4. Usage & Punctuation

• Dashes and hyphens
  • Hyphens are the shortest mark and are used to connect words together, especially when they are acting as an adjective: We need to study the long-term consequences in the short term.
  • Do NOT hyphenate words to split them over two lines.  We will take care of this as necessary.
  • Technically, an en dash (–) is used to specify a closed range of numbers, dates, etc.; you can go ahead and use a hyphen here if you want, though: pp. 2-4 or pp. 2–4; the Supreme Court ruling was 5-4 or 5–4.  Also use the en dash when hyphenating multi-word phrases, e.g. “pre–World War II mentality” (because “World War II” counts as a single entity to be joined with “pre-”).  To insert an en dash in Microsoft Word, you can type a hyphen surrounded by spaces or use Ctrl + the minus key on the numeric keypad.
  • An em dash (—) should be used to set off a group of words within a sentence: I write for Smart Ass—do you read my articles?  John McCain—a member of the Armed Services Committee—has criticized Rumsfeld’s leadership in the Iraq war.  Em dashes are also used for open ranges: 1945—.  If you’re using plain text and cannot enter a proper em dash, use two hyphens instead. To insert an em dash in Microsoft Word, you can type two hyphens between words, or use Ctrl+Alt + the minus key on the numeric keypad.
• Apostrophes
• After a singular or plural noun not ending in “-s”, add an apostrophe to make that noun possessive (a hard day’s work, the women’s bathroom).
• After a plural noun ending in “-s”, add a single apostrophe at the end to make it possessive (two weeks’ notice, dresses’ buttons).
• After a singular noun ending in an “s”, add “’s” to make it plural except after words which are traditionally left without the added “s” (such as Jesus’)
• Use apostrophes in contractions, NOT possessive pronouns.  Remember that it’s = “it is” and you’re = “you are.”
• Do NOT use an apostrophe after dates: the 1970s
• Use apostrophes to pluralize single letters of the alphabet: Mind your p’s and q’s.
• It’s “Veteran’s Day,” not “Veterans’ Day” (yes, I looked it up)
• To use an apostrophe at the beginning of a word for an omitted letter, type Ctrl+' followed by the apostrophe, e.g. ’Tis the season to be jolly.
• Quotations
• Use double quotation marks around a direct quotation within a paragraph, or to indicate irony.  Do NOT use quotation marks if you are paraphrasing.
• Use single quotation marks when double quotes would be used, but whatever is to be quoted is already inside double quotes.  According to the Associated Press, “Mrs. Heinz-Kerry told a reporter to ‘shove off.’”
• In accordance with American style, put commas and end marks inside quotation marks unless a different end mark is already there:
  • She told the journalist to “shove off.”
  • She exclaimed to the journalist: “Shove off!”
  • Did she really scream “Shove off!”?
• Use brackets when adding, omitting, or replacing information within a quotation: According to the Associated Press, “Mrs. Heinz-Kerry […] told him [the reporter] to ‘shove off.’”
• Put the abbreviation “sic” in brackets if something in a quotation is an error or appears to be an error, and you want to emphasize that you, the infallible reporter, certainly haven’t made a mistake: “You’re working hard to put food on your family [sic].”
• If you indent a quotation to set it apart from the text, do not put quotation marks around it.
• Enable “smart quotes” so that open- and close-quotes appear different (don’t use " or ').
• Abbreviations/Acronyms:
• Use periods in abbreviations and acronyms only if they’re typically used in that context: U.S. Marine Corps, FBI, CIA, R.I.P., George H.W. Bush, Ph.D.  Do NOT put spaces between consecutive initial letters (U.S., not U. S. or US or U S).
• Remember that e.g. means “for example” and i.e. means “that is”
• “Versus” is abbreviated “vs.”, except in names of court cases (“v.”)
• Spelling and Capitalization:
• Make sure that any words or names requiring accents have them: Núñez, naïveté
• If referring to the parties, Democratic and Republican are always capitalized
• Al Gore invented “the Internet”, NOT “the internet”
• Unless it precedes a name, “president” and other such titles should be lowercase
• When referring to the U.S. legislature, capitalize Congress, Senate, and House
• Profanity: If they’re absolutely necessary, write “s**t” and “f***”
• Parentheses: If you must use parentheses, make sure that the end mark goes within them only if the phrase it ends is entirely within the parentheses: I loved her (or so I thought).  According to MSNBC, he “praised the president for ‘great strides in environmental protection’ during his administration” (really!).  (Maybe he meant “great strides” backward.)
• Titles: Italicize titles of publications (don’t underline them).
• Court Cases: Italicize names of court cases: Marbury v. Madison
• Hyperlinks: Leave hyperlinks blue and underlined: http://www.senate.gov
• Lists: When listing items, DO use a “serial comma” before the conjunction linking the items in the list: He likes apples, bananas, and oranges.  Use semicolons instead of commas if any of the items are long or contain commas themselves: I’ve been to Pensacola, Florida; New Richmond, Indiana; and Seattle.
• Subjunctive: “If I were a rich man,” not “If I was a rich man”
• Adjectives and Adverbs: The word “everyday” is an adjective, NOT an adverb: “I changed into my everyday clothes” BUT “He drives to work every day.”  “Anymore” is an adverb equivalent to “any longer”: “I don’t like to swim anymore” BUT “Do you have any more peaches?”  “Everyone” and “anyone” are singular pronouns.  Make sure to include an “-ly” if necessary for adverbs: “a perfect job” BUT “did the job perfectly”
• Indeterminate Gender Singular Pronouns: In formal writing, NEVER use “they”, “them”, “their”, or “theirs” as singular pronouns (equivalent to “he or she”, “him or her”, “his or her”, and “his or hers”, respectively).  To make it clear that a single person is the referent, choose the masculine or feminine set of pronouns for that person.  If it’s necessary to emphasize gender neutrality, you can use “he or she”, “one”, etc., but this is often awkward.  Sometimes it’s best to rephrase the sentence, especially by expressing the idea in the plural—so “Every Democratic official should support grassroots organizing in his or her home district” becomes “All Democratic officials should support grassroots organizing in their home districts.”
• Numerals: “One” through “nine” should always be written out; use numerals for other numbers except at the beginning of a sentence
• Dates: Don’t use ordinal numbers in dates: “March 3”, NOT “March 3^rd”
• Special Symbols: If you want to insert special symbol characters that are included in Times New Roman, insert them in Microsoft Word via Insert > Symbol.  If your symbol is not included in the Times New Roman font, make a note of it in the document.

5. Word Choice

This section aims to provide advice regarding commonly confused or misused words.  See http://www.bartleby.com/64/3.html for more examples.

• a/an: Use “an” only before words or abbreviations that start with a vowel sound when read aloud: “an honorable discharge”, “a historical reference”, “an FBI investigation”
• affect/effect:
  • As nouns: An “effect” is a result or influence: They have an effect (an influence) on the proceedings.  “Affect” means feeling or emotion, especially as manifested in one’s appearance
  • As verbs: “Affect” means to influence; “effect” means to bring about:  The governor’s actions will affect his decision; We will effect change
• all right: Use “all right”, not “alright”
• among/between: In general, use “between” to describe something shared by a pair and “among” to describe something shared by more than two.  the consensus among the delegates; a pact between Bob and Joe
• capital/capitol: “Capitol” only refers to a building which houses a legislature; “capital” is used for a capital city, financial capital, or capital letters
• compare/contrast: For clarity, use “compare” when discussing only similarities, and “contrast” when discussing only differences among things
• complement/compliment: To “complement” is to complete; to “compliment” is to praise
• elicit/illicit: The verb “elicit” means to bring or draw something out, as in to elicit contributions from wealthy donors or to elicit an enthusiastic response.  “Illicit” is an adjective meaning corrupt or ill-attained: he was fined for accepting illicit contributions
• ensure/insure: Use “insure” only when referring to the providing of insurance: We want to ensure that your company will insure us against accident claims.
• farther/further: In general, use “farther” when describing a physical distance or range and “further” when referring to nonphysical advancement: Is Barnes & Noble or Borders farther from your house?  I don’t intend to walk much farther; Please explain further.
• fewer/less: In general, use “fewer” when referring to things that can be counted, “less” for degree or overall amount: He has less money and less enthusiasm, but his opponent has fewer supporters.
• impact: Try not to use “impact” as a verb: It will have an impact on his decision, NOT It will impact his decision.  In the second case, “affect” is probably a better verb.  Exception: “impact” as a verb can mean to apply physical force to something: They will impact (crush) his car.
• lay/lie: The forms of these verbs are easily confused.
  • to lay (to set something down): he laid the book on the table; he has laid the book on the table; he is laying the book on the table; he will lay the book on the table
  • to lie (to tell a lie): he lied about his income; he has lied about his income; he is lying about his income; he will lie about his income
  • to lie (to lie down or to be at rest): he lay on the couch yesterday; he has lain on that couch before; he is lying on the couch; he will lie on the couch
• sit/set: The verb “set” should be nearly synonymous with “lay”, “put”, or “place”: he set the book on the table.  The verb “sit” means to be resting or to assume a resting position on one’s own.
• than: “Than” should NOT be treated as a preposition in formal writing.  Rather, it should serve as a conjunction.  When a pronoun that is being contrasted with the subject of the sentence follows “than”, that pronoun will be in the objective (accusative) case, not the subjective (nominative) case, even when the verb is not repeated: write She is a better swimmer than I (am)—because “she” (the subject) and “I” are being contrasted.  However, write She likes him more than (she likes) me because “him” (direct object) and “me” are being contrasted.

Usage and Style Resources:

• Chicago Manual of Style, 15^th ed. (2003)
• Strunk and White: The Elements of Style (1972)
• Lynn Truss: Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (2004)
• Usage resources on http://www.bartleby.com
• Purdue University's Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu