10 things you might not know about punctuation

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Ildiko Weinberger wrote:

(from the Chicago Tribune, by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer, July 18, 2011)

"There was big news on the punctuation front a few weeks ago: an unfounded rumor that the Oxford University Press was getting rid of the "serial comma." That's the final comma in a series, as used in most books but few newspapers. (The Tribune would write "blood, sweat and tears"; most books would write "blood, sweat, and tears.") If the uproar confounds you, read on:"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-perspec-0717-things-20110714,0,1242712.story

Allison Wright wrote:

Something I learned about George Bernard Shaw this week was that he was in the habit of rephrasing entire sentences to avoid hyphenation in his published works.

It is a useful trick to remember!

Ambrose Li wrote:



But if you don’t know how it will eventually be typeset in print (or if it will be published in multiple media, especially if it will be published electronically), then it will be an exercise in vain…