ENGLISH PUNCTUATION

APOSTROPHES
Use the normal possessive ending s after singular words or names that end in s: caucuss, Delorss, St. Jamess,
Joness. Use it after plurals that do no end in s: childrens, Frenchmens, medias.
Use the ending s on plurals that end in s - Danes, bosses, Joneses - including plural names that take a
singular verb, e.g., Reuters, Barclays, Stewarts & Lloyds, Salomon Brothers.
Although singular in other respects, the Unites States, the United Nations, the European Union, the
Philippines, etc, have a plural possessive apostrophe: e.g., What will the United States next move be?
Peoples = of (the) people.
Peoples = of peoples.
Try to avoid using Lloyds (the insurance market) as a possessive; it poses an insoluble problem.
BRACKETS
If a whole sentence is within brackets, put the full stop inside.
Square brackets should be used for interpolations in direct quotations: Let them [the poor] eat cake. To use
ordinary curved brackets implies that the words inside them were part of the original text from which you are
quoting.
C OLONS
Use a colon to deliver the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words. They brought presents: gold,
frankincense and oil at $35 a barrel.
Use a colon before a whole quoted sentence, but not before a quotation that begins a mid-sentence. She said:
It will never work. He retorted that it had always worked before.
Use a colon for antithesis or gnomic contrasts. Man proposes: God disposes.
C OMMAS
Use commas as an aid to understanding. Too many in one sentence can be confusing.
It is not necessary to put a comma after a short phrase if no natural pause exists there: On August 2nd he
invaded. Next time the world will be prepared. But a breath, and so a comma is needed after longer passages: When
it was plain that he had his eyes on Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait, America responded.
Use two commas, or none at all, when inserting a clause in the middle of a sentence. Thus do not write: Use
two commas, or none at all when inserting or Use two commas or none at all, when inserting
But, in 1968, students revolted, not But in 1968, students revolted.
If the clause ends with a bracket, which is not uncommon (this one does), the bracket should be followed by a
comma.
Do not put a comma before and at the end of a sequence of items unless one of the items includes another
and. Thus The doctor suggested as aspirin, half a grapefruit and a cup of broth. But He ordered scrambled eggs,
whisky and soda, and a selection from the trolley.
Commas are useful to break up a long sentence, but should be used only where the break is a natural one. Do
not insert or remove commas unnecessarily.
Commas in dates: none at all.
Do not put commas after question marks, even when they would be separated by quotation marks: Come into
the garden, Maude? he queried.

ENGLISH PUNCTUATION

AMERICAN U SAGE: American English puts a comma before the and. Thus, eggs, bacon, potatoes, and cheese; in
British English: eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese.
DASHES
You can use dashes in pairs for parenthesis, but not more than one pair per sentence, ideally not more than one
pair per paragraph.
Use a dash to introduce an explanation, amplification, paraphrase, particularisation or correction of what
immediately precedes it.
Use a dash to gather up the subject of a long sentence, or to introduce a paradoxical or whimsical ending to
sentences.
Do not use the dash as a punctuation maid-of-all-work.
AMERICAN / BRITISH U SAGE: In British publications, the usual style for a dash used as a parenthesis is an enor em-rule ( / ) with a character space on either side. In American publications, the usual style for a dash is an
em-rule () with no spaces.
F ULL STOPS
Use plenty. They keep sentences short, and this helps the reader.
Do not use full stops in abbreviations or at the end of headings or rubrics.
INVERTED C OMMAS OR QUOTATION M ARKS
Use single ones only for quotations within quotations. Thus: When I say immediately, I mean some time before
April, said the spokesman.
When a quotation is indented and set in a smaller type than the main bodymatter, do not put inverted commas
on it.
For the relative placing of quotation marks and punctuation, there is much to be said. If an extract ends with
a full stop or question-mark, put the punctuation before the closing of the inverted commas. Whats the difference
between a buffalo and a bison? she asked. The unhelpful answer was that You cant wash your hands in a buffalo. If
a complete sentence in quotes comes at the end of a longer sentence, the final stop should be inside the inverted
commas. Thus, He said curtly It cannot be done.
If the quotation does not include any punctuation, the closing inverted commas should precede any
punctuation marks that the sentence requires: The passing crowd is a phrase coined in the spirit of indifference. Yet,
to a man of what Plato calls universal sympathies, and even to the plain, ordinary denizens of this world, what can
be more interesting than those who constitute the passing crowd?
When a quotation is broken off and resumed after such words as he said, ask yourself whether it would
naturally have had any punctuation at the point where it is broken off. If the answer is yes, a comma is placed
within the quotation marks to represent this. Thus, It cannot be done, he said; we must give up the task. the
comma after done belongs to the quotation and so comes within the inverted commas, as does the final full stop.
But if the words to be quoted are continuous, without punctuation at the point where they are broken, the
comma should be outside the inverted commas. Thus, Go home, he said, to your father.
BRITISH / AMERICAN U SAGE: In American publications (and those of major Commonwealth countries), the
convention is to use double quotation marks, reserving single quotation marks for quotes within quotes. In British
publications, the convention is the reverse: single quotation marks are used first, then double. However, the
American style is becoming more popular.
The relative position of quotation marks and other punctuation is far more contentious. The British
convention is to place such punctuation according to sense. The American convention is simpler but less logical:
all commas and full stops precede the final quotation mark (or, if there is a quote within a quote, the first final

ENGLISH PUNCTUATION

quotation mark). Other punctuation colons, semi-colons, question and exclamation marks is placed
according to sense. The following examples illustrate the differences.
AMERICAN :
The words on the magazines cover, The link between coffee and cholesterol, caught his eye.
Youre eating too much, she told him. Youll soon look like your father.
Have you seen this article, The link between coffee and cholesterol? he asked.
It was as if, he explained, I had swallowed a toad, and it kept croaking ribbut, ribbut, from deep in my
stomach.
She particularly enjoyed the article Looking for the New Man.
BRITISH :
The words on the magazines cover, The link between coffee and cholesterol, caught his eye.
Youre eating too much, she told him. Youll soon look like your father.
Have you seen this article, The link between coffee and cholesterol? he asked.
It was as if, he explained, I had swallowed a toad, and it kept croaking ribbut, ribbut, from deep in my
belly.
She particularly enjoyed the article Looking for the New Man .
SEMI-C OLONS
Semi-colons should be used to mark a pause longer than a comma and shorter than a full stop. Dont overdo
them.
Use them to distinguish phrases listed after a colon if commas will not do the job clearly. Thus, They agreed
on only three points: the ceasefire should be immediate; it should be internationally supervised, preferably by the NATO ;
and a peace conference should be held, either in Geneva or in Paris.
SQUARE BRACKETS
This form of parenthesis has a few limited, specific uses. Its main function is to indicate that the enclosed words
have been added to the original text by someone other than the author.