by Nancy Tuten | Apr 6, 2020
The hyphen, the em dash, and the en dash are all horizontal marks of varying lengths. Each functions differently from the others. Below we define each mark, explain when to use them, and provide instructions for typing them on both PCs and Macs. (View our new...
by Nancy Tuten | Feb 29, 2020
An ellipsis consists of either three or four periods, or dots. A single dot is called an ellipsis point. The definition is pretty straightforward, but using ellipses can be tricky. Writers use ellipses for various reasons. An ellipsis can indicate the omission of...
by Nancy Tuten | Feb 20, 2020
If the number of page visits is a reliable indicator, this topic—using a comma before and—is on the minds of many people. The third most oft-visited on this site, this page garnered close to 10,000 hits in the past thirty days. (The most popular page—with twice as...
by Nancy Tuten | Aug 3, 2019
Semicolons have two functions: First, they are used to separate items in lists when one or more of those items has internal commas. As such, they function more or less like commas on steroids. In their second function, however, they are more like periods because they...
by Nancy Tuten | Jul 25, 2019
With the possible exception of the Oxford/Harvard/serial comma, very few usage issues elicit responses as passionate as the topic of punctuating with quotation marks. American vs. British Conventions If I were in charge of writing the rules about the use of quotation...
