave it out’ may be the old adage, but not in the case of the full stop. When in doubt, it is usually best to break the sentence in two. Strunk also recommends not joining two independent clauses with a comma. Though if ‘two or more clauses, grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction, are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon.’

Generally there are three types of sentences: the simple, the compound and the complex. The simple sentence expresses only one idea. The compound sentence expresses at least two ideas that could also be shown as two separate sentences. The complex sentence has a primary idea that is supported by at least one secondary idea that is dependent on the primary idea.

On occasion you may come across an embedded sentence, or a complex compound. This type of sentence was very fashionable in the 1800s and early 1900s, from the likes of Johnston and Cocteau. A great example is the opening line from Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby:

There once lived, in a sequestered part of the country of Devonshire, one Mr. Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason.

Dickens continues with this method throughout the novel. Perhaps his title of ‘world’s most prolific novelist’ should include ‘world’s longest complexly compounded sentence writer?’ Today though, the writer needs to keep the reader’s attention. And only occasionally can they get away with such verbosity.

Breaking your sentences down into ideas, is usually a good way to see if a long sentence can be shortened. If you can find two or more different trains of thought in your sentence, it could probably do with a second look.

Another method of shortening a sentence is to look for unnecessary beginnings. An example being ‘And in addition to that I would add …’ or ‘He eyed her curiously whilst looking at her face …’ In both examples you are essentially repeating yourself.

There are of course other uses for the full stop, such as ellipses (…), abbreviations, email and web addresses. And in other countries, like Canada and the United States of America, the full stop is sometimes referred to as a period, and occasionally as a suspension mark.

The amount of space left after a full stop to separate sentences in paragraphs has changed in recent years. With the advent of computer word processing programs it is no longer necessary to leave two blank spaces (sometimes called French spacing), as the programs will automatically adjust the spacing if a non fixed-width font is used. The Australian Style manual for authors, editors and printers suggests that the full stop should be followed by one space only.

And as the Macquarie Dictionary informs us that the full stop is ‘used to mark the end of a complete declarative sentence,’ so too shall we end our last sentence here with a full stop.

© Kristy Taylor 2006