From the web page
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/text/proseman.html
Basic Prose Style
and Mechanics
by Craig Waddell
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Introduction
This pamphlet is designed to introduce you to, or remind you of,
the basic principles of prose style and mechanics. The Prose
Style Section describes twelve basic principles of good prose
style and illustrates most of these principles with examples.
Since most writers and editors agree about the importance of
these twelve basic principles, I have drawn from a wide variety
of sources. However, I would especially recommend two texts: The
Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White and Style:
Ten Lessons in Clarity & Grace by Joseph Williams. To advance to
the style section, click on any of the items listed below:
* Write in the Active Voice
* Avoid Nominalizations
* Express Parallel Ideas in Parallel Grammatical Form
* Place the Emphatic Words at the End of the Sentence
* Express Statements in Positive Form
* Vary Sentence Patterns
* Choose Your Words Carefully
* Avoid Overusing Modifiers
* Clarify the Logical Relationships Between Your Ideas
* Prune Deadwood
* Avoid Redundancy
* Use Metaphor to Illustrate
All twelve principles described in the style section above are
based on one overriding principle--that the essence of good
writing is rewriting. You may attend to some of these principles
spontaneously when you compose your first draft, but stylistic
considerations become more deliberate concerns when you work on
second, third, and fourth drafts. Remember that good writing is
hard work, and as Samuel Johnson said, "What is written without
effort is in general read without pleasure."
The Basic Punctuation and Mechanics Section of the pamphlet
presents rules that govern the approximately fifty most common
problems with punctuation and mechanics. Most of these rules are
illustrated with examples, and many are cross-referenced with
other rules with which they are frequently confused. To read
parts of this section, click on any of the items listed below:
* Commas
* Semicolons
* Colons
* Dashes
* Parentheses
* Ellipsis Dots
* Hyphens
* Apostrophes
* Italics
* Titles
* Numbers
* Quotations Marks
* Punctuation Marks
* Introducing Indented Quotations, Vertical Lists, and
Formulas
* Punctuating Vertical Lists
* Question Marks
* Exclamation Points
* Multiple Punctuation
This section is based primarily on The Chicago Manual of Style,
13th edition, generally considered the definitive reference on
questions of punctuation and mechanics.
Works Cited
* Council of Biology Editors. CBE Style Manual, 5th ed.
Bethesda, MD: Council of Biology Editors, Inc., 1983.
* Dilworth, Collette and Robert Reising. "Writing as a Moral
Act: Developing a Sense of Audience." English Journal 67
(1978): 76-78.
* Gibaldi, Joseph and Walter S. Achtert. MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, 2nd ed. New York: Modern
Language Association, 1984.
* Haviland, Susan and Herbert Clark. "What's New: Acquiring
New Information as a Process in Comprehension." Journal of
Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 13 (1974): 512-521.
* Heffernan, James and John Lincoln. Writing: A College
Handbook. New York: W.W. Norton, 1982.
* Hodges, John and Mary Whitten. Harbrace College Handbook,
9th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.
* Kirkman, John. Good Style for Scientific and Engineering
Writing. London: Pitman Books, 1980.
* Lazarus, Arnold and H. Wendell Smith. A Glossary of
Literature and Composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of
Teachers of English, 1983.
* Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language."
Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1945.
* Price, Jonathan. How to Write a Computer Manual. Melno Park,
CA: Benjamin/Cummings, 1984.
* Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, 3rd
ed. New York: Macmillian, 1979.
* University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style,
13th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
* Williams, Joseph. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace.
Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1981.
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Basic Prose Style
by Craig Waddell
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1. Write in the Active Voice
Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, always choose the
active, rather than the passive, voice. With the active voice,
the agent (the person or thing carrying out the action expressed
by the verb) is the subject:
John opened the door.
There are two types of passive voice constructions. In one, the
agent is identified, but the person or thing toward which the
action is directed (rather than the agent) is the subject of the
sentence:
The door was opened by John.
In the second type of passive voice construction, the agent is
not identified at all:
The door was opened.
(Note: The verb "to be" [am, is, are, was, were, be, being,
been] often flags the passive voice.)
In addition to being less natural, less direct, and less
vigorous, sentences that fail to identify an agent can raise
ethical questions, since they fail to attribute responsibility
for the action they express. The passive voice can, however, be
an effective means of doing at least three things:
* Focusing attention on the thing acted upon:
The bus was destroyed by a freight train.
* Describing action when the agent is unknown or unimportant:
The building was demolished over fifteen years ago.
* Placing the agent at the end of a clause where he, she, or
it can more easily be modified by a long modifier:
The house was built by John Hanson, who went on, years
later, to become president of the Continental
Congress.
Many science and technical writers once considered passive voice
more objective than active voice and, hence, more appropriate to
their writing. As the quotations below suggest, however, the
traditional traditional preference for passive voice in
scientific and technical writing is changing:
We cannot object to the use of the passive
construction in itself. We can object to its abuse--to
its use almost to the exclusion of all other
constructions. When the passive is used as a rule, not
as an exclendion to obtain a partic ular effect,
writing soon begins to seem forced and uncomfortable.
-- John Kirkman, Good Style for Scientific and
Engineering Writing
The active is the natural voice, the one in which
people usually speak or write, and its use is less
likely to lead to wordiness or ambiguity. The passive
of modesty, a de vice of writers who shun the
first-person singular, should be avoided. I discovered
is shorter and less likely to be ambiguous than it was
discovered. The use of I or we...avoids dangling
participles, common in sentences written in the
third-person passive.
-- Council of Biology Editors, CBE Style Manual, fifth
ed.
[Passive voice] implies that events take place without
any one doing anything. Moves files, desks, and ideas
without any assistance from a human being. Makes
readers wonder whether they should be doing something
or just sitting there waiting for the system to
perform. It turns actions into states of being. It's
somewhat mystical, but tends to put readers to
sleep....
To get more active, say who does what. Assign
responsibil ity to the system or to the program or, if
necessary, to the reader. If you have to tell readers
to do something, don't pussyfoot around--tell them.
(Are you slipping into the passive because you don't
dare to order readers around?)
-- Jonathan Price, How to Write a Computer Manual
2. Avoid Nominalizations
Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, avoid
nominalizations. A nominalization is a noun derived from and
communicating the same meaning as a verb or adjective. It is
usually more direct, vigorous and natural to express action in
verbs and qualities in adjectives.
No: Our expectation was that we would be rewarded for
our efforts.
Yes: We expected to be rewarded for our efforts.
No: There was a stuffiness about the room.
Yes: The room was stuffy.
Nominalizations frequently crop up in noun strings. A noun
string, a series of nouns that modify one another, is often
concise but ambiguous. If the noun string is short, it can
usually be tamed with a few judicious hyphens:
No: The test area probes were delivered last week.
Yes: The test-area probes were delivered last week.
Longer noun strings, however, are often confusing, and it is
generally best to unstring them by converting nominalizations
back to verbs or by adding a few strategic articles and
prepositions:
No: Missile guidance center office equipment
maintenance is performed weekly.
Yes: The office equipment in the missile guidance
center is maintained weekly.
Like passive voice, nominalizations can serve some useful
purposes:
a. Nominalizations can facilitate smooth transitions between
sentences by serving as subjects that refer back to ideas in
previous sentences:
Susan refused to accept the five-stroke handicap.
Ultimately, this refusal cost her the match.
b. Nominalizations can be effective when you choose to
desensitize a statement by converting the more vigorous and
direct verb form into the less vigorous and direct noun form.
Thus,
He is scheduled to be executed on Monday.
becomes
His execution is scheduled for Monday.
c. Since nouns often name material things, they have a certain
status in our culture, where the concrete often seems more real
(hence, more credible) than the abstract. Therefore, although
nominalizations often result in pompous and convoluted prose,
they occasionally can be used to make the abstract seem more
concrete and, perhaps, more convincing. Thus,
The colonists would not tolerate being taxed.
becomes
The colonists would not tolerate taxation.
Joseph Williams neatly sums up these first two principles (write
in the active voice and avoid nominalizations):
Try to state who's doing what in the subject of your
sentence, and try to state what that who is doing in
your verb.... Get that straight, and the rest of the
sentence begins to fall into place.
3. Express Parallel Ideas in Parallel Grammatical Form
Parallelism is the principle that units of equal function should
be expressed in equal form. Repetition of the same structure
allows the reader to recognize parallel ideas more readily:
No: This could be a problem for both the winners and
for those who lose.
Yes: This could be a problem for both the winners and
the losers.
No: Output from VM appears in the output display area.
The input area is where commands typed by the user are
displayed.
Yes: Output from VM appears in the output display
area. Commands typed by the user appear in the input
display area.
Note that any two (or more) units of discourse--words, phrases,
clauses, sentences, paragraphs, chapters--can be made parallel
with one another. Note also that, although it is a powerful
rhetorical device, parallelism is only one of many factors
writers must consider as they compose. Hence, parallelism is
occasionally overridden by other, more pressing considerations,
such as clarity and variety.
4. Place the Emphatic Words at the End of the Sentence
Joseph Williams offers two complementary principles of order and
emphasis:
* Whenever possible, express at the beginning of a sen tence
ideas already stated, referred to, implied, safely assumed,
familiar--whatever might be called old, repeated, relatively
predictable, less important, readily accessible information.
* Express at the end of a sentence the least predictable,
least accessible, the newest, the most significant and
striking information.
No: Peter Laslett writes about how family structure
has changed in his article, "The World We Have Lost."
Yes: In his article, "The World We Have Lost," Peter
Laslett writes about how family structure has changed.
In the first version, the emphasis is on the title of the
article; in the second version, the emphasis is on the substance
of the article. Note that according to the two principles above,
what justly needs emphasis in a sentence generally depends upon
what has already been said or what is already known; that is,
upon the given information. When the given information is placed
at the beginning of a sentence, it is understated and serves as
a transition or introduction to the new information in the
sentence, which is thereby emphasized.
What Haviland and Clark call the "Given-New Strategy" not only
creates proper emphasis within a sentence, it also creates
cohesion between sentences since the new information of one
sentence often becomes the given (or old) information of the
next. Schematically, the movement of given to new information in
a series of sentences might look like this:
AB--BC--CD--DE
Look, for example, at the following pair of sentences:
Lines that contain printer-control characters will not
look right-justified on your screen. They will be
right-justified, however, when you print them.
In the first sentence, the given information is lines (A), and
the new information is right-justified (B). In the second
sentence, the given information is right-justified (B), and the
new information is when you print them (C).
Although the end of the sentence is generally the most emphatic
position, as Strunk and White point out in The Elements of
Style,
The other prominent position in the sentence is the
begin ning. Any element in the sentence other than the
subject becomes emphatic when placed first:
Deceit or treachery he could not forgive.
A little bit of this inverted style, however, goes a long
way-use it sparingly.
5. Express Statements in Positive Form
The positive form of a statement is generally more concise and
straightforward than the negative:
No: Don't write in the negative.
Yes: Write in the affirmative.
No: Disengagement of the gears is not possible without
locking mechanism release.
Yes: To disengage the gears, you must first release
the locking mechanism.
As Joseph Williams points out,
To understand the negative, we have to translate it
into an affirmative, because the negative only implies
what we should do by telling us what we shoudn't do.
The affirmative states it directly.
Williams goes on to point out that we needn't translate every
negative into an affirmative, for (as this sentence illustrates)
we sometimes have a special reason to emphasize not, no, or
never. The negative is especially effective when used as a means
of denial, contradiction, or antithesis:
Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country.
6. Vary Sentence Patterns
A series of sentences that follow the same general pattern
(e.g., a series of three or four simple sentences or a series of
three or four compound sentences) can be tedious. Avoid monotony
by varying sentence patterns.
One of the best ways to avoid a tedious series of simple
sentences is to use subordination (or embedding) to combine the
information presented in these sentences into a single, complex
sentence. For example,
FLIST is a utility program used to assist in file
management. FLIST displays a scrollable, full-screen
list of selected files. The user may execute any CMS
command from this list.
becomes
FLIST, a utility program used to manage files,
displays a scrollable, full-screen list of selected
files from which the user may execute any CMS command.
Another way to avoid a series of simple sentences is to use
coordination (the tying together of language elements that have
equal rank, such as independent clauses) to combine several of
these sentences into a single, compound sentence. For example,
You can initialize CADAM from any System E terminal.
You can invoke CADAM only from the 3178 terminals.
becomes
You can initialize CADAM from any System E terminal,
but you can invoke CADAM only from the 3178 terminals.
Compound and complex sentences can themselves, however, become
tedious. And sometimes, they're just plain awkward or confusing.
Don't overload your sentences or your readers. If you find a
sentence is becoming too long and confusing, or if you've used
three or four complex sentences in a row, reverse the process
described above and break your sentence up into several shorter
sentences.
Note that although sentence variety is illustrated here only in
terms of sentence type, this same principle applies to other
sentence features, such as sentence openings and sentence
length.
One of the best ways to discover problems with sentence variety
is to read your writing aloud. Human language is primarily
oral/aural and only secondarily graphic/visual; hence, most of
us have a better ear for language than we have an eye for it. In
fact, reading your writing aloud can help you discover problems
not only with sentence variety but also with order and emphasis,
parallelism, coherence, redundancy, syntax, rhythm, and grammar.
7. Choose Your Words Carefully
Linguists estimate that the English language includes over one
million words, thus providing English speakers with the largest
lexicon in the world. From this vast lexicon, writers may choose
the precise words to meet their needs. The list below describes
some of the factors you might consider in choosing, from among a
Basic Prose Style 10 number of synonyms or near synonyms, the
word or phrase most appropriate to your purpose. Notice that the
distinctions between these factors are not always sharp; some
might properly be considered subsets of others. For example,
tone, formality, and intensity might be considered subsets of
connotation.
a. Connotation: While the literal or explicit meaning of a word
or phrase is its denotation, the suggestive or associative
implication of a word or phrase is its connotation. Words often
have similar denotations but quite different connotations (due
to etymology, common usage, suggestion created by
similar-sounding words, etc.); hence, you might choose or avoid
a word because of its connotation. For example, although one
denotation of rugged is "strongly built or constituted," the
connotation is generally masculine; hence, you might choose to
describe an athletic woman as athletic rather than rugged.
Likewise, although one denotation of pretty is "having
conventionally accepted elements of beauty," the connotation is
generally feminine; thus, most men would probably prefer being
referred to as handsome.
b. Tone: While the denotation of a word expresses something
about the person or thing you are discussing, the tone of a word
expresses something about your attitude toward the person or
thing you are discussing. For example, the following two
sentences have similar denotations, but very different tones:
The senator showed himself to be incompetent.
The senator showed himself to be a fool.
c. Level of Formality: Some dictionaries indicate whether a word
is formal, informal, vulgar, or obscene; most often, however,
your own sensitivity to the language should be sufficient to
guide you in making the appropriate choice for a given context.
In writing a report about the symptoms of radiation sickness,
for example, you would probably want to talk about "nausea and
vomiting" rather than "nausea and puking."
Be aware, however, that achieving an appropriate level of
formality is as much a question of choosing less formal as it is
of choosing more formal words. As Strunk and White point out,
Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the
cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when
there is a ten-center handy, ready, and able.
And Joseph Williams adds,
When we pick the ordinary word over the one that
sounds more impressive, we rarely lose anything
important, and we gain the simplicity and directness
that most effective writing demands.
You might, for example, replace initiate with begin, cognizant
with aware, and enumerate with count. Williams offers the
following example and translation of inflated prose:
Pursuant to the recent memorandum issued August 9,
1979, because of petroleum exigencies, it is incumbent
upon us all to endeavor to make maximal utilization of
telephonic communication in lieu of personal
visitation.
As the memo of August 9 said, because of the gas
shortage, try to use the telephone as much as you can
instead of mak ing personal visits.
Remember, as Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool all of the
people some of the time, and you can even fool some of the
people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all
of the time." The more sophisticated your audience, the more
likely they are to be put off, rather than impressed, by
inflated prose.
d. Intensity: Intensity is the degree of emotional content of a
word--from objective to subjective, mild to strong, euphemistic
to inflammatory. It is common, for example, for wildlife
managers to talk about harvesting deer rather than killing them.
Choosing a less intense word or phrase can avoid unnecessarily
offending or inciting your readers; however, it can also be a
means of avoiding responsibility or masking the unsavory nature
of the situation. As George Orwell says in "Politics and the
English Language":
In our time, political speech and writing are largely the
defense of the indefensible.... Thus, political language has to
consist largely of euphemism, question begging, and sheer cloudy
vagueness.
Achieving the appropriate level of intensity is as often a
question of choosing the more intense as it is of choosing the
less intense word. Ultimately, you must rely upon your own
sensitivity to the language, to your topic, and to your audience
to guide you in making the appropriate choices for a given
context.
e. Level of Abstraction: According to Strunk and White,
If those who have studied the art of writing are in
accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way
to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by
being specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest
writers...are effective largely because they deal in
particulars and report the details that matter. Their
words call up pictures.
For example, if we move down in the hierarchy of abstraction
from thing to plant to tree to birch to grey birch, we can see
that each step offers the reader a clearer picture of what's
being discussed.
The general and the abstract doi have their place. There are
times, for example, when we want to talk about "humankind" or
"life on Earth," but it's often wise to support the general with
the specific, the abstract with the concrete:
Carl Sagan's research suggests that a nuclear winter
would destroy all life on Earth--every tree, every
flower, every child.
f. Sound: All other things being equal, you may want to choose
one word rather than another simply because you like its sound.
Although what you're writing may never be read aloud, most
readers do "hear" what they read via an inner voice. Hence, the
"sound" of your writing can add to or detract from its flow and,
thus, influence the reader's impression of what you've written.
g. Rhythm: Although rhythm is quantifiable, most writers rely on
their ear for language to judge this aspect of their sentences.
Like sound, rhythm in prose is often an
"all-other-things-being-equal" consideration. That is, you
wouldn't want to choose the wrong word simply to improve the
rhythm of your sentence. However, rhythm can contribute to the
flow of your writing, and a sudden break in rhythm can create
emphasis. Hence, you may choose one synonym over another simply
because it has more or fewer syllables and, thus, contributes to
the rhythm of your sentence. Even an occasional bit of deadwood
may be justified if it contributes to the rhythm of your
sentence.i
Finally, note that rhythm is especially important in parallel
structures and is often a factor in sentence-to-sentence flow;
that is, you must read a sequence of sentences in context to
judge their rhythm.
h. Repetition: Using the same word to refer to the same thing or
idea is desirable when it contributes to transition and
coherence. For example, substituting commands for translators in
the second pair of sentences below provides a smoother
transition:
This section describes the commands used for
translating programs written in the four languages
mentioned above. These translators create object-code
files with a filetype of TEXT from programs written by
the user.
This section describes the commands used for
translating programs written in the four languages
mentioned above. These commands create object-code
files with a filetype of TEXT from programs written by
the user.
Sometimes, however, repeating the same word can become awkward,
tedious, or confusing. Alternating between a pronoun and its
antecedent is one obvious way of avoiding the tedious repetition
of the same word to refer to the same thing. You can usually
help to avoid confusing your readers by not using the same word
(or variations of the same word) to mean two different things in
one sentence or in two closely related sentences:
No: Output from VM is displayed in the output display
area.
Yes: Output from VM appears in the output display
area.
8. Avoid Overusing Modifiers
Avoid overusing adjectives and adverbs. These modifiers have
their place, but in the most vigorous prose, action is expressed
in verbs, and the agents of that action are expressed in nouns.
This principle applies to both ornate, pompous modifiers and to
such commonplace intensifiers as really, pretty, and very.
One of the best ways to avoid overusing modifiers is to select
specific, self-modified nouns and verbs--ones that don't require
adjectives and adverbs to supplement their meaning. For example,
you might replace long black car with limousine or ran very
quickly with sped or bolted.
9. Clarify the Logical Relationship Between Your Ideas
In order to make your writing coherent and the transitions
between your ideas smooth, you must clearly express or imply the
logical relationships between your ideas. If you fail to do so,
one idea is simply juxtaposed with another, and readers are left
to make the logical connections for themselves. In this
situation, experienced readers will suspect that you have not
clarified the logical relationships between your ideas because
you don't know what those relationships are--or worse, because
there aren't any.
There are a variety of ways to express or imply logical
relationships; some of the smoothest and most subtle use the
very structure of the sentence. For example, you can use the
principle of order and emphasis (see 4) to indicate that one
part of the sentence is more important than another; you can use
subordination (see #6) to indicate that one idea is less
important than (or subordinate to) another; and you can use
parallelism to indicate that two or more ideas are of equal
importance.
You can also use punctuation to indicate the logical
relationships between ideas. For example, you can use a colon to
indicate that what follows is a further explanation of what's
just been said; you can use commas to indicate whether or not a
clause restricts the meaning of the sentence; and you can use
dashes to indicate that the enclosed material is important to
the discussion and should be emphasized.
Of the various means of establishing the logical relationships
between ideas, the most blatant is the use of transitional
devices, such as therefore, thus, however, and hence. These
devices are more prevalent in analytical writing--where logical
relationships are more important--than they are in narration or
description. There is a point, however, at which such devices
begin to be abused. Properly used, transitional devices signal
logical relationships--they do not create them. In fact, there
is no transitional device in the English language that can
wrench two ideas into a logical relationship that simply doesn't
exist. The table below (taken from the Harbrace College
Handbook) lists eight logical relationships and some of the
transitional devices that may be used to indicate each of them:
* Addition: moreover, further, furthermore, besides, and, and
then, likewise, also, nor, too, again, in addition, equally
important, next, first, second, third, in the first place,
in the second place, finally, last
* Comparison: similarly, likewise, in like manner
* Contrast: but, yet, and yet, however, still, nevertheless,
on the other hand, on the contrary, even so,
notwithstanding, for all that, in contrast to this, at the
same time, although this may be true, otherwise
* Place: here, beyond, nearby, opposite to, adjacent to, on
the opposite side
* Purpose: to this end, for this purpose, with this object
* Result: hence, therefore, accordingly, consequently, thus,
thereupon, as a result, then
* Summary, repetition, exemplification, intensification: to
sum up, in brief, on the whole, in sum, in short, as I have
said, in other words, that is, to be sure, as has been
noted, for example, for instance, in fact, indeed, to tell
the truth, in any event
* Time: meanwhile, at length, soon, after a few days, in the
meantime, afterward, later, now, in the past.
10. Prune Deadwood
Deadwood is material that adds nothing to the meaning of the
sentence, words that serve only as filler. When you edit your
writing, eliminate any words or phrases that can be removed
without damaging the meaning of the sentence or paragraph:
No: I spent my first six weeks on the job in a state
of shock, but today I have a completely different
perspective on the company in general, as compared to
when I first started.
Yes: I spent my first six weeks on the job in a state
of shock, but today I have a completely different
perspective on the company.
Occasional exceptions to this principle may be justified for the
sake of emphasis or rhythm.
11. Avoid Redundancy
Redundancy, the unnecessary repetition of information, is a
subset of deadwood, but one that is important enough to deserve
separate mention:
No: Brackets are used in a command format description
to indicate that the enclosed parameter is optional
and, therefore, may be supplied or not at the user's
discretion.
Yes: Brackets are used in a command format description
to indicate that the enclosed parameter is optional.
Occasional exceptions to this principle may be justified for the
sake of emphasis or coherence.
12. Use Metaphor to Illustrate
Metaphor may be broadly defined as an imaginative comparison,
expressed or implied, between two generally unlike things, for
the purpose of illustration. By this definition, similes
(expressed comparisons) are a subset of metaphor. In prose (as
opposed to poetry), metaphors are most often used to illustrate,
and thus make clear, abstract ideas:
When two atoms approach each other at great speeds
they go through one another, while at moderate speeds
they bound off each other like two billiard balls.
-- Sir William Bragg
Whenever you use figurative language, be careful to avoid
cliches--trite, overworn words or phrases that have lost their
power to enliven your writing. If you can't think of a fresh,
imaginative way to express an idea, it's better to express it in
literal terms than to resort to a cliche. Hence,
Solving the problem was as easy as pie.
becomes
Solving the problem was easy.
Note that even solitary nouns, verbs, and modifiers can be
cliched. For example,
He's such a clown.
I've got to fly.
The competition was stiff.
Often such cliches are what George Orwell calls "dying
metaphors"--words and phrases that were once used figuratively,
but that now border on the literal. That is, we've used these
terms so often that we now scarcely consider their figurative
implications.
As with tone, rhythm, and many of the other stylistic
considerations discussed here, you must ultimately rely upon
your own sensitivity to the language to guide you in determining
when a word or phrase is cliched.
Finally, according to Collett Dilworth and Robert Reising, the
golden rule of writing is
to write to be read fluently by another human
being...the most moral reason for observing any
specific writing convention is that it will shape and
facilitate a reader's understanding, not simply that
it will be used "correctly".
So as George Orwell says in "Politics and the English Language,"
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
outright barbarous.
----------
Basic Punctuation
and Mechanics
by Craig Waddell
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
1. Commas
1.1 (a) Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but,
or, for, nor, yet, so) that joins two independent clauses
(compare 2.1). (An independent or main clause is a clause that
can stand by itself as a separate sentence.):
The children escaped the fire without harm, but their
mother was not so lucky.
(b) If the clauses are short and closely related, a comma is not
required:
Frank typed and Matt watched.
(c) If the coordinate clauses are long or themselves contain
commas, you can often avoid confusion by separating them with
semicolons:
Paul went to his car, got a gun, and returned to the
lake; but Bill, unfortunately, refused to be
intimidated.
1.2 Use a comma to separate an introductory element (clause,
phrase, conjunctive adverb, or mild interjection) from the rest
of the sentence:
If you refuse to leave, I'll call the police. (clause)
To prepare for her exam, Lynn reread all of her notes.
(phrase)
Nevertheless, much work still remains to be done.
(conjunctive adverb)
Well, I was surprised to achieve these results.
(interjection)
1.3 (a) Use commas to set off parenthetical elements or
interrupters (including transitional adverbs):
The report, which was well documented, was discussed
with considerable emotion. (nonrestrictive clause)
They were, however, still able to meet their deadline.
(transitional adverb)
An important distinction must be made here between restrictive
and nonrestrictive modifiers. Restrictive modifiers are
essential to the meaning of the sentence in that they restrict
that meaning to a particular case. Hence, restrictive modifiers
are not parenthetical and cannot be removed without seriously
damaging the meaning. Since they are necessary to the meaning,
restrictive modifiers are not set off by commas:
All soldiers who are overweight will be forced to
resign.
Nonrestrictive modifiers are parenthetical. That is, they
digress, amplify, or explain, but are not essential to the
meaning of the sentence. These modifiers simply provide
additional information for the reader--information which,
although it may be interesting, does not restrict the meaning of
the sentence and can be removed without changing the sentence's
essential meaning:
Sgt. Price, who is overweight, will be forced to
resign.
(b) Use commas to set off parenthetical elements that retain a
close logical relationship to the rest of the sentence. Use
dashes or parentheses to set off parenthetical elements whose
logical relationship to the rest of the sentence is more remote
(compare 4.2 and 5.1).
1.4 Use commas to join items in a series. Exclend in journalism,
this includes a comma before the conjunction that links the last
item to the rest of the series:
Before making a decision, he studied the proposition,
interviewed many of the people concerned, and tried to
determine if there were any historical precedents.
1.5 Although not called for by any of the above principles,
commas are sometimes required to avoid the confusion of mistaken
junction:
She recognized the man who entered the room, and
gasped.
2. Semicolons
2.1 Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses that are
closely related in meaning and are not joined by a coordinating
conjunction (compare 1.1):
A filemode digit of 3 identifies a temporary file;
temporary files are deleted automatically after being
read.
2.2 Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses when the
second one begins with or includes a conjunctive adverb
(nevertheless, therefore, however, otherwise, as a result, etc.)
(compare 1.3):
If CMS is waiting, the entry will be processed
immediately; otherwise, it will be queued until
requested.
2.3 To avoid confusion, use semicolons to separate items in a
series when one or more of the items includes commas (see also
1.1c):
This manual also summarizes the Graduate School's
mechanical requirements for theses; discusses the
special requirements of students who are submitting
computer programs as theses; reviews basic principles
of punctuation, mechanics, and style; and refers
student s to standard references on punctuation,
mechanics, style, and usage.
3. Colons
3.1 Use a colon to introduce a list, an example, an
amplification, or an explanation directly related to something
just mentioned (compare 4.1) and 4.4):
The user may work from one of three modes when typing
data into the file area: edit mode, input mode, or
power typing. He eventually found that there was only
one way to get the quality he expected from the people
who worked for him: treat them with respect.
3.2 Use a colon to introduce a formal statement or quotation
(usually of more than one line):
Writers who care about the quality of their work would
do well to heed Samuel Johnson's advice: What is
written without effort is in general read without
pleasure.
4. Dashes
In typing, make a dash with either two hyphens (--), or see if
your word processing program actually has an actual dash (called
an em dash) in its special character set. Whichever one you use,
you should leave no space between or on either side of the dash
itself. Dashes are more widely accepted today than they were in
the past; however, many writers and editors still consider them
to be somewhat less formal marks of punctuation--use them
sparingly.
4.1 Use a dash to introduce a summarizing word, phrase, or
clause, such as an appositive (a noun set beside another noun
and identifying or explaining it) (compare 3.1):
The strikers included plumbers, electricians,
carpenters, truck drivers--all kinds of workers.
4.2 Use dashes to mark off a parenthetical element that
represents an abrupt break in thought Dashes give more emphasis
to the Basic Punctuation and Mechanics 20 enclosed element than
do either commas or parentheses (compare 5.1):
Reagan's sweep of the South--he won every state but
Georgia--was the most humiliating defeat for Carter.
4.3 To avoid confusion, use dashes to mark off parenthetical
elements that contain internal commas:
Seven of our first twelve presidents--Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, and
Taylor--were from Virginia.
4.4 Dashes can be used as a less formal alternative to the colon
to introduce an example, explanation, or amplification (see
3.1).
5. Parentheses
5.1 (a) Use parentheses to enclose parenthetical elements
(words, phrases, or complete sentences that digress, amplify, or
explain) (compare 1.3b) and 4.2).
When APL is on (indicated by the letters APL appearing
at the bottom of the screen), no lower-case characters
are available.
(b) A parenthesized sentence that appears within another
sentence need not begin with a capital or end with a period.
(c) A comma may follow the closing parenthesis (if needed), but
one should not precede the opening parenthesis.
5.2 Use square brackets--[ ]--to enclose a parenthetical element
within a parenthetical element.
6. Ellipsis Dots
6.1 Use three spaced dots (a) to signal the omission of a word
or words from the middle of a quoted sentence:
A senior White House official again asserted the
administration's position: "We will not negotiate any
treaty with the Soviets . . . unless it is
verifiable."
(b) to signal hesitation or halting speech in dialogue:
"I . . . don't know what to say," he whispered.
6.2 Use four spaced dots (a) to signal the omission of the end
of a quoted sentence:
"Of all our maladies, the most barbarous is to despise
our being. . . . For my part, I love life and
cultivate it."
-- Montaigne
(b) to signal the omission of one or more whole sentences.
7. Hyphens
7.1 To express the idea of a unit and to avoid ambiguity,
hyphenate compound nouns and compound modifiers that precede a
noun:
She was a scholar-athlete. All-night terminal sessions
are counterproductive. The IBM 4250 printer has
all-points-addressable graphics capabilities.
7.2 Use a hyphen between the components of any number (including
fractions) below one hundred that is written as two words:
thirty-five two-thirds
8. Apostrophes
8.1 Use apostrophe, s ('s) to indicate singular possessive:
Users keep turning on to IBM's VM operating system.
8.2 Use s, apostrophe (s') to indicate plural possessive:
We found the missing tools in the boys' clubhouse.
8.3 Use apostrophe, s ('s) to form the plural of abbreviations
with periods, lowercase letters used as nouns, and capital
letters that would be confusing if s alone were added:
M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s
x's and y's
S's, A's, I's
SOS's
8.4 When you can do it without creating confusion, use s alone
to form the plural of letters, figures, words treated as words,
and hyphenated coinages used as nouns:
three Rs
four 8s
they came in twos
the 1980s
a dozen ifs
9. Italics
9.1 Use italics (sparingly) to emphasize a word or phrase:
Example: The GET command inserts data from the current
line forward, so the user must be sure to make the
appropriate line the current line before entering this
command.
9.2 Use italics to identify a letter treated as a letter or a
word treated as a word:
Example: The word eyes appears twice in the first line
of the poem.
9.3 Use italics to identify foreign words or phrases not yet
absorbed into English.
10. Titles
10.1 Italicize (or underline) the titles of books, magazines,
journals, newspapers, plays, operas, films, television shows,
radio programs, and long poems.
10.2 Enclose in quotation marks the titles of short poems,
essays, magazine articles, newspaper columns, short stories,
songs, speeches, and chapters of books.
11. Numbers
11.1 Spell out a number when it begins a sentence.
11.2 Spell out a number that can be written in one or two words
(except as noted in 11.3) and 11.5):
three
twenty-two
five thousand
one million
11.3 If numbers that can be written as one or two words cluster
closely together in the sentence, use numerals instead:
The ages of the members of the city council are 69,
64, 58, 54, 47, 45, and 35.
11.4 Use numerals if spelling out a number would require more
than two words:
350
7,125
4,978,265
5.78
11.5 Use numerals for addresses, dates, exact times of day,
exact sums of money, exact measurements (including miles per
hour), game scores, mathematical ratios, and page numbers:
55 mph
ratio of 4-to-1
$6.75
p. 37
12. Quotation Marks
12.1 Use double quotation marks to create irony by setting off
words you don't take at face value:
The "debate" resulted in three cracked heads and two
broken noses.
12.2 Do not use quotation marks to create emphasis (see 9.1).
12.3 Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a
quotation: At the beginning of the class, the professor asked,
"What does Kuhn mean by 'paradigm shifts,' and what is their
relationship to normal science?"
12.4 If the quotation will take more than four lines on the
page, use indentation instead of quotation marks to indicate
that the passage is a quotation. Introduce the quotation with a
colon, set it off from the rest of the text by triple-spacing
(assuming the rest of the text is double-spaced), indent ten
spaces from the left margin, and single-space the quoted
passage. To indicate a new paragraph within the quoted material,
indent an additional three spaces.
12.5 Do not use quotation marks with indirect discourse, or with
rhetorical, unspoken, or imaginary questions:
Frank said he was sorry he couldn't be here.
Why am I doing this? she wondered.
13. Punctuating Quotations
13.1 Do not use a comma to mark the end of a quoted sentence
that is followed by an identifying tag if the quoted sentence
ends in a question mark or an exclamation point:
"Get out!" he screamed.
13.2 Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks;
semicolons and colons go outside the closing quotation marks:
Peter's response was "Money is no object," but the
lawyer was still unwilling to accept his case.
The senator announced, "I will not seek reelection";
then he left the room.
13.3 Place a question mark or an exclamation point inside the
closing quotation marks only if it belongs to the quotation
rather than to the larger sentence:
Lenin's question was "What is to be done?"
Should the U.S. support governments that it considers
"moderately repressive"?
Wherever you use the question mark or exclamation point, do not
use a period with it (see 18.1).
13.4 Use square brackets to enclose interpolations, corrections,
or comments in a quoted passage.
14. Introducing Indented Quotations, Vertical Lists, and
Formulas
The punctuation immediately following the introduction to an
indented quotation, vertical list, or formula is determined by
the grammatical structure of the introduction. Essentially, you
should follow the same rules described in section 3 and section
1.2 even though the material you're introducing is set off from
the rest of the sentence.
14.1 If the introduction is a main clause (a clause that could
stand by itself as a complete sentence), follow it with a colon:
Each member of the expedition was asked to supply the
following equipment:
a sleeping bag
a mess kit
a propane stove
a backpack
14.2 If the introductory element is not a main clause, follow it
with a comma if one is required by the rule given in section
1.2:
According to Gene Fowler, "Writing is easy: all you do
is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the
drops of blood form on your forehead."
14.3 If the introduction is not a main clause and a comma is not
required by the rule given in section 1.2, follow it with no
punctuation at all:
In Philosophy and Physics, Werner Heisenberg points
out that "The change in the concept of reality
manifesting itself in quantum theory is not simply a
continuation of the past; it seems to be a real break
in the structure of modern science."
14.4 If you're uncomfortable with an unpunctuated introduction,
try converting it into a main clause and using a colon:
In Philosophy and Physics, Werner Heisenberg makes the
following observation about the effect of quantum
theory on modern science:
15. Punctuating Vertical Lists
15.1 The items in an vertical list may be preceded by sequential
numbers or bullets (usually dots or asterisks), or they may
stand alone. Depending on their grammatical structure, the items
are followed by periods, semicolons, commas, or no punctuation
at all. The Chicago Manual of Style offers the following simple
rules:
Omit periods after items in a vertical list unless one or more
of the items are complete sentences. If the vertical list
completes a sentence begun in an introductory element, the final
period is also omitted unless the items in the list are
separated by commas or semi-colons.
The following minerals are included in this daily supplement:
niacin
iron
potassium
calcium
phosphorus
After six months of deliberation, the committee decided
1. that the proposed research did not pose a serious
health hazard to the surrounding community;
2. that the potential benefits of the research
significantly outweighed the potential risks; and
3. that the research should be allowed to proceed
without further delay.
16. Question Marks
16.1 Use a question mark at the end of an interrogative element
within (as well as at the end of) a sentence:
He asked himself, "How am I going to pay for all of
this?" and looked hopefully at his father.
17. Exclamation Points
17.1 Use exclamation points sparingly; too many of them will
dull your effect (compare 9.1).
18. Multiple Punctuation
18.1 In most cases, when two umarks of punctuation are called
for at the same location in a sentence, only the stronger mark
is used (see, for example, 13.3). An abbreviating period,
however, is never omitted unless the abbreviation is immediately
followed by a terminating period. Other exceptions include 5.1c.
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