SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

accompany him says he has more than one wife and the one called Mary will go with him.)The comma may be used to introduce a quote: She said, “I will be back.” But if the quote islong, or more than a sentence, use a colon.Generally, what is between a pair of commas can be regarded as being in parenthesis andshould be able to be removed and leave the sentence making sense. This includes names. Theuse or omission of commas can alter meanings and lead to legal action. Professional golfers whodrink too much do not usually live long has a different meaning if commas are used: Professionalgolfers, who drink too much, do not usually live long. That has the potential to inspire a classaction.In quotes, the comma and the full stop usually come before the final quotation mark: “Iwill arrive tomorrow,” he said. “But I will leave next day.” The exception is when the passagequoted does not form a complete sentence: He said he was “fed up”.Commas must not be used as a joining device. They cannot be used to link sentences. Forexample: The Tigers played hard, they deserved to win” is wrong. It should be either “TheTigers played hard. They deserved to win” or “The Tigers played hard and deserved to win.”DASHESDashes should be used sparingly. They tend to slow the flow and should not be used as allpurposepunctuation marks. The dash is properly used (in pairs) when what follows is a seriespunctuated by commas: The Government will face many problems – unemployment, education,declining revenue and rising costs – during its term of office. The dash is also needed to avoidconfusion: The costs – taxes and lawyers’ fees – were higher than expected.DOTSDots, in threes, like dashes, are sometimes used indiscriminately – and incorrectly – in placeswhere dashes, commas or even a simple full stop should go. For example, He told me ... and Ibelieved him ... that the moon was upside down, should have dashes or commas in place of thedots.Dots may legitimately be used at the end of sentences in which gthe speaker is trailing off orin which something is left hanging: He told me the moon was upside down and I believed him ...Dots are also used to indicate matter has been omitted: Jane Smith said she would…gotomorrow. (Take care that omissions do not alter the meaning or result in an ambiguity, and donot overdo this practice.)Dots should not be used just to fill out a headline.FULL STOPSFull stops are the most effective punctuation mark. If you are not sure whether to use a comma,semi-colon, dash or dots, try a full stop. You’ll be surprised how well it works.HYPHENSA simple test of whether they are needed in two or more words before a noun is to remove any ofthe words and see if what is left makes sense.If you say a red haired man you are saying a red man with hair. You mean a red-haired man.In a dark skinned pickled herring merchant meaning is incomprehensible. It could refer to aherring merchant who is dark, has been skinned, and is pickled, as in drunk. But hyphens make itPAGE 15 – 2012UQ SJC STYLEBOOK