Are hyphens useful or can you leave them out? I often receive questions about hyphens and in this blog I cover some of the most common ones. I have written a general blog about hyphens previously. There is a quote attributed to the Oxford University Press style guide that is often used when talking about […]
Avoid comma errors Comma splices and run-on sentences are common problems in business writing. So what are they? They are both comma errors. Comma splice A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to join two independent clauses (also known as main clauses). An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone. […]
Age terms and hyphens Question: How do you use hyphens with ages, for example, two year old child? Answer: Compound adjectives (two or more words that both modify the following noun) are hyphenated in age terms. a two-year-old child two-year-old (compound adjective) child (noun) However, if the age term is not modifying a noun, you don’t need […]
The modern trend is for more minimal capitalisation One of my pet hates is the overuse and inconsistent use of initial capitals. I think many people were taught that all important words deserved to be capitalised and old habits die hard. The modern trend is for more minimal capitalisation. There are some specific rules, but […]
No universal style for writing dates The style you use varies depending on where you live In Australian, New Zealand and British business writing, the order of dates is day of the week (optional), day, month, year (dd/mm/yyyy). There is no need for any punctuation, but some writers put a comma after the day of […]
What letters should you capitalise in titles and headings? Capitalisation means writing the first letter of a word in capital letters (upper case) and the remainder in lower case. Title case and sentence case In title case, the first words, proper nouns (name of people and places) and ‘important’ words are capitalised. Words that are […]
When to use full stops with abbreviations The rules around punctuation with abbreviations are as follows. Abbreviations of first letters When a word is abbreviated after the first few letters, the traditional rule is to put a full stop after the abbreviation. Inc. cont. However, many writers no longer use a full stop with some […]
A quirk of history caused the abbreviation of will not to won’t Won’t doesn’t come from will not but from woll not. This is an alternative form of will not that existed into the mid-1800s. Will muscled out woll, but won’t muscled out willn’t. Read more information. Learn more about words Learn about my online writing and grammar courses. Subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter to receive […]
We use fewer commas today if the meaning is clear without them Punctuation is becoming more minimal and we are tending to drop unnecessary commas. I answer people’s questions in my monthly e-newsletter and here are a few that might interest you. Commas and dates Reader’s question: Is a comma necessary after a date at the […]
Commas add clarity Commas aid clarity, prevent ambiguity and indicate where you need to pause. Often you can tell if you need a comma by reading your work out loud though this won’t always work because punctuation is mainly for the eye, not the ear. We tend to use more minimal punctuation today than we […]