Punctuation, Mechanics, and Usage

Standard American Punctuation and Mechanics

This seminar can be offered as a single one-day program (six hours) or as two half-day programs (three hours each).

When used correctly, punctuation and mechanics can help to make writing clear and readable. At the very least, poor usage makes the writer appear unprofessional; at worst, it impedes meaning. This four-hour workshop addresses all the most troubling marks of punctuation and mechanics, including the appropriate use of the comma in a wide variety of sentence constructions.

When is it appropriate to use a comma before and?
When can commas be used with conjunctions such as however, furthermore, and also?
When do we use a comma with dates? With month-day-year dates? With day-month-year dates?
When do we use commas to separate more than one adjective modifying the same noun?
How do we know when to place commas around dependent clauses, including those that begin with which and that?
When do commas help prevent a misreading?
How should we punctuate with quotation marks and parentheses?
How do we punctuate and capitalize the items in vertical lists?
Does a colon always have to precede a vertical list?
How do a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash differ?
Italics, underscoring, quotation marks—which should we use when citing reports, book titles, newspapers, articles, or songs?
How do we use apostrophes correctly, especially with words ending in s, x, ch, sh, and z?
Are semicolons more like commas or periods?
How do colons differ from semicolons?
What are ellipses and how are they used?