Punctuation

I don't know whether you have any punctuation marks that are hard for you to keep straight. I have only one whose spacing and length challenge me: the ellipsis. Last week a client emailed me with an ellipsis question, and I realized I have to face… continue reading

In a recent Better Business Writing class, a participant asked me to post a blog on exclamation points, also known as exclamation marks. "They are everywhere!" she said. She's right! They are everywhere! And just as you are beginning to worry that my overuse of them here will… continue reading

Of all the punctuation errors I saw this year, the most prevalent offender was this one: Thanks Lynn.Happy holidays Lynn!Okay Lynn! Sorry to use my name so often, but the error involves direct address, that is, writers addressing the reader directly (in my case, Lynn).… continue reading

When it comes to punctuation, not all series are created equal. On a discussion board I participate in (as part of Marcia Yudkin’s Marketing for More program), this sentence came up in a discussion about commas: I dropped the pickle jar, it rolled across the… continue reading

The use of the forward slash (/) has gone too far. Whether known as the slash, diagonal, virgule, slant, or solidus, the mark is simply showing up too often. I used to see them commonly in only and/or and his/her constructions. But lately I can’t… continue reading

In a Business Writing Skills class last week, a participant raised a familiar question about the use of commas with the word and. She said: I learned the rule that you never use a comma with and. The word and takes the place of the… continue reading