P: Punctuation and Mechanics

PPunctuation and Mechanics

PPunctuation and Mechanics

P1 The comma
a Clauses with and, but, etc.
b Introductory elements
c Items in a series
d Coordinate adjectives
e Nonrestrictive elements
f Transitions, parenthetical expressions, etc.
g Direct address, yes/no, interrogative tags, interjections
h He said etc.
i Dates, addresses, titles, numbers
P2 Unnecessary commas
a Compound elements
b Between verb and subject or object
c Before or after a series
d Cumulative adjectives
e Restrictive elements
f Concluding clauses
g Inverted sentence
h Other misuses
P3 The semicolon and the colon
a Semicolon with independent clauses
b Semicolon with series
c Misuses of the semicolon
d Colon with list, appositive, quotation, summary
e Conventional uses of the colon
f Misuses of the colon
P4 The apostrophe
a Possessive nouns, indefinite pronouns
b Contractions
c Plurals of numbers, letters, etc.
d Misuses
P5 Quotation marks
a Direct quotations
b Quotation within quotation
c Titles
d Words as words
e With other punctuation
f Misuses
P6 Other punctuation marks
a End punctuation
b Dash, parentheses, brackets
c Ellipsis mark
d Slash
P7 Spelling and hyphenation
a Spelling rules
b Words that sound alike
c Common misspellings
d Compound words
e Hyphenated adjectives
f Fractions and numbers
g Prefixes and suffixes
h To avoid ambiguity
i Word division
P8 Capitalization
a Proper versus common nouns
b Titles with names
c Titles of works
d First word of sentence
e First word of a quoted sentence
f After colon
P9 Abbreviations and numbers
a Titles with names
b Familiar abbreviations
c Conventional abbreviations
d Units of measurement
e Latin abbreviations
f Plural of abbreviations
g Inappropriate abbreviations
h Spelling out numbers
i Using numerals
P10 Italics
a Titles of works
b Other terms