*/
There are only a few cardinal rules, so read, relax and punctuate with confidence: Dominic Selwood reveals all…
Shakespeare couldn’t punctuate for toffee. Charlotte Brontë found it all ‘very puzzling’, and left her publisher to punctuate Jane Eyre. Byron confessed he was rather useless at the whole affair. But you, as a word-artist, need to triumph where they fell. And, if you need a reason to focus, look up the case in Maine earlier this year in which a dairy company lost $5m over a comma. If you feel you might want to brush up, here are a few quick tips.
You don’t need to be the grammar equivalent of a sushi chef to punctuate well. There are only a few cardinal rules and sins, and you don’t require any formal grammar awareness to master them, relax, and punctuate with confidence.
The days when Dickens could wow his starstruck fans with a sentence running to several hundred words are – thankfully – long gone. Modern readers want short sentences. Bite-size chunks are more instantly digestible, and far less ambiguous.
Our legal forebears delighted in furlongs of legalese with no commas. Don’t even think about doing this today. Commas are your best friend. They bring order out of chaos. Use them joyfully. If you’re unsure where they go, put a comma where you would naturally pause when reading aloud: Feeling homesick Cthulhu snuggled his tentacles up under the duvet. There’s only one place to pause: Feeling homesick, Cthulhu snuggled his tentacles up under the duvet. This quick hack will see you right 99% of the time.
Brackets are the Devil’s work. They break the flow. Use commas or dashes instead. You only really need brackets if the writing is technical and requires multiple asides: To assemble the guillotine, insert the upright case (Part A) into the long bench (Part B), then slot in the slanted blade (Part C). As always when working in your home workshop, watch your fingers. When completed, keep safely away from children and aristocrats.
They are also fine for source references or date ranges: The insane Countess Bathory (1560–1614) loved a good blood bath.
In the main, avoid them. (Although sometimes whole sentences in brackets can work.)
"Our legal forebears delighted in furlongs of legalese with no commas. Don’t even think about doing this today. Commas are your best friend"
Never, ever, EVER use an apostrophe to make a plural. You see it everywhere now, but it’s not okay on any level: Fresh plum’s; Cold drink’s; MP3’s; FAQ’s. These should all make your eyes bleed.
These days, in informal writing, sentences can be just one word. This can have a terrific effect. Honestly. Don’t misunderstand me. In formal legal writing like pleadings, orders, skeletons, opinions, etc, you absolutely still need proper sentences. However, in a piece of narrative for a statement or something less formal you may like more freedom. But, please, this new informality does not mean you can ever use a comma splice. You can’t. Don’t do it.
Goldilocks swung the nunchuk, she liked its weight. The woodsman hated bunnies, he hated them with a Luciferian mania. Each of these examples is two complete sentences. They need to be separated by full stops. If you’re daring, you might try semicolons. If you’re very fancy, you may even go for colons. But you cannot use commas. It looks wrong, feels wrong, and will haunt you.
It’s up to you, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Sometimes it’s indispensable. If you take it away in this example, you’re left with litigation beckoning: Drago gave the chocolate crucifixes to his brothers, Vlad, and Wadim.
Punctuation demands consistency. If you’re going to use the Oxford comma in a piece of writing, do it throughout. Don’t chop and change.
You have a genuinely free choice here. The traditional English spelling is -ize. The rather effete -ise only drifted in during the seventeenth century to ape French ways, which were fashionable at the time. If you want to be like Chaucer, Jane Austen, Dickens, Darwin, Orwell, Churchill, Tolkien and the rest, then use -ize with pride.
Punctuation and writing style say a lot about you. Find your voice, and enjoy it.
Dominic Selwood is a barrister. His latest book, Punctuation Without Tears, is a short, clear, funny and non-technical guide to all the punctuation you’ll ever need to know (Corax, £7.99).
Shakespeare couldn’t punctuate for toffee. Charlotte Brontë found it all ‘very puzzling’, and left her publisher to punctuate Jane Eyre. Byron confessed he was rather useless at the whole affair. But you, as a word-artist, need to triumph where they fell. And, if you need a reason to focus, look up the case in Maine earlier this year in which a dairy company lost $5m over a comma. If you feel you might want to brush up, here are a few quick tips.
You don’t need to be the grammar equivalent of a sushi chef to punctuate well. There are only a few cardinal rules and sins, and you don’t require any formal grammar awareness to master them, relax, and punctuate with confidence.
The days when Dickens could wow his starstruck fans with a sentence running to several hundred words are – thankfully – long gone. Modern readers want short sentences. Bite-size chunks are more instantly digestible, and far less ambiguous.
Our legal forebears delighted in furlongs of legalese with no commas. Don’t even think about doing this today. Commas are your best friend. They bring order out of chaos. Use them joyfully. If you’re unsure where they go, put a comma where you would naturally pause when reading aloud: Feeling homesick Cthulhu snuggled his tentacles up under the duvet. There’s only one place to pause: Feeling homesick, Cthulhu snuggled his tentacles up under the duvet. This quick hack will see you right 99% of the time.
Brackets are the Devil’s work. They break the flow. Use commas or dashes instead. You only really need brackets if the writing is technical and requires multiple asides: To assemble the guillotine, insert the upright case (Part A) into the long bench (Part B), then slot in the slanted blade (Part C). As always when working in your home workshop, watch your fingers. When completed, keep safely away from children and aristocrats.
They are also fine for source references or date ranges: The insane Countess Bathory (1560–1614) loved a good blood bath.
In the main, avoid them. (Although sometimes whole sentences in brackets can work.)
"Our legal forebears delighted in furlongs of legalese with no commas. Don’t even think about doing this today. Commas are your best friend"
Never, ever, EVER use an apostrophe to make a plural. You see it everywhere now, but it’s not okay on any level: Fresh plum’s; Cold drink’s; MP3’s; FAQ’s. These should all make your eyes bleed.
These days, in informal writing, sentences can be just one word. This can have a terrific effect. Honestly. Don’t misunderstand me. In formal legal writing like pleadings, orders, skeletons, opinions, etc, you absolutely still need proper sentences. However, in a piece of narrative for a statement or something less formal you may like more freedom. But, please, this new informality does not mean you can ever use a comma splice. You can’t. Don’t do it.
Goldilocks swung the nunchuk, she liked its weight. The woodsman hated bunnies, he hated them with a Luciferian mania. Each of these examples is two complete sentences. They need to be separated by full stops. If you’re daring, you might try semicolons. If you’re very fancy, you may even go for colons. But you cannot use commas. It looks wrong, feels wrong, and will haunt you.
It’s up to you, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Sometimes it’s indispensable. If you take it away in this example, you’re left with litigation beckoning: Drago gave the chocolate crucifixes to his brothers, Vlad, and Wadim.
Punctuation demands consistency. If you’re going to use the Oxford comma in a piece of writing, do it throughout. Don’t chop and change.
You have a genuinely free choice here. The traditional English spelling is -ize. The rather effete -ise only drifted in during the seventeenth century to ape French ways, which were fashionable at the time. If you want to be like Chaucer, Jane Austen, Dickens, Darwin, Orwell, Churchill, Tolkien and the rest, then use -ize with pride.
Punctuation and writing style say a lot about you. Find your voice, and enjoy it.
Dominic Selwood is a barrister. His latest book, Punctuation Without Tears, is a short, clear, funny and non-technical guide to all the punctuation you’ll ever need to know (Corax, £7.99).
There are only a few cardinal rules, so read, relax and punctuate with confidence: Dominic Selwood reveals all…
Sam Townend KC explains the Bar Council’s efforts towards ensuring a bright future for the profession
Giovanni D’Avola explores the issue of over-citation of unreported cases and the ‘added value’ elements of a law report
Louise Crush explores the key points and opportunities for tax efficiency
Westgate Wealth Management Ltd is a Partner Practice of FTSE 100 company St. James’s Place – one of the top UK Wealth Management firms. We offer a holistic service of distinct quality, integrity, and excellence with the aim to build a professional and valuable relationship with our clients, helping to provide them with security now, prosperity in the future and the highest standard of service in all of our dealings.
Is now the time to review your financial position, having reached a career milestone? asks Louise Crush
If you were to host a dinner party with 10 guests, and you asked them to explain what financial planning is and how it differs to financial advice, you’d receive 10 different answers. The variety of answers highlights the ongoing need to clarify and promote the value of financial planning.
On the 50th anniversary of the pub bombings, even now it is still unresolved. Chris Mullin, the journalist and former MP who led the campaign leading to the release of the Birmingham Six, looks back at events
Adele Akers’ reflections on health and wellbeing support at the very junior end of the Bar
Not one to say, ‘I told you so,’ Sam Thomas continues his cyber series with the key learnings from the major supply chain attack affecting 80 law firms and at least one set of chambers at the end of 2023
One year on and the Court of Appeal fails to quash convictions after receiving evidence of racism in the jury room, and there are still no revisions to the Equal Treatment Bench Book , says Keir Monteith KC
Increasing sophistication and frequency of attacks have led many chambers to ask ‘when’ not ‘if’ they will suffer a cyber incident. Simon Davis sets out the factors to consider when renewing your cyber cover