Title: Theory / Unimportant / Art / Writting / Rules / Punctuation guide

Right: I've never seen Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Wrong: I've never seen Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Explanation: If a sentence otherwise ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the period is omitted.

Right: He used to work at Yahoo!
Wrong: He used to work at Yahoo!.
Explanation: If a sentence otherwise ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the period is omitted.

Right: He is a vice president at Apple Inc.
Wrong: He is a vice president at Apple Inc..
Explanation: If a sentence ends with an abbreviation, the period used for the abbreviation also serves as the period for the sentence.

Right: Laura said, “We will continue this tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.”
Wrong: Laura said, “We will continue this tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.”.
Explanation: If a sentence ends with an abbreviation, the period used for the abbreviation also serves as the period for the sentence. This is true even if the abbreviation is contained within a quotation.

Right: I wonder what she’s doing tonight.
Wrong: I wonder what she’s doing tonight?
Explanation: An indirect question ends with a period, not a question mark.

Right: The question was whether anyone supported the legislation.
Wrong: The question was whether anyone supported the legislation?
Explanation: An indirect question ends with a period, not a question mark.

Right: The question is, Does anyone support this legislation?
Wrong: The question is, Does anyone support this legislation.
Explanation: This is a direct question

Right: Hotel rooms are likely to be in short supply throughout August (the peak travel period).
Wrong: Hotel rooms are likely to be in short supply throughout August (the peak travel period.)
Explanation: If a sentence ends with a parenthetical that is only part of a larger sentence, the period is placed outside the closing parenthesis.

Right: Their house was the largest one on the block. (It also happened to be the ugliest.)
Wrong: Their house was the largest one on the block. (It also happened to be the ugliest).
Explanation: If the parenthetical is itself an entire sentence, the period is placed inside the closing parenthesis.

Right: The president’s speech both began and ended with the word “freedom.”
Wrong: The president’s speech both began and ended with the word “freedom”.
Explanation: If a sentence ends with quoted material, the period is placed inside the closing quotation mark, even if the period is not part of the original quotation.

Right: Yesterday he asked, “Why is it so cold on Mars?”
Wrong: Yesterday he asked, “Why is it so cold on Mars?”.
Explanation: Note, however, that if the quoted material itself ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the period is omitted.

Question: When does abbreviation uses dots?
Answer: Usually, on lower case (a.m., etc., Inc., Jr., Mrs., Tex.) but not upper caps FBI, IRS, ATM, NATO, NBC, TX
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/period.html
Answer2: J.D., D.D.S.
Answer3: Not scientific/technical abbreviation. kHz, rpm, kg, Na, 1st

Right: Would they make it on time? she wondered.
Wrong: Would they make it on time?, she wondered.
Explanation: When a direct question occurs within a larger sentence, it takes a question mark. Note that in the examples below, the question mark supplants the comma that would syntactically belong in its place.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/period.html

Right: “Is He Living or Is He Dead?,” by Mark Twain, is one of my favorite stories.
Wrong: “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” by Mark Twain, is one of my favorite stories.
Explanation: When the question mark is part of a title of work, a syntactically necessary comma is retained.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/question-mark.html

Right: I have not read Mark Twain’s “Is He Living or Is He Dead?”
Wrong: I have not read Mark Twain’s “Is He Living or Is He Dead?”.
Explanation: When the question mark in the title comes at the end of a sentence that would itself require a question mark or period, the additional question mark or period is omitted.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/question-mark.html

Right: Would you please send this report to the person indicated on the cover.
Wrong: Would you please send this report to the person indicated on the cover?
Explanation: Requests that are phrased as questions should end with a period. These are really requests or commands, and not true questions.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/question-mark.html

Right: What in the world are you doing up there!
Wrong: What in the world are you doing up there?!
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/exclamation-point.html

Right: “Get out!” Marcus yelled.
Wrong: “Get out!”, Marcus yelled.
Explanation: When a quotation ends with an exclamation point, a comma that would ordinarily be placed inside the closing quotation mark is omitted.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/exclamation-point.html

Right: His latest short story, “Don’t Make a Sound!,” is his most suspenseful yet.
Wrong: His latest short story, “Don’t Make a Sound!” is his most suspenseful yet.
Explanation: If the exclamation point is part of a title of work or a proper noun, the comma should be retained.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/exclamation-point.html

Question: In which numbers not to put commas
Answer: Year
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/comma.html
Answer2: zipcode/street number

Right: The bookstore specializes in art, architecture, and graphic design.
Wrong: The bookstore specializes in: art, architecture, and graphic design.
Explanation: Do not, however, use a colon when the listed items are incorporated into the flow of the sentence.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/colon.html

Right: He made three points: First, the company was losing over a million dollars each month. Second, the stock price was lower than it had ever been. Third, no banks were willing to loan the company any more money.
Wrong: He made three points: first, the company was losing over a million dollars each month. Second, the stock price was lower than it had ever been. Third, no banks were willing to loan the company any more money.
Explanation: When two or more sentences follow a colon, capitalize the first word following the colon.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/colon.html

Right: I have very little time to learn the language: my new job starts in five weeks.
Wrong: I have very little time to learn the language: My new job starts in five weeks.
Explanation: As with the semicolon, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless the word is ordinarily capitalized.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/colon.html

Name: Compound terms
Definition: open or spaced compounds
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/hyphen.html
Definition2: Hyphenated compounds
Conjdef: Any of
Definition3: Closed (or solid) compounds
Typ: Terms that consist of more than one word but represent a single item or idea.

Name: Open compounds
Definition: Compounds that are written as separated words.
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/hyphen.html
Example: printing press
Name2: Spaced compounds
Example2: chief of staff
Example3: car wash

Name: Hypthenated compounds
Definition: Compounds that use hyphens between the words
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/hyphen.html
Example: eye-opener
check-in
free-for-all

Name: Closed compounds
Definition: compounds are written as a single word.
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/hyphen.html
Example: lifestyle
bookstore
whodunit
Name2: Solid compounds

Question: When to use hyphen in composed adjectives?
Answer: Between adjectives
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/hyphen.html
Answer2: not if the adjective ends in ly
Answer3: always if the adjective is part of a greater compound

Right: The 2010⁠–⁠2011 season was our best yet.
Wrong: The 2010⁠ to ⁠2011 season was our best yet.
Explanation: The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. There should be no space between the en dash and the adjacent material.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/en-dash.html

Right: She served as secretary of state from 1996 to 1999.
Wrong: She served as secretary of state from 1996⁠–⁠1999.
Explanation: If you introduce a span or range with words such as from or between, do not use the en dash.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/en-dash.html

Right: The regime’s most oppressive treatment occurred between 1965 and 1970.
Wrong: The regime’s most oppressive treatment occurred between 1965–1970.
Explanation: If you introduce a span or range with words such as from or between, do not use the en dash.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/en-dash.html

Right: “The best investments today,” according to Smith, “are commodities and emerging-market stocks.”
Wrong: “The best investments today”, according to Smith, “are commodities and emerging-market stocks”.
Explanation: Commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks, even though they aren’t part of the original quotation.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Right: “The best investments today”, according to Smith, “are commodities and emerging-market stocks”.
Wrong: She provides a thorough list of problems in her most recent article, “Misery in Paradise;” she doesn’t provide a solution.
Explanation: Unless they are part of the original quotation, all marks other than commas or periods are placed outside the quotation marks.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Right: Wasn’t it Dickens who wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”?
Wrong: Wasn’t it Dickens who wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times?”
Explanation: Unless they are part of the original quotation, all marks other than commas or periods are placed outside the quotation marks.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Name: Run-in quotations
Definition: Short quotations in to the main text using quotation marks.
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html
Example: In his novel White Noise, Don DeLillo neatly summarizes the materialist philosophy: “It’s all this activity in the brain and you don’t know what’s you as a person and what’s some neuron that just happens to fire or just happens to misfire.”

Name: Block quotations
Definition: Long quotation outside of the main text
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html
Example: In Walden, Henry David Thoreau makes the case for following one’s dreams:
I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.

Right: In Food Rules, Michael Pollan summarizes his extensive writing about food with seven words of advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Wrong: In Food Rules, Michael Pollan summarizes his extensive writing about food with seven words of advice, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Explanation: A colon should be used when the text introducing the quoted material could stand as a sentence on its own. It is also the mark most commonly used to introduce a block quotation.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Right: In her closing statement, the prosecutor spoke forcefully of the defendant’s “callous disregard for human life.”
Wrong: In her closing statement, the prosecutor spoke forcefully of the defendant’s: “callous disregard for human life.”
Explanation: When the quoted material flows directly from your introductory text, no punctuation should be used before the quotation. A very short quotation may also be introduced without punctuation. The unpunctuated lead-in is most commonly used with run-in quotations, but it is also appropriate for introducing block quotations that flow directly from the introductory text.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Right: The author’s final argument is less convincing: “When Brown writes of ‘interpreting the matter through a “structuralist” lens,’ he opens himself to the same criticism he made earlier in his own paper.”
Wrong: The author’s final argument is less convincing: “When Brown writes of ‘interpreting the matter through a ‘structuralist’ lens,’ he opens himself to the same criticism he made earlier in his own paper.”
Explanation: When a run-in quotation contains quotation marks within the quoted material itself, use single quotation marks in their place. When the material being quoted contains a quotation within a quotation (i.e., something in single quotation marks), use double quotation marks.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html

Name: Scare quote
Definition: used to cast doubt on a word or phrase, or to emphasize that the word or phrase is being used as a euphemism
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html
Example: He rarely spoke of the “incident” that caused him to leave his previous employer.
Name2: Sneer quote

Right: When Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex,” he introduces an idea explored at length in his subsequent writings.
Wrong: When Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “⁠. . . the laws of the universe will appear less complex, . . .⁠” he introduces an idea explored at length in his subsequent writings.
Explanation: When a quotation is included within a larger sentence, do not use ellipsis points at the beginning or end of the quoted material, even if the beginning or end of the original sentence has been omitted.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html

Right: In his twenties, he toured the country giving lectures to physics students (subsequently published as M-theory for Morons [2008]).
Wrong: In his twenties, he toured the country giving lectures to physics students (subsequently published as M-theory for Morons (2008)).
Explanation: In the rare event that parentheses are required within parentheses, use brackets instead. This is one of the few uses of brackets outside of quotations.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/brackets.html

Question: Constraints on parenthesis
Answer: always in pair
Page: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/parentheses.html
Answer2: not imbricated (uses [] instead)
Answer3: the sentence should remain correct with the parenthesis removed