The Grammar Cheat Sheet

johno

2008-07-26 15:15:35 + johno's website

A sound list, and nice to see that there are still people who care about such things.

Steven Hoober

2008-07-28 06:48:22 + Steven Hoober's website

If you don't want to memorize funny codes, there are slightly more human-readable versions of em and en dashes: & mdash; and & ndash; [remove the space after the &]

P.S. I, and those I know (some of whom have typeset for decades) always add spaces around all use of dashes; it just looks funny not to have the space.

Alex Charchar

2008-07-28 06:54:20 + Alex Charchar's website

Johno
Thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate then, especially coming from the man behind one of my favorite sites

Steven
Thanks for the tip! Obviously I should have researched just a little bit more in regards to the more readable codes, very handy - I'll update the article.

In relation to the space around the em dashes; when I was writing and researching this article, I noticed this is one of those things that is actually slightly dated. I haven't got my copy on me, but Bringhurst's Bible says not to space it out, but I seem to remember reading that for the British (and I'm Australian, so inherit a lot of their typographic bits and bobs) do space it out from time to time, although not so strictly these days.

With no space around it, it makes the impact of the sudden phrase a little stronger, I feel. Although I completely see where you're coming from, I hated the spaced ems till I loved them, so to speak

Andrew

2008-07-28 18:06:55 + Andrew's website

I have read, although I forget where, that skipping the s in the apostraphe-s combo because a person's name ends with an s is now considered to be a remnant of an elitest policy and not done.

Leon P

2008-07-29 00:06:49 + Leon P's website

Yes, rule 1 is 'be consistent' (as long as you're not confusing the meaning of your writing), rather than getting hung up on the 'correct' way of doing things.

In UK primary schools kids are often taught to NEVER use a comma before 'and', which is plain wrong. When it comes to using commas before co-ordinating conjunctions it's often a matter of tone, pace and style, although some conjunctions take the comma more than others.

Sorry to be a pedant, but 'She ran as fast as her body would let her yet, it wasn't enough.' is surely a typo (although you could maybe wring some meaning from it if you changed the comma to a semi-colon).

@Andrew - I teach both ways and I'm not aware of any elitism attached to any particular method. Students prefer 's' apostrophe 's' because it sounds clearer.

Matt`

2008-07-29 02:27:35

Typo in the "en dash" section; a till is something used in a shop, 'til is short for until.

So "The mini-Olympics will run from the 29th till the 30th." should be "The mini-Olympics will run from the 29th 'til the 30th."

David

2008-07-29 09:33:26

I believe that the phrase "Another use of the en dash is when you want offset a phrase..." would read better if it were...
"Another use of the en dash is when you want to offset a phrase".

Just a suggestion.

Alex Charchar

2008-07-29 11:33:27 + Alex Charchar's website

Hey everyone, thanks for noticing all the stuff ups, it's damn helpful!

Andrew
Personally I quite prefer to have the s removed as it is a bit too much visually, in my opinion.

Leon
What you said about the UK school children being told to never have an apostrophe is interesting. I had a teacher when I was younger who 'preferred' we didn't do it, but said it was his personal taste, but it stuck with me. However, the more I write, the more I find there are times when it just feels odd without it.

And thank-you for picking up on that type-o!

Matt
You got me thinking, sir! I at first thought that you were wrong, to be completely honest, but I went back and read my dictionary again and realised I misinterpreted the usage of till in this instance. It says that it's ok to use 'till' in an instance where it's being used in place of 'up to' and indicates the end, specifically of a time period.

David
Thanks for that, fixed that one up too.

In all honesty, I didn't write this article because I felt my grammar knowledge was sound. I actually did it because I felt quite the opposite. I wrote it because I wanted to learn all these rules as best as I could, and you few people haven't let anything slide, so thank you for helping me out.

andre.W

2008-07-29 20:45:24

"She felt she couldn't summon the energy to run the fastest, she was wrong." is incorrect.

check it.

Paris Cheffer

2008-07-29 21:42:29

Thanks so much for the informative site- great graphics too!

Recruiting Services

2008-07-30 00:22:25 + Recruiting Services's website

I really thought that double spaces documents were standard. Who wants to read something single spaced?

Geramy

2008-07-30 07:48:38

Could you fill us in on the proper use of the ' ; ' mark? (semi) That's always been a source of conversation between my wife and I. :)

sakamoro

2008-07-30 14:13:13

Hope hes just kitting!
Seriously. Double spaces, single spaced? I guess we are talking about different concepts here.
The way I read it, double spaces are typed using twice the space-bar, double spaced (documents) are set using a leading equal to two lines of text.

Roger Wilco

2008-07-30 21:12:17

I just don’t know if I can trust an article about grammar and punctuation from a man who uses "dumb" instead of “smart” quotes.

World's craziest email name

2008-07-31 00:11:14 + World's craziest email name's website

Thanks for the tips. I really enjoy double-spacing.

Bae

2008-07-31 01:14:42

Not bad, but please, please rewrite some of those examples. Your writing outside of the examples seems to be fine- I didn't examine it that closely- but any example sentences you write *are* going to be examined very closely; it's in your best interest to get them right. For instance:
"She felt she couldn't summon the energy to run the fastest, she was wrong" This is a run-on sentence.
" The race was almost over—it has been a hard hour for all—and it was only down to a few contenders" You've got your tenses confused here.
I believe there may be a few other grammatical errors or awkwardness here and there.

Ben

2008-07-31 01:46:16

Very Comprihendable :)
Just thought I'd let you know that when it comes to speech marks, we English do actually tend to use doubles for speech and singles for thoughts...so we would infact use singles inside doubles :)

Samantha

2008-07-31 02:20:41

Great list! I think that there is a comma missing in the examples in the "Quotation Marks" section, though. A comma should come after the word "need" but before the ending quotation mark.

Also, to those of you who are uncertain, "double spaced" means the space between lines of text is doubled. Teachers and editors ask for double spaced (or to skip lines when writing) so they have room to put edit marks and comments. Speeches are TRIPLE spaced so that it is easier for the speaker to read without losing his place. Typewriters had a switch for single, double and triple spaced lines.

Tracy Lee

2008-07-31 05:45:46 + Tracy Lee's website

Excellent resource!

Being a bit of a grammar warden and also a graphic designer, I know there are quite a few people I will be sending here to read your well written page.

Thank you!

Roger Wilco

2008-07-31 11:02:14

…or who makes the “do not notify” so hard to make happen. ;) Kidding, kidding…

Alex Charchar

2008-07-31 13:40:22 + Alex Charchar's website

Roger
I know, the dumb quotes drive me nuts. While it's because of the CMS I'm using, I need to find a way to make sure all my quote marks are smart ones, other than putting them in manually

Ben
I looked this up quite a bit actually, and it seemed like the more I looked into it the more confusing it became. Some say that the single quotes first is correct for the British (and Australian), while others say that it is an old way of writing. I had a look at the Australian Style Guide (a 'definitive' Government written guide) today, and even that said 'meh, whatever works for you is fine' so really, I guess it's a personal preference more than anything.

And to everyone
I must say thank you very much for either enjoying the article or finding fault with it. Like I said earlier, I originally wrote the article because I wanted to improve my writing skills, so you've all been very helpful! I'm going to go back and edit the original article to fix up my silly little mistakes when I have some time to sit down and verify/fix everything I can.

Samantha Wright

2008-08-01 00:32:17

I’d also recommend adding a note about the possessive pronoun “its,” and its lack of an apostrophe, since people get tend to confused over it very readily.

There should probably be a comma after “Ah” in “Ah the lovely comma.”

“... his muscles burnt, his face dripped.” is incorrect grammar unless you mean to use “burnt” and “dripped” as adjectives, neither of which are appropriate in this case. Every comma except the first one in that example should actually be a semicolon, because they separate independent clauses. (Although the MLA says you shouldn’t have more than one semicolon in a sentence unless it’s a list.)

The rule about sticking an apostrophe after a terminal “s” originates from plurals only, as in “the Smiths’ dog” and not “Mayor Swanks’ speech.” The current standing rule is that there isn’t one. Wikipedia’s apostrophe article covers this rather well.

The comma you have in your first quote example isn’t absolute—including such commas within quotes or leaving them outside of quotes is an American vs. British habit, respectively, originating from typesetters, and has no actual basis in syntax.

Keep poking, though!

Bae

2008-08-01 04:46:48

I must disagree with you, Samantha, on the "he ran faster and faster, faster still, his muscles burnt, his face dripped" sentence. Only one semi-colon is needed to make it a good sentence: "He ran faster and faster, faster still; his muscles burnt, his face dripped." (Well, technically you could say that "his face dripped" needs "sweat" or something of the like after it, but I think that's understood.)

Just a note to the author and anyone else who may care: You might try reading some high quality books (grammar- and style-wise) and pay close attention to how the sentences sound. Eventually grammatically correct sentences will just sound better and, for the most part, putting commas and semicolons and everything else in the right places will become instinctual.

Samantha Wright

2008-08-01 12:15:30

Well, let us try switching out the two clauses about ‘he’ with two different and unrelated sentences:

“His wallet was stolen, the doorman came.”

These are both independent clauses; “his wallet was stolen” stands on its own, as does “the doorman came.” Independent clauses cannot be joined by a comma without a conjunction or a semi-colon. It’s true that commas and semi-colons largely become instinctual, but they do each have very specific definitions relating to the orientation of clauses. (Though the punctus, used in the Middle Ages, was solely about breathing, and can be used · however · you · want. If your audience is made out of paleographers.)

As far as the comma and semicolon are concerned, there is no difference between “he ran faster and faster,” “his face dripped,” and “his muscles burned.” (Not ‘burnt,’ which is an adjective.) “faster still” is a relocated adverb of “he ran faster and faster,” so a comma is appropriate there, but the others can stand on their own and so require the Big One.

Wikipedia is fairly nice about all this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(punctuation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon_(punctuation)

Mcstunnah

2008-08-01 21:14:56 + Mcstunnah's website

I graduated from college with a degree in graphic design, and a concentration in typography. I love typography and it gets to me when things aren't typeset properly. This article does a great job of laying down the basics so the rest of us can do it right! Good Work.

I prefer to use single quotes rather than double, but quotes can also be set in italics which allows for a nicer flow. They key to it all is really rule 2. BE CONSISTENT! To a point you can typeset as you wish, choosing to follow or break rules along the way, as long as you don't change your ways halfway through. If you do it once, do it every time.

Oh, and in some other parts of the world(I'm in the US) children are taught at least basic typography throughout their schooling. It makes sense to me.

Rosli Sareya

2008-08-02 08:35:55 + Rosli Sareya's website

Its very good if have some note for everyone wants to start learnd good english.

Mark

2008-08-02 17:28:45

Is it worth mentioning the Oxford comma?

Samantha Wright

2008-08-03 00:01:40

All those who do not will be beaten, mutilated, and severely harmed. There was a trend in the 20th Century towards punctuation minimalism that has made matters even worse. (Although, for bonus points, can you guess what the Cambridge comma is?)

Rogier Maas

2008-08-03 03:15:09

Hi!

A very nice article indeed. Yet, I would like to see something about the use of the comma. I often see texts like these:

Before you can enter ,you need to say the password.
and: I have gotten a pear,an apple, and some vegetables.

Obviously, in the first sentence, the comma is preceeded by a space.
In the second sentence, the first comma has no spacing and the second comma shouldn't be there at all.

Perhaps you could enlighten us more with a more comprehensive explanation on when to use the comma and how, and when not.

Regards,
Rogier
The Netherlands

Justin

2008-08-03 09:43:12

Actually, I believe when using commas in a series that the final comma is required. Otherwise, the section would be referring as the final two as a pair.

Example 1
"Ben brought an apple, chips, nuts and berries, a sandwich, and applesauce to lunch."

In the sentence above, "nuts and berries" is referred to as a single item (not the best example, but I've seen this kind of thing before).

Example 2
"Ben brought an apple, chips, nuts and berries, a sandwich and applesauce to lunch."

In this, the final comma is missing which not only losses the separation of the last few items, but actually makes them seem like another pair. Visually it looks better, and when speaking you still have the slight pause where the final comma would be anyway.

Nice article by the way, interesting tidbit about the quotations. I had no idea :).

David

2008-08-03 10:15:45

He ran faster and faster. His muscles burnt and his face dripped.

You have an error. There should be a comma before the and. Reading: "He ran faster and faster. His muscles burnt, and his face dripped."

Ginny

2008-08-03 16:47:28

I think you got the possessive apostrophe rule wrong. If someone's name ends in an s, you do indeed add an 's to indicate a possessive. For example, 'Cas's toys were strewn about.' If you are indicating possessive plural, however, you need only add the '. 'The kids' toys were strewn about.'

Samantha

2008-08-03 22:55:38

Ginny: The rule is presently ambiguous. Certain speech patterns in the American midwest started pronouncing “the Wrights’ horse” as “the Wrights horse” (instead of “the Wrightses horse”), and due to poor education the habit spread to other cases as well. Wikipedia makes a firm note of this. You have it historically correct, however.

David: The comma is strictly unnecessary. Two independent clauses can, indeed, be joined by a conjunction without a preceding comma. Also, “burnt” is an adjective, which you may find amusing.

Justin: A list in which the last two elements are a pair would be indicated with two “ands”:

I need a test-tube, a beaker, a hotplate, and a mortar and pestle for my chemistry project.

Because of this, the comma isn’t strictly necessary, and is viewed as optional in the wake of reformers.

Rogier: the comma in English should always be followed by a space, and never have a space before it. It is used in the following manners:

1. Parenthesis. To indicate something inserted in the middle of a sentence. Em-dashes and parentheses can also be used for this, but are considered stronger. Examples:

This was, indeed, a very strange idea.
This was—indeed—a very strange idea.
This was (indeed) a very strange idea.

2. To separate items in a list. Adding a comma before the final element in the list (before the “and,” “or,” &c.) is optional, and is called the Oxford or Cambridge comma. It is viewed as a traditional decision, but is very much valid:

Tea, jam, and waffles.
Tea, jam and waffles.

3. To indicate the end or beginning of a relocated clause:

“He ran, quickly, up the stairs,” instead of “He quickly ran up the stairs.” These commas are becoming rarer, but can still be important for clarity if the relocated clause is more than one word long.

4. To separate two conjoined independent clauses. In this case, the comma is usually followed by a conjunction such as “and” or “but”:

I am going to the store, and my friend is going to the park.

This comma isn’t always necessary, but can help break things up.

5. To separate a dependent clause from an independent one (a dependent clause is something that wouldn’t make sense to be used as a fully sentence.)

Indeed, it was big.
That is a silly thing to say, like everything else you say.

6. To indicate the person being addressed (the vocative):

Sir, what are you doing?
Jane, is that a banana or a plantain?

And that is how you use commas in English.
Most of the time, however, like in rough notes, you can just pretend you’re using the comma’s ancestor: the punctus was used in mediæval manuscripts to indicate a pause.

Semicolons, just for reference, have two uses:

1. To weld two complete sentences to each other without using a conjunction:

That man is on fire; I hope he doesn’t die.

2. To separate list items where the list items themselves can have commas in them, and the results would be ambiguous:

We don’t have many options. We could run out of the building to save him, and risk catching on fire ourselves; we could try throwing buckets of water at him from a window, and risk wasting our water; or we could just run around like chickens with our heads cut off, and do nothing.

The Oxford comma (here an Oxford semicolon, just before the “or”) is particularly important for clarity, but could easily be left out in a list where the items in it were not so complex.

Consider your text pointed.

David

2008-08-04 03:50:23

So you are implying that "muscles burnt" is just a noun plus an adjective? Then why would there be an and in between? If it was indeed that his muscles were burning, it'd have to be "His muscles burnt, and [rest of sentence]" as they're both independent clauses. That's a comma splice.

http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#4

Samantha Wright

2008-08-04 07:44:12

Sorry, I was going to insist that the proper past-tense of “to burn” was “burned,” and that the sentence should have been “his muscles burned, and his face dripped,” complete with splices and commas and everything. Turns out I was mistaken; “his muscles burnt, and his face dripped” is entirely legitimate. There you have it!

Affordable Web Design

2008-08-05 05:13:32 + Affordable Web Design's website

Wow, I've been looking for something like this for quite some time! Thank you for posting a quick and easy guide.

lorem ipsum

2008-08-05 06:23:01

You all are so tied up in tradition, and being proper that you don't see the beauty in something new, something progressive, something aesthetically dependent on time. Embrace the awkwardness of a new environment and do your thing.

Marukosu

2008-08-05 06:56:09 + Marukosu's website

Brilliant!

Jesse

2008-08-05 07:19:39

OK, dumb-ass, the reason the teachers told us to double space isn't because they are dumb-asses like you, it is so they can correct the essays easier, instead of having to squeeze in the words between them. So do not falsely accuse teachers of being wrong, when in fact it is you who is wrong.

Adrienne

2008-08-05 07:44:52

The absolute best part about this are the grammar nazis who have chewed this concise and lovely post the hell up.
Or should that be "is"?

Get a, life, yeah (?)!

Alex Charchar

2008-08-05 11:28:06 + Alex Charchar's website

Wow Samantha, you've been an amazing help. Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge! I do hope you come back again and read the updated (or new) article to see if I get your tick of approval.

Jesse
This is all for writing that isn't done within the classroom. Should your teacher want you to double space between words or sentences, then it is up to them to tell you it should only be done within a classroom setting. It isn't correct to do so. If you were talking about between lines of text (and I wasn't), then absolutely it can be done, extra leading can greatly improve the feel and texture of a block of text.

Lorem
Although I doubt you'll be back, I have to say that I disagree with you. Ideas becomes truly beautiful when the text that sews them together doesn't come away at the hems. Exercise poor punctuation and grammar and you are picking at the seems.

Adrienne
Thanks for the kind words, but I'm happy that people have come along and made me aware of all my mistakes. There's no point in living in the dark, is there?

Lorem Ipsum

2008-08-05 22:02:43

Charchar, I respect your ideas and opinions and am grateful for individuals like yourself and others who thoughtfully post. I'd like to throw out an idea I think this post hasn't discussed. When abstract expression debuted in the 1940's, the movement was thought to be tearing at the hems of art. Many suggested that it was destroying art, that it was irrational. It didn't look like the art people were use to. It didn't feel like the art people were use to. And it didn't communicate the way art use to. But without it's simple existence and temporal effect, many genres of art and literature would have never been. This current phenomenon of 'bad grammar' and 'bad art' (i.e.; abstract expressionism) is a result from the rise of accessible communication and the inevitableness of social and cultural progression. It will by no means destroy and nullify any sense of intrinsic beauty that exists in current, past or future ideas. If anything, it will catapult our construction, composition, and creativity. Twain would be unimpressed with the formality and myopia of this blog, with all due respect.

Geramy

2008-08-05 22:04:36

Unsubscribing

Jesse

2008-08-06 06:34:31

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the last comment, I just felt like yelling and getting mad at someone online. I get these kinds of cravings often. Honestly I was kidding with my last comment. But thank you for not getting angry and being a good sport about it. I swear I'm not usually a jerk like that.

Samantha Wright

2008-08-06 09:47:35

Putting a double space after a sentence-ending period was standard practice in all typesetting venues until the digital age encouraged a new level of sloppiness. (I must admit that the article itself originally sounded like it was talking about line spacing.) Like all spacing, however, it is done only for readability, and the person typing the text should probably consider it on that merit alone. Although if you’re writing a résumé for a university English department, you may want to do it anyway.

As for bad grammar being a form of evolution—nobody’s picking on anything like netspeak here; the punctuation rules that are being discussed are presented in the form they are because it provides the most exacting form of clarity, without requiring a writer to be a god of syntax in order to get things done. Really, English is fairly readable without any punctuation at all, and that can have merit, but it’s hard to imagine how using a comma when a semicolon is more appropriate is going to benefit the art world—or any world at all, really.

It’s plausible to say that the semicolon might eventually disappear, and just be replaced by more commas: after all, most people only use colons when starting a list or giving a direct example, whereas in the 19th Century they could be used to fuse sentences in ways we currently hide under em-dashes and reduce to semicolons. But such a disappearance wouldn’t be a good thing for language, only for convenience. A broader range of punctuation, provided that its meaning is understood by the audience, gives the author more powerful to communicate the point he or she wishes to make.

That being said, poets, who positively love ambiguity, have been constructing their sentences in fashions that make them easy to read in multiple ways since the 7th Century BCE, and they most definitely didn’t punctuation then, either (nor do they feel compelled to do so today if it suits them), so I don’t think the art world or the design world is really threatened by the existence of proper rules. Indeed, a good and rich set of grammatical and punctual rules allows a poet more freedom *because* they get to pick what conventions they want to use or ignore. The better the audience understands these rules as well, the easier it will be for them to recognise the author’s choice to omit such devices—and, let me assure you, the kinds of people who insist you use proper grammar and punctuation in everyday life certainly aren’t trying to get in the way of that.

Andrew

2008-08-06 10:41:22

My understanding of using two spaces following a full stop is that it was introduced with typewriters because they used mono-spaced fonts which made the spaces hard to distinguish.

Digital proportional fonts do not require the double space as the font will contain a space which is appropriate.

You might find this video interesting: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-There-is-only-one-space-after-a-period/

Samantha Wright

2008-08-06 12:06:10

Well, I dare say I disagree. The “monospaced-is-hard-to-read” argument makes little sense when you realise that a period hardly takes up any room at all, leaving you with a larger-than-average space before the next word, not a smaller one.

I did some digging on Wikipedia and got this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_spacing

It appears that the tradition was to use an em space after periods, a 1/3 em space after words, and a 1/4 em space after miscellaneous punctuation marks. There are even supposed to be spaces around quotation marks, though a comma or period before a closing quotation mark doesn’t have a space after it. For the excitingly detailed connoisseur, there are additional rules for placing smaller spaces around en-dashes and, if you’re French, even smaller ones around em-dashes. The double-spacing rule is actually a simplification!

Alex Charchar

2008-08-06 13:23:28 + Alex Charchar's website

This spacing thing is starting to get awfully interesting.

Typographically speaking, a double space between sentences is considered to have risen from the nineteenth century which 'was a dark and inflationary age in typography and type design'. This practice stuck through to the typists.

My feeling on it is that visually you're putting holes in your blanket when you have extra spacing. It introduces rivers which slows down reading and makes the text block uncomfortable. From a typographic/design point of view, it's a massive no-no, which I think is why you almost never see it in professionally typeset text.

Also, I feel that monospace is hard to read not because the period (and other punctuation) takes up little space, but because it makes the text block boring. The text doesn't flow visually and instead appears in a strict grid, which may make it easier to navigate a programming language, but when reading long pieces of text is nothing but jarring, don't you think?

Oh, and I've been meaning to ask Samantha, what is your background that gives you such an interest in all of this? You're damn knowledgeable and it'd be interesting to find out why?

[The quote is from The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst]

Samantha Wright

2008-08-06 14:23:41

I’m still going to have to resist your arguments for the nineteenth century, I’m afraid:

1741 copy of Cicero, printed in Amsterdam: http://books.google.com/books?id=VWcVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=date:1500-1750&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1#PPP14,M1

It’s clear in the non-italic text (starting with page 4) that a wider gap is being used after each period.

1683 book on surgery: http://books.google.com/books?id=jCD4-fAL2v0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=date:1500-1750&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1#PPP11,M1

There are very few periods not at the ends of paragraphs, but one is quite visible at the page marked “* 7 quod” of the dedication. The space following it is significantly wider than the other spaces on the line. This doesn’t seem to simply be the printer’s preference, as he clearly has enough different sizes of space to balance the line out more evenly (the space in “in hoc”, the last on the line, is smaller than any of the other spaces).

More prominently, in this same text, on page 1 of the main subject matter, in Observatio I, (marked “A ſympto-” at the bottom), on the second-last line, a clear preference for adding space after periods is demonstrated. Similar preferences for semicolons are also shown a few lines up and throughout the rest of the book. Given that this book dates to the seventeenth century, I think it would be a little bit incorrect to blame it all on typewriters—though I certainly understand the reasons given for not using them today. Rivers can be nasty.

I’ve got a minor, zero-budget hobby for old and historical typesetting practices and a fascination with linguistics. And maybe a bit of calligraphy. Nothing too special and nothing professional. I guess I read a lot. The Internet is great for this stuff.

Smivey

2008-08-22 21:24:36 + Smivey's website

I'm always a fan of these grammar-related posts, but when I saw your very first rule had a grammatical error of its own, I kind of lost interest in the article.

In the Double Spaces section, you have a sentence that reads:

"Your high-school teacher was wrong, don't ever use them."

This is, in fact, two sentences separated by a comma, also known as a "comma splice."

Term Papers Writers

2008-08-24 16:35:15 + Term Papers Writers's website

I think it is a really good guide, especially for beginners. You are right that every country has different set of rules for grammar, but this guide is really helpful generally.

I like to read about all guides related to writing and love learning something new every day. Good work and keep it up.

Octopus

2008-08-26 04:52:22

Great Article. I wish a lot more people were conscientious about good grammar and proper use of punctuation. The web is rampant with misuse and just plain ignorance.

There are a lot of rules where there are certainly differences in opinion, even if you check with the authorities. Commas in lists is a big one for me.

With regards to the apostrophe, there is at least one case where you would not use an apostrophe to indicate possession; when writing the pronoun "it". So, "the dog caught its own tail," is correct.

Rebecca

2008-09-10 07:08:01 + Rebecca's website

Yeah, I don't know if I can give up the double space habit - it's ingrained. It is frustrating to think you have been doing the improper thing all of these years, and I have taught my son to type that way only to learn I was WRONG!

thomgrub

2008-10-06 23:04:03

nice work fella!

chicken recipes

2008-10-08 17:15:28 + chicken recipes's website

semi-colons are my least favorite of the punctuation marks

Marie

2008-10-31 22:33:23

Though you might have done this for artistic purposes, I think the second sentence is a fragment.

There you have it! A quick list on how to use some basic grammar that will set you apart from most schlumps who don't know their ems from their ens.

I also have a question about the following statement: "Ah the lovely comma." I don't know if it is necessary, but a comma after the exclamation might draw more attention to your statement.

You site is nice :) and I have no idea if I am right about any of this. Thanks!

Just thought I'd point somethi

2008-11-02 08:04:50

In reading the first paragraph, I've already noticed a few mistakes. It's "different from," not "different than."

Harry Roberts

2009-01-08 17:33:13 + Harry Roberts's website

Nice article, however I noticed that when you discuss quote marks, you are in fact using prime marks -- something altogether different ;)

isabella (from argentina)

2009-02-07 06:52:22

Great great site, and lovely design.

Kris (from Australia)

2009-04-07 16:28:43

With regard to:
The British will use single quotes, then double quotes, when there is a quote within a quote.
'I can't forget I "can run as fast as lightning" for as long as I need' Samantha told herself.

While the Americans will do this the other way around.
"I can't forget I 'can run as fast as lightning' for as long as I need" Samantha told herself

I don't care which way the quotation marks are used, please don't forget to put a comma at the end-before the end quotation mark-if you are to continue commenting, as above, or a full stop if it's the end of the sentence, and NEVER have nothing there...

Richard Reddy

2009-04-21 19:23:48 + Richard Reddy's website

Great article. It's amazing that we need to be reminded about these points!

john

2009-04-22 00:40:13

2.Use with and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.
She ran as fast as her body would let her, yet it wasn't enough.

shouldn't this be only if the thought would be a sentence after the fanboys?

Phil

2009-04-22 06:21:04

Double-spaces rule. I will never give them up, and I will always be frustrated that HTML (XML, XHTML, whatever) can't handle the fact that I'm pressing the space bar twice.

No need to repeat Samantha Wrights comments on the topic.

Other than that, nice work.

Jess

2009-04-22 06:43:26 + Jess's website

This was great, I really enjoyed this post.

Tana

2009-04-22 07:24:07 + Tana's website

Nice work, Mr. Charchar.

1. Ditto on emphasizing "its" and "it's." It's so simple to think of the possessives: "his, hers, and its." Are bare-bottom spankings in public too much to ask for offenders of this SIMPLE rule?

2. Serial commas: I learned to omit the last one, and now have taken to adding it back. The best example someone gave mem to do so? "I'd like to dedicate this book to my parents, Ayn Rand and God." Heh.

3. My own understanding on the double-space thing is that it became obsolete with the invention of the personal computers, and whenever I see double-spacing, I think, "Luddite. The poor dear: they probably have a dial telephone and a VCR."

4. I do not believe that telling someone "thank-you" is ever appropriate, unless you say, "I am going to write a thank-you note." It does not do to say, "Thank-you for your incisive, but minor, criticism of an otherwise very intelligent and useful post about how to massage the uneducated or inattentive into using better punctuation." Of course, this may vary from your English to mine (American),

Cheers, Mr. Charchar, from the central coast of California.

P.S. You ought to look more closely at deleting comments that are clearly left to pimp websites. Generic "great post" comments are rarely approved on my blog: why reward those people?

GoCatGo

2009-04-22 09:55:30

Although I disagree with Phil in regard to the “one or two spaces” issue, I absolutely love his comment.

I also liked Lorem’s – and others’ – comments about feeling free to explore the written word “deconstructed.”

“Language is a virus.” No?

Alex Charchar

2009-04-22 11:02:23 + Alex Charchar's website

thanks for the comments everyone :)

Truth be told, this is an article that's been on my mind since I first wrote it. It's often a sore point for me actually, because of the mistakes that are found throughout (which some of you nicely pointed out, while others weren't so nice).

I'm hoping to find some time to go through all the comments and edit the article a little bit to tighten up those silly mistakes and, where possibly, highlight the differences in opinion/country and such!

And thanks tana, your comment made me chuckle!

Jamie Brown

2009-04-22 12:42:46 + Jamie Brown's website

Excellent summary, thanks! I'm going to be sharing this around the office. Disappointly few Brits are able to use their own language correctly. Having said that, I always get my commas wrong, and I always use double spaces, so I'm not sure that I can complain too much!

Alexander Melhuish

2009-04-22 13:08:55 + Alexander Melhuish's website

This is a useful article, and I'm sure I'll refer people here when I dispute their use of grammar. I'm pleased to see that it takes a typographical point of view as well. There seems to be little teaching about typography here in the UK, and as I've slowly picked up these points, I've found myself more-often annoyed by other people's mistakes!

With respect to quotations in the UK, common teaching is to use double-quotes in all cases; the single quote just doesn't exist. Pick up any printed novel, however, and all quotations are as you stated in this article. Also, I've always believed that the continuing punctuation mark at the end of a quote belongs outside of the quote, as it was not in the original quote. However, this is only my personal belief, and I realise it's unorthodox.

As for &lquo;double spacing&rquo;, I immediately assumed you were referring to two spaces after a full stop; I've detested this practice for years. Yes, look in any correctly typeset book and the spaces after a sentence will be slightly bigger, but this was laid out by a professional typesetter who knows how to use the correct sized spaces! The reason for this is readability, but not directly: it's the least obtrusive place to add a space to justify a block of text.

If you explicitly type two spaces, you're suggesting that you know better than the typesetter, whether that's a professional, a DTP package or your word-processor. In this digital age, typographical spacing is surely one of the easier things for a computer to manage. Granted, some software programs fall short in this respect (all text editors and web browsers), but those designed for good textual appearance will handle it.

Robbie Mitchell

2009-04-22 13:22:30 + Robbie Mitchell's website

My educational rap music company made a song about these rules called "Dots and Dashes (Punctuation)". Part of the Language Arts CD. If you like these rules, you'll love the song.

http://bit.ly/punctuationrap

sean

2009-04-24 16:51:14

this is great stuff.Ive just been thinking a lot about this stuff recently.

Jerre M. Hill

2009-04-25 06:14:14 + Jerre M. Hill's website

I certainly disagree about the single space after a period. The double space looks much better. My English teacher was right!

Carlos

2009-04-27 13:22:34 + Carlos's website

Nice page. I've linked it to my blog.

Daniel

2009-05-07 19:37:25 + Daniel's website

I'm a graphic designer, often typesetting the works of respected academics. As much as I dislike (and dutifully amend) double spaces, they're nowhere near as frustrating as random-spacing, whereby sentences are seperated by two, three, sometimes five (!) spaces. Frustratingly, this is a technique that only seems to be used by Professors – who would probably mark you down for such typographic offences!

Another good grammar/typographical resource is Typography for Lawyers. Ignore the title – it's useful to everyone. http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/

Peter

2009-05-07 21:20:23

I think your tip on apostrophe's is greatly simplified and I disagree with your particular example. Not that Wikipedia is an authority, but at least it does provide citations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Possessive_apostrophe

Peter

2009-05-07 21:21:38

Nice, in my objection to your rules on apostrophes, I misused an apostrophe.

Robert K. Tompsett

2009-08-27 11:59:14

Were was this when I flunked my college Journalism class????

Nick

2009-05-29 03:59:59

You got the quotations part backwards, in the UK it is " outer and ' inner.

jonas

2009-06-02 17:46:24 + jonas's website

it's a great work of reference - thank you for publishing

Grammar Teacher

2009-07-09 14:29:40 + Grammar Teacher's website

A really useful list written in a fun and easy to use way.

Mike

2009-09-09 12:39:15 + Mike's website

Good to know about the apostroph.

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