A rule from Chapter 8 that helped me was about the colon. I
have always struggled knowing if one should insert a comma or a colon when
introducing a quote. The book says the following, “use a colon to introduce a
quotation that is longer than one sentence.”
EX: Jonny looked at
his mom and explained: “I didn’t realize that I had homework due tomorrow
morning. I will tell Frank I can’t go to the park until my homework is done.”
It’s pretty self-explanatory
but I believe it clears up a lot of confusion. It's simple to remember; if the quote is longer then a sentence, use a colon.
In addition the book
points out to not use a colon when “introducing a short list without the words ‘the
following’.”
EX: The camp
instructor asked us to bring the following: tent, sleeping bag, and hiking
boots.
These are all simple
rules, but rules people easily mistake.
While skimming through the AP stylebook I came across the
rule on ellipses. I never knew an ellipsis consists of only three periods. I
got on twitter and sure enough found a mistake made less than a month ago by
Russell Westbrook. Westbrook plays in the NBA as a guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has over three million followers, and is one of the most well known athletes world wide. While he isn’t known for his perfect grammar and
punctuation, it’s nice to know even superstars don’t know all the rules.
Thanks for writing on the colon with the examples the way you did. It never ceases to surprise me how quickly I forget. In reading about the colon rule for quotes I had an "oh yeah!" moment. That is a good one to remember.
ReplyDeleteI think twitter and social media is the best place to find editing errors. It's amazing how poorly society writes on social media!
A lot of people use ellipses incorrectly. Just like it says in chapter 1 of "When Words Collide," people now a days don't understand the difference between formal writing and informal writing. I think that is one of the main reasons that there are so many punctuation mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that ellipses are most often used to emphasize an emotional or dramatic end to a sentence. Most of the time, this is done incorrectly, but it's interesting how ellipses can indeed read differently based on context.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm sure Russell Westbrook and his bank account are just losing lots of sleep about proper grammatical habits. ;)
I agree. I am surprised by how frequently people don't correct their grammar in their digital profiles. If you want people to think of you professionally you have to have a little respect for grammar.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I am surprised by how frequently people don't correct their grammar in their digital profiles. If you want people to think of you professionally you have to have a little respect for grammar.
ReplyDelete