Professional editor's corner punctuation quirks

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Professional Editor's Corner Punctuation Quirks

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American English most definitely possesses some
punctuation quirks. We see this with questions.

• Questions
• 1. In American English, we can ask a question
  without quotation marks or commas.
• Is it worth the risk? he wondered.
• 2. We can also omit the question mark after a
  request in informal writing. So American English
  permits the following two requests.
• Would you please return these books to the
  library?
• Would you please return these books to the
  library.

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• 3. We can also use entire sentences (capitalized
  and all) or parts of sentences as subjects,
  objects, or object complements.
• My favourite saying is Beggars cant be
  choosers.
• The expression she used in her speech was art in
  conversation.
• My all-time favourite flower was how Susan
  described the peony.
• However, Canadian English is quirkier still.
• For example, we can place a question mark after
  indirect questions, which is a serious no-no in
  American English.
• I wonder if you could cook dinner tonight?
• In Canadian English, as in American, we can omit
  question marks after requests.
• Would you come this way, please.

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Exclamation Points

• Now we leave the simply quirky and enter the
  truly mind blowing. In Canadian English, we can
  put exclamation points right in the middle of a
  sentence if were using onomatopoeic wordswords
  that represent a sound (e.g., bang, chirp, fizz,
  and meow).
• RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE!
• Crash! went the books when the bookshelf toppled
  over.
• We could never do that in American English.
• Compare that with the following.
• The crash of the books when the bookshelf toppled
  over was so loud I awoke.

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Periods

• While were discussing punctuation, I should note
  that Canadian English requires a period after
  titles (e.g., Mr., Ms., Mrs., and Dr.), as does
  American English. This is NOT true in British
  English.

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Quotations

• I noted above that American English allows us to
  omit commas and quotation marks with questions
  and to use sentences and parts of sentences as
  subjects, objects, and object complements. We can
  do all that in Canadian English, but Canadian
  English takes this a step further.
• The following are also permissible.
• My mother reiterated, Do your homework! (No
  quotation marks necessary and capitalization
  mid-sentence allowed.)
• He said Shut up! and ran. (No comma necessary
  after verbs of saying.)
• As in American English, we put commas and periods
  inside quotation marks whether or not the
  original author included them in the actual
  quote.
• Original Literature is protest, is it not?

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• Quote Literature is protest.
• Also, as in American English, we place ending
  question marks inside quotations if they apply to
  the quote only and outside if they apply to the
  entire sentence.
• Shouldnt we stop complaining Im hungry?
• All she said during the trip was Are we there
  yet?
• Note If a question mark belongs inside the quote
  AND outside the quote (if we have a question
  within a question), we use only one question mark
  and place it INSIDE.
• Isnt it time we stopped asking When can we open
  our Christmas presents?

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Ellipses

• In American English, we generally put a space
  before, after, and in between ellipses indicating
  omitted words. In Canadian English, we can use
  spaces before, after, and in between or NONE.
• Original Interviews, despite being disparaged
  for their subjective nature, serve as helpful
  research tools.
• American/Canadian Interviews . . . serve as
  helpful research tools.
• Canadian only Interviews...serve as helpful
  research tools.
• Additionally, as in American English, use four
  dots if the preceding part is a full sentence.
• American/Canadian Interviews, despite being
  disparaged for their subjective nature, serve as
  helpful research tools. . . . Most researchers
  assert that open-ended questions are the most
  effective.

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