Using Punctuation
| Q. | When I'm using a list of items in a sentence, do I need to use a comma after the last item in the list? |
| A. | Yes, this is called a 'serial' comma.
Sometimes a serial comma is necessary for clarity, sometimes it's not. Using a serial comma is never wrong, though, so using it all the time will help maintain consistency.
The deprecation of the use of the serial comma advised in some style guides is based on the fact that, some time ago, newspapers started saving print space and money by dropping the final comma in a list.
As we're not concerned about print space or costs on the Web, we can use the serial comma to avoid possible ambiguity.
Examples:
- The t-shirt comes in blue, green, yellow, and pink.
as opposed to:
The t-shirt comes in blue, green, yellow and pink.
(Does the t-shirt come in four colours, or in two solid colours and one colour mix of yellow and pink?)
- He studied history, international politics, and economics.
as opposed to:
He studied history, international politics and economics.
(Does 'international' refer only to politics, or to economics as well?)
|
- UP -
| Q. | Do I use one space or two after a full stop? |
| A. | Use one space.
The older traditional use of two spaces following a full stop dates back to the need to approximate proportional spacing in mechanical typewriters, and hasn't really been necessary since typewriters were superseded by word processors and digital typesetting.
HTML requires a specific instruction to insert more than a single space between any two characters.
If you're writing in an HTML environment, limit your spaces. If your information is being copied and pasted from a word processing document, it's unlikely that more than one space will appear, no matter how many spaces you include in your text.
|
- UP -
| Q. | Do I use its or it's? |
| A. | Tricky - these words turn our typical use of the possessive apostophe on its head. Use its as the possessive, and it's as the contraction for 'it is'.
Examples:
- The tree lost its leaves in the storm.
- It's a long trip from Melbourne to Brisbane.
|
- UP -
| Q. | When do I use an apostrophe in plural names (e.g. The MacDonalds)? |
| A. | An apostrophe is never used to form the plural of a family name. Make the name plural by adding either an s or es.
Examples:
- The MacDonalds live next door.
- We're going to the football with the Joneses.
|
- UP -
| Q. | How do I use a possessive apostrophe when there is more than one subject (e.g. Bill and Jim's dog)? |
| A. | If multiple subjects have the same possessive, use a single apostrophe after the last subject. If each subject has its own possessive, use an apostrophe for both.
Examples:
- Bill and Jim's dog was barking all night.
(Bill and Jim own the dog together.)
- We went to see John's and Marsha's new houses.
(John and Marsha each have a new house.)
|
- UP -
| Q. | Do I put a full stop inside or outside quotation marks? |
| A. | Place the full stop inside the quotation marks if it's part of the quote, otherwise place it outside.
Examples:
- He said, "I don't understand this."
- When asked for the password, type 'helloworld'.
|
- UP -
Using Capitalisation   Using Grammar
|
