P13-PUNCTUATION!

PUNCTUATION!

Proper punctuation is oftentimes overlooked as less important than, say, grammar or sentence structure or even correct spelling. Most professors and teachers, however, deduct marks for glaring errors of punctuation or the absence of punctuation. After all, if you are unsure what mark of punctuation to use or where to use it, style guides are everywhere, whether hard copy or online versions. Lack of proper punctuation plays havoc with the way your audience reads your sentences and disrupts the rhythm of otherwise good writing. Indeed, a missing period or comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Just as you should always spellcheck or keep a dictionary beside you when writing, similarly it's a good idea to consult your punctuation reference rather than guessing or ignoring the matter as insignificant. The following rules of usage are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a start on the proper use of the major punctuation marks. There are 14. Here, MOE will take a look at the comma, period, question mark, exclamation mark, colon, semicolon, hyphen, dash, parentheses, brackets, ellipsis, apostrophe, quotation marks, and the slash.

RULES FOR COMMA USAGE
1. Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two. "He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base." You may have learned that the comma before the "and" is unnecessary, which is fine if you're in control of things. However, there are situations when, if you don't use this comma (especially when the list is complex or lengthy), these last two items in the list will try to glom together (like macaroni and cheese). Using a comma between all the items in a series, including the last two, avoids this problem. This last comma—the one between the word "and" and the preceding word—is often called the serial comma.
2. Use a comma plus a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses, as in "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base." Contending that the coordinating conjunction is adequate separation, some writers will leave out the comma in a sentence with short, balanced independent clauses (such as we see in the example just given). If there is ever any doubt, however, use the comma, as it is always correct in this situation.
3. One of the most frequent errors in comma usage is the placement of a comma after a coordinating conjunction. We cannot say that the comma will always come before the conjunction and never after, but it would be a rare event, indeed, that we need to follow a coordinating conjunction with a comma. When speaking, we do sometimes pause after the little conjunction, but there is seldom a good reason to put a comma there.
4. See the note below regarding the use of a comma between two independent clauses when the second independent clause begins with a parenthetical element or adverbial clause.
5. Use a comma to set off introductory elements, as in "Running toward third base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked." It is permissible to omit the comma after a brief introductory element if the omission does not result in confusion or hesitancy in reading. If there is ever any doubt, use the comma, as it is always correct.
6. Use a comma to set off parenthetical elements, as in "'Yackety Sax', which has a snappy little beat, is not looped." By "parenthetical element," we mean a part of a sentence which can be removed without changing the essential meaning of that sentence. The parenthetical element is sometimes called "added information." This is the most difficult rule in punctuation because it is sometimes unclear what is "added" or "parenthetical" and what is essential to the meaning of a sentence.
7. When a parenthetical element — an interjection, adverbial modifier, or even an adverbial clause — follows a coordinating conjunction used to connect two independent clauses, we do not put a comma in front of the parenthetical element.
The Red Sox were leading the league at the end of May, but of course, they always do well in the spring. [no comma after "but"]
The Yankees didn't do so well in the early going, but frankly, everyone expects them to win the season. [no comma after "but"]
The Tigers spent much of the season at the bottom of the league, and even though they picked up several promising rookies, they expect to be there again next year. [no comma after "and"]
8. When both a city's name and that city's state or country's name are mentioned together, the state or country's name is treated as a parenthetical element.
We visited Hartford, Connecticut, last summer. Paris, France, is sometimes called "The City of Lights."
When the state becomes a possessive form, this rule is no longer followed:
Hartford, Connecticut's investment in the insurance industry is well known.
Also, when the state or country's name becomes part of a compound structure, the second comma is dropped:
Heublein, a Hartford, Connecticut-based company, is moving to another state.
9. An absolute phrase is always treated as a parenthetical element, as is an interjection. An addressed person's name is also always parenthetical.
Their years of training now forgotten, the soldiers broke ranks.
Yes, it is always a matter, of course, of preparation and attitude.
I'm telling you, Honeybuns, I couldn't be more surprised. (I told Honeybuns I couldn't be more surprised. [no commas])
10. Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives. You could think of this as "That tall, distinguished, good looking fellow" rule (as opposed to "the little old lady"). If you can put an and or a but between the adjectives, a comma will probably belong there. For instance, you could say, "He is a tall and distinguished fellow" or "I live in a very old and run-down house." So you would write, "He is a tall, distinguished man" and "I live in a very old, run-down house." But you would probably not say, "She is a little and old lady," or "I live in a little and purple house," so commas would not appear between little and old or between little and purple.
11. Use a comma to set off quoted elements. Because we don't use quoted material all the time, even when writing, this is probably the most difficult rule to remember in comma usage. It is a good idea to find a page from an article that uses several quotations, photocopy that page, and keep it in front of you as a model when you're writing. Generally, use a comma to separate quoted material from the rest of the sentence that explains or introduces the quotation:
Summing up this argument, Andy Kaufman writes, "The purpose and strength of the romantic image of the child had been above all to establish a relation between childhood and adult consciousness."
If an attribution of a quoted element comes in the middle of the quotation, two commas will be required. But be careful not to create a comma splice in so doing.
"The question is," said Stardust, "whether you can make words mean so many things."
"I should like to buy an egg, please," she said timidly. "How do you sell them?"
Be careful not to use commas to set off quoted elements introduced by the word that or quoted elements that are embedded in a larger structure:
Christy Moonbeam writes that "[t]he purpose and strength of . . ."
We often say "Sorry" when we don't really mean it.
And, instead of a comma, use a colon to set off explanatory or introductory language from a quoted element that is either very formal or long (especially if it's longer than one sentence):
Angel39 had this to say about the nineteenth-century's use of children in fiction: "The purpose and strength of . . . . "
12. Use commas to set off phrases that express contrast.
Some say the world will end in ice, not fire.
It was her money, not her charm or personality, that first attracted him.
The puppies were cute, but incredibly messy. (Some writers will leave out the comma that sets off a contrasting phrase beginning with but.)
13. Use a comma to avoid confusion. This is often a matter of consistently applying rule #3.
For most the year is already finished. [incorrect]
For most, the year is already finished. [correct]
Outside the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches. [incorrect]
Outside, the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches. [correct]
14. Never use only one comma between a subject and its verb. "Believing completely and positively in oneself is essential for success." [Although readers might pause after the word "oneself," there is no reason to put a comma there.]
15. Typographical Reasons: Between a city and a state [Hartford, Connecticut], a date and the year [June 15, 1997*], a name and a title when the title comes after the name [Bob Downey, Professor of English], in long numbers [123,456], etc. (Although you will often see a comma between a name a suffix — Bob Downey, Jr., Richard Harrison, III — this comma is no longer regarded as necessary by most copy editors, and some individuals never used a comma there at all [Martin Luther King Jr.]).
Use Commas With Caution
There seem to be many reasons for using commas, and we haven't listed them all. Yet the biggest problem that most students have with commas is their overuse. A pause in reading is not always a reliable reason to use a comma. Try not to use a comma unless you can apply a specific rule from this page to do so. Concentrating on the proper use of commas is not mere form for form's sake. Indeed, it causes writers to review their understanding of structure and to consider carefully how their sentences are crafted.

THE PERIOD
Use a period [ . ] at the end of a sentence that makes a statement. There is no space between the last letter and the period. Use one space between the period and the first letter of the next sentence. This goes against the grain for people using the typography instilled by generations of old-fashioned typewriter users, but modern word-processors nicely accommodate the spacing after a period and double-spacing after a period can only serve to discombobulate the good intentions of your software.
1. Use a period at the end of an indirect question.
The teacher asked why Maria had left out the easy exercises.
2. Use a period with abbreviations:
Dr. Espinoza arrived from Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m.
Notice that when the period ending the abbreviation comes at the end of a sentence, it will also suffice to end the sentence. On the other hand, when an abbreviation ends a question or exclamation, it is appropriate to add a question mark or exclamation mark after the abbreviation-ending period:
Did you enjoy living in Washington, D.C.?
3. Acronyms (abbreviations [usually made up of the first letter from a series of words] which we pronounce as words, not a series of letters) usually do not require periods: NATO, NOW, VISTA, LASER, SCUBA, RADAR. Abbreviations we pronounce by spelling out the letters may or may not use periods and you will have to use a dictionary to be sure: FBI, NAACP, NCAA, U.S.A., U.N.I.C.E.F., etc.
The teacher asked why Maria had left out the easy exercises.
4.Use a period with abbreviations:
Dr. Domania arrived from Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m.
Notice that when the period ending the abbreviation comes at the end of a sentence, it will also suffice to end the sentence. On the other hand, when an abbreviation ends a question or exclamation, it is appropriate to add a question mark or exclamation mark after the abbreviation-ending period:
Did you enjoy living in Washington, D.C.?
5. Acronyms (abbreviations [usually made up of the first letter from a series of words] which we pronounce as words, not a series of letters) usually do not require periods: NATO, NOW, VISTA, LASER, SCUBA, RADAR. Abbreviations we pronounce by spelling out the letters may or may not use periods and you will have to use a dictionary to be sure: FBI, NAACP, NCAA, U.S.A., U.N.I.C.E.F., etc.

THE QUESTION MARK
1. Use a question mark [ ? ] at the end of a direct question. It is considered bad form to use a question mark in combination with other marks, although that is often done in informal prose in an attempt to convey complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or similar combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an interrobang, but the interrobang has no role in academic prose. Personally speaking, MOE regards this as truly amateur and rather juvenile.
2. A tag question is a device used to turn a statement into a question. It nearly always consists of a pronoun, a helping verb, and sometimes the word "not". Although it begins as a statement, the tag question prevails when it comes to the end-mark: use a question mark. Notice that when the statement is positive, the tag question is expressed in the negative; when the statement is negative, the tag question is positive. (There are a few exceptions to this, frequently expressing an element of surprise or sarcasm: "So you've made your first million, have you?" "Oh, that's your plan, is it?")
The following are more typical tag questions:
He should quit smoking, shouldn't he?
He shouldn't have quit his diet, should he?
They're not doing very well, are they?
Keyplayer finished on time, didn't he?
There were too many people on the dock, weren't there? Be careful of this last one; it's not "weren't they."
3. Be careful not to put a question mark at the end of an indirect question.
Kent Kyle asked the students what they were doing.
I asked Marisa Tomei if she had a date.
4. On the other hand, be careful to put a question mark at the end of a sentence that is, in fact, a direct question. (Sometimes student writers will simply forget.) Rhetorical questions (asked when an answer is not really expected), by the way, are questions and deserve to end with a question mark: How else should we end them, after all?
5. When a question is embedded within a statement, end the sentence with a question mark.
We can get to Waterloo quicker, can't we, if we take the interstate?
6. Sometimes a question will actually end with a series of brief questions. When that happens, especially when the brief questions are more or less follow-up questions to the main question, each of the little questions can begin with a lowercase letter and end with a question mark.
Who is responsible for executing the plan? the coach? the coaching staff? the players?

THE EXCLAMATION MARK
Use an exclamation point [ ! ] at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command.
"No!" he yelled. "Do it now!"
In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in newspaper writing the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent. A common habit irritates MOE to no end and that is the use of several exclamation marks [!!!!] Use this mark sparingly.

THE COLON
Use a colon [ : ] before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself. Think of the colon as a gate, inviting one to go on:
There is only one thing left to do now: confess while you still have time.
You nearly always have a sense of what is going to follow or be on the other side of the colon. We will often use a colon to separate an independent clause (often of a rather formal nature) from a quotation that the clause introduces:
The acting director often referred to her favorite quotation from Shakespeare's Tempest:
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

THE SEMICOLON
Use a semicolon [ ; ] (A) to help sort out a monster list:
There were citizens from Bangor, Maine; Hartford, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island.
OR
We had four professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English; Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education; and Nada Light, Professor of Nursing.
(B) to separate closely related independent clauses:
My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll miss out on something.
The semicolon allows the writer to imply a relationship between nicely balanced ideas without actually stating that relationship. (Instead of saying because my grandmother is afraid she'll miss out on something, we have implied the because. Thus the reader is involved in the development of an idea—a clever way of engaging the reader's attention.)
(C) It is rare, but certainly possible, that you will want a semicolon to separate two independent clauses even when those two independent clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction. This is especially true when the independent clauses are complex or lengthy and when there are commas within those independent clauses. You might consider breaking those two independent clauses into separate sentences when this happens.
Coach Claw realized that his next recruiting class contained two superb guards, a fine post player, and a power forward; but as of the end of the spring recruiting season, he was still pushing to discover better first-year players for the interior positions.

THE HYPHEN
Although smart word-processors seem to have taken over the job of hyphenating broken words at the right-hand end of our lines and spellcheckers can review our use of hyphens in other places, these technological marvels are by no means infallible. Microsoft Word, for example, flags as mispelled almost any word with an unhyphenated prefix: antidiscrimination and cogeneration, for example, are marked as misspelled words and re-sign, co-bra, ever-green, and be-loved are marked as correctly hyphenated words by that software.
Generally, it is a good idea not to use justified text in academic papers; that will cut down on a lot of decisions about hyphenating. The APA Publication Manual, in fact, insists that you not break words at line-endings in any case, but that can lead to lines that are too brief and aesthetically unbalanced.
The rules for hyphenating at line endings are so complicated that no one can be expected to keep track of them. If you're ever in a situation where you have to hyphenate at line-breaks, go to a dictionary—unless you can explain why you would break experience between the e and the r, that is, and then you can do whatever you want. Remember that if you adjust one line-break, that may well affect subsequent line-breaks in the text. Probably the best reference text for these decisions (next to looking up everything in a dictionary, that is) is The Chicago Manual of Style.
Hyphens have other uses:
creating compound words, particularly modifiers before nouns (the well-known actor, my six-year-old daughter, the out-of-date curriculum, writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions (five-eighths, one-fourth), creating compounds on-the-fly for fly-by-night organizations; adding certain prefixes to words: When a prefix comes before a capitalized word or the prefix is capitalized, use a hyphen (non-English, A-frame, I-formation).
The prefixes self-, all-, and ex- nearly always require a hyphen (ex-husband, all-inclusive, self-control), and when the prefix ends with the same letter that begins the word, you will often use a hyphen (anti-intellectual, de-emphasize), but not always (unnatural, coordinate, cooperate).
There is no space between a hyphen and the character on either side of it.

THE DASH
Use a dash [ — ] (or two hyphens [ -- ] on old-fashioned typewriters) or dashes as a super-comma or set of super-commas to set off parenthetical elements, especially when those elements contain internal forms of punctuation:
All four of them—Bob, Jeffrey, Jason, and Brett—did well in college.
In most word-processors, the dash is created by holding down the option key and hitting the key that has the underline mark above the hyphen. This can vary, though, from program to program. Usually, you get an en-dash (see below) with the option + hyphen key, and you get the larger em-dash (used more frequently) with option + shift + hyphen keys.
Do not use dashes to set apart material when commas would do the work for you. Usually, there are no spaces between the dash and the letters on either side of a dash, although the dash is frequently shown that way in documents prepared for the World Wide Web and e-mail for typographical and aesthetic reasons (because the WWW authoring and e-mail clients have little control over line-breaks).
In writing dialogue, the dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone:
"How many times have I asked you not to —" Jasion suddenly stopped talking and looked out the window. "Not to do what?" I prompted. "Not to — Oh heck, I forget!"
A dash is sometimes used to set off concluding lists and explanations in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. We seldom see the dash used this way in formal, academic prose.
Modern word processors provide for two kinds of dashes: the regular dash or em-dash (which is the same width as the letter "M," — ) and the en-dash (which is about half the width, the same as the letter "n," – ). We use the em-dash for most purposes and keep its smaller brother, the en-dash, for marking the space between dates in a chronological range:
"Kennedy's presidency (1961–1963) marked an extraordinary era. . . ."; in time: 6:30–8:45 p.m.; and between numbers and letters in an indexing scheme: table 13–C, CT Statute 144–A. Some reference manuals are urging editors and publishers to get rid of the en-dash altogether and to use the em-dash exclusively, but en and em are still handy words to know when you're trying to get rid of those extra e's at the end of a Scrabble game.
Finally, we use what is called a 3-em dash (or six typewriter hyphens) when we're showing that someone's name or a word has been omitted (perhaps for legal reasons or issues of taste):
Professors and were suspended without pay for their refusal to grade papers.

PARENTHESES
Use parentheses [ ( ) ] to include material that you want to de-emphasize or that wouldn't normally fit into the flow of your text but you want to include nonetheless. If the material within parentheses appears within a sentence, do not use a capital letter or end-mark to punctuate that material, even if the material is itself a complete sentence. If the material within your parentheses is written as a separate sentence (not included within another sentence), punctuate it as if it were a separate sentence.
Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost (we remember him at Kennedy's inauguration) remains America's favorite poet.
Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost remains America's favorite poet. (We remember him at Kennedy's inauguration.)
If the material is important enough, use some other means of including it within your text—even if it means writing another sentence. Note that parentheses tend to de-emphasize text whereas dashes tend to make material seem even more important.

BRACKETS
Use brackets [ [ ] ] in the following situations:
(A) You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted language: Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita Espinoza, the new soccer coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to be a real winner.
(B) If you are quoting material and you've had to change the capitalization of a word or change a pronoun to make the material fit into your sentence, enclose that changed letter or word(s) within brackets:
Espinoza charged her former employer with "falsification of [her] coaching record."
(C) Also within quotations, you could enclose [sic] within brackets to show that misspelled words or inappropriately used words are not your typos or blunders but are part of an accurately rendered quotation:
Reporters found three mispelings [sic] in the report. (It is bad manners, however, to use this device to show that another writer is a lousy speller or otherwise unlettered.)
(D) You can use brackets to include parenthetical material inside parenthetical material:
Chernwell was poet laureate of Bermuda (a largely honorary position [unpaid]) for ten years.
Be kind to your reader, however, and use this device sparingly.

ELLIPSIS
An ellipsis [ . . . ] proves to be a handy device when you're quoting material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks. Let's take the sentence, "The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from the Caribbean who were visiting the U.S." and leave out "from the Caribbean who were":
The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes . . . visiting the U.S.
If the omission comes at the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be placed after the period, making a total of four dots. . . . See how that works?
Notice that there is no space between the period and the last character of the sentence. The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech.
Juan thought and thought . . . and then thought some more.
"I'm wondering . . ." Juan said, bemused.
The plural of ellipsis is ellipses (in case someone asks).

THE APOSTROPHE
We use an apostrophe [ ' ] to create possessive forms, contractions, and some plurals. The apostrophe shows where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted verb:
I am = I'm/you are = you're/she is = she's/ it is = it's/ do not = don't/she would = she'd/he would have = he would've/ let us = let's/who is = who's/she will = she'll/they had = they'd
Whether or not contractions are appropriate in academic prose is a matter of personal taste and debate. These forms are rather informal so ask your instructor before using contractions in a paper that will be graded.
In possessives, the placement of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun that shows possession is singular or plural. Generally, if the noun is singular, the apostrophe goes before the s. The witch's broom. If the noun is plural, the apostrophe goes after the s: The witches' brooms. However, if the word is pluralized without an s, the apostrophe comes before the s: He entered the men's room with an armload of children's clothing. If you create a possessive with a phrase like of the witches, you will use no apostrophe: the brooms of the witches.
Remember that it's means it is or it has. Confusing it's with its, the possessive of it, is perhaps the most common error in writing.
Remember, too, that there is no appropriate contraction for "there are." Don't confuse "they're," which means "they are" with "there are" (which can sound like "ther're," [or some such set of rumbling r's] in casual speech).
An apostrophe is also used to form some plurals, especially the plural of letters and digits. Raoul got four A's last term and his sister got four 6's in the Olympic ice-skating competition. It is no longer considered necessary or even correct to create the plural of years or decades or abbreviations with an apostrophe. He wrote several novels during the 1930s. There are fifteen PhDs on our faculty. My sister and I have identical IQs. (If you wrote Ph.D. with periods, you would add an apostrophe before the pluralizing "s": Ph.D.'s)
If the abbreviation ends in "S," it's a good idea to separate this final "S" from the pluralizing "s" with an apostrophe: SOS's

QUOTATION MARKS
Use quotation marks [ " " ] to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and articles. Usually, a quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma; however, the typography of quoted material can become quite complicated. Here is one simple rule to remember:
In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic. In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write:
My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design".
The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title. Thus, you would write (on either side of the Atlantic): What do you think of Robert Frost's "Design"? and I love "Design"; however, my favorite poem was written by Emily Dickinson.
Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrase fits into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a comma may not be necessary: The phrase "lovely, dark and deep" begins to suggest ominous overtones.
Following a form of to say, however, you'll almost always need a comma:
My father always said, "Be careful what you wish for."
If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language: My mother's favorite quote was from Shakespeare: "This above all, to thine own self be true."
When an attribution of speech comes in the middle of quoted language, set it apart as you would any parenthetical element:
"I don't care," she said, "what you think about it."
Be careful, though, to begin a new sentence after the attribution if sense calls for it: "I don't care," she said. "What do you think?"
Convention normally insists that a new paragraph begins with each change of speaker: "I don't care what you think anymore," she said, jauntily tossing back her hair and looking askance at DC.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" Angel sniffed. She was becoming impatient and wished that she were elsewhere.
"You know darn well what I mean!" DC huffed.
"Have it your way," Angel added, "if that's how you feel."
In proofreading and editing your writing, remember that quotation marks always travel in pairs! Well, almost always. When quoted dialogue carries from one paragraph to another (and to another and another), the closing quotation mark does not appear until the quoted language finally ends (although there is a beginning quotation mark at the start of each new quoted paragraph to remind the reader that this is quoted language).
Also, in parenthetical documentation, the period comes after the parenthetical citation which comes after the quotation mark".
In reporting "silent speech"—noting that language is "said," but internally and not spoken out loud—writers are on their own. Writers can put quotation marks around it or not:
Oh, what a beautiful morning, MOE said to himself.
"Oh, what a beautiful morning!" MOE said to himself.
Some writers will set such unspoken language in italics or indent it in order to set it off from other "regular" language. That's probably not a good idea if there is a lot of it because the indents can be confusing and italics can become tiresome to read after a while. The decision will probably depend on the amount of silent speech within the text. Probably the best way to handle silent speech is to find an author whom you like who does a lot of this—Graham Swift in his novel Last Orders, for instance—and copy that author's style. Consistency, of course, is very important.
Be careful not to use quotation marks in an attempt to emphasize a word (the kind of thing you see in grocery store windows—Big "Sale" Today!). Underline or italicize that word instead. (The quotation marks will suggest to some people that you are using that word in a special or peculiar way and that you really mean something else—or that your sale is entirely bogus.)
We do not enclose indirect quotations in quotation marks. An indirect quotation reports what someone says but not in the exact, original language. Indirect quotations are not heard in the same way that quoted language is heard.
The President said that NAFTA would eventually be a boon to small businesses in both countries.
Professor Villa told her students the textbooks were not yet in the bookstore.
Single Quotation Marks
In the United States, we use single quotation marks [ ' ' ] to enclose quoted material (or the titles of poems, stories, articles) within other quoted material.
"'Design' is my favorite poem," he said.
Ralph Ellison recalls the Golden Age of Jazz this way: "It was itself a texture of fragments, repetitive, nervous, not fully formed; its melodic lines underground, secret and taunting; its riffs jeering—'Salt peanuts! Salt peanuts!'"
British practice, again, is quite different. In fact, single-quote marks and double-quote marks are apt to be reversed in usage. Instructors in the U.S. should probably take this into account when reading papers submitted by students who have gone to school in other parts of the globe.
In newspapers, single quotation marks are used in headlines where double quotation marks would otherwise appear.
Congress Cries 'Shame!'
One further use, according to the Chicago Manual of Style: in philosophical discourse, key concepts may be set apart with single-quote marks. When such concepts are set off in this way, periods and commas go outside the single-quote marks:
Sartre's treatment of 'being', as opposed to his treatment of 'non-being', has been thoroughly described in Kaufmann's book.

SLASH OR VIRGULE
A slash or virgule [ / ] is used to indicate a choice between the words it separates.
Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could've gotten an A.
The slash can be translated as or and should not be used where the word or could not be used in its place. To avoid gender problems with pronouns, some writers use he/she, his/her, and him/her. Many authorities despise that construction and urge writers either to pluralize when possible and appropriate (to they, their, them) or to use he or she, etc. instead.
Notice there is no space between the slash and the letters on either side of it. There is, however, a space when the slash is used to indicate a line-break in quoted poetry: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / but I have promises to keep." (This way of quoting poetry is limited to four or five lines of verse, within the normal flow of text.)
When using slashes in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a World Wide Web address (http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/gr ammar.htm), be especially sure not to include spaces and not to confuse the slash with its backward cousin, \ , used to show file locations on drives.