Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

ending in y, 43-44, 197, 199-200; of
words not normally used as nouns, 199;
unusual plurals and singulars, 219-222;
See also Pronoun-antecedent
agreement, Subject-verb agreement
Poetry, parallel structure in, 231; separating
lines of, 142-143
Possessives: of compound nouns, 197; of
inanimate objects, 197-198; joint
possession, 195; of plural nouns,
194-195; of pronouns, 195, 239,
248-249; of sibilants, 196-197; of
singular nouns, 194; of words ending in
y, 197
Predicates: compound, 56-57; definition, 55;
examples of, 55-57; and subject-verb
agreement, 211
Prefixes: hyphenation with, 28-30, 50, 128,
163; in negative formations, 48-52
Prepositions: confusion with conjunctions,
64; definition, 263; ending a sentence
with, 263-264
Pronoun-antecedent agreement, 215-216,
227-228, 253-258
Pronouns: antecedents of, 249-258; avoiding
male-only, 253-254, 258, 288-289,
296-302; definition, 238; in dependent
clauses, 58, 244-247; indefinite,
217-218, 300; intensive, 248; personal,
195, 239-244, 256-258; possessive
case, 239, 248-249; possessives of, 195,
239, 248-249; reflexive, 247-248;
relative, 244-247; subjective and
objective cases, 238-246; See also
Antecedents, Male-only pronouns,
Pronoun-antecedent agreement
Proper nouns, 19, 270, 282
Punctuation: overview, 53-54; See individual
punctuation marks
Quantity. See Subject-verb agreement
Question mark: capitalization after, 116, 269;
before ellipsis, 189; functions of, 114;
with indirect questions, 116; after
italics, 124; instead of period, 108, 124,
183; with queries, 114-115; with
requests, 118; with rhetorical
questions, 117-118; within a sentence,
84, 116, 124, 269; style conventions for,
124; indicating tentative inflection,
116-117; indicating uncertainty, 119
Quotations: indicating changes or additions
to, 166-170, 176-177, 184; colon
before, 103; comma before, 84-85; dash
after, 160; emphasizing words in,
168-169, 177, 284-285; indicating
omissions in, 167, 168, 177, 184-185,
189-190; quotation marks around, 176;
setting off, 175-1 76
INDEX
Quotation marks: with citations, 176; with
dialogue, 172-175; functions of, 172;
with other punctuation marks,
182-183; quotations within quotations,
176, 181; single versus double, 176, 181;
style conventions for, 180-183; with
titles, 180, 282; with words that are
coined or unusual, 177-1 78; with words
used in nonstandard way, 178-179;
with words used ironically, 179-180
Ratios, 103
Reading level, 304-306
Redundancy, avoiding, 313-315
References: within brackets, 170;
capitalization of, 272; within
parentheses, 149-150
Reflexive pronouns, 247-248
Relative pronouns, 244-24 7
Restrictive elements, 73-79, 246-247
Rhetorical questions, 117-118, 122, 123
Self-assessment of writing, 321-323
Semicolon: as alternative to breaking
sentence, 95; compared with colon,
102, 104; when to use instead of
comma, 80, 91-93; as alternative to
conjunction, 93-95; functions of,
87-88; after italicized text, 96;
separating complex elements, 88-89;
separating independent clauses, 65,
89-90, 93-96; spacing after, 96
Sentences: appropriate length of, 306-308;
basic components of, 55-58; ending
with preposition, 263-264; logical
ordering of, 311-313, 322; organizing
information within, 308-311, 322;
sentence fragments, 59, 262; starting
with conjunction, 262-263; See also
Style
Serial comma, 80-81
Sexist writing. See Male-only pronouns
Sibilants: plurals of, 43, 200; possessives of,
196-197
Sic, 169-170, 177
Singular formations. See Plural formations
Slash: in dates, 142; with division or fractions,
142; indicating dual roles, 139-140;
functions of, 139; indicating options or
alternatives, 140-141; indicating per,
142; separating elements being
compared, 141; separating lines of
poetry, 142-143; separating origins and
destinations, 141-142
Small caps, 275-276
Solidus. See Slash
Speech, colloquial, 318-319
Spelling: categories of common errors, 5-8;
examples of common errors, 3-5; errors
327