Apostrophe
Of all punctuation marks, the apostrophe is the most abused. The most common misuses are inserting an apostrophe before the ‘s’ in a plural noun—where it doesn't belong—and omitting it from a possessive noun, where it does.
Prizes are awarded. (not Prize's are awarded.)
Have you seen the book's cover? (not Have you seen the books cover?)
Plural Nouns
Don't use apostrophes in plural nouns. This includes dates such as 1870s and 1990s. The only time you need to use an apostrophe in forming a plural is to avoid ambiguity. For instance, if you're writing about letter grades, you may need the apostrophe to distinguish A's from the word As.
For example:
ifs, ands, or buts
but:
do's and don'ts
Possessive Nouns
Things as well as people can be possessive.
a master's degree
a month's pay
today's daily newspaper
Possessive Pronouns
His, its, hers, theirs, yours, ours, and whose are possessive pronouns; they don't contain apostrophes.
It's isn't a possessive pronoun; it's a contraction of it is.
The book's end is better than its beginning.
but:
It's kind of you to ask.
Capitalisation
Use capital letters sparingly. The fewer capital letters you use, the more they stand out. In texts, limit capitalisation to proper nouns and formal names of people or places.
Capitalise the principal words in a title that appears before the name of a particular person. Don't capitalise a title elsewhere.
Vice President Tony Birch
but:
Tony Birch, vice president for public affairs and development
Assistant Professor Keith Kirby
but:
the assistant professor or Keith Kirby, assistant professor
An exception is in a heading or closing of a letter:
Keith Kirby
Assistant Professor
Academic Degrees and Honors
Don't capitalise general references to academic degrees and honors. Do capitalise and punctuate the abbreviated degree after someone's name.
I have bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees.
but:
Korinna Goudy, D.M.A.
Places
Capitalise north, south, east, and west only when they are part of specific geographic regions or official names of organisations. Don't capitalise general compass directions.
Specific
the South West
the Western hemisphere
the West Hoyland Neighborhood Association
General
the west entrance
the western counties
western Devon
Capitalise Earth when referring to the planet. Capitalise World War II and Second World War.
Things
Capitalise only the formal names of people, places, departments, institutes, organisations, companies, schools, centres, government agencies etc. Don't capitalise words that aren't part of the formal names.
So:
Center for Asian and Pacific Studies
the centre
School of Music
the music school or the school
Department of Political Science
the political science department or the department
Colon
The colon is often used to introduce a list or series. However, it's redundant to use a colon directly after such verbs as are and include.
Three types of examinations are offered: oral, take-home, and in-class.
but:
The course offerings include Spanish, marine biology, and medieval history.
Comma
Use commas to separate all items in a series of three or more ending in, and or or.
The university awards bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
The Department of Germanic Literature offers courses in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish as well as in German.
The following example may appear to be an exception, but it isn't because there are only two items in the series: (1) planning, (2) public policy and [public] management.
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management
Dashes—Em and En
Dashes aren't hyphens. The em dash is longer than a hyphen and indicates a break in the syntax of a sentence. In typewritten copy this long dash consists of two hyphens with no space on either side.
Of the three grading options—fine, medium and course—the last option is the default.
The en dash is identical to a hyphen in typewritten copy. In printed copy, however, it's half as long as an em dash. Use an en dash to indicate continuing or inclusive numbers in dates, times, or reference numbers.
1998–99
50 B.C.–A.D. 45
10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
pp. 12–28
The en dash sometimes replaces a hyphen for clarification.
post–Civil War
mid–twentieth century
Compound adjectives should be hyphenated to eliminate ambiguity of meaning. Otherwise, leave open.
first class mail
long lasting effect
but:
fast-sailing ship
work-study student
Adverbs ending in -ly followed by an adjective aren't hyphenated.
a highly complex issue
Quotation Marks
Use double quotation marks before and after direct quotations as well as titles of interviews, personal correspondence, short poems and plays, short musical compositions, speeches, individual television or radio programmes, and other unpublished writing.
Chapter II is entitled "Branching Out."
The poem is called "If."
"Freedom of the Free Press" was the title of her lecture.
Use single quotation marks for quotations within quotations.
I said, "You must know who shouted, 'Eureka! I've found it!'"
Put a period or comma inside the ending quotation mark.
Professor Ogard will speak on "China in Transition."
Caldwell's lecture, "Death and Life in American Law," is at 7:30 p.m. this evening.
Put an exclamation point, question mark, or semicolon inside the ending quotation mark only if it's part of the quotation.
"Who's on First?" is one of Abbott and Costello's classic comedy routines.
Put an exclamation point, question mark, or semicolon outside the ending quotation mark if it isn't part of the quotation.
Are you going to hear "China in Transition"?
Don't use quotation marks after the word so-called. It's redundant.
The so-called transient [not "transient"] was a retired doctor.
Use quotation marks around unusual, technical, ironic, or slang words or phrases not accompanied by a word calling attention to them. Use this device sparingly.
The "transient" was a retired doctor.
Solidus (Slash, oblique)
The solidus is overused and frequently ambiguous. Slash-happy writers use a series of solidus-separated words to be all encompassing when they can't or won't clarify their message. Too often, the relationship between the items joined by a solidus is unclear. Does it mean and, either...or, or does it simply link two closely related words? If you can't define what the solidus means, you shouldn't be using it. If you can define it, use words instead of the solidus so that the reader will understand too.
Chicana or Chicano (not Chicana/Chicano or Chicana/o)
faculty or staff member (not faculty/staff)
Use a hyphen instead of a solidus to link two words.
the teacher-student ratio (not the teacher/student ratio)
Use the solidus with a space on either side to separate two lines of poetry quoted in the text.
In Song of the Open Road, Ogden Nash wrote, "I think that I shall never see / A billboard lovely as a tree."
Too and To
Another two words that get widely misused.
The way to understand where ‘too’ is used instead of ‘to’ is relatively simple. If you can replace the word ‘too’ with ‘as well’ or ‘also’, then use a too with a double ‘o’!