Engish Speling is Rotton.  Use a spelling checker--but check the checker!
 

Good punctuation is easy.  You need to know a few rules and a few logical principles, and the rest pretty much takes care of itself.

CONTENTS

Apostrophes
Commas
Quotations
Full-stops (periods, questions, exclamations)
Almost-stops (semicolons, colons, dashes)

More info--other web sites
 

' Apostrophe--two uses:

1. Indicate missing letters.
 It's  easy.                           (Go back down to "its" if you just came from there.)
 It is easy.

 You're   doing fine.
 You are doing fine.

2. Possession (always before an S or Z sound):
 This is the cook's book.            (1 cook, 1 book)
 These are the cook's books.     (1 cook, 2 books)
 These are the cooks's books.   (2 cooks, 2 books)
 This is the cooks's book.          (2 cooks, 1 book)

 She is that girl's mother.            (1 girl, 1 mother)
 She is those girls's mother.        (2 girls, 1 mother)

Procedure
  1. Make it singular or plural.
  2. Add the apostrophe.
  3. Add an s.  (Some people (including me) don't like to add s if the word already ends in s, as in "She is those girls' mother'" or "Where is Ross' car.")

NOTE:  NEVER put an apostrophe in these words:
    its
    his
    hers
    ours
    yours
    theirs

They're called "personal pronouns."  Only "its" is confusing.  But (ahem!) it's logical.

Example:  Look at that dog. It's chasing its tail.   (Also see "Apostrophe 1," above.)

Other examples:  See that pretty girl? She's my sister.  That new car is hers.

See?  It's easy if you think about it and remember that the personal pronouns never have apostrophes in them.  Now you're on your own!

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, Comma.  (Don't go into a coma over this one!)

1. Separate things when there are more than two of them and you don't want to say "and" between them..

 She invited Susan, Tom, Nabil, and Mary.  (Yes, I used a comma AND an "and".  Most newspapers omit the last comma, but I think they're nuts.)
 

NOTE:  In this example, the commas mean that your voice would probably go up in those places if you were talking slowly or to a small child:

                 an,      om,         iam,           Ma
  She invited Sus       To        Will       and       ry.
 

Your voice goes up in pitch just before each comma.

A pair of examples:

    Who shot, John?
    Who shot John?

Your voice goes up in the middle of the first one, when you're asking John a question.
Your voice does not go up in the middle of the second one, when you're asking who shot John.

Here are some examples:

--more examples--
 

NOTE THIS:

    Use a comma after a dependent clause when an independent clause follows.    (NO comma.)
    When an independent clause follows, use a comma after a dependent clause.    (Comma!)
 
 

--this next may not be needed--or just to summarize--
RULES that don't make much sense:

1.
 

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C. Stop markers

  ?    Question mark

  !     Exclamation mark (or point)

  .     Period.  The British call it a full stop--and that's what it's used for.  Usually it goes at the end of a complete sentence.  But there's the rub:  What's a complete sentence?  Subject + verb (+ object or complement).  Yes--but what does that mean?

Here are a few examples:

    I swim.
    I swim well.
    I swim in the ocean.
    I like to eat spaghetti.

Here's NOT a complete sentence.

    Because it's not good spaghetti.    (No subject.)

Here's NOT a sentence:

    I swim in the ocean it's salty.    (Two complete sentences run together.)
    I swim in the ocean, it's salty.    (Two complete sentences spliced together iwth a comma.)

BUT this is okay:

    I swim in the ocean--it's salty!    (The dash indicates a sudden break in the thought and the tone of voice.)
    I swim in the ocean because it's salty.
    I swim in the ocean, which is salty.

d. Almost-stop

  ;  Semicolon.  Works like a period (when it connects sentences) or a super comma (when it connects phrases containing commas)

  :  Colon:  shows that something is coming--usually a list or an explanation.

  --  Dash--use it to indicate a sudden change in the idea and tone of voice.
 
 

e. Quotations

   Direct quotation, to indicate someone's exact words :   "      "

    When there's a quotation inside a quotation, it looks like this:  A man said, "When my wife says, 'I love you,' I feel wonderful."  (NOTE:  This is the US method.  In Britain, the " and ' marks are reversed, and the period goes outside the quotation.)

   Indirect quotation:  NO quotation marks and usually all in the pas tense.  Here's an example:  Nietsche said that God was dead.

g. -

h. . . .

i.  Slash / Virgule / Stroke / Strophe - they're all the same

   /   and/or    Usually "or" will do just as well.  Try to say "he/she" in a sentence--and then see if you can find an alternative to writing it.

j.
 

z. For More Info...

     Spin doctor's Web Design 101  http://www.transaction.net/web/tutor/text/index.html

     Purdue University Online Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/
 
 

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