Mild-Mannered Devil © by Sandy Van Doren

"-" is a mild enough punctuation mark when we're reading.  But it's a devil when we want to determine its correct usage.

I'd wager we all know to use a hyphen when splitting a word too long for one line.  We'd also hyphenate "blue-green eyes" or "dress of blue-green" or "a you-can't-kid-me book" or "two-thirds finished.

But do we write
bluish green eyes      or    bluish-green eyes?
life-insurance policy  or   life insurance policy?
badly written story     or   badly-written story?
happy-birthday-card  or   happy birthday card?
eat dirt cheap            or   eat dirt-cheap?

It is grammatically incorrect to hyphenate the first three choices.  Neither example is correct for the fourth line; it should correctly read happy-birthday card. The last line depends on what meaning you want to convey: eating doesn't cost a lot or eating dirt isn't costly.

Sometimes the only help is the dictionary.  Sometimes clarity dictates hyphen usage: farmer's co-op or farmer's coop; re-creation (making anew) instead of recreation (having fun).  Sometimes a hyphen keeps the reader from getting distracted: belllike or bell-like; antiinflammatory or anti-inflammatory.

A hyphen is no longer preferred to set off a prefix or suffix or divide a word with double consonants: redistribute, not re-distribute.  Nor should one separate two different vowels occurring in a word: semiannual, reappear.

Hyphens are always used with some words (half-baked, matter-of-fact) and never with others (high school, life insurance).  Everyday usage can change a hyphenated word to a "closed" one (mailman, sunbathing).

Compound nouns are usually not hyphenated: decision making; dictionary consulting.  If these words are used as adjectives, then hyphens are required: decision-making process, dictionary-consulting writer.  Remember exceptions exist: high school student, life insurance policy.

Compound adjectives occurring before the noun are hyphenated, but not when following it: well-known author, an author well known to readers; a so-called clue, a clue so called by amateurs.

The best advice for using a hyphen is to learn the few "rules" and to judge the phrase's readability on a single read.  If the reader is apt to be confused or misled, hyphenate.  If your meaning is clear, don't use a hyphen.

It's a wise writer who keeps a dictionary handy as well.

(Originally appeared in WARA's The Prairie Rose "Talking Technical" column, March/Aptil 1995)

I Never Get Any Respect: As told to Sandy Van Doren ©

I’m built strong enough to do a lot of work, but not strong enough to do all the work.  Yet that’s what many writers expect of me.  Like this one:

She’s about five hundred dollars short of the ransom, and has less than twenty-four hours to get it.

Putting me between the two verbs of a sentence makes me work when I don’t have to.

She’s about five hundred dollars short of the ransom and has less than twenty-four hours to get it.

You see, not every and requires a comma.  Now, if there’s more than two verbs in the same sentence, use me.

She’s about one hundred dollars short of the ticket price, has lost too much blood to get up, and has less than twenty-four hours before he finds her.

Inserting a comma before and in sentences with three verbs is author’s choice.  If I would help make your words clearer to your reader, then I’d be happy to go to work.  Any more than three, I’m a must.

If and joins two or more main ideas that can stand on their own, I’m your mark.

She’s about one hundred dollars short of a bus ticket out of this mud hole of a town, and she just found out bus service will be discontinued in two days.

Each of these uses applies if you use any conjunction such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet, while, and whereas.

She’s about five hundred dollars short of the ransom but has less than twenty-four hours to get it.

She’s about one hundred dollars short of the ticket price, has lost too much blood to get up, yet has less than twenty-four hours before he finds her.

She’s about one hundred dollars short of a bus ticket out of this mud hole of a town, while she just found out bus service will be discontinued in two days.

Now, all that being said, an example of overworking me would be:

Her heart truly stopped for the space of several beats, when thick hands with short, freckled fingers reached for a hand towel, not more than eighteen inches from her, but within her line of vision.

Commas…and where none are needed or should be.  Comma #1 sets a dependent clause apart from the main clause it depends on for meaning.  Comma #2 is legit; it’s separating adjectives.  Comma #3 is keeping a descriptive phrase from the item it describes; the same with Comma #4.

Think of me as a rather mild mark of punctuation.  I can indicate a slight degree of pause or separation between words or groups of words.  I don’t have the strength to keep whole clauses apart.

The echo of a breaking tree branch cracked overhead, she whirled around and stumbled over a downed Aspen.

She turned to run, but a thorny shrub snagged the leg of her blue jeans, the world crumbled from beneath her.

That’s why you should pair me with a conjunction or use a semicolon.  Or break the sentences apart with periods and capitals.

The echo of a breaking tree branch cracked overhead.  She whirled around and stumbled over a downed Aspen.

She turned to run, but a thorny shrub snagged the leg of her blue jeans.  The world crumbled from beneath her.  

Or:

 She turned to run.  But a thorny shrub snagged the leg of her blue jeans, and the world crumbled from beneath her.

You know, I’m the most frequently used punctuation mark, as indeed I should be.  After all, I tell readers when to pause and where a word is missing.  I separate thoughts and descriptions, and I add rhythm to sentences.  Keep in mind, my main job is to create clarity for the reader, let him know what’s on your mind, tell her just how you want this sentence to be heard.

But, please, respect my limitations.  Respect.  Respect.  My kingdom for a little respect.  Oops, sorry.  I’m off my soapbox now.

Is it boy's or is it boys'?

On my Be Romantic blog I am currently going over some of the basic elements in editing. My latest post concerns the proper usage of nouns and pronouns. One of my personal biggest problems is remembering how to punctuate possessive nouns correctly. For example: Is it boy's? Or is it boys'? Actually it can be both, depending on what you mean. The first (boy's) is singular possessive. The second (boys') is plural possessive.

The following is some other basic information on using Nouns and Pronouns: (English teachers, please be patient with me. I may have missed some other important things to remember.)

Usage of Nouns
• They can refer to a person, place, or thing.
• As the subject: The doorman greeted everyone.
• As a direct object: She sold her house.
• As an indirect object of a verb: Sam gave the cat a ball of string.
• As an object of a preposition: He called for directions over the phone.
• As an adverb: School starts today.
• As an adjective: The red car left the parking lot.

Possessive Nouns
• Singular Possessive: Add ‘s (boy—boy’s)
• Plural Possessive, plural noun that ends in s or es: Add an apostrophe to the end of the word (candles—candles’ OR ships—ships’)
• Plural Possessive, for plural nouns any other way: Add ‘s to the end of the word (children—children’s OR women—women’s)
• Individual Ownership: To show individual ownership, make both nouns in the sentence possessive. (Tom’s and Greg’s cars were stolen.)
• Joint Ownership: To show joint ownership, make only the final noun possessive. (Tom and Greg’s car was stolen.)

Pronouns
• Pronouns replace one or more nouns or a group of words in a sentence. They can be used to refer to a person, place, or thing.
• First Person Singular: I, my, mine, me, myself
• First Person Plural: we, our, ours, us, ourselves
• Second Person Singular: you, your, yours, you, yourself
• Second Person Plural: you, your, yours, you, yourselves
• Third Person Singular: he, she, it, his, her, hers, its, him, himself, herself, itself
• Third Person Plural: they, their, theirs, them, themselves

Capitalization of Proper Nouns and Adjectives
• Personal names: Thomas Edison
• Personal titles used as part of a person’s name: Dr. Sarah Stone, Greg Elderly, Ph.D., Pop John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth
• Business firm: Best Buy
• Business products: Kleenex, Pepsi
• Institutions: Hutchinson Omnisphere, Kansas State University
• Government bodies and agencies: Internal Revenue Service, United States Post Office
• Public organizations: Chamber of Commerce, Girl Scouts
• Private organizations: Midwest Authors Guild
• Family relationships when the word is substituted for a proper noun or used with the person’s name: I told Mother that my sister would be late. OR Grandma Ivy loves children. OR We went to stay with Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Otto.
• Nationalities and races: Australian, Chinese, Black (racial group)
• Languages: English, Korean
• Religious names and denominations: Christianity, Islam, Methodism
• Names of deities and revered persons: the Almighty, Allah, Child of God, Holy Ghost, the Word
• Names of sacred works: the Bible, the Koran, Genesis, the Beatitudes
• Religious holidays: Christmas, Easter, High Mass, Lent
• Historic events, special events, and holidays: Battle of Midway, Columbus Day, Han Dynasty, Hundred Year War, Midwest Book Fair, World War II
• Historical monuments, places, and buildings: Arlington National Cemetery, the Latin Quarter, Times Square, Washington Monument
• Geographic names and regions: Capitalize all geographic names and regions of a country, continent, or hemisphere. California, Niles Township, Western Hemisphere, Baja Peninsula, Strait of Magellan, Myrtle Beach, Lake Tahoe, the Andes, Aswan Dam, Red Wood Forest
• Geological terms: Capitalize the names of eras, periods, epochs, and episodes. Ice Age, Lower Jurassic period, Paleozoic era, Pliocene epoch
• Titles of Publications: Capitalize the first word and all other words except articles and prepositions under five letters in the titles of books, chapters, magazines, articles, newspapers, musical compositions, and other publications. Swan Lake (opera), The Tale of Two Cities (book), “The Midwest’s Blue-collar Blues” (article), “Essentials of Punctuation” (chapter), Kansas City Star (newspaper)

Punctu-what?

A lecture voice speaks into your earphones as you tour the museum:

“Language developed because we have a need for information to be passed from one group or person to another. As the years passed, some mother said, ‘Leave me a note if you’re going rabbit hunting while I’m at the stream, bathing your sister.’ She handed young Spikker a rock shaped like a rabbit and showed him where to leave it.”

A light comes on over a rabbit-shaped rock. In the background a primitive family is painted living in the ancient wilderness by a streambed.

Suddenly you wonder what it would be like never to receive any communication from another person in your life. Not written, not spoken, not texted, not phoned, not even from a television set or movie. It is uniquely human, the ability to pass information on from a person who is absent to a person who is present.

This communication can be almost instant, as in texting, or can span thousands of years, as in hieroglyphics.

Over the sands of time, distant communicators have had to attempt to make their communication more clear to their readers. The rabbit rock only worked for the one pair of communicators and did not work so well for leaving a note telling mom, he was going swimming. Punctuation was developed. In hieroglyphics, it is the border drawn around groups of symbols. In our modern written language, it is periods, commas, and all the other symbols that we use to express our intentions. The exact placement of these symbols is important for their exact positioning may change the meaning dramatically.

Here are two examples each using the same words, two commas, and one period:

1. Woman, without her man, is lost.

2. Woman, without her, man is lost.

Another example became the title to a book on punctuation. This is how I remember it:

The wild panda eats shoots and leaves. We learn that commas set apart items in sentences. Many of us would punctuate the sentence to read; The wild panda eats, shoots, and leaves. This sentence would make the meaning change vividly. No one wants shot at by a panda.

Television and actors, news reporting, and even the teleprompter used by speakers to deliver speeches, use the language of writing. Our current president is adept with teleprompter use, which makes the speech he delivers an act of communication between other times, yet delivered in person. This is a unique type of written communication where the recipient of the message does not see the ‘paper’. Punctuation is very important there too, for a missing punctuation symbol or one mis-used can have global consequences as message is read aloud.

Luckily, for we writers of fiction, punctuation is important but no one is likely to lose their life over it. However, the feeling the author is trying to convey can be missed, sludged, and cause enough confusion that even a good reader gives up. Punctuation conveys mood and emotions and is an essential building block of the writing craft—like wall studs in a house. You have nothing without them and you don’t have much if they don’t do their job.

Here are a couple of books that are useful references. They are small and easily read:

Strunk and White The Elements of Style

Essentials of English