Dotting the I’s: Punctuation and Mechanics more

Anna Chesnokova is Associate Pro fessor at Translation Department of Kyiv National Linguistic University, Ukraine, where she was Head of the English Philology Chair for several years. She has an M.A. in English and French Philology from Kyiv National Linguistic University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature Studies from Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University. She has published on Empirical Studies of Literature, cognitive poetics, stylis tics and Literary Awareness. Her specific research interest is Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Lately, she has been working on her postdoc on poetic awareness. Anna Chesnokova is the area coordinator for Ukraine of the international REDES (Research and Development in Empirical Stud ies) project and the head of the Ukrainian chapter of EDIS (Emily Dickinson International Society). Her latest publications include Acting and Connecting: Cultural Approaches to Language and Literature (LIT Verlag, 2007), edited with Sonia Zyngier and Vander Viana; Directions in Empirical Literary Studies (John Benjamins, 2008), edited with Sonia Zyngier, Marisa Bortolussi, and Jan Auracher, as well as chapters for Cases on Distance Delivery and Learning Outcomes: Emerging Trends and Programs with Sonia Zyngier, Vander Viana, and Willie van Peer (IGI Global, 2009) and The International Reception of Emily Dickinson (Continuum Press, 2009). Anna CHESNOKOVA DOTTING THE I’S: PUNCTUATION AND MECHANICS Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................. 4 Preface ................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1. PUNCTUATION ........................................................... 7 1.1. END MARKS ............................................................................. 8 1.2. THE COMMA .......................................................................... 13 1.3. THE SEMICOLON ................................................................... 27 1.4. THE COLON ............................................................................ 29 1.5. THE APOSTROPHE ................................................................. 31 1.6. THE DASH ............................................................................... 34 1.7. PARENTHESES ........................................................................ 36 1.8. BRACKETS ............................................................................... 38 1.9. THE SLASH .............................................................................. 40 1.10. ELLIPSIS MARKS .................................................................... 41 1.11. QUOTATIONS AND QUOTING .............................................. 43 1.12. PUNCTUATION: REVISION ................................................... 49 CHAPTER 2. MECHANICS ............................................................. 51 2.1. HYPHENATION AND WORD DIVISION ................................ 51 2.2. CAPITALS ................................................................................. 54 2.3. ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................... 61 2.4. NUMBERS ............................................................................... 67 2.5. UNDERLINING FOR ITALICS. TITLES ................................. 71 2.6. MECHANICS: REVISION ....................................................... 77 CHAPTER 3. FORMATTING YOUR WORK ...................................... 79 3.1. Preparing the Final Copy of the Paper ......................................... 79 3.2. Preparing for Publication ............................................................ 82 APPENDIX A. COMMON REVISION SYMBOLS ............................... 87 APPENDIX B. COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS ......................... 88 REFERENCES .................................................................................... 90 SUBJECT INDEX ............................................................................... 91 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As this book was born out of almost twenty years of teaching at Kyiv National Linguistic University, my first acknowledgement goes to my students, who inspired me to work on it and helped me work out the right strategy over the years, to understand what works in our classes and how teaching methods can be improved. Without them, the book would never have reached its present shape. Friends, I have done it because of you and for you. I am also greatly in debt to Lyudimila Nikitichna Beskrovnaya, my colleague and a dear friend, for the precious comments she made on the earlier version of the manuscript. Her valuable guidelines helped me shape the book, to make it better organized and logically balanced. The proofreading by my American friend, who preferred to remain unknown, greatly improved the quality of the text, so my special thanks go to him for all the work done. And the most special gratitude is directed to my family, who are patient enough to always be there for me and support me in all my academic endeavors. As I was working on the book, my son, Victor, has unexpectedly grown old enough to be one of its users. Sonny, now it is for you as well. 4 PREFACE This guide is designed as a practical resource. In the twenty first century, we write much more than our parents did in the twentieth. We send emails, SMS’s, join blogs, forums and chat rooms on the Internet. When we apply for a position, the first impression on the potential employer is made by our CV, not by the way we talk or behave. All this gives support to the idea that to assume a certain standard of professional communication, one must organize his or her writing clearly, making it look professional. This is where this book might help. The first part of it illustrates the uses of punctuation marks. By giving sentences from prominent writers and well known personalities for both examples and exercises, we hope to show the full range of possibilities for punctuation in contemporary writing as well as expand your background knowledge, which is crucial for non native speakers of the language. If you study the examples carefully, you will gain understanding of how to use each punctuation mark in your own writing. Besides learning how to use punctuation correctly, you will see how punctuation can give you the freedom to write new kinds of sentences and express ideas in more effective ways. Surely, there is one supreme rule: that punctuation is best which best serves to make writing subtle, supple, delicate, nuanced and efficient. Of course you can write using only periods and commas for punctuation. You can cook using only salt and pepper for seasoning. But why do it when there are so many seasonings pleasing to a mature palate? – George Will 5 The second part of the guide is dedicated to mechanics – conventional rules such as the one requiring capitalization of the first word of a sentence or writing titles of books and films. You need to follow the conventions so that your writing will look the way formal writing is expected to look. The third part of the book aims at helping students prepare their paper for submission to the instructor as well as organize their article and acknowledge reference sources in their contribution, in case it is submitted for publication in Europe or the U.S.A. Finally, the book is followed by the appendices. The first of them is a compact reference guide aiming to assist learners in understanding the corrections made by the instructor. The second appendix helps students avoid the most common mistakes when spelling English words. The book was conceived as reader friendly and easy to use. To help the reader easily find the way through it, examples are marked with the following sign: Important notes, in their turn, are set off like this: Can you really master punctuation and mechanics? Of course, you can! It is just a matter of knowing the rules the guide provides. 6