Creative Writers, Do You Know

     These Punctuation Rules?

(cont'd. from pg. 1)

Abbreviated words that end in a period

Mr., Dr., Rev., and Mrs. are examples of abbreviated words that have

periods at the end. If the last word in your declarative or  imperative

sentence is an abbreviated word, do not add an additional period.

Examples:

(Correct) The movie starts at 8 p.m. 

(Incorrect) The movie starts at 8 p.m..

(Correct) Please say hello to the Mrs.

(Incorrect) Please say hello to the Mrs..

Question marks

A question mark is used at the end of a normal question, but it is also

used to express doubt or the unknown.

Examples:

1. (1960 - ?)

[When the question mark is used on a gravestone, it is usually placed in

parentheses. It means the engraver doesn't know when the person died.] 

2. In her will, the eccentric woman left her pet cat (?) the entire estate.

[In this case, the writer is not sure whether the pet mentioned is a cat or

some other kind of animal. However, when in doubt, it is best to restructure

the sentence.]

In the case of incomplete questions, place the question mark at the end

of each question. As in:

Can you believe the man survived the gunshot? And the fall from the six-

story building? And hitting the flagpole? (I can't.)

Exclamation Marks

1. Sometimes called an exclamation point, this handy little punctuation is

used to indicate surprise or a strong emotion or feeling.

Get out of my room!

Give me that!

2. To make a much milder statement (command), you could say, "Get out

of my room." But when stated with the exclamation point, it relates a sense

of urgency or possible anger. Note how the exclamation mark changes the

related emotion in the following sentence:

Get out. I said, get out!

3. Exclamation marks are rarely used in formal writing except as a quote or in

the citing of a title. You may also see exclamation marks in article "teasers".

4. In informal writing, use an exclamation point at the end of a strong

sentence or after relating particularly exciting information, as in, "Watch out!"

5. If the exclamation mark is used to punctuate exciting information within a

sentence, it is placed in parenthesis, as in:

Mike won first place (!) in the spelling bee.

6. Don't use more than one or two exclamation marks in a 2,000 word short

story. Editors don't like them, as they want you to show emotions in

descriptions and imagery.

But, fortunately, you can be somewhat creative in using punctuation! For more

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