If you're ready to submit your manuscript to an agent, make sure it is in the best possible condition. Check it for typos, for spelling errors and above all else for correct grammar and punctuation. Three common areas for mistake are the use of commas, semi-colons and colons. So this document is provided as a refresher.
There are other toolbox articles that may help when formatting a manuscript or checking basic punctuation such as ellipses or dialogue.
The Comma
One of the most common errors in the writing of English is the use of a comma to separate sentences. A comma cannot be so used, and the following are incorrect:
- I am returning the electricity bill you sent me, it is incorrect.
- We arrived here yesterday, the weather is perfect.
- None of the photographs came out, the camera was broken.
Full stops (or their equivalent, as described in later sections) should have been used in place of commas, or the sentences should have been linked in some way, e.g. by inserting because before it in the first sentence.
The comma is used
(a) to mark off a phrase or clause, or occasionally a word, when the sense demands a slight pause:
- Women are, for the most part, more interested in clothes than men are.
- However, many writers prefer complexity to simplicity
(b) to separate words (occasionally phrases or clauses) in a list:
- The guests included ambassadors, envoys, consults and other representatives of the diplomatic service.
(c) when an inversion of the normal word order is used for emphasis:
- He surveyed the damage grimly.
but
- Grimly, he surveyed the damage.
(d) before a direct quotation:
An anonymous source once wrote, 'If you take the trouble in the use of words, you are bound to clarify the thought you wish to convey.'
(e) On any occasion where its use helps the reader.
However, never forget the importance of words and word order, rather than using punctuation to express what you have to say. If you write:
- She arrived with her husband and two cats in a basket
You might decide you've committed an unfortunate ambiguity and clarify it with a comma:
- She arrived with her husband, and two cats in a basket.
Better to avoid the ambiguity in the first place by better choice of words:
- She arrived with her husband and with two cats in a basket.
The Semi-Colon
Like the colon (see below) and unlike the comma, the semi-colon is a stop rather than a pause, but not as complete or heavy a stop as the full stop. The semi-colon is used to break up long sentences; it relates relates clauses or sentences which have too strong a relationship to be separated by full stops. What follows and precedes a semi-colon must be a grammatically complete sentence. In other words, the semi-colon is an alternative to the full stop when the writer wishes to link, rather than separate, what follows and what goes before. A semi-colon should not be used to mark off mere phrases and subordinate clauses (for which a comma will do); it should mark off sentence equivalents.
- The crematorium charges are not excessive; they have not risen for ten years.
Here the semi-colon links two simple sentences. A full stop could have been used; alternatively, the sentences could have been linked to a conjunction such as and. It would not have been incorrect to use a colon on the grounds that the second statement amplifies or explains the first. The semi-colon is correctly used to link two sentences which have a common topic.
- The story is told of a man who had been suffering from insomnia for many years; no-one could find a cure. Finally, his friends hit upon a plan which succeeded perfectly; he was given a job as a night watchman, told to stay awake at all costs, and was found asleep within the hour.
The semi-colon is used to link the first (complex) sentence and the following (simple) one which is closely related to it. The colon after succeeded perfectly indicates that the nature of the success is about to be described. Commas mark off the final three clauses; all of them have the same subject (he) and the commas provide the link.
The Colon
The colon [:] is stronger than a comma or semi-colon, but weaker than a full stop. Some writers do without it, but it has several uses:
(a) at the end of a main clause when what follows is an amplification:
- The system has three drawbacks: it is to expensive, it takes too much time, and no-one understands it.
A full stop would have worked after drawback, but what follows is sufficiently closely linked to The system has three drawbacks to justify the less sharp separation offered by the colon. A comma would have been wrong.
(b) to introduce a quotation. This is used as in the case of amplification, and is seen less frequently.
It has become common practice to use a colon when directly quoting a source on many Internet news sites. This is not wrong as such, but for now, most editors will take this out in a novel or short story manuscript and therefore so should you. This doesn't mean there is no room for a colon or two within direct speech, if the words call for it.
(c) to introduce a list:
- Dickens wrote a number of important novels: Bleak House, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Hard Times.
A comma would NOT have been strong enough here, though one could have said:
- Dickens wrote a number of important novels, including Bleak House, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Hard Times.
The sense requires no pause, and therefore no punctuation, before Bleak House.
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