SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

And once I had discovered that there was no longer any doubt as to whether a spark of life stilllingered in him.The adverbial clause ‘once I had discovered that’ must be separated from the rest of thesentence if meaning is to be clear instantly.And once I had discovered that, there was no longer any doubt as to whether a spark of lifestill lingered in him.An example of the need for careful comma use is in these two sentences: The Prime Ministersaid the Governor-General was a drunk. The Prime Minister, said the Governor-General, wasa drunk. Use the comma to separate words repeated or of a similar species – nouns, verbs,adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions. For example: The dark, silent depths of the sea arevery, very difficult for me, you or anyone else to explore.Dogs, cats, mice and rats ran, climbed, jumped on, over, around the crazily arrangedcollection.But do not use commas before the conjunctions ‘but’ and ‘and’ unless not to use a commacould be at least temporarily confusing. For example:His hat was black, and silver dollars formed its band. Use of the comma in parentheses isoften misunderstood. Commas are used in this way only if what they separate from the rest ofthe sentence may be removed without making the sentence unviable. These are correct:The managing director, John Bull, said profits would fall. A managing director, John Bull, saidprofits would fall. Smith Ltd’s managing director, John Bull, said profits would fall. John Bull,managing director of Smith Ltd, said profits would fall.These are correct without commas: Managing director John Bull said profits would fall. SmithLtd managing director John Bull said profits would fall.These are incorrect:Managing director, John Bull, said profits would fall. Smith Ltd managing director, John Bull,said profits would fall.comment It is not the news reporter’s function to describe a situation or person as‘controversial’, ‘well-known’ or ‘notorious’, for instance, unless the reporter is recording theview of some attributed source. In any case, if something is indeed controversial, well-knownor notorious, public awareness usually makes labouring the point unnecessary.commissioner and commissionaire are not the same. They do very different jobs. The firstholds a senior management post in a commission, such as Queensland’s Criminal JusticeCommission (CJC). The second is a uniformed messenger or door keeper in a hotel orapartment block.common sense, common-sense Fusion has not occurred as in ‘commonplace’ and‘commonwealth’. ‘Common sense’ is the noun. ‘Common-sense’ is the adjectivalconstruction: ‘a common-sense decision’.community Avoid ‘the Aboriginal community’, ‘Jewish community’, ‘gay community’ whenwhat is meant is simply ‘Aborigines’, ‘Jews’, ‘gays’. Otherwise it is more acceptable to sayAboriginal people; Jewish people; and gay and lesbian people. Use ‘community’ when that iswhat is intended (see euphemism).community outreach management speak used by public relations personnel meaning to workPAGE 33 – 2012UQ SJC STYLEBOOK