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The Elements of Style is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was composed by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and published by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled". E. B. White greatly enlarged and revised the book for publication by Macmillan in 1959. That was the first edition of the so-called Strunk & White, which Time named in 2011 as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923.
The comma, is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical. Other fonts give it the appearance of a miniature filled-in figure 9 on the baseline.
In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, speech marks, quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name. They are also used to indicate that the meaning of the word or phrase they surround should be taken to be different from that typically associated with it ; in this way, they are often used to express irony. They also sometimes appear to be used as a means of adding emphasis, although this usage is usually considered incorrect.
The semicolon or semi-colon; is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon can be used between two closely related independent clauses, provided they are not already joined by a coordinating conjunction. Semicolons can also be used in place of commas to separate the items in a list, particularly when the elements of that list contain commas. The semicolon is likely the least understood of the standard marks, and so it is not used by many English speakers.
The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 17 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing. It is "one of the most widely used and respected style guides in the United States". The guide specifically focuses on American English and deals with aspects of editorial practice, including grammar and usage, as well as document preparation and formatting. It is available in print as a hardcover book, and by subscription as a searchable website as The Chicago Manual of Style Online. The online version provides some free resources, primarily aimed at teachers, students, and libraries.
In writing, a space is a blank area that separates words, sentences, syllables and other written or printed glyphs (characters). Conventions for spacing vary among languages, and in some languages the spacing rules are complex.
In the English language, there are grammatical constructions that many native speakers use unquestioningly yet certain writers call incorrect. Differences of usage or opinion may stem from differences between formal and informal speech and other matters of register, differences among dialects, and so forth. Disputes may arise when style guides disagree with each other, or when a guideline or judgement is confronted by large amounts of conflicting evidence or has its rationale challenged.
A compound modifier is a compound of two or more attributive words: that is, two or more words that collectively modify a noun. Compound modifiers are grammatically equivalent to single-word modifiers, and can be used in combination with other modifiers.
The Latin adverb sic inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous, archaic, or otherwise nonstandard spelling or punctuation. It also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be likely interpreted as an error of transcription.
Sentence spacing is the space between sentences in typeset text. It is a matter of typographical convention. Since the introduction of movable-type printing in Europe, various sentence spacing conventions have been used in languages with a Latin alphabet. These include a normal word space, a single enlarged space, and two full spaces.
Gary Lutz is an American writer of both poetry and fiction. His work has appeared in Sleepingfish, NOON, The Quarterly, Conjunctions, Unsaid, Fence, StoryQuarterly, The Believer, Cimarron Review, 3rd Bed, Slate Magazine, New York Tyrant, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, The Apocalypse Reader, PP/FF: An Anthology, The Random House Treasury of Light Verse and in the film 60 Writers/60 Places.
A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has other meanings. The standards can be applied either for general use, or be required usage for an individual publication, a particular organization, or a specific field.
The dash is a punctuation mark that is similar in appearance to the hyphen and minus sign but differs from these symbols in length and, in some fonts, height above the baseline. The most common versions of the dash are the en dash–, longer than the hyphen; the em dash—, longer than the en dash; and the horizontal bar―, whose length varies across typefaces but tends to be between those of the en and em dashes.
The full stop, period or full point. is a punctuation mark. It is used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence ; this sentence-terminal use, alone, defines the strictest sense of full stop.
Sentence spacing guidance is provided in many language and style guides. The majority of style guides that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base now prescribe or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding punctuation of a sentence.
This list comprises widespread modern beliefs about English language usage that are documented by a reliable source to be misconceptions.
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. English punctuation has always had two complementary aspects: on the one hand, phonological punctuation linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; and on the other hand, grammatical punctuation linked to the structure of the sentence. In popular discussion of language, incorrect punctuation is often seen as an indication of lack of education and of a decline of standards.
In grammar, sentence and clause structure, commonly known as sentence composition, is the classification of sentences based on the number and kind of clauses in their syntactic structure. Such division is an element of traditional grammar.
References
- Baugh, L. Sue (2005). Essentials of English Grammar: The Quick Guide to Good English (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-145708-8.
- Loberger, Gordon; Shoup, Kate (2009). Webster's New World English Grammar Handbook (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing. ISBN 978-0-470-41080-6.
- Lutz, Gary; Stevenson, Diane (2005). The Writing Digest Grammar Desk Reference. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 978-1-58297-335-7.
- Staff of REA (2009). REA's Handbook of English Grammar, Style, and Writing. Research and Education Association. ISBN 978-0-87891-552-1.
- University of Chicago Press (1982). The Chicago Manual of Style: For Authors, Editors, and Copywriters (13th Revised and Expanded ed.). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10403-4.