Introduction
I will always stick to British (Australian) spelling, but the rules of punctuation vary more subtly between British- and American-English; I’d like to pluck the most common sense rules from both.
This is an absolutely incomplete, personal reference. When something is in question, I plan to document the opinions of multiple books, drawing my own conclusions and setting my own rules for style.
Punctuation
Apostrophe
There are many uses for an apostrophe, but they are most commonly used for contractions (don’t, can’t, won’t) and to express possession. For example, if something is possessive it is Andy’s car, Gareth’s cats or the dog’s bone. This shouldn’t be confused with pluralisation; just because you add an s doesn’t mean you need an apostrophe (e.g. books, bananas, cats, toys).
The Elements of Style says add an ’s to a possessive singular, even if the final character is s, e.g. Charles’s. The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage agrees, but recommends omitting the s “when a word ends in two sibilant sounds (the ch, j, s, sh, ts or z sounds) separated only by a vowel sound: Kansas’ Governor; Texas’ population; Moses’ behalf”.
This is a bugbear of Lynne Truss’s; the Warner Brothers movie title example surfaces many times in her book. However, the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers disagrees:
Plural possessives often put the apostrophe after the s. The girls’ dresses has it after because there are multiple girls, who have multiple dresses. But when the word is already plural (without the addition of an s) the apostrophe goes before the s. For example children is already the plural of child; therefore children’s playground has the apostrophe before the s. Same goes for women’s.
John Gruber in regards to pluralising iPhone 5:
Dash
Hyphens should never be used in place of an en-dash or em-dash (unless using a double hyphen to represent an en-dash or a triple hyphen to represent an em-dash, e.g.
---). Em-dashes are so called because they are the width of a capital M: They are the correct punctuation character to use when punctuating prose—like this. En-dashes are so called because they are the width of a capital N: They are most commonly used as a replacement for the word to, for example: 9am–6pm or Monday–Friday.Some typefaces don’t draw a clear enough distinction between en- and em-dashes.
Em-dash
Parenthetic expressions3 can use a pair of commas, em-dashes, or brackets. While brackets set the parenthetic expression back (it’s just additional information), em-dashes draw more emphasis than commas.
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers agrees with me and goes into more detail:
En-dash
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers explains that the en-dash essentially serves as a linking device. There are two types of en-dash; spaced and un-spaced. The spaced en-dash should be used when linking more than two words:
A Victoria – New South Wales partnership
But if you are linking only two words it should remain un-spaced:
A Victoria–Queensland partnership
The words you are linking should remain parallel in structure. So it should not be:
A Victorian–Queensland partnership. Victoria would be the correct word to use (as above).
The most common use for an en-dash is to replace the word to:
9am–6pm, Monday–Friday or 24–28 Sydney Road.
It’s also used to link prefixes to more than one word. In this instance it should remain un-spaced:
non–English speaking countries or anti–government sentiment.
Ellipsis
Ellipsis points should have a space before and after, and according to the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers:
Quotation Marks
Double and single quotation marks are used differently around the world. Americans use double for the quote, and single for a quote within a quote. Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers says:
In Australia, if punctuation at the end of a quote is part of the quote, it should sit within the quotation marks; if it is not, then it should sit outside them.
Telegraphy has been called ‘the Victorian internet’; it was the first practical application of electricity.
She laughed and said, ‘It’s great fun. I love being an advocate’.
Semicolon
Which translated into layman’s English means: if you have two strings of words that could be separate sentences—but they are linked enough to want to join them—you could do so with words like and, but, or if; however, it would be better to use a semicolon.
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers has the most succinct introduction to the semicolon I’ve read:
It goes on to explain:
If items, in an otherwise comma delimited list contain commas; use semicolons instead. An example from Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers:
Style
Abbreviating Words
If you are abbreviating Fish and Chips, or Rock and Roll, you put an apostrophe on both sides on the ‘n’, e.g. Fish ’n’ Chips, or, Rock ’n’ Roll. This is because ‘and’ is abbreviated on both sides, dropping ‘a’ from the start and ‘d’ from the end.
Guns N’ Roses only has one apostrophe, but it should have two. Also, because ‘and’ would not normally be capitalised in a title, ‘N’ should probably be lowercase too. However, abbreviating words is informal; it’s a matter of style, and Axl can do whatever he wants.
Sweet Child o’ Mine only has one apostrophe—as it’s only abbreviating the end of the word—replacing the ‘f’ in ‘of’.
Title Capitalisation
Capitalise all words in titles, except short words like: the, a, an, and, for, of, on, in. For example, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage.
According to Grammarist:
HTML Decimals & Shortcuts
Punctuation Mark | Example | HTML Decimal | Mac OS X Key Combination |
Ampersand | & | & | N/A |
Apostrophe | ’ | ’ | Option + Shift + ] |
Colon | : | : | N/A |
En-dash | – | – | Option + - |
Em-dash | — | — | Option + Shift + - |
Ellipsis | … | … | Option + ; |
Parenthesis (left) | ( | ( | N/A |
Parenthesis (right) | ) | ) | N/A |
Quotation Mark (single opening) | ‘ | ‘ | Option + ] |
Quotation Mark (single closing) | ’ | ’ | Option + Shift + ] |
Quotation Mark (double opening) | “ | “ | Option + [ |
Quotation Mark (double closing) | ” | ” | Option + Shift + [ |
Semicolon | ; | ; | N/A |
Square Bracket (left) | [ | [ | N/A |
Square Bracket (right) | ] | ] | N/A |
Commonly misused words
Affect/Effect
Centre/Center
Center is American; centre is correct in the rest of the English speaking world.
E.g./I.e.
E.g. is an abbreviation of the Latin exempli gratia. It means for example.
I.e. is an abbreviation of the Latin id est. It means that is, or, in other words.
Elude/Allude
Elude means evade or escape from, typically in a skilful or cunning way; or, fail to grasp or remember an idea or fact.
Allude means to suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at.
Everyday/Every day
It’s/Its
It’s is a contraction of it is or it has. Its is possessive. The simple rule is: if you can’t replace it’s in a sentence with it is or it has, use its.
Lie/Lay
Theatre/Theater
Theater is American; theatre is correct in the rest of the English speaking world.
There/Their
There indicates a place or position, e.g. Move it over there, or, there’s the cat.
Their is possessive, e.g. Their cat is really fluffy.
To/Too
To is used in many different ways. It can be the opposite of from, e.g. We’re going to the shops. It can also indicate direction, range and contact, e.g. From Melbourne to Sydney, 28 to 32, and Pedal to the metal.
Too can indicate a higher degree, e.g. His pants are too tight, or, Her pants are too big. Too also indicates addition, e.g. Is Sharon coming to the shops too?
Bibliography
British References
American References
Definitions
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Pronominal: relating to or serving as a pronoun. Pronoun: a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g. I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g. she, it, this).
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Noun: any member of a class of words that can function as the main or only elements of subjects of verbs, as “A dog just barked,” or of objects of verbs or prepositions, as “to send money from home,” and that in English can take plural forms and possessive endings, as “Three of his buddies want to borrow John’s laptop.”
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Parenthetic expressions: These are words, phrases or clauses that are inserted in a sentence but remain grammatically independent of it—that is, they could be removed without affecting the sentence structure (like bracketed text).
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Clause: a unit of grammatical organisation next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.
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Conjunction: a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, but, if).
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Verb: a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.