Write It Well

Lists are an extremely clear and user-friendly way to present information, but they can be tricky to punctuate. Here’s one tip.

Sometimes a paragraph ends with a statement that introduces several following paragraphs. In that situation, the introductory statement should end with a period instead of a colon — just like any other paragraph. Here’s an example of this kind of mistake.

Other [San Francisco] restaurants that have opened in the last couple of years [elicit positive emotions in a] sophisticated and subtle way. Here are six:

AQ. The newest restaurant that features great design is AQ on Mission between 6th and 7th streets….

Chambers. This space has been the home of Miss Pearl’s Jam House and Bambuddha Lounge….

Gitane. Located on tiny Claude Lane, Gitane feels like a speakeasy….

Bar Agricole. The whimsical  glass tubes that surround the skylights,  the brick walls, high beamed ceiling and molded concrete booths all work to give this industrial space a modern, joyful edge.

25 Lusk. Built in 1917 as a meat packer and smokehouse, the bunker-like brick walls make the place feel cozy….

Park Tavern. It feels like an upscale brasserie.…

The “Here are six” sentence calls for a final period instead of a colon. A colon would be correct only if each of these six restaurants were under a bulleted and indented list — an alternate, equally correct way to format the information above.

It’s great to end one paragraph with an explanation of the single topic that the next few paragraphs will cover. Just save colons for list introductions and end all your paragraphs with periods, and you’ll be in the clear!

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two chapters on punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.

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Here’s a way you can use punctuation marks as traffic signals, building momentum and steering readers through your ideas.

Dashes call extra attention to the information they set off, and parentheses make information seem less important. Here’s an example:

Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest book chain, said on Thursday that it was considering spinning off its Nook e-reader division in an effort to help the nascent — and expensive — digital business grow.

Now compare the effect when parentheses are substituted for the dashes:

Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest book chain, said on Thursday that it was considering spinning off its Nook e-reader division in an effort to help the nascent (and expensive) digital business grow.

See how the parentheses make the expense look like a slight detour, while the dashes above make it look as if the writer were passing some especially interesting scenery?

Consciously using dashes and parentheses can help you highlight essential information (and downplay less important information) that you need to convey.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two chapters on punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.

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If you get confused about whether to hyphenate a two-word phrase, try using numbers to help you remember.

Take a look at these correctly hyphenated two-word phrases in orange and the underlined nouns that follow them:

As mobile phones become bodily appendages for people worldwide, they too are emerging as instruments to verify identity. Google introduced its two-step process earlier this year. It sends a six-digit code to an application on a Google user’s cellphone to be entered along with a password.

Here are those same nouns and phrases, rearranged and correctly typed with no hyphens:

The process has two steps, and the code has six digits.

The usual rule is that you hyphenate a two-word phrase when it comes before a noun, and you omit the hyphen when a phrase with two words follows a noun.

If you forget that “before, but not after” rule, try thinking of a two-word phrase that includes a number. You can follow your instincts and avoid the odd-looking and incorrect hyphen in “The process has two-steps.”

In contrast, the correct hyphen in “The two-step process” looks natural to most writers. That’s how numbers can help you remember how to use hyphens correctly.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two chapters on punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.

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Have you ever seen a colon in a sentence that looked impressive but didn’t sound quite right? The main secret to using a colon correctly is to make sure it follows a word group that could stand on its own as a complete sentence.

Here are two correct examples from Mark Bittman’s amazing article and chart “The Holiday Finger-Food Combination Generator”:

You begin by providing a base: this might be crackers, or croutons (little toast squares, really), [or] hunks of sturdy bread or vegetables that can serve as containers.

Then you have a spread, perhaps better (if less attractively) described as “the glue”: hummus or other bean mashes; soft, creamy cheese; “caviars” of eggplant or olives; pestos of basil or walnut; guacamole; [or] creamed deviled eggs.

It’s correct to put a colon after each word group in orange because either group could stand on its own as a complete sentence:

• You begin by providing a base.
• Then you have a spread, perhaps better (if less attractively) described as “the glue.”

It would be incorrect to use a colon after a word group that couldn’t stand as a complete sentence (e.g., “You begin by: providing a base”).

A final tip is that if a colon follows words inside quotes, then the colon goes outside the quotes.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two chapters on punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.

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The Alexander Communications Group has written an article for its current Customer Communicator newsletter that quotes Write It Well President Natasha Terk on the importance of carefully written e-mail.

The article includes five important questions that professionals should keep in mind as they write e-mail to customers. Check out the article here for more tips on how employees and managers can make sure outgoing e-mail reflects well on their company’s image!