Editorial Style Guide

Styleguide Contents

Punctuation

In general, use only one space after end punctuation (periods, exclamation points, question marks) and after colons and semicolons.

Apostrophes

When indicating the possessive for names, use an apostrophe followed by an s even when the person’s name ends in s or another sibilant (consonants that are pronounced with a hissing sound). The two traditional exceptions are Jesus’ and Moses’.

Massachusetts’s delegates
Sims’s dissertation
Max’s house

With a few exceptions, the possessive of a singular common noun is formed by the addition of an apostrophe and s, and the possessive of a plural common noun by the addition of an apostrophe only.

the lion’s mane, the lions’ manes
the professor’s office, the professors’ office
the girl’s bedroom, the girls’ bedroom

Do not use an apostrophe to indicate plurals, including the plurals of acronyms and abbreviations, unless confusion would result without the apostrophe (as in the first example).

There are four s’s in Mississippi.
Bill owns three BMW X6s and two Z4s.
All the GSIs taught introductory-level courses.
Many NGOs sent representative to the conference.

Apostrophes are required for bachelor’s degree and master’s degree.

Colons

Use colons to introduce a series or a list, especially a list preceded by as follows or the following. Capitalize material after a colon if it constitutes a complete sentence. Use a colon to introduce an explanatory phrase or sentence.

Hikers should always carry the following items: water, an extra pair of socks, a flashlight, a jacket, and a cell phone.
The judge’s words stunned the courtroom: The jury had found the defendant guilty despite a clear lack of evidence.

Commas

Between Proper Nouns

Use a comma between two proper nouns (or a year and a proper noun) to aid reading.

When he spoke at Crisler Arena, the Dalai Lama attracted a huge crowd.
In 2006, President Mary Sue Coleman launched the President’s Donor Challenge.

In Complex and Compound Sentences

Use a comma before a conjunction that introduces an independent clause. Note that you do not need a comma before every and, but, because, and or. If what follows the conjunction is not a complete clause, you don’t need a comma (as in the second example).

The orchestra is giving a concert in Hill Auditorium on Friday night, and the Choral Union performs at the Power Center on Saturday night.
Parking downtown is a nightmare when the Tigers have a game and there is a concert at the Fox Theatre on the same evening.

To Avoid Confusion

Don’t add commas just because you might pause when speaking a sentence, but do add them if the meaning might be misconstrued without them, as in the following example:

Steve and Kanya came to the party; so did Gianna and Dawn and Fouad. (Did Dawn go to the party with Gianna or Fouad?)
Steve and Kanya came to the party; so did Gianna and Dawn, and Fouad. (Dawn and Gianna are the couple.)
Steve and Kanya came to the party; so did Gianna, Dawn, and Fouad. (Gianna, Dawn, and Fouad came independently.)

With Dates

No comma is needed between a month and a year. Do use a comma before and after the year if month, date, and year are used.

The enrollment deadline is December 15, 2007, for residents and December 31, 2007, for non-residents. Classes will begin in February 2008.

With Introductory Phrases

Omit commas after short introductory phrases, except if confusion might result or if the introductory phrase ends with a date or proper noun and the main clause begins with a date or proper noun.

On September 21, President Coleman will address the Ann Arbor City Council.
Next week President Coleman will address the Ann Arbor City Council.

In Lists (Serial Comma)

Use a comma before the conjunction and the final element in a list.

The seminar participants included students, faculty and staff, and alumni.
NOT The seminar participants included students, faculty and staff and alumni. (Without the serial comma, faculty plus staff plus alumni would be considered one category.)

With Nonrestrictive and Parenthetical Phrases

Use commas to set off nonrestrictive and parenthetical phrases.

The voice teacher, who also teaches piano, charges $50 an hour.
John’s second class, the one in Angell Hall, was cancelled for the entire week.

With Place Names

Enclose the names of states (or countries) in commas when they are preceded by a city or state.

The symposium was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a follow-up meeting to be held next month in Columbus, Ohio. Eric Olsen, who resides in Stockholm, Sweden, will give the keynote address.

Dashes

Observe the distinction between hyphens (-), en dashes (–), and em (—) dashes.

En Dashes: Use en dashes between inclusive numbers and with compound adjectives when one element consists of more than one word.

The quiz will cover pages 153–66 of your textbook.
The Ann Arbor–Chicago train takes about five hours to reach its destination.

Em Dashes: Use em dashes to indicate a sudden break in thought or an abrupt change in sentence structure. With few exceptions (e.g., in display typography, such as headlines), set dashes without a space on either side.

Professor O’Connor—who had won the Nobel Prize in physics the previous year—submitted her resignation to the department chair that morning.

Ellipses

Use ellipses to indicate that material has been omitted from the middle of a quotation. Do not use ellipses at the beginning or end of a quotation even if you start or stop in the middle of the quoted sentence. Create ellipses with three period characters, separated by a single space on either side of each character: . . . not ...

“Thanks to everyone . . . who gave so generously to our capital campaign fund,” said development office spokesperson Jim Thomas.

When the omitted material includes a period, use a period plus ellipses:

The moderator announced the day’s agenda: “We will hear three speakers during the morning session. . . . Then, we will spend the afternoon in a roundtable discussion.”

Hyphens

In general, omit hyphens from adjectival compounds where there is little or no risk of ambiguity. When in doubt, consult a good dictionary.

A common use for hyphens includes compound adjectives such as well-prepared and self-sufficient (see The Chicago Manual of Style for helpful guidance on this issue). Do not use a hyphen between a compound that begins with an adverb ending in ly:

The Law Quad is a beautifully designed facility that took over a decade to complete.

Periods

Use periods in the following situations:

at the end of a declarative sentence
at the end of a quoted passage that also ends a sentence, even if it is not the end of the sentence in the original passage (rather than using ellipses)
with abbreviations (see the Abbreviations section; do not add an extra period if the abbreviation ends the sentence)
at the end of items in a vertical list (but only if some or all of the list items are complete sentences)
at the end of a vertical list that is punctuated with commas at the end of each item (see the Lists section for more detail)

A sentence can have only one terminal punctuation mark. Not more than that, get it?!

Quotation Marks

Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons always go outside quotation marks. With question marks and exclamation points: If the punctuation is part of the quotation, put it inside the quotation marks; if it’s not part of the quotation, put it outside.

Use quotation marks:

to indicate the exact words that someone spoke or published
the first reference to a nickname
the first ironic or sarcastic use of a word or phrase

Do not use quotation marks to set off clichés (which shouldn’t be used anyway).

Semicolons

Use semicolons in lists whose items include commas (see the Lists section). Use semicolons to separate closely related clauses.

Office members on the intramural basketball team included: Luke “Stretch” MacDonald, center; Bobbie “Boom Boom” Walker, guard; and Jean-Marie “Frenchie” Thibaut, forward.