SECTION 1:  PUNCTUATION

1.1 - COMMAS

Commas should appear as follows:

a) Before a conjunction which separates two distinct clauses: "I like your story, but you forgot to use commas." A conjunction is a word such as and, so, but, nor, so, et cetera, which is used as a transition between two ideas or parts of an idea.

b) Before a comparison or secondary thought: "I said I liked your shoes, not those godawful laces."; "And thus the world ceased to exist, quite without fanfare."

c) After an word, clause, or phrase that serves as an introduction for the rest of the sentence: "Oddly enough, my dog found your dog completely unappealing"; "As I have said many times, correct usage of commas really IS important!"

d) To separate text in quotations from the rest of the sentence: "I wouldn't have thought," said the large rat, "that the cat was quite so close. Shame about Barry...."

e) To surround 'afterthoughts'--parts of the sentence not integral to its meaning: "Your dog, however, seemed quite besotted."; "Socar Myles, who is annoying at the best of times, managed to disrupt the whole party with her dreadful singing."

f) Between list items: "My mother told me to buy beeswax, chewing gum, and cheese."; "It was a dark, stormy night."; "I hate it when people chew with their mouths open, talk with their mouths full, put their cutlery in the wrong hands, and generally misbehave at table."

g) To clarify geographical locations and titles: "I was born in London, England."; "My dog has risen quickly through the ranks: I present to you Rover, Governor of Texas." (With apologies to Texas.)

Things to avoid:

Comma splices - A comma is for separating clauses, as a general rule, or for separating words or phrases as detailed above. It is NOT for separating two distinct sentences:

Correct comma usage: "It was, of course, raining on the fifth of November. I'll never forget that rain."

Comma splice: "It was, of course, raining on the fifth of November, I'll never forget that rain."

1.2 - SEMICOLONS

Generally speaking, there are two instances in which you'd use a semicolon:

a) To separate two complete but related sentences: "I didn't take my dog out for a walk yesterday; although I had intended to do so, my health forbade it."

b) To separate items in a list (within one sentence) of longer phrases, often containing other punctuation such as commas or brackets - "I have to do a lot of things to get my dog ready for his walk. I put on his little shoes, which have holes for his claws in the toes; I put on his jacket (and quite a sight it is, too, with all that tartan!); I squeeze his big, floppy ears into earmuffs--it's really quite an odyssey!" (Poor dog!)

1.3 - COLONS

a) A colon can signal the start of a list: "I bought my dog a lot of gifts this Christmas: seven milk bones, two sweaters, and a cow." Before the colon comes a COMPLETE sentence; after it comes the list.

b) A colon may be used for dramatic effect--for example, before you state the name of a main character: "Everyone was terrified of his scuttering feet and his slavering maw; every mother's son would hide at his approach. No-one could stand like a man and face him: my dog." Of course, a colon is NOT necessary every time you want to introduce a name. This, for example, is not necessary: "Socar Myles' middle name is: Jacky." The colon serves no purpose in that sentence, and should not be there.

c) A colon can signal an impending explanation - "I bought my dog more gifts than I should have: I was feeling dreadfully sorry for him after his surgery." The words both before and after the colon must form complete sentences.

d) A colon can also be used before a quotation or set of instructions: "In order to neuter your dog, please follow these instructions: 1. Sedate the dog. 2.... (and so forth)"; "In my 1995 essay 'Bad Dog', I said: 'My dog is a cad, he's a really bad cad, he's the baddest cad in the whole wide world. My dog is a cad if there ever was a cad; he's a cad to all the boys and girls! On Monday....'" (Sorry about the South Park reference. I couldn't resist.)

1.4 - QUOTATION MARKS

a) Most of the time, quotation marks denote speech: "Oh, my," said the rat. "My tail just keeps growing!"

b) If a second quotation appears WITHIN the first, you would use SINGLE quotation marks (`') instead of double ("") to denote the second quotation, as follows: "I bumped into my mother at the grocery store, and she had this to say on the matter: 'Eeeeh! I need more bananas! Out of the way!'".

c) Sometimes, quotation marks are used to denote an unusual usage of a word or phrase. For example, I might sign one of my paintings "Socar J. Myles: 'Queen of Rats'". (Ordinarily, double quotation marks would be used, but since they were already in use, I had to use single ones.)

d) Quotation marks can also be used to denote the titles of books, movies, articles, pieces of music, et cetera: "Have you read 'War and Peace'?" "No. I prefer movies. My favourite one is 'Trainspotting'."

1.5 - APOSTROPHES

a) Apostrophes may be used to indicate possession: "Socar's fingers are sore from all this typing."; "My brothers' dogs are bigger than my dog." Note that for words ending with "s", the apostrophe occurs AFTER the "s", and no further "s" is added. (That is: CORRECT: brothers' INCORRECT: brothers's.) If MORE THAN ONE subject is present, the "'s" is ONLY added to the last name on the list, as follows: "That's John and Murray's car." (Not "John's and Murray's car.) However, if John and Murray were to have SEPARATE cars, the sentence would read thus: "Those two? Oh, those are John's and Murray's cars."

b) To denote the plural case of numbers and letters used as words: "Back in the 40's, one had to mind one's p's and q's."

c) An apostrophe may also indicate a contraction: "There's plenty of milk in the fridge". This, of course, is a shortened (or CONTRACTED) version of "There is plenty of milk in the fridge."

d) To indicate an omission or shortening, as in a date or word: "I gave up reading back in '85."; "'E told me to brush m' 'air, but I clean f'got!"

1.6 - PARENTHESES

Parentheses are often used to section off a part of the sentence which is (much like this one) an afterthought, not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Commas may also be used to this effect. It is generally a good idea to use parentheses instead of commas when the "afterthought" is particularly long: "I had meant to take my dog to the park (my dog and I have spent a lot of time in the park over the years; he is always terribly disappointed when we can't go), but the Joneses had parked their car right at the foot of my driveway, preventing me from getting out."

Parentheses may also section off a whole sentence (or several sentences) in this manner, if those sentences are not essential to the paragraph.

Use parentheses with discretion, however. Too many digressions and afterthoughts will weaken your writing.

1.7 - DASHES and HYPHENS

a) A DASH (represented typographically by TWO hyphens-like this) can be used to separate a phrase or clause with particular emphasis, or to separate an afterthought, as one might use parentheses: "Sucking hard candy-mints, herbal drops, and fruit pastilles, for instance-may help relieve nausea, but it's dreadful for your teeth."; "My dog-the only dog I'll ever have-is getting rather old and creaky."

b) A DASH may also be used to indicate a cut-off sentence, or a pause in speech: "I was only saying-"; "It-it was gone too quickly for us to get a good look at it!"

c) A DASH can also emphasize the conclusion of a sentence: "I always knew my dog couldn't last forever-but I'd been hoping he'd make it till Christmas."

d) You would also use a DASH to credit a quotation, as follows: "Dignity isn't important; it's everything" --Socar Myles

e) A HYPHEN may be used to connect two related words, or parts of a number that has been spelled out: "My great-grandmother passed away at the unbelievable age of a hundred and twenty-seven."

f) A HYPHEN can also connect two or more words which modify the same noun: "If I had known they had a seven-hour hike in the dead-grass-covered foothills of Mount Everest planned, I'd have packed a lunch."

g) A HYPHEN indicates that two or more sets apply to the same base word: "I corralled all the milk- and beef-cows in the same pen.

h) A HYPHEN may replace the word "to": "Wrong bus, mister. This is the Broadway-Boundary route."; "Read pages 15-250 before tomorrow's test, or else!"

i) A HYPHEN is sometimes used to separate a prefix from the rest of the word: "Jonesy here is my co-pilot."

1.8 - ELLIPSIS

In the middle of a sentence: ... At the end of a sentence: .... There are never two, five, seven, or nine.

A recurring problem among Epilogue writers is the extreme overuse of the ellipsis. (...) The correct times at which to use ellipsis are:

a) To indicate an omission (in a quotation, for example: "To be or not to be, that is the question / Whether 'tis nobler...to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...." (In that quotation, of course, I have missed the words "in the mind" and everything that appears after "fortune".)

b) To indicate a pause. For example, if I were out of breath, I might be represented as talking like this: "Oh...no! It's...bloody nine o'clock already, and I'm...very late! Very late...indeed!"

However, when you use the ellipsis as a pause, please consider carefully before you plunk it down at the end of every sentence, or, even worse, right in the middle. How many conversations do you hear that go like this:

"How are you...doing today, Stefan...?"
"I'm...well...."
"Aren't you...going to ask me how I'm doing...?"
"...No. I...never liked you."

If you overuse it, as with anything else, all the punch goes out of it. When you're writing speech, ALWAYS read it aloud, and ask yourself this question: "Do people REALLY talk like that? Does it fit this situation?" In the above case, the answer would be a resounding "No." This, on the other hand, IS plausible:

"How are you doing today, Stefan?"
"I'm well."
"Aren't you going to ask me how I'm doing?"
"No. I...never liked you."

When there's only one pause, the reader will actually notice it there--will notice Stefan's hesitation before he admits that he never liked...ah...let's call him Bob. Stefan doesn't like Bob, and has to think twice before saying it out loud.

In the first example, the reader probably wouldn't get that impression, because the pauses are everywhere. They're rendered meaningless by their sheer volume.

1.9 - QUESTION MARKS and EXCLAMATION POINTS

These don't require much explanation-we all know what ! and ? are for. Exclamation points add emphasis to a sentence or interjection, and question marks indicate that a question has been asked. However, as with ellipses, exclamation points lose their punch when used over and over again.

When using both at once ("You're going to do WHAT!?"), don't get carried away. Seven sets of question marks and exclamation points are no more effective than one, and just end up looking silly.

1.10 - PERIOD or FULL STOP

Again, not much explanation is required for this one. A period marks the end of a sentence. It also appears at the ends of some (but not all) abbreviations.