Q. Hi, I wanted to ask how quotation marks would be used for a timing, for example, John Cage’s 4’3”. Because this features both single and double quotation marks, how would I quote it? Would it be ‘4’33”’ or “4’33””? Thanks in advance.
A. Confusion abounds here because minute and second marks are not quotation marks. Minute and second marks are straight and slanted (use the prime and double prime symbols: 4′33″); quotation marks are either curly (“4”) or straight but vertical ("4"). You can use quotation marks around minute and second expressions as you would any other quoted text, but if the typography gets ugly, paraphrase instead of quoting, and spell out minutes and seconds.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have completed my first literary novel. I am working with a well respected editor who has edited many modern novelists. In my writing, I have followed Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style and The Chicago Manual of Style in my use of the semicolon. My editor claims that my uses are “incorrect.” Here is a typical example from my book: “When the spring comes, you tell us we cannot work until we pay our dues; but the problem is, we cannot pay until we work.” The editor’s “correction”: “When the spring comes, you tell us we cannot work until we pay our dues. But the problem is, we cannot pay until we work.” My editor has deleted every semicolon in the manuscript. Can someone explain what is happening to the lowly semicolon and why it gets no respect?
A. Semicolons tend to be frowned upon in fiction. An editor who doesn’t allow them at all is overly rigid, however, since they are sometimes useful and even necessary. As for the sentence you quote, a semicolon isn’t wrong (see CMOS 6.59), but it’s a matter of taste whether the best choice is to start a new sentence or use a semicolon or even a comma before but.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Good day! I am currently revising our stylebook based on The Chicago Manual of Style. I would like to ask if you have a strict standard on slashes, whether I should put a space after the slash before typing/writing the next element, or is it all right if there is none?
A. If the slash divides two words, there is no space. If it divides two phrases or sentences (or a single word from a phrase), it requires a space before and after. Please see CMOS 6.106.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Vertical lists punctuated as a sentence! CMOS 6.131 recommends semicolons or commas at the end of list items that complete a sentence. As with run-in lists (6.129), would you recommend putting commas at the ends of items when all items contain no internal commas or other complications to their syntax? Would you use semicolons in every list (punctuated as a sentence) in a document if so much as one list contains one item that has an internal comma?
A. Chicago style does not put punctuation at the end of list items as a rule (please see CMOS 6.130), but it allows for semicolons if the list items are complex and contain commas. This means that in some documents, some complex vertical lists may feature semicolons at the ends of items and others, less complex, may have commas or no punctuation at all. Whether the presence of a single comma in a single list item would require the addition of semicolons to render the list readable is a matter of editorial judgment, and not something that CMOS is likely to legislate.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello—My husband and I are arguing as to my use of periods at the end of a sentence when “trailing off.” He is unfamiliar with my use of two periods, which I believe is correct if my sentence actually ends there, rather than continuing. Is he (god forbid) right?? Example: He detailed all of the Nordic sports equipment he knew: skis, poles, ski boots, snow shoes.. Or must there be three periods?
A. I’m afraid there’s no softening this blow: you are wrong. (And we try not to use the w word.) Seriously, have you ever seen two periods in a published book or magazine? No. It’s always at least three. To learn more, please read CMOS 13.50–58 on ellipses.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello! I’m a freelance editor, and I’m editing a manuscript with more than 300 then words (which the publisher wants left in), mainly used as coordinating conjunctions. Here is an example: He deflated then chuckled. I suggested this to the director: He deflated, then chuckled. Her response: “I don’t see two independent clauses in either of those, so I wouldn’t consider then to be used as a coordinating conjunction. I would also consider the comma to be optional.” Is it okay to leave out the comma when then joins a compound predicate? Am I overboard on this?
A. It sounds like this manuscript is a novel or creative nonfiction, and your director is afraid you will edit out its style or voice. Perhaps she fears, with reason, that technical correctness would ruin the piece of writing. She is confusing things, however, by trying to justify the constructions grammatically instead of simply saying “This is the style we want; don’t mess with it.” It’s conventional to put either a comma or and before then when it’s used as an adverb (He deflated, then chuckled; he deflated and then chuckled), but rather than argue over grammar, it would be better to simply confirm that the more casual style is needed, regardless of technical correctness. There are various kinds of writing where cleaving to the CMOS rules would suck out all the life and character. There’s no shame in avoiding that.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In the example at CMOS 13.53, why is it a period at the end instead of “. . . .”? It’s not the end of the sentence in the original quote, and the period seems to suggest there is nothing further in that sentence with the single period.
A. Although it might be logical to put an ellipsis at the end, that’s not the convention. Quotations are nearly always, by their very nature, excerpted from a longer sentence, paragraph, or document. There’s no need to indicate that with special punctuation. Please see CMOS 13.52: “Ellipsis points are normally not used (1) before the first word of a quotation, even if the beginning of the original sentence has been omitted; or (2) after the last word of a quotation, even if the end of the original sentence has been omitted, unless the sentence as quoted is deliberately incomplete.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We hired an editor to edit our book (a novel), but several things just seem wrong. Here’s the quote:
“I see you got the water running.” Steve looked from the water canal to the disheveled man before him. “But what in God’s name happened to you?”
She wants to change it to
“I see you got the water running,” Steve looked from the water canal to the disheveled man before him, “but what in God’s name happened to you?”
Which is correct?
A. The first version is correct; the second one creates a run-on sentence. (I hope you got a good deal on that editor.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. What is the correct way to punctuate the following sentence: “Let’s face it, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.” Is it correct to use the comma even though “Let’s face it” is an independent clause?
A. Your sentence is an example of a comma splice. Some readers will be distracted by it; some will consider it incorrect; a few will take it as one more sign that civilization is coming to an end. However, as Bryan Garner writes in Garner's Modern American Usage: “Most usage authorities accept comma splices when (1) the clauses are short and closely related, (2) there is no danger of a miscue, and (3) the context is informal.” That said, a dash or colon in place of the comma in your sentence would be uncontroversial.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I understand that commas should be used to introduce dialogue, typically in the fashion of “He said, ‘Get my copy of CMOS!’” But what about instructions to begin a dialogue, make a statement, or ask a question? Should we use a comma, colon, or nothing in the following sentences:
Ask, “What’s your name?”
Explain: “Today we are going to learn to say our names.”
Say “I like apples.”
The context is a teacher’s manual instructing the reader on how to manage a lesson. My author has used a colon for many of these areas, but in similar sentences with longer introductory text she has instead used a comma or no punctuation as follows:
Explain to your students, “Today we are going to . . .”
Say in your best character voice “I’m ten!”
I find myself leaning toward the colon, but I’m conflicted; as this is a teacher’s manual, there are many such sentences. After setting all instances on a page to colons, I then recoil in horror at the sight of so many colons on my screen! Is there a recommendation?
A. There is a lot of leeway for a writer in choosing punctuation before a quotation; it’s nearly impossible to make a rule. In general, a colon is more emphatic; a comma or no punctuation is less disruptive. Usually an imperative works fine with no punctuation if the quoted material serves as a short and simple direct object:
Ask “What’s your name?”
Say “I like apples.”
Note that a comma may be used in those examples as well. If the quoted material after an imperative functions as an elaboration or demonstration of the command, rather than as a direct object, a colon is more apt:
Explain: “Today we are going to learn to say our names.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]