Punctuation

Punctuation issues and house style

Periods and commas go inside quotation marks, like “this.” Double quotation marks are used primarily, and quotes inside quotes use single. Like this: according to Jane, “the dog said ‘hello’ to me.” British style is ‘outside’, so this is something to look out for, but do not ask them to change their style—get their writing, and we’ll copy edit.

Use “curly” not "straight" quotes. This can easily be fixed in google docs by deleting and retyping the offending quotes.

Colons and semicolons go outside quotation marks. If a question mark is part of the quote, enclose it. If not, it goes outside.

Contractions: not to be heavily used, but fine, especially in pieces with a more conversational tone (and always if quoting someone).

Commas: SftP uses serial, or oxford, commas; that is, the last word in a series is preceded by a comma. For example, red, white, and blue.

We are not sticklers for commas with introductory elements, but we still use them for items in apposition. My husband, John; my sister, Joan (unless the person has more than one sister, in which case there is no comma). You can tell if a word should be set off by a comma if, when you remove the set-off word the sentence still makes sense (I spoke with my husband, John; I spoke with my husband. I went to visit my sister. I went to visit my sister Jane, not Joan.)

Note that there is no punctuation before an opening parenthesis. She liked bubble gum, penny candy (especially gum drops), and soft drinks.

Lowercase letter follows a colon unless it introduces a formal statement, a speech in dialogue, a quotation, or consists of more than one sentence. (Chicago gives an example of a formal statement: I wish only to state the following: Anyone found in possession of forged papers will be arrested immediately.)

Apostrophes: In possessive nouns ending in “s,” keep the “s” after the apostrophe, e.g., “Lynn Margulis’s theory of evolutionary biology…”

Split infinitives: Chicago accepts their “intelligent and discriminating use,” but keep them to a minimum.