Q. Is there a period after an abbreviation of a country if it is terminating a sentence? “I went to the U.K..”
A. Seriously, have you ever seen two periods in a row like that in print? If we told you to put two periods, would you do it? Would you set your hair on fire if CMOS said you should?
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. The CMOS “rule” is of course that a comma should not be used between the parts of a compound
predicate unless necessary for clarification or to indicate a pause, but in editing legal language I find myself intimidated.
(I presume the rules are different, and I don’t know them.) I would not myself use a comma, as in the
following example, but should I leave it in because it’s legal usage? “Honorary
members are not required to pay annual membership dues, but have all of the rights, privileges, and obligations of Regular
members.”
A. I’m sorry, but I don’t know legal style, either. My best suggestion is that if
you need to edit legal material, you learn the rules. You might start with Bryan A. Garner’s The Elements of Legal Style, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). In the meantime, or if it’s not feasible for you
to learn the rules, it’s best simply to query anything you doubt, rather than change it.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. We’ve been debating this one for quite some time. Should a comma follow a date that begins a sentence?
(In 2009, . . .) I feel strongly that this is a proper place to put a comma, but
others disagree. Is there a correct or incorrect way to use a comma in this situation?
A. No. You can even do it one way in one paragraph and another way in another paragraph, depending on what you’re
eating at the time. It’s unlikely that they would all be the same anyway, because sometimes syntax will
dictate a comma for other reasons. (In 1944, about the time of year Pa oiled his coon gun and the beagles started jittering,
Deylon Reevy went missing.) It’s less distracting if you do it the same way in instances near each other,
though, if syntax allows.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Consider the following situation. A woman is wearing a sweater which has black and white stripes, and the underlying color is blue (base color), and a short skirt with a tartan plaid pattern involving the following colors: red, black, white. Is the correct way to describe this person as follows: “She is wearing a black-and-white-striped blue sweater and a short plaid skirt (red, black, and white tartan)”? Or “She is wearing a black-and-white-striped, blue sweater and a short, red-black-and-white-plaid skirt (tartan)”?
A. At last—a serious style question. I would go with version 1, but change the sweater to solid black.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’m going to have signs made for the tennis courts at my rather academic club. I want one of them to
say something like this:
Tennis Players:
1. Please sign in at front desk.
2. Groom your court after play.
Thank you.
I have lots of questions! Is it fine in an application like this to omit articles to save space? How should I capitalize and
punctuate? Is it awkward to have a list like that? I wanted to make it absolutely clear to the reader that he has TWO duties
(that is, I don’t want him to stop reading one long sentence and not register his second duty).
A. It’s easy to answer when the writer already has everything down just fine. It’s
all fine—really! Sticklers might think that having “your”
would mean you have to have “the” to be parallel, but I would argue that “your”
isn’t optional and that adding “the” on a sign like this
isn’t necessary or even conventional. Maybe you could have another sign pointing that out, just in case.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Is it ever allowable to ascribe a comment to an individual by placing the comment in quotation marks if the quoted comment
is not exactly what the individual said, but rather a recollection of the writer? Or would the writer have needed to record
(by writing or electronic recording) the exact comment if it were intended to be later conveyed in writing within quotation
marks?
A. If you personally witnessed the speech and are sure of your memory, you may quote, identifying yourself as the source. Quotation
marks imply that the person spoke those exact words, so if you weren’t present and you don’t
have a recording or transcript, don’t quote. An exception: if you’re writing memoir
or creative nonfiction, such rules go up in smoke. In that case readers will appreciate a note that explains your methods.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How would I punctuate the end of a sentence that ends with an abbreviation? For example, “I attended a meeting at ABC, Inc.” Two periods don’t look right.
Q. When ending a sentence with an abbreviation, do you need two periods? The event was held in Washington D.C..
Q. When the author has a middle initial are two periods used in a bibliography? Jordan, Alyce A.. “Rationalizing the Narrative.”
Q. Should one put a period on either side of the parenthesis that ends a parenthetical list ending with “etc.” or just one? Example: We have fruit (apples, oranges, etc.).
Q. In the following sentence, I omitted the period per CMOS 6.124: . . . as shown in the Sony Film Classics 2006 documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”. My colleague, however, said the period should remain, because it belongs to the sentence, not the title of the movie.
Q. My question is about whether or not periods should be placed at the end of a URL used within a sentence. My coworkers say that we don’t need a period at the end of a website address.
A. For some reason, questions about periods have dominated the Q&A mail lately. Why the sudden confusion? Why, after a lifetime (I trust) of never encountering two periods in a row, do readers suddenly think this might be a good idea? In any case, here are some answers: Don’t ever put two periods in a row. Put one period at the end of a declarative sentence, even if it ends with an abbreviation or a URL. (Questions and exclamations use question marks and exclamation points instead of a period, not in addition to one, even in quotations.) A sentence that stands alone within parentheses needs a period inside the parentheses to end it. (Here’s an example.) A sentence in parentheses within another sentence does not take a period, because the period is reserved for the main sentence (questions and exclamations, however, must have their respective marks!). An abbreviation that ends with a period must not be left hanging without it (in parentheses, e.g.), and a sentence containing a parenthesis must itself have terminal punctuation (are we almost done?). Finally, an abbreviation ending with a period that is immediately followed by a question mark or exclamation point requires both marks (Q.E.D.!).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Our marketing department puts a boilerplate on all advertising. It lists the different facilities in our system and each
is followed by the city where it is located. I believe that after each city there should be a semicolon. Now it reads, City
Hospital, Boston, Regional Hospital, Brookline, Community Hospital, Newton, Union Hospital, Braintree, etc. The boilerplate
is five lines long and lists lots of facilities.
A. Yes, you are right—such a list quickly becomes indecipherable. If your department doesn’t
like semicolons, there are many design solutions, such as putting a slash or bullet or ornament between pairs or alternating
colors or styles of type.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am a technical writer for a game corporation and we are working on training documents. Is there a rule that I can call
attention to in order to discourage the overuse of parentheses? Right now I don’t have anything to show
in order to prove my point. Perhaps I am the one who is incorrect; either way, I would like a rule to reference if there is
one.
A. The rule is that if there are too many parentheses, take some out. Material that is comparatively less parenthetical in nature
may be set off with commas or dashes instead. Of course, this calls for judgment on the part of the writer or copy editor,
which means that individuals may disagree.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I am in a writing/editing group, and everyone here uses then as a conjunction. For example: “I plan to work from home until he is finished then I will come to the
office.” Sometimes they put a comma before then. Will you please explain how then is to be punctuated? They are editing their customers’ documents so that they now reflect incorrect
usage.
A. Although then is not a conjunction in your sentence, it looks like one because the true conjunction (and or but) is omitted but implied: I plan to work from home [and] then I will come to the office. The comma is necessary because it
indicates the implied conjunction and prevents a run-on sentence; a semicolon would be even better.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]