Blog

When a word is made up but it has a normal, regular English spelling, put a pair of quotes around it rather than using sic or verbatim to point it out as an error. ...She was just acting "obliviat...

It should be ...Q So, "No," you don't know? Or, "No," there weren't any left? Happy punctuating! Margie

Q Do you know whether there were any left? A No. And the attorney tries to clean up the mess he has created: Q So "No," you don't know? Or, "No," there weren't any left?Since he is f...

When the same word is repeated with the same meaning, the rule is that there is a comma between the words. ...It was really hard, hard to let her go. ...All he does is work, work, work. ...She fee...

When someone makes up a word that looks like an English word and can be readily spelled, the rule is that the word should be quoted. There is no need to use after such a word. The quotes clue the ...

Periods and commas go inside of quotes WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS in the entire language. Whether it is one word or one letter or a number or a long quote, the period and the comma go inside. ...When ...

When a word is made up but has all the characteristics of an English word -- dramastically, considerated -- spell it correctly and use a pair of quotes around it. There is not a need to use sic. T...

The rule about no quotes after the word "that" is for good grammar. After the word "that" in good grammar, the words should be an indirect quote or a paraphrase. In "bad" grammar, people get to sa...

As long as I have been in this field, I have never been asked this question until recently -- and it has come up at least ten times in the past six months! Weird. What do we do with this? ...I do...