Editing Tips

Useful for all written assignments for all of my classes. This page will occasionally be updated. Watch the date at the top of the page.

Contents:

• Matters of Style:
  • Words/expressions to avoid
  • Wordiness
  • Italicizing example words
    
    
• Matters of Formal Conventions
  • Grammar snafus
  • Usage changes in progress
  • I.e. vs. e.g.
  • Punctuation:
    • Apostrophes
    • Commas:
      • before quotation marks
      • after although
      • around in-text titles of articles, books, etc.
      • BEFORE as well as after "interrupting phrases"
        and such as
    • Punctuation around in-text citations
    • Semicolon
    • Punctuation around however
    • Semicolon vs. colon
    • Hyphen use
    • Hyphen vs. Dash
  • Spelling
  
  

*Words/expressions to avoid:

Why avoid words?   -- Because certain words arouse the suspicion in the reader that the writer is trying to sound intelligent, without convincing the reader that the writer actually is intelligent. Most of these words have exact synonyms which make the writing sound less pompous.  Let the content of your writing impress the reader, not its window dressing. In other cases, words or expressions are to be avoided for stylistic reasons, or because developments in informal English have not yet worked their way into the formal variety of the language. Stylistic matters are often matters of preference, and authorities such as those grading your papers, editors, etc. may disagree. Yet a third reason for avoiding words is that they are currently overused and are repeated many times in a document. Variation in vocabulary (taken to a modest degree) is a hallmark of good writing.

USE YOUR 'SEARCH AND REPLACE' OR 'FIND' TOOL TO SEARCH FOR THESE WORDS WHEN EDITING. THEN CHANGE THEM.

• within      In most cases, in will serve the purpose. Most of the times I see this word used, in is more appropriate and within seems to be being used because the writer thinks it sounds fancier. Constant repetition of fancy words does not make your ideas fancy. If you would not use within in your everyday use of language, do not use it in your writing. One of these days, when you are reading some formal English -- a textbook, a serious newspaper, a high-quality magazine -- notice how rarely within is used by comparison with in. In any case, the two words do not mean precisely the same thing. In merely states that something is inside the boundaries of something else. Within foregrounds -- puts special emphasis on -- the fact that something is inside of something else; it goes beyond merely stating the fact:
  
  There are typically several building blocks in a sentence. Often, we also find complex elements within those components.
  
  In speech, within oftens receives heavier stress than surrounding words, indicating its foregrounding function.
  
  
• prevalent   There is nothing wrong with this word except that it's overused. Readers expect variety in the vocabulary of well-educated writers. Employ synonyms of this word, such as common, widespread, frequent, ubiquitous, plentiful, dominant, etc. (being sure the synonym fits the context).
  
  
• in depth, in-depth   Overused. Possible synonyms: detailed, painstaking, complex, thoroughgoing, deep. If you use this expression occasionally, respect the hyphenation rules:  in-depth occurs in front of the word it describes, as in an in-depth analysis of premature-birth statistics. If it follows the action it describes, no hyphen: She will study the statistics in depth. Neither is generally acceptable after a linking or non-action verb: *her analysis was in-depth (or in depth).  (* means unacceptable in the relevant variety of English.)
  
  
• amongst   This is a Britishism. Amongst is the British version of among. If the rest of your writing is American English, you should use among. I suspect that amongst is popular for the same reason that within is popular -- it sounds fancier than among. As with within, if you would not use amongst in your everyday use of language, do not use it in your writing.
  
  
• throughout   As with prevalent, there is nothing wrong with this word, but it is seriously overused. Once again, variety in word use shows sophistication in a writer, and repetititveness, whether it is fair or not, gives the impression of a lack of imagination and an impoverished vocabulary. Find suitable synonyms. Instead of
           Throughout the novel, this character is portrayed as an ignorant bigot.   Write
           This character is consistently portrayed as an igorant bigot.
  
  Instead of
  
  Throughout the lesson, the teacher checks student comprehension.  Write
  The teacher frequently checks student comprehension (during the lesson).
  
  
• aspect(s)    This word seems, happily, to be going out of fashion in college writing. Use it sparingly. Synonyms are avaialble, such as facet, characteristic, or feature, as these suit your meaning. Often the best solution is a rephrase of the sentence.
   
• Words/expressions that indicate extremes, such as outrageous, ludicrous, incredible, amazing (some of these are too informal for formal writing; others sound exaggerated and irrational):
• EXTREME: "The second thing that I learned was the huge difference in linguistic forms of 'white' and Black English."
• NOT EXTREME: "The second thing that I learned was the significant difference in linguistic forms of 'white' and Black English."
• EXTREME:  "A practical approach to linguistics is believing and realizing that it is not just a science but an art that takes incredible faith to pursue."   Remove incredible.
• EXTREME: 'This can lead to all kinds of confusion, as seen in the Dutch pilots' case [in which two jumbo jets collided] ... '  Remove all kinds of. The fact that the confusion led to an accident involving two jumbo jets is extreme in itself.
   
• what      To use this as a question word in front of a noun is fine in informal speech, but not yet acceptable in formal writing. Use which:
• I asked my friend what article she was reading ...
• I asked my friend which article she was reading ...
  
  
• is when      This expression is popularly used in definitions, but it does not fit the style of formal writing. It may be awkward to find a way around it, but this is necessary.
  • DISPREFERRED: Overgeneralization is when a child applies a regular rule to an irregular word.
  • BETTER: In overgeneralization, a child applies a regular rule to an irregular word.
  • BETTER: A child overgeneralizes when she or he applies a regular rule to an irregular word.
  • BETTER: Overgeneralization occurs when a child applies a regular rule to an irregular word.

• Expressions that indicate that the sentence is your own thought or belief, for instance:
• "I think Cushing does a good job of showing a very practical use of linguistics in training flight personnel."
  
  I think or I believe is usually unnecessary. The fact that you are the author of the essay is sufficient to tell the reader that the sentences you write represent your thoughts and beliefs.  In fact, a reader may take such introductions as hedges, that is, expressions intended to soften the force of your statement (by implying that you readily accept other opinions). You may be intending the exact opposite. It may seem that using such expressions to strengthen a claim will work as well in writing as in speech, but, in speech, the I is heavily stressed, which indicates that you are resisting challenges to your opinion and insisting on your right to maintain it.

*Wordiness

Wordy writing doesn't display incorrect formal grammar, but it burdens the reader and adds contentless mass. If your goal is to stay within a low word count, wordiness really hurts. If your goal is to achieve a high word count, and you use wordiness to do this, it is obvious to the reader. Their estimation of your interest in the subject and your willingness to think about it more than superficially declines -- and very possibly, your reader's opinion of you declines as well.

Some hints to reduce wordiness (these strategies are best used in revising rather than at the composing stage):

• A rule of thumb: Be suspicious of all words having four letters or fewer. This is a very rough guide, but it can work very well. Consider these examples -- notice how many words of four or fewer letters are omitted in the revised versions:
  

WORDY: "The goal of the article was to explain how different features of sound in the initial consonant of a word can connote different meanings."   (24 words)
LESS WORDY:  "The article explained how different features of a word's initial consonant can connote different meanings."   (15 words = 9 words eliminated)

WORDY: "We came to the realization that our decision to have the meetings of our club on Saturday mornings was a bad one." (22 words)
LESS WORDY: "We realized that having club meetings on Saturday mornings was a bad decision." (13 words = 9 words eliminated)
EVEN LESS WORDY: "Our club realized that Saturday-morning meetings were unworkable." (9 words = 13 words eliminated) (A computer's word-count function would count Saturday-morning as one word, becaus of the hyphen.)

• Be wary of every single preposition in your paper (words such as 'of', 'in', 'to', 'for', 'with', 'about', etc.). Give every prepositional phrase consideration. Can it be gotten rid of, or changed into a single word, or moved to a place in front of the word it modifies?

Examples (prepositions in boldface):
WORDY: "The goal of the article was to explain how different features of sound in the initial consonant of a word can connote different meanings."   (24 words)
LESS WORDY:  "The article explained how different features of a word's initial consonant can connote different meanings."   (15 words = 9 words eliminated)

• WORDY:  'If I were to consider a position that would entail some type of communication in the aviation field ... "  (18 words)
• LESS WORDY: 'If I were to consider a position in aviation that entailed communication ... " (12 words)
  
  
• Be wary of general-meaning verb + noun pairings that can be expressed as a verb alone:
• make a decision > decide
• have a meeting > meet
• give an explanation for her behavior > explain her behavior

To remedy these, search for the general meaning verbs have, give, make, do and check the word that follows. Is it based on a verb?
 

• Avoid unnecessary pronouns:
  
  College writers often favor information structure over conciseness. Information structure refers to the choices we make in constructing a sentence so as to make it as easy as possible for our reader/listener to follow our writing/speech -- we construct our sentences so that comprehension flows like a ride on a smooth highway rather than a ride on a rocky four-wheel-drive dirt track. In the case at hand, writers want to set the scene for some upcoming information by telling the reader where the information is located. After statng the location, they then write a full sentence, using a pronoun in place of something in the introducing phrase:
  
  "In Steven Cushing's article 'Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes,' he examines ... "
  
  The phrase In Steven Cushing's article 'Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes' is the scene-setter for the information that follows. The he of the following sentence refers to Steven Cushing. This scene-setting strategy is useful in speech, when listeners need to have bits of information separated to aid rapid processing of incoming language. In formal writing, however, the he is repetitive and the sentence is longer than it needs to be. A reader can always "rewind" by reading the sentence again. Elminating he and incorporating the scene-setting into the sentence proper makes for tighter, economical expression -- always to be favored in writing.
  
  NOT REPETITIVE:  Steven Cushing's article 'Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes' examines ... '  (Getting rid of 'he' also gets rid of 'in', eliminating two words with one stone.)
  
  REPETITIVE: "In an article by Virginia P. Collier called 'Acquiring a Second Language for School,' she lays out a model ..."
  NOT REPETITIVE: Virginia P. Collier, in an article called "Acquiring a Second Language for School, lays out a model ...   or
                                     In an article called "Acquiring a Second Language for School, Virginia P. Collier lays out a model ...
  
  REPETITIVE: "In the article Bilingual Education in California it states there are four different categories ... "
  LESS WORDY: The article Bilingual Education in California states that* there are four different categories ...
  
  Unfortunately, the repetitive versions of these sentences also give the impression of an immature writer. This is true of speech-like structure in general.
  
  *That is preferred here, even though it adds a word to the sentence. Readers are often "led down a garden path" (led to a misinterpretation of which words go with which others) when such that's are missing. College writers have a tendency to leave that out in these situations, which has often caused a hitch in my comprehension of a sentence.

*Italicizing Example Words

When you are writing about language, you will want to cite examples of words, phrases, sentences, etc. When doing so, you have to be mindful of your reader's need to know for sure whether a word in your text is a linguistic example or part of your commentary. Linguists italicize words or expressions they are using as examples. For instance:

• A child might misspell train as chrain because of the palatalization of the /t/ preceding /r/.
• Feminists objected strongly to the suffix -man on occupational terms such as mailman, policeman, and fireman. These have now been replaced in official usage with letter carrier, police officer, and firefighter.
• In some regions of the American South, it functions as a dummy subject the way there does in other parts of the country. For instance, a Northerner would say There's a skunk in the garage, while a Southerner might say It's a skunk in the garage.

___________________________

Matters of Formal Conventions
___________________________

*Grammar snafus:

English grammar is always changing. Most of what you see on this list will probably be considered correct in a hundred years, when the people now correcting papers and writing style manuals are dead and gone. But will you live that long?

*The by problem:

EXAMINE EVERY SENTENCE IN YOUR ESSAY THAT BEGINS WITH 'BY'. USE YOUR 'FIND' TOOL TO LOCATE ALL INSTANCES OF 'BY' AND CHECK THEM.

Introductory by-phrases give rise to three problems in student writing.

(1) Writers sometimes begin a sentence with a by-phrase indicating a cause or condition which gives rise to or allows a result named by the following sentence, for example:
       By allowing liquor licenses on campus (cause/condition), we implicitly encourage underage drinking (result/outcome).

The allowing results in the encouraging. What is important to realize here is that the same persons who are doing the allowing are doing the encouraging. In grammatical terms, this means that the (implied) subject of allowing and the subject of encouraging must be identical. This holds for all such introductory by-phrases.

Notice that a verb ending in -ing always follows the by:
       By allowing liquor licenses ...

Whoever or whatever does the action of this verb MUST, then, be named by the first word (the subject) of the following sentence. In this case, it is those who do the allowing: it is we who allow the liquor licenses.
        By allowing liquor licenses on campus, we implicitly encourage underage drinking.

In student writing, the sentence after the by-phrase often has a subject other than the subject of the verb following by:
        *By allowing liquor licenses on campus, students might think underage drinking is acceptable. (Students aren't doing the allowing.)

(2) Similar to the repetivite sentences above, sometimes, the sentence after the by-phrase has it as subject:
        *By allowing liquor licenses on campus, it implicitly encourages underage drinking.

As might happen in speech, the writer is separating the condition from the following information, leading to unnecessary repetition. Also, grammatically speaking, it can only replace a noun phrase, and the by-phrase is not a noun phrase. Solution: leave out by:
       Allowing liquor licenses on campus implicitly encourages underage drinking.

(3) The sentence after the by-phrase has no subject; the by-phrase is used as subject:
        *By allowing liquor licenses on campus, implicitly encourages underage drinking. (Sometimes there is no comma after the by-phrase.)

Grammatically speaking, this sentence has no subject, making it a non-sentence (only command sentences may leave out the subject). The solution is to rephrase either by saying who is doing the allowing or by making allowing the subject:
        By allowing liquor licenses on campus, we implicitly encourage underage drinking.
        Allowing liquor licenses on campus implicitly encourages underage drinking.

Notice that, in the second of these two examples, there is no comma after the phrase containing allowing. It is a general rule of English punctuation that you NEVER put a comma between a subject and its verb, no matter how long the subject is.

Problems similar to the use of unnecessary pronouns and the by problem arise with phrases that begin with when, from, after and similar words. I frequently see sentences like this:

• When examining these materials, it is very clear that knowledgeable experts were involved in their preparation. (Who is examining the materials?)
• After reading these materials, children will certainly benefit from them. (Who is reading the materials? The children? Or the writer of the sentence? [The latter is the intended meaning.])

Once again, there is an -ing verb in the phrase. The next word after the phrase has to be the subject of that verb (the person doing the action of the verb):

• When examining these materials, one can see very clearly that knowledgeable experts were involved in their preparation. (One examines the materials.)
• After reading these materials, I can say with certainty that children will certainly benefit from them. (I read the materials.)

*Usage changes in progress

• 'Number' vs. 'amount'  -  'Amount' used to be restricted to occurring only before mass nouns (nouns that designate a continuous substance, not countable chunks or types of a substance, or individual, countable objects). Anything countable required 'number'. Examples:
• a large amount of cash  -  used to be fine, and still is. 'Cash' is conceived of as a continuous substance.
• a large number of books - Books can be counted. This used to be the only acceptable usage. We hear and see in print more and more:
• a large amount of books - This used to be unacceptable, because 'book' is not a mass noun.

• where     The meaning/usage of this word is changing in English. It used to be restricted to standing in for spatial or physical locations; it is generalizing to being able to stand in for nearly anything. The 'anything' usage is becoming accepted in informal speech and writing, but it has not yet worked its way into formal usage (which it eventually will do, I suspect). In formal writing, it is best to restrict the use of 'where' to physical locations.

• Physical location:   A  grassy field where we can have a picnic ...
• Not a location:     A situation where we have to be very cautious ...
• Formal style:      A situation in which we have to be very cautious ...

 
• Not a location: 'The homework assignment involved one-syllable words where the vowel in the rhyme of the word acted as ... '
• Formal style: 'The homework assignment involved one-syllable words in which the vowel in the rhyme of the word acted as ... '

*I.e. vs. e.g.

Students tend to use i.e. where they need e.g. In conventional, formal usage, i.e. is not used to introduce examples.

I.e. comes from Latin 'id est', 'that is'. It is equivalent in meaning to 'that is'. It is used to introduce a rephrasing of a previous point, a definition or a further clarification or explanation of a preceding point.  Example:
 

• The ability to learn language is innate, i.e. part of our inborn genetic makeup.

The phrase after i.e. defines 'innate'. Notice that it would be fine to write 'that is' in place of i.e.

E.g. comes from Latin 'exempli gratia'. It is used to introduce an example of a previously-mentioned phenomenon. It is the equivalent of the English phrase for example. Example:

Humans have several innate abilities, e.g., language learning, walking, and recognizing faces.
The material after e.g. does not define or explain 'innate abilities'; it merely lists several particular examples of such abilities. Notice that 'for example' is an appropriate substitute for e.g., but 'that is' is not. For i.e. to be appropriate here, the writer would have to list all innate abilities.

Punctuation note: Standard usage calls for a comma after e.g., but not after i.e. Both should be preceded by a comma. Study the examples above closely.


*Punctuation:

Punctuation rules exist to compensate for signals that are conveyed through tone of voice, intonation, pause, etc. in speech. Punctuation rules are like traffic signals: they are necessary for consistent order in communication, and they are conventional -- that is, they won't accomplish their purpose if everyone does not follow the same rules. We find it annoying when someone fails to provide a turn signal before turning, because we need turn signals to anticipate other drivers' behavior and avoid mishaps. It's also somewhat irritating when someone leaves a turn signal on, but never turns: again, they are sending a false signal that confuses drivers behind them. Stop signs and traffic lights are even more crucial to safety. We can't decide one day that, for us, green means stop and red means go.

Punctuation is used by readers as a clue to your meaning. It plays an important role in signalling how meanings blend -- or don't blend. Readers who know the traditional punctuation rules usually become irritated when those rules aren't followed in a piece of writing. When a grade or job is at stake, reader irritation should be kept to a minimum. Readers also can become confused if the punctuation signals blend meanings in ways that don't fit the context. As with traffic signals, those who know the system have certain expectations; following these expectations guarantees the smooth flow of information just as obeying traffic rules assures the smooth flow of traffic.

Apostrophes     Commas before quotation marks   Commas around titles of articles, books, films, etc. cited   

Commas BEFORE as well as after "interrupting phrases"  Commas and such as    Semicolon     Punctuation around however   

Semicolon vs. colon    Hyphen use      Hyphen vs. Dash

*Apostrophes:

Here is the source of trouble with apostrophes:

• We have three endings: -'s, -s,-s'.
• -s an d -'s are BOTH used to mark plural and possession in nouns and pronouns (see examples below).
• Apostrophes are also used to mark possession on nouns with a regular plural ending in -s.
• In addition, apostrophes are used to marked contractions, that is, words from which letters or sounds have been left out.

• Most of the time, -'s marks a noun as a possessor of the noun that follows:
• the cat's tail - "the tail that is part of the cat"
• Carla's car - "the car that belongs to Carla"
• the club's bylaws - "the bylaws of the club"

• Most of the time, -s alone marks plural of a noun:
• Cats like tuna.
• Most important to me are my family relationships.
• Antiques for Sale
  
  When in doubt, ask "more than one cat? more than one antique?"
  
  
• -' marks possession on a regular plural noun:
• the cats' tails  (more than one cat)
• the students' ideas (more than one student)
  
  When in doubt, ask "the tails of several cats? the ideas of several students?"

• Apostrophe in contractions:
• doesn't = does not
• could've = could have
• who is = who's
• he's, she's, it's = he is, she is, it is
  
  Catch phrase to remind yourself:  "it's a contraction" = it is a contraction
  
  
• It's vs. its

English has possessive forms of pronouns (the English pronouns are I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it, we, us, they, them, who). There are two sets:

(1) Possessive forms of pronouns that appear before the possessed noun:

• My car, their mother, his failures, its legs (said of a table, spider, etc.), whose cat?

(2) Possessive forms of pronouns that appear in slots typical of nouns:

• The fault is yours.
• Mine is the one on the right.
• I think that book is hers.
• Theirs is the only pink house in the neighborhood.
• That jacket is whose? (Used to get the previous speaker to repeat the owner's identity)

Its is rarely, if ever, used in this way (? indicates doubtful acceptability):

• ?The web is its. (Referring to a spider)
• ?Its is the leg that is broken. (Referring to a table)

POSSESSIVE FORMS OF PRONOUNS NEVER HAVE APOSTROPHES. NEVER.

These are systems -- what linguists and grammarians call paradigms:

• In certain cases, possessive forms have no apostrophe:
• This hat must be yours.
• Where is his mother?
• The bird has a bug in its beak.

• -'s marks possessive on irregular-plural nouns:
• women's clothing (women is already plural)
• children's books
  

• For certain odd spellings, plural is marked with -'s:
• A's and B's
• The page was covered with x's and o's.
• The children were practicing writing 8's and 9's.
• Shakespeare lived in the 1500's.  (Marking the plural of dates without the apostrophe is becoming more common: the 1500s.)

WRONG:  'I never thought about translating the Bible from a linguists point of view.'
( = from the point of view of one linguist)
RIGHT:   'I never thought about translating the Bible from a linguist's point of view.'

*Commas

*Commas before quotation marks: whatever you have been told in the past, you do NOT need a comma before every single thing that appears between quotation marks. The only time a comma is needed is when the authors use a verb of speaking or expression, such as 'say,' 'write,' etc. In other situations, no comma is needed. ESPECIALLY, there should never be a comma after 'that,' no matter what kind of verb precedes it. Examples:

The President said, "We need this bill to create jobs and get the economy growing again." The President said that "we need this bill to create jobs and get the economy growing again."

The plaintiffs said the dismissal of the charges was "a travesty of justice of the highest degree."

You may see a comma after a phrase that starts with 'as.' That's because such phrases always need a comma following. It has nothing to do with the fact that a quote follows.

As Lakoff and Johnson have discovered, "metaphor lies at the very deepest level of our thought processes."

*Commas and restrictive/non-restrictive modifiers and appositives

A restrictive modifier is one that picks out just one of a number of possible people or things that is being referred to. A non-resrictive modifier merely gives information about what it modifies; the information is not essential to picking out a particular one of several candidates. Restrictive means that the modifier restricts the reference of the word/phrase to just one of a number of possible candidates; non-restrictive means that the information is not essential in this way.

Suppose, for example, you see these two sentences:

1. My uncle who lives in New York is spending the summer with us.
2. My uncle, who lives in New York, is spending the summer with us.

A person savvy to the punctuation rules will know that, in case #1, I have more than one uncle, and I'm using the phrase who lives in New York to identify exactly which of these uncles I am referring to. In case #2, I have only one uncle, so the information about where he lives is not essential to picking him out of a set of uncles who might be visiting. It is information that may be of interest, but is not essential to identifying which uncle is meant.

[MORE TO COME]

*Commas BEFORE as well as after "interrupting phrases" -- phrases that could occur in more than one place in the sentence and "interrupt" the grammatical flow of a sentence:

• An experimental study, on the other hand, consists of planned experiments ... (adapted from a student answer)

The phrase 'on the other hand' could appear in various positions:

• On the other hand, an experimental study consists of planned experiments.
• An experimental study consists of planned experiments, on the other hand.

*Commas and such as

The expression such as is preceded, not followed, by a comma. No punctuation whatever is needed after such as.

• The chocolate shop offers many tasty treats, such as truffles, bars, brittle, cocoa powder, and baking chocolate.
• Local predators, such as coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions, keep the rodent population in check.

*Punctuation around in-text citations: When you are attributing an idea or a quotation to a source at the end of a sentence, put the period AFTER the citation; ignore any final punctuation in your quote. Formulae:

• last word of what you are citing  SPACE    OPEN PARENTHESES   NAME OF AUTHOR   DATE AND/OR PAGE NUMBER    CLOSE PARENTHESES  PERIOD
  •  WRONG: The wife's handwriting was always correct in this area. (34)
  • RIGHT: The wife's handwriting was always correct in this area (34).
• last word of what you are citing   QUOTATION MARKS     SPACE    OPEN PARENTHESES   NAME OF AUTHOR   DATE AND/OR PAGE NUMBER    CLOSE PARENTHESES  PERIOD
  • WRONG: "... the school needed to be more accommodating in its treatment of children who spoke Black English"(Labov, 360).
  • RIGHT: " ... the school needed to be more accommodating in its treatment of children who spoke Black English" (Labov, 360).

Insert a character space on both sides of all parenthetical statements:

• Wrong: ... teacher talk(a lot is bad) should be monitored.
• Right: ... teacher talk (a lot is bad) should be monitored.

*Semicolon

The semicolon ;

The semicolon has ONLY two uses in English punctuation:

•  It is an end-of-sentence mark. The mark it resembles most closely is the period. Use it between two full sentences which are highly relevant to each other in meaning.
• Example: "The lamb does not bleat in deliberate imitation of the sheep-community into which it is born; it bleats as its genetic blueprint lays down for it." (B. M. H. Strang, A History of English, Methuen & Co., 1970, p. 5). (The reason for the lamb's bleating makes these two sentences relevant to each other.)
• A semicolon may be used within a list if the items in the list have commas inside them.
• Example: For a successful birdwatching expedition in the tropics, you will need the following: binoculars with 8- or 10-power magnification; an up-to-date field guide, tailored to the region; clothing that provides good protection from sun, rain and insects, but which allows air to flow through; and strong insect repellent.

DO NOT USE A SEMICOLON TO INTRODUCE A LIST; in fact, do not use a semicolon for any other purpose than the two given above.

*Punctuation around however

'However' is a word that indicates an oppositional relationship between the information in the preceding sentence and the sentence in which 'however' appears. Grammatically, 'however' is a sentence-level adverb. As such, it can appear in several positions in a sentence:

• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage.
• Their children, however, often regret the loss of that language later in life. (after subject of sentence)
• However, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life. (first in sentence)
• Their children often regret the loss of that language later in life, however. (last in sentence)

Most important is to realize that the sentence before the one with 'however' must end with either a period or a semicolon. Students confuse 'however' with 'although', since they are similar in meaning. 'Although' is a subordinating conjunction, not a sentence-level adverb. Consider these examples; study the punctuation carefully:  

• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage; however, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.
• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage. However, their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.
• Immigrant parents often discourage children from continuing to use the language of their heritage, although their children often regret the loss of that language later in life.

To be on the safe side, avoid use of semicolons altogether. When you reach a level of highly nuanced writing, or when you can read and understand semicolon rules well, start using them again.

*Semicolon   ;   vs. colon    :

Colons have two main uses: (1) to provide an explanation of what is before the colon (as I have used it here), and (2) to introduce a list.

• (1)
  • There was a simple reason why little Axelrod didn't want to climb the tower: he was afraid of heights.
  • It's little wonder his computer wouldn't start: it was not plugged in!
• (2)
  • For a successful birdwatching expedition in the tropics, you will need the following: binoculars, an up-to-date field guide, clothing that provides good protection from weather and insects, and strong insect repellent.
  • For my favorite cranberry sauce, you need several easy-to-find ingredients: cranberries, water, sugar, grated orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves.
    
    
• IMPORTANT: You don't need a colon to introduce every list. Don't use a colon if what comes before it cannot stand alone as a sentence:
  • WRONG: The ingredients for my favorite cranberry sauce are: cranberries, water, sugar, grated orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves.
  • NOTE: The ingredients for my favorite cranberry sauce are.  Cannot stand alone as a sentence. No colon is needed:
  • RIGHT: The ingredients for my favorite cranberry sauce are cranberries, water, sugar, grated orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves.
  • RIGHT: The ingredients for my favorite cranberry sauce include cranberries, water, sugar, grated orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves.

Many people routinely use colons after verbs like include, contain, consist of, etc. Colons are not needed here; the verbs themselves indicate that a list is coming.

You can also use a colon to introduce a quotation:

• NOT: The following statement by Labov illustrates this idea; "The weak correlation between the ... "
• BUT: The following statement by Labov illustrates this idea: "The weak correlation between the ... "

*Hyphen use:

Hyphenate a phrase when it appears BEFORE the word it modifies. Phrases are rarely hyphenated after the verb.

(a) The homework assignment involved words of one syllable.  (after verb)
(a') The homework assignment involved one-syllable words. (before modified word)
(b) The child is six years old. (after verb)
(b') The six-year-old child. (before modified word)
(c) 'This article has helped me to understand the importance of linguistics in real-world situations.' (before modified word)
(c') This article has helped me to understand the importance of linguistics in situations in the real world. (after modified word)

Notice this use of hyphens (correct):

I concentrated on the initial consonants in pairs of two- and three-syllable words. (before modified word)

NOTE: I had an interesting experience when I spell-checked this page. The spell-checker told me to eliminate all of the hyphenated modifier phrases in this section! Spell-checkers are not fully reliable in matters of punctuation.

Hyphens in verb + preposition constructions:

Verbs that occur with prepositions in special idiomatic constructions (such as 'take off', 'pair up', 'put down', etc.) are not written with hyphens when they are acting as verbs. They are written with hyphens when they are used as nouns or as modifiers placed before the words they modify.
 

• Verbal use:   The plane will take off in 5 minutes.
• Noun use:  The plane is cleared for take-off.
• Modifier use:  Because of the mechanical problem, we lost our take-off slot.
• Verbal use:  Students will then pair up and conduct interviews.
• Modifier use:  Next comes a pair-up activity in which the students conduct interviews.
• Verbal use:  It's unwise to continuously put down your significant other in front of other people.
• Noun use:  That remark could easily be interpreted as a put-down.

 

• After that remark, no wonder you feel put down.
• For this exercise, the students are paired up.

Pronunciation hint: Use a hyphen when the first word of the pair is more heavily stressed than the second, no hyphen when the words are stressed equally or the second has heavier stress (capital letters indicate heavy stress). There are some exceptions to this rule (e.g. self-HELP), but they are few.
 

What a PUT-down!
I felt put DOWN by that remark.

We're cleared for TAKE-off.
We will TAKE OFF in five minutes.
 

• No hyphen: class time (as in 'the activity uses too much class time'), ice cream, learning disorder, dishwashing liquid,  home run
• Written together: homework, houseboat, armchair, meatball, skateboard, whitewash, gangbanger
• Hyphenated: self-help, red-hot, full-fledged, no-brainer

*Hyphen vs. Dash:

• Hyphens look like this:    -   They are very, very short.
  
• Dashes are longer. Two lengths of dashes are used in printing: the en dash, named after the letter < n >, whose width it approximates, and the em dash, similarly named after the letter < m >.
  • On my Macintosh keybaord, an en dash is made by pressing Option/hyphen.  An em dash is made by pressing Option/Shift/hyphen.
  • Here are the three marks in order of size, hyphen, en dash, em dash:   -   –   —  (your computer may not show these correctly.)
  • In some cases, writers use a double hyphen in place of an en dash: --
  • The contrast among the sizes of the three marks can be approximated using hyphens:  -  --  ---  (one hyphen for hyphen, two for en dash, three for em dash)
    
    
• Use of hyphens: between words of a compound word, between words in a premodifying  phrase, or after certain prefixes:  self-help, red-hot, our boom-and-bust economy, non-starter, mid-June, anti-American. There is no other use for hyphens in continuous text.
• Also use hyphens to hyphenate a word across a line break (most computers do this for you if your program is set to hyphenate). (We all had to learn how to hyphenate words in the days of typewriters.)
• Dashes are used in a very similar way to the way parentheses are used, to set off parenthetical or 'aside' items in a sentence:
• The main use of dashes—in formal grammar, at least—is to set off parenthetical material.
• She was her usual self – that is to say, whiny and hypercritical.
• SPACING: Many writers go wrong with spacing around all of these marks.
  • A hyphen NEVER has spaces around it; it touches whatever is on either side of it. Again: self-help, red-hot, our boom-and-bust economy, non-starter, mid-June, anti-American.
  • Dashes may appear with no space between the dash and surrounding words, or with a space on both sides of the dash. One space only is incorrect:
    • WRONG: The way I grate cheese now– with my KitchenAid mixer– sure beats the old way.
    • RIGHT: The way I grate cheese now–with my KitchenAid mixer–sure beats the old way.
    • RIGHT: The way I grate cheese now – with my KitchenAid mixer – sure beats the old way.
  • Whether with a space or no space, the usage must be symmetrical: if a space, a space on BOTH sides; if no space, no space on EITHER side.
    

*Spelling:

YOUR SPELL CHECKER WILL NOT FIND THESE ERRORS! YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THEM.

• Chose is the past form. Choose is the non-past form. Let pronunciation be your guide. 'Oh' = o/chose  and 'oo' as in 'goo-goo eyes' = oo/choose.
  
• Lose is the verb; it ends in the <z> sound. Loose is the adjective; it ends in the <s> sound.  
  •   'Hey, lose the mustache, dude!'
  •   'Hey, my attack-trained pit bull got loose!'
    
    
• Than  occurs ONLY IN COMPARISONS.  Then is the spelling for all other uses.
• Comparison:  ' ... it had alot more to do with it than I thought.'
• Comparison:  ' ... the tumor had grown bigger more rapidly than we had expected'
• Not comparison:
• sequence of events: Exit the parking lot, then turn right, then go straight for two miles, then turn left on Vachel Lane ... '
• logical conclusion / consequence:  'If all humans are mortal and Socrates is a human, then Socrates is mortal.' 'You're sick? Ah. You won't be coming with us then.'
  
  
• Cite, site   A site is a location, a place:
  • There is a monument to James Dean at the site of his fatal accident in Cholame.
  • The city is scouting a site for the new library.
    
    The word site in website names an imaginary location.
    
    
• Cite is what you do when you take words or ideas from another source and use them in your work; this is what you do in your term papers:
  • You can't write about metaphor without citing George Lakoff.
  • This article on global warming does not cite any reputable climate scientists.