207
In music, the punctuation is absolutely strict; the bars
and rests are absolutely defined. But our prose cannot be quite
strict, because we have to relate it to the audience. In other
words we are continually changing the score.
—Sir Ralph Richardson
There are some punctuations that are interesting
and there are some punctuations that are not.
—Gertrude Stein
Understanding Punctuation
Most writers think that punctuation must obey the same kind
of rules that govern grammar, and so managing commas and
­semicolons is about as interesting as making verbs agree with
­subjects. In fact, you have more choices in how to ­punctuate
than you might think, and if you choose thoughtfully, you can
help readers not only understand a complex sentence more ­easily
but create nuances of emphasis that they will notice. It takes
more than a few commas to turn a monotone into the Hallelujah
­Chorus, but a little care can produce gratifying results.
I will address punctuation as a functional problem: How do
we punctuate the end of a sentence, then its beginning, and ­finally
its middle? But first, we have to distinguish different kinds of
sentences.
Appendix I
Punctuation
208	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences
Sentences have traditionally been called simple, compound, and
complex. If a sentence has just one independent clause, it is
simple:
	 The greatest English dictionary is the Oxford English Dictionary.
If it has two or more independent clauses, it is compound:
	 [There are many good dictionaries]1,
	 [but the greatest is the Oxford English Dictionary]2.
If it has an independent clause and one or more subordinate
clauses, it is complex:
	 [While there are many good dictionaries] subordinate clause
	 [the greatest is the Oxford English Dictionary]. independent clause
(Compound-complex is self-explanatory.)
These terms are potentially misleading, because they suggest
that a grammatically simple sentence should also feel simpler
than one that is grammatically complex. But that’s not always
true. For example, to most readers of the next two ­sentences,
the ­grammatically simple one feels more complex than the
­grammatically ­complex one:
grammatically simple:	Our review of the test led to our modification
of it as a result of complaints by teachers.
grammatically complex:	After we reviewed the test, we modified it
because teachers complained.
We need another set of terms that more reliably indicate how
readers are likely to respond to such sentences.
Punctuated and Grammatical Sentences
We can make more useful distinctions between what we will call
punctuated sentences and grammatical sentences:
•	 A punctuated sentence begins with a capital letter and ends
with a period or question/exclamation mark. It might be one
word or a hundred.
•	 A grammatical sentence is a subject and verb in a main clause
along with everything else depending on that clause.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 209
We distinguish these two kinds of sentences because readers
can respond to them very differently: the one you are now reading,
for example, is one long punctuated sentence, but it is not as
hard to read as many shorter sentences that consist of many subordinate
clauses; I have chosen to punctuate as one long sentence
what I might have punctuated as a series of shorter ones: that
colon, those semicolons, and the comma before that but could
have been periods, for example—and that dash could have been a
period too.
Here is that long sentence you just read repunctuated with
virtually no change in its grammar, creating seven punctuated
sentences:
	 We must distinguish these two kinds of punctuated sentences
because readers respond to them very differently. The one you are
now reading, for example, is a short punctuated sentence, consisting
of just one subject and one verb plus what depends on them. But
this paragraph is not as hard to read as many shorter sentences that
consist of many subordinate clauses. I have chosen to punctuate as
separate sentences what I could have punctuated as one long one.
The period before that but, for example, could have been a comma.
The last two periods could have been semicolons. And that period
could have been a dash.
Though I changed little but the punctuation, those seven
­grammatical sentences, now punctuated as seven punctuated
­sentences, feel different from those same grammatical sentences
in a single punctuated sentence. In short, we can create different
stylistic effects simply by the way we punctuate: punctuation is
not governed by rules, but by choices.
Punctuating the Ends of Sentences
Above all other rules of punctuation, a writer must know how
to punctuate the end of a grammatical sentence. You have a lot
of choices in how to do that, but signal it you must, because
readers have to know where one grammatical sentence stops and
the next begins. The punctuation of this one does not help us
do that:
	 In 1967, Congress passed civil rights laws that remedied problems of
registration and voting this had political consequences throughout
the South.
210	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
When you write that kind of sentence you create a fused
or run-on sentence, an error you cannot afford to make,
because it signals that a writer does not understand the basics of
writing.
You can choose to separate pairs of grammatical sentences in
ten ways. Three are common.
Three Common Forms of End Punctuation
	1.	Period (or Question/Exclamation Mark) Alone  The ­simplest,
least noticeable way to signal the end of a grammatical sentence
is with a period:
✓	 In 1967, Congress passed civil rights laws that remedied problems
of registration and voting. This had political consequences
throughout the South.
But if you create too many short punctuated sentences,
your readers may feel your prose is choppy or simplistic.
­Experienced writers revise a series of very short ­grammatical
sentences into subordinate clauses or phrases, turning two or
more grammatical sentences into one:
✓	 When Congress passed civil rights laws to remedy problems
of registration and voting in 1967, they had political consequences
throughout the South.
✓	 The civil rights laws that Congress passed in 1967 to remedy
problems of registration and voting had political consequences
throughout the South.
Be cautious, though: combine too many short grammatical
sentences into one long one, and you create a sentence that
sprawls (see Lesson 10).
	2.	Semicolon Alone  A semicolon is like a soft period; whatever
is on either side of it should be a grammatical sentence (with
an exception we’ll discuss on p. 225). Use a semicolon instead
of a period only when the first grammatical sentence has
fewer than fifteen or so words, and the content of the second
grammatical sentence is closely linked to the first:
	 In 1967, Congress passed civil rights laws that remedied problems
of registration and voting; those laws had political consequences
throughout the South.
A special problem with semicolons and however In one
context, even well-educated writers often incorrectly end
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 211
one grammatical sentence with a comma and begin the next
­grammatical sentence with however.
	 Taxpayers have supported public education, however, they now
object because taxes have risen so steeply.
Those sentences must be separated by a semicolon (but keep
the comma after however):
✓	 Taxpayers have supported public education; however, they now
object because taxes have risen so steeply.
Many writers avoid semicolons because they find them
mildly intimidating. So learning their use might be worth your
time, if you want to be judged a sophisticated writer. Once
­every couple of pages is probably about right.
	3.	Comma + Coordinating Conjunction  Readers also are ready
to recognize the end of a grammatical sentence when they see
a comma followed by two signals:
•	 a coordinating conjunction: and, but, yet, for, so, or, nor
•	 another subject and verb
✓	 In the 1950s religion was viewed as a bulwark against
­communism, so it was not long after that that atheism was
felt to threaten national security.
✓	 American intellectuals have often followed Europeans, but our
culture has proven inhospitable to their brand of socialism.
Choose a period if the two grammatical sentences are long
and have their own internal punctuation.
When readers begin a coordinated series of three or
more grammatical sentences, they accept just a comma between
them, but only if they are short and have no internal
punctuation:
✓	 Baseball satisfies our admiration for precision, basketball speaks
to our love of speed and grace, and football appeals to our lust for
violence.
If any of the grammatical sentences has internal punctuation,
separate them with semicolons:
✓	 Baseball, the oldest indigenous American sport and essentially a
rural one, satisfies our admiration for precision; basketball, our
newest sport and now more urban than rural, speaks to our love
of speed and grace; and football, a sport both rural and urban,
­appeals to our lust for violence.
212	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
An exception: Omit the comma between a coordinated pair
of short grammatical sentences if you introduce them with a
modifier that applies to both of them:
✓	 Once the upheaval after the collapse of the Soviet Union had
­settled down, the economies of its former satellites had begun to
rebound but Russia’s had yet to hit bottom.
Too many grammatical sentences joined with and or so feel
simplistic, so avoid more than one or two a page.
Four Less Common Forms of End Punctuation
Some readers have reservations about these next four ways of
signaling the end of a grammatical sentence, but careful writers
regularly use them.
	 4.	Period + Coordinating Conjunction  Some readers think it’s
wrong to begin a punctuated sentence with a coordinating
conjunction such as and or but (review p. 14). But they are
wrong; this is entirely correct:
✓	 Education cannot guarantee a democracy. And when it is
­available to only a few, it becomes a tool of social repression.
Use this pattern no more than once or twice a page, especially
with and.
	 5.	Semicolon + Coordinating Conjunction  Writers occasionally
end one grammatical sentence with a semicolon and ­begin
the next with a coordinating conjunction:
✓	 In the 1950s religion was viewed as a bulwark against communism;
so soon thereafter atheism was felt to threaten national
security.
Use a comma instead of a semicolon if the two grammatical
sentences are short. But readers are grateful for a semicolon
if the two grammatical sentences are long and have their own
internal commas:
✓	 Problem solving, one of the most active areas of psychology, has
made great strides in the last decade, particularly in understanding
the problem-solving strategies of experts; so it is no surprise
that educators have followed that research with interest.
But then readers would probably prefer a period there even
more.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 213
	 6.	Conjunction Alone  Some writers signal a close link between
short grammatical sentences with a coordinating conjunction
alone, omitting the comma:
✓	 Oscar Wilde violated a fundamental law of British society and we
all know what happened to him.
But a warning: though writers of the best prose do this, some
teachers consider it an error.
	 7.	Comma Alone  Readers rarely expect to see just a comma
used to separate two grammatical sentences, but they can manage
if the sentences are short and closely linked in meaning,
such as cause-effect, first-second, if-then, etc.
	 Act in haste, repent at leisure.
Be sure, though, that neither has internal commas; not this:
	 Women, who have always been underpaid, no longer accept that
discriminatory treatment, they are now doing something about it.
A semicolon would be clearer:
✓	 Women, who have always been underpaid, no longer accept that
discriminatory treatment; they are now doing something about it.
But the same warning: though writers of the best prose separate
short grammatical sentences with just a comma, many
teachers disapprove, because a comma alone is traditionally
condemned as a “comma splice,” in their view, a grave error.
So be sure of your readers before you experiment.
Quick Tip:  When you begin a grammatical sentence with
but, you can either put a comma at the end of the previous
sentence or begin a new punctuated sentence by putting a
period there and capitalizing but. Use a ­period + But if what
follows is important and you intend to go on discussing it:
✓	 The immediate consequence of higher gas prices was some
curtailment of driving. But the long-term effect changed
the car buying habits of Americans, perhaps permanently,
a change that the Big Three car manufacturers could not
­ignore. They . . .
214	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Three Special Cases: Colon, Dash, Parentheses
These last three ways of signaling the end of a grammatical sentence
are a bit self-conscious, but might be interesting to those
who want to distinguish themselves from most other writers.
	8.	Colon  Discerning readers are likely to think you are a bit
­sophisticated if you end a sentence with an appropriate colon:
they take it as shorthand for to illustrate, for example, that is,
therefore:
✓	 Dance is not widely supported: no company operates at a profit,
and there are few outside major cities.
A colon can also signal more obviously than a comma or
­semicolon that you are balancing the structure, sound, and
meaning of one clause against another:
✓	 Civil disobedience is the public conscience of a democracy: mass
enthusiasm is the public consensus of a tyranny.
If you follow the colon with a grammatical sentence, capitalize
the first word or not, depending on how much you want to
emphasize what follows (note: some handbooks claim that the
first word after a colon should not be capitalized).
Use a comma + but if what follows only qualifies what
preceded.
✓	 The immediate consequence of higher gas prices was some
curtailment of driving, but that did not last long. The
long-term effect was changes in the car buying habits of
­Americans, a change that the Big Three car manufacturers
could not ignore. They . . .
Quick Tip:  Avoid a colon if it breaks a clause into two
pieces, neither of which is a grammatically complete sentence.
Avoid this:
	 Genetic counseling requires: a knowledge of statistical
genetics, an awareness of choices open to parents, and the
psychological competence to deal with emotional trauma.
Instead, put the colon only after a whole subject-verb-­object
structure:
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 215
✓	 Genetic counseling requires the following: a ­knowledge
of statistical genetics, an awareness of choices open to
­parents, and the psychological competence to deal with
emotional trauma.
	 9.	Dash  You can also signal balance more informally with a
dash—it suggests a casual afterthought:
✓	 Stonehenge is a wonder—only a genius could have conceived it.
Contrast that with a more formal colon: it makes a difference.
	10.	Parentheses  You can insert a short grammatical sentence
inside another one with parentheses, if what you put in the
parentheses is like a short afterthought. Do not put a period
after the sentence inside the parenthesis; put a single period
outside:
✓	 Stonehenge is a wonder (only a genius could have conceived it).
Here’s the point:  You can end a grammatical sentence in
ten ways. Three are conventional and common:
 1. Period I win. You lose.
 2. Semicolon I win; you lose.
  3. Comma + coordinating
conjunction
I win, and you lose.
Four are a bit debatable, but good writers use them, especially
the first:
  4. Period + coordinating conjunction I win. And you lose.
  5. Semicolon + coordinating
conjunction
I win; and you lose.
  6. Coordinating conjunction alone I win and you lose.
 7. Comma alone I win, you lose.
Three are for writers who want to be a bit stylish in their
punctuation:
 8. Colon I win: you lose.
 9. Dash I win—you lose.
10. Parentheses I win (you lose).
216	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Though some ways of punctuating the end of a sentence are
flat-out wrong, you can choose from among many that are right,
and each has a different effect. If you look again at the short sentences
on pp. 182–183 and Mailer’s long sentence on p. 183, you
can see those choices in contrast. Those writers could have chosen
otherwise and thereby created a different stylistic effect.
Intended Sentence Fragments
Most readers will think you’ve made a serious error if you inadvertently
punctuate a fragment of a grammatical sentence as
a complete one. Among the most common sentence fragments is
a subordinate dependent clause detached from its main clause,
­especially one beginning with because:
	 You cannot break a complex sentence into two shorter ones merely
by replacing commas with periods. Because if you do, you will be
considered at best careless, at worst uneducated.
Another common fragment begins with which:
	 Most fragments occur when you write a sentence that goes on so
long and becomes so complicated that you start to feel that you are
losing control over it and so need to drop in a period to start another
sentence. Which is why you must understand how to write a long
but clearly constructed sentence that readers can follow easily.
Traditionally, a punctuated sentence that fails to include an independent
main clause is wrong. At least in theory.
In fact, experienced writers often write fragments deliberately,
as I just did. When intended, those fragments typically have two
characteristics:
•	 They are relatively short, fewer than ten or so words.
•	 They are intended to reflect a mind at work, as if the writer
were speaking to you, finishing a sentence, then immediately
expanding and qualifying it. Almost as an afterthought, often
ironically.
In this passage, Mark Twain uses sentence fragments (along
with sentences beginning with conjunctions) to capture the element
of chance in the circumstances that made him an author
(fragments are boldfaced):
	  For amusement I scribbled things for the Virginia City Enterprise. . . .
One of my efforts attracted attention, and the Enterprise sent for me
and put me on its staff.
	  And so I became a journalist—another link. By and by
Circumstance and the Sacramento Union sent me to the Sandwich
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 217
Islands for five or six months, to write up sugar. I did it; and threw
in a good deal of extraneous matter that hadn’t anything to do
with sugar. But it was this extraneous matter that helped me to
another link.
	  It made me notorious, and San Francisco invited me to lecture.
Which I did. And profitably. I had long had a desire to travel and see
the world, and now Circumstance had most kindly and unexpectedly
hurled me upon the platform and furnished me the means. So I
joined the “Quaker City Excursion.”
—Mark Twain, The Turning-Point of My Life
You should know, however, that writers rarely use sentence fragments
in academic prose. They are considered a bit too casual. If
you decide to experiment, be sure that your audience can see that
you know what you’re doing.
Punctuating Beginnings
You have no issues in punctuating the beginning of a sentence
when you begin directly with its subject, as I did this one. However,
as with this one, when a sentence forces a reader to plow
through several introductory words, phrases, and clauses, especially
when they have their own internal punctuation and readers
might be confused by it all (as you may be right now), forget trying
to punctuate it right: revise it.
There are a few rules that your readers expect you to follow,
but more often you have to rely on judgment.
Five Reliable Rules
	1.	Always separate an introductory element from the subject of
a sentence with a comma if a reader might misunderstand
the structure of the sentence, as in this one:
	 When a lawyer concludes her argument has to be easily remembered
by a jury.
Do this:
✓	 When a lawyer concludes, her argument has to be easily remembered
by a jury.
	2.	Never end an introductory clause or phrase with a semicolon,
no matter how it long is.  Readers take semicolons to signal the
end of a grammatical sentence (but see p. 225). Never this:
	 Although the Administration knew that Iraq’s invasion of ­Kuwait
threatened American interests in Saudi Arabia; it did not
­immediately prepare a military response.
218	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Always use a comma there:
✓	 Although the Administration knew that Iraq’s invasion of ­Kuwait
threatened American interests in Saudi Arabia, it did not
­immediately prepare a military response.
	3.	Never put a comma right after a subordinating conjunction
if the next element of the clause is its subject.  Never this:
	 Although, the art of punctuation is simple, it is rarely mastered.
	4.	Avoid putting a comma after the coordinating conjunctions
and, but, yet, for, so, or, and nor if the next element is the
subject.  Do not do this:
	 But, we cannot know whether life on other planets exists.
Some writers who punctuate heavily put a comma after a
­coordinating or subordinating conjunction if an introductory
word or phrase follows:
✓	 Yet, during this period, prices continued to rise.
✓	 Although, during this period, prices continued to rise, interest
rates did not.
Punctuation that heavy retards a reader a bit, but it’s your
choice. These are also correct and for the reader, perhaps a bit
brisker:
✓	 Yet during this period, prices continued to rise.
✓	 Yet during this period prices continued to rise.
	5.	Put a comma after an introductory word or phrase if it comments
on the whole of the following sentence or connects
one sentence to another.  These include elements such as
fortunately, allegedly, etc. and connecting adverbs like however,
nevertheless, otherwise, etc. Readers hear a pause after such
words.
✓	 Fortunately, we proved our point.
But avoid starting many sentences with an introductory element
and a comma. When we read a series of such sentences,
the whole passage feels hesitant.
Three Exceptions: We typically omit a comma after now,
thus, and hence:
✓	 Now it is clear that many will not support this position.
✓	 Thus the only alternative is to choose some other action.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 219
Two Reliable Principles
	1.	Readers usually need no punctuation between a short
­introductory phrase and the subject:
✓	 Once again we find similar responses to such stimuli.
✓	 In 1945 few realized how the war had transformed us.
It is not wrong to put a comma there, but it slows readers just
as you may want them to be picking up speed.
	2.	Readers usually need a comma between a long (four or
five words or more) introductory phrase or clause and the
subject:
✓	 When a lawyer begins her opening statement with a dry recital of
the law and how it must be applied to the case before the court,
the jury is likely to nod off.
Here’s the point:  These are strong rules of punctuation.
­Observe them.
	1.	 Always separate an introductory element from the
­subject if a reader might misunderstand the structure of
the sentence.
	2.	 Never end an introductory clause or phrase with a
semicolon.
	3.	 Do not put a comma after a subordinating conjunction
if the next element of the clause is its subject.
	4.	 Do not put a comma after a coordinating conjunction
if the next element of the clause is its subject.
	5.	 Put a comma after a short introductory word or phrase
if it comments on the whole of the following sentence
or if it connects one sentence to another.
These are reliable principles:
	1.	 Put a comma after a short introductory phrase or not,
as you choose.
	2.	 Readers need a comma after a long introductory
phrase or clause.
220	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Punctuating Middles
This is where explanations get messy, because to punctuate inside
a grammatical sentence—more specifically, inside a clause—you
have to consider not only the grammar of that clause, but also
the nuances of rhythm, meaning, and the emphasis that you want
readers to hear in their mind’s ear. There are, however, a few
­reliable rules.
Subject—Verb, Verb—Object
Do not put a comma between a subject and its verb, no matter
how long the subject (nor between the verb and its object). Do not
do this:
	 A sentence that consists of many complex subordinate clauses and
long phrases that all precede a verb, may seem to some students to
demand a comma somewhere.
If you keep subjects short, you won’t feel that you need a comma.
Occasionally, you cannot avoid a long subject, especially if it
consists of a list of items with internal punctuation, like this:
	 The president, the vice president, the secretaries of the
departments, senators, members of the House of Representatives,
and Supreme Court justices take an oath that pledges them to
uphold the Constitution.
You can help readers sort it out with a summative subject:
•	 Insert a colon or a dash at the end of the list of subjects.
•	 Add a one-word subject that summarizes the preceding list:
✓	 The president, the vice president, the secretaries of the
departments, senators, members of the House of Representatives,
and Supreme Court justices: all take an oath that pledges them to
uphold the Constitution.
Choose a dash or a colon depending on how formal you want to
seem.
Interruptions
When you interrupt a subject-verb or verb-object, you make it
harder for readers to make the basic grammatical connections
that create a sentence. So in general, avoid such interruptions,
­except for reasons of emphasis or nuance (see p. 147).
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 221
If you must interrupt a subject and verb or verb and object
with more than a few words, always put paired commas around
the interruption.
✓	 A sentence, if it includes subordinate clauses, may seem to need
commas.
Generally speaking, do not use a comma when you tack on
a subordinate clause at the end of an independent clause, if that
clause is necessary to understand the meaning of the sentence
(this is analogous to a restrictive relative clause):
✓	 No one should violate the law just because it seems unjust.
If the clause is not necessary, separate it from the main clause
with a comma.
✓	 No one should violate the law, because in the long run, it will do
more harm than good.
This distinction can be tricky at times.
You may locate adverbial phrases before, after, or in the middle
of a clause, depending on the emphasis you want readers to
hear. If in the middle, put a comma before and after. Compare the
different emphases in these:
✓	 In recent years modern poetry has become more relevant to the
­average reader.
✓	 Modern poetry has, in recent years, become more relevant to
the average reader.
✓	 Modern poetry has become, in recent years, more relevant to the
average reader.
✓	 Modern poetry has become more relevant to the average reader in
recent years.
Loose Commentary
“Loose commentary” differs from an interruption, because you
can usually move an interruption elsewhere in a sentence. But
loose commentary modifies what it stands next to, so it usually
cannot be moved. It still needs to be set off with paired commas,
parentheses, or dashes, unless it comes at the end of a sentence; in
that case, replace the second comma or dash with a period.
It is difficult to explain exactly what counts as loose commentary
because it depends on both grammar and meaning. One familiar
distinction is between restrictive clauses and nonrestrictive
clauses (see pp. 15–16), including appositives.
222	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
We use no commas with restrictive modifiers, modifiers that
uniquely identify the noun they modify:
✓	 The house that I live in is 100 years old.
But we always set off nonrestrictive modifiers with paired commas
(unless the modifier ends the sentence):
✓	 We had to reconstruct the larynx, which is the source of voice,
with cartilage from the shoulder.
An appositive is just a truncated nonrestrictive clause:
✓	 We had to rebuild the larynx, which is the source of voice, with
cartilage from the shoulder.
You can achieve a more casual effect with a dash or parenthesis:
✓	 We had to rebuild the larynx—the source of voice—with cartilage
from the shoulder.
✓	 We had to rebuild the larynx (the source of voice) with cartilage
from the shoulder.
A dash is useful when the loose commentary has internal commas.
Readers are confused by the long subject in this sentence:
	 The nations of Central Europe, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia, Serbia have for centuries been
in the middle of an East-West tug-of-war.
They can understand that kind of structure more easily when they
can see that loose modifier set off with dashes or parentheses:
✓	 The nations of Central Europe—Poland, Hungary, Romania,
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia, Serbia—have for
centuries been in the middle of an East-West tug-of-war.
Use parentheses when you want readers to hear your comment as
a sotto voce aside:
✓	 The brain (at least that part that controls nonprimitive functions)
may comprise several little brains operating simultaneously.
Or use it as an explanatory footnote inside a sentence:
✓	 Lamarck (1744–1829) was a pre-Darwinian evolutionist.
✓	 The poetry of the fin de siècle (end of the century) was characterized
by a world-weariness and fashionable despair.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 223
When loose commentary is at the end of a sentence, use a
comma to separate it from the first part of the sentence. Be certain,
however, that the meaning of the comment is not crucial to
the meaning of the sentence. If it is, do not use a comma. Contrast
these:
✓	 I wandered through Europe, seeking a place where I could write
undisturbed.
✓	 I spent my time seeking a place where I could write undisturbed.
✓	 Offices will be closed July 2–6, as announced in the daily bulletin.
✓	 When closing offices, secure all safes as prescribed in the manual.
✓	 Historians have studied social changes, at least in this country.
✓	 These records must be kept at least until the IRS reviews them.
Here’s the point:    These are reliable rules of internal
­punctuation. Observe them.
	1.	 Do not interrupt a subject and verb or verb and object
with any punctuation, unless absolutely necessary for
clarity.
	2.	 Inside a clause, always set off long interruptions with
paired marks of punctuation—commas, parentheses,
or dashes. Never use semicolons.
	3.	 Put a comma at the end of an independent clause before
a tacked-on subordinate clause when that clause is not
essential to the meaning of the sentence.
Punctuating Coordinated Elements
Punctuating Two Coordinated Elements
Generally speaking, do not put a comma between just two coordinated
elements. Compare these:
	 As computers have become sophisticated, and powerful they have
taken over more clerical, and bookkeeping tasks.
✓	 As computers have become sophisticated and powerful they have
taken over more clerical and bookkeeping tasks.
224	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Four Exceptions
	1.	For a dramatic contrast, put a comma after the first
­coordinate element to emphasize the second (keep the second
short):
✓	 The ocean is nature’s most glorious creation, and its most
destructive.
To emphasize a contrast, use a comma before a but (keep the
second part short):
✓	 Organ transplants are becoming more common, but not less
expensive.
	2.	If you want your readers to feel the cumulative power of a
coordinated pair (or more), drop the and and leave just a
comma. Compare:
✓	 Lincoln never had a formal education and never owned a large
library.
✓	 Lincoln never had a formal education, never owned a large
library.
✓	 The lesson of the pioneers was to ignore conditions that seemed
difficult or even overwhelming and to get on with the business of
subduing a hostile environment.
✓	 The lesson of the pioneers was to ignore conditions that seemed
difficult or even overwhelming, to get on with the business of
subduing a hostile environment.
	3.	Put a comma between long coordinated pairs only if you
think your readers need a chance to breathe or to sort out
the grammar. Compare:
	 It is in the graveyard that Hamlet finally realizes that the inevitable
end of life is the grave and clay and that the end of all
pretentiousness and all plotting and counter-plotting, regardless
of one’s station in life, must be dust.
A comma after clay signals a natural pause:
✓	 It is in the graveyard that Hamlet finally realizes that the inevitable
end of all life is the grave and clay, and that the end of all
pretentiousness and all plotting and counter-plotting, regardless
of one’s station in life, must be dust.
More important, the comma after clay sorts out the structure
of a potentially confusing grave and clay and that regardless.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 225
In this next sentence, the first half of a coordination is long,
so a reader might have a problem connecting the second half
to its origin:
	 Conrad’s Heart of Darkness brilliantly dramatizes those primitive
impulses that lie deep in each of us and stir only in our darkest
dreams but asserts the need for the values that control those
impulses.
A comma after dreams would clearly mark the end of one
­coordinate member and the beginning of the next:
✓	 Conrad’s Heart of Darkness brilliantly dramatizes those primitive
impulses that lie deep in each of us and stir only in our darkest
dreams, but asserts the need for the values that control those
impulses.
On the other hand, if you can make sense out of a complicated
sentence like that only with punctuation, you need to
revise the sentence.
	4.	If a sentence begins with a phrase or subordinate clause
modifying two following clauses that are independent and
coordinated, put a comma after the introductory phrase or
clause but do not put a comma between the two coordinated
independent clauses:
✓	 After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia’s economy declined for
several years [no comma here] but the economies of former satellites
to the west began to expand.
Punctuating Three or More Coordinated Elements
Finally, there is the matter of punctuating a series of three or more
coordinated elements. Writers disagree on this one. A few omit it,
but most insist a comma must always precede the last one:
✓	 His wit, his charm and his loyalty made him our friend.
✓	 His wit, his charm, and his loyalty made him our friend.
Both are correct, but be consistent.
If any of the items in the series has its own internal commas,
use semicolons to show how readers should group the coordinated
items:
✓	 In mystery novels, the principal action ought to be economical,
organic, and logical; fascinating, yet not exotic; clear, but
complicated enough to hold the reader’s interest.
226	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Apostrophes
There are few options with apostrophes, only rules, and they are
Real Rules (review pp. 12–13). Those who violate them are objects
of abuse by those who police such matters.
Contractions
Use an apostrophe in all contracted words:
don’t  we’ll  she’d  I’m  it’s
Writers in the academic world often avoid contractions in their
professional writing, because they don’t want to seem too casual.
I’ve used them in this book, because I wanted to avoid a formal
tone. Check with your instructor before you experiment.
Plurals
Except for two cases, never use an apostrophe to form a plural.
Never this: bus’s, fence’s, horse’s. That error invites withering
abuse.
Use an apostrophe to form plurals in only two contexts: (1) with
all lower case single letters and (2) with the single capital letters
A, I, and U (the added s would seem to spell the words As, Is,
and Us):
	 Dot your i’s and cross your t’s  many A’s and I’s
However, when a word is unambiguously all numbers or multiple
capital letters, add just s, with no apostrophe:
The ABCs  the 1950s  767s
	 CDs	 URLs	45s
Possessives
With a few exceptions, form the possessive of a singular common
or proper noun by adding an apostrophe + s.
	 FDR’s third term    the U.S.’s history    a 747’s wingspan
Here’s the point:  Use commas to separate items in a
­series if the items have no internal punctuation. Use semicolons
to set off items in a series if they do.
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 227
The exceptions include singular nouns that already end in s or
with the sound of s. For these, add the apostrophe only:
politics’ importance the United States’ role
Descartes’ Discourse on Method Sophocles’ plays
the audience’ attention for appearance’ sake
(Some handbooks give different advice on this issue, recommending
’ + s in all cases. Whatever you choose, be consistent.)
For plural common and proper nouns that end in s, form the
possessive by adding an apostrophe only.
workers’ votes   the Smiths’ house
Form the possessive of a singular compound noun by adding
an apostrophe and s to the last word:
the attorney general’s decision    his sister-in-law’s business
Ex erc i se A. 1
This passage lacks its original punctuation. Slash marks indicate
grammatical sentences. Punctuate it three times, once using the
least punctuation possible, a second time using as much varied
punctuation as you can, and then a third time as you think best.
You might also analyze the passage for features of elegance, especially
how the sentences begin and end. You can even improve
them some.
	1.	Scientists and philosophers of science tend to speak as if
­“scientific language” were intrinsically precise as if those
who use it must understand one another’s meaning even if
they ­disagree / but in fact scientific language is not as different
from ordinary language as is commonly believed / it too
is subject to imprecision and ambiguity and hence to imperfect
understanding / moreover new theories or arguments are
rarely if ever constructed by way of clear-cut steps of induction
deduction and verification or falsification / neither are they defended
rejected or accepted in so straightforward a manner / in
practice scientists combine the rules of scientific methodology
with a generous admixture of intuition aesthetics and philosophical
commitment / the importance of what are sometimes
called extra-rational or extra-logical components of thought in
the discovery of a new principle or law is generally acknowledged
/ . . . but the role of these extra-logical components in
228	 Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace
Summing Up
Rather than summarize this detailed material, I offer just four bits
of advice:
•	 Always signal the end of a grammatical sentence.
•	 Always observe the five reliable rules on pp. 217–218.
•	 Always set off long interrupting elements with commas.
•	 Never put a single comma between a subject and its verb or
between a verb and its object.
­persuasion and acceptance in making an argument convincing
is less frequently discussed partly because they are less visible /
the ways in which the credibility or effectiveness of an argument
depends on the realm of common experiences or extensive
practice in communicating those experiences in a common
language are hard to see precisely because such commonalities
are taken for granted / only when we step out of such a “consensual
domain” when we can stand out on the periphery of a
community with a common language do we begin to become
aware of the unarticulated premises mutual understandings
and assumed practices of the group / even in those subjects
that lend themselves most readily to quantification discourse
depends heavily on conventions and interpretation conventions
that are acquired over years of practice and participation
in a community.
—Evelyn Fox Keller, A Feeling for the Organism:
The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock
Ex erc i se A. 2
Repeat Exercise A.1 with a passage of your own writing. ­Remove
all of the punctuation, and put slash marks between grammatical
sentences. Then punctuate the passage using as little punctuation
as possible and again using as much varied punctuation
as possible. (I am assuming that you punctuated the passage
originally as you thought best.) Share all three passages—
the one with ­minimal punctuation, the one with much varied
­punctuation, and the ­original—with a reader. Which did your
reader prefer? Why?
	 Appendix I  Punctuation	 229
Beyond that, use your judgment: punctuate in ways that help your
readers see the connections and separations that they have to see
to make sense of your sentences. That means you must put yourself
in the place of your reader, not easy to do, but something you
must learn. On the other hand, write a clearly structured sentence
in the first place, and your punctuation will take care of itself.