Punctuation Class Begins This Weekend

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral Leave a Comment

Just a reminder that I am beginning at 20-hour punctuation class this Saturday. It will finish before the CEU deadline in September and has been prequalified by NCRA for a full two CEUs. The class meets on Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 10:30 Pacific time and/or Sunday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 Pacific time. The advantage to this class is …

Punctuation When Using Parens

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Does the punctuation go inside or out? Is there a cap or not? …A (Indicating.) …A Right here (indicating). The English rule: If the whole thought is inside the parens, the first word is capped, and the punctuation goes inside; if the thought inside the parens is part of a larger thought, there is no cap, and the punctuation goes …

New 20-Hour Punctuation Class — the Last of the Year

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral Leave a Comment

My last 20-hour punctuation class of the year will begin on August 13. We will complete this class just before the CEU deadline on September 30. It is divided into ten two-hour sessions, meeting on Saturday mornings/Sunday afternoons. All sessions will be recorded. If you have to miss a class and want the CEUs, you can write a detailed summary …

Brackets

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral Leave a Comment

In formal English the use of brackets indicates an insertion into the document by the author of that document. As reporting developed, we had for many years the use of only a typewriter, which did not have brackets as an option. We used parens instead. Now that brackets are an option, it is probably best to switch over to brackets for …

File Extensions

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral Leave a Comment

When dealing with file extensions that are said by themselves, there is a lot of variation in the way they are said. We say “JAY-PEG” and “BIT-MAP.” For the sake of consistency, it is probably best to transcribe these just as they look when they are a file extension. …It is a .jpg file. …I received it as a .pdf …

Punctuation Creates a Run-On

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, The Comma Leave a Comment

To say that the “attorney talks in run-on’s” is really not a correct statement. A run-on is created by bad punctuation. No one can “say” a run-on. Using no punctuation or a comma between two sentences that have no conjunction between them CREATES a run-on sentence. …He looked in my direction I tried to ignore him. 🙁 …I saw him …

Upcoming Punctuation Class

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral Leave a Comment

Just checking in to remind you that the punctuation class is starting this Saturday. This is your chance to put all of those rules into some sort of order so that they hang together better — without paying the big bucks to travel and even in your pajamas and with your own snacks! The class has been prequalified for 2 …

How Verbatim Do You Want to Be?

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Number form in some instances depends upon the answer to the question “How verbatim do you want to be?” If the witness says “…a hundred fifteen…,” whether you put the number into words or figures depends upon what you are going to do with “a” hundred. If the witness says “…three and three quarters…,” whether you put the number into words or figures depends …

More on the Word “So” — Even If We Don’t Even Want to Go There Again

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, The Period, The Semicolon, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Facebook had a couple of interesting questions/examples on “so.” SO I thought it would be good to take a look at them. This is my answer to the questions about the word “so” in the FB sentence below. …If, after a question has been posed to you, you have any question relating to what is being inquired about, please tell …

Interesting Rule from the “Chicago Manual of Style”

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, The Comma, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Another take on the word “so”: In 5.210 of CMOS, “Interjections and functional variations”: “… most parts of speech may be used as interjections. A word that is classified as some other part of speech but used with the force of an interjection is called an exclamatory noun, exclamatory adjective, and so forth.” And the word “so” is used as an …