When a sentence doesn't end with a period
A reader writes to ask: I know it’s still acceptable to space twice after periods. However, if there’s a close quote after a period is there actually only one space remaining after the quotation...
PunctuationA collection of 5 posts
Proper manuscript format for the 21st century
I wrote the original version of my manuscript formatting guide in 1993, modeling it after a much older two-page guide I received from Damon Knight in 1985. Back in those days, even for those who'...
Uncorrecting the ellipsis character
A reader writes to ask: I've been writing in Microsoft Works, which I believe is similar but not identical to Word. When I type an ellipse by typing three periods in succession, the program...
Some fine points of underlining
A reader writes to ask: I scoured your blog as well as the Internet, and am still having problems with underlining for italics. I am definitely using underlining but am fuzzy on the following: 1. Do...
Indicating literal thoughts
A reader writes to ask: How should I differentiate the character's thoughts from the rest of the narrative? Some people have suggested I put them in quotation marks, but I find that when I...