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Punctuation
Posted by: Paul Thomas
09 / 02 / 17
What is a full stop (period) for? Well, surely it’s how we tell one sentence has ended and a new one is about to begin. To many people, that would seem straightforward enough. But could there actually be a more sinister meaning lurking behind this small, seemingly innocent piece of punctuation? ‘Punctuation mark may be […]
Posted by: Cathy Dann
10 / 07 / 14
Apostrophes are unpredictable little blighters. No sooner have you mastered the basics than they pop up in new and unexpected places, apparently breaking all the rules. Should they, for example, be involved when you “cross the i’s and dot the t’s”? How about in the Ts &Cs? What are the, ahem, do’s and don’ts? Don’t know? […]
20 / 05 / 14
Last week, in our post on units and spaces, we asked you to take a short survey. We’re delighted to report that 130 people did – and here are the results. Overall, most of you were in favour of closing up the number and unit, with four fifths preferring ‘1.75cm’ to ‘1.75 cm’. However, this […]
Posted by: Jacob Funnell
18 / 03 / 14
The three little innocent-looking dots of an ellipsis (…) probably carry more power to annoy and confuse your readers than any other punctuation mark. Apostrophe mistakes look harmless in comparison. Nobody seriously reads ‘orange’s 45p’ and assumes that the orange must own a small amount of loose change. Ellipses, by contrast, can completely change the […]
14 / 01 / 14
In the battle of spaces, no one can hear you scream. The argument about whether to use one space or two after a full stop (aka period) is surprisingly heated. So, should you use one space at the end of a sentence? (Like this.) Or two? (Like this.) Until the early twentieth century, guidelines were numerous […]
Posted by: Catie Holdridge
14 / 09 / 11
There’s a phrase you’re bound to need to use when writing a CV, a bio for a proposal, or showing off in a World of Warcraft chat room, to prove how practised you (or your colleague/client/avatar) are. But there you may pause (and you wouldn’t be the first). Is it year’s experience or years’ experience? […]
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