AP Dance Still The Style To Beat

AP punctuation is a fragile dancer; I love her beauty but I hate her beasts. As a writer, I wish to spin her elegantly around the ballroom; however her majestic routine is not easily mastered. Punctuation is the choreography which decides every future step in the dance. As writers we’re forced to tango between the steps of the literary and journalistic dance. I’ve pirouetted around this dance for nearly five years. Sure, I can spin and flip for either performance but I’ve yet to master the dance.

One AP style rule I’ve rediscovered deals with the placement of semicolons. I wrestle frequently with where to properly rest certain sentences. I might say something like: He needed to give a speech in class, however, his friend wanted him to ditch school. But the placement of the comma before “however” should be a semicolon: He needed to give a speech in class; however, his friend wanted him to ditch school. That is how one properly punctuates a sentence like that.

I think I get tripped up in situations like that because the sentence feels like it to flows fine with a comma. Perhaps I don’t feel like it needs the rest it’s afforded with a semicolon. Nevertheless, the rule stands.

The other punctuation conundrum I struggle with deals with Internet terms. It feels too ever-changing; which terms are capitalized? Which are hyphenated? Which abbreviated terms are acceptable? These are all questions I’ve asked myself when writing news.

I’m constantly learning about myself as a writer. Wearing my vulnerability on my sleeve means I’m able to keep shortcomings are always within arms-length.

This week’s editing mistake comes from one of my favorite dirt sheets, SEScoops.com. One of the top names in the realm of Pro Wrestling journalism.

The quotation mark should be before the ‘E’ on the word ‘Every.’ It’s a common one, but it’s no less important. When we’re so focused on churning out new content, these kind of mistakes can happen easily. With obvious typos such as this one, the editing staff should’ve gone back to fix this.