You are viewing all posts tagged punctuation
In MLA style, if each part of the name of an ethnic or national group is an independent term, no hyphen is used, regardless of whether the name appears as a noun or an adjective: Many Native Americans live in California. I am studying African American literature. If the name includes a combining form, however, . . .
Published 5 June 2018
The language that you use to describe elements in your works-cited list should be the language that your paper is written in, which should also determine the punctuation used. In other words, if your paper is in Spanish but you cite a work published in English in the works-cited list, use “editado por” instead of . . .
Published 17 May 2018
If the last element of a works-cited-list entry is a URL ending in a question mark, a period should follow the URL: Krugman, Paul. “Bubble, Bubble, Fraud and Trouble.” The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/opinion/bitcoin-bubble-fraud.html?. Note, however, that the rule differs for the title of a work ending in a question mark or exclamation . . .
Published 11 May 2018
The MLA Handbook explains that you should “[i]dentify an omission within a sentence by using three periods with a space before each and a space after the last ( . . . )” (81). Note, however, that if you use Microsoft Word’s ellipsis character, the periods will not be spaced, and if you try to insert . . .
Published 10 May 2018
Epigraphs establish tone, highlight allusions, provide commentary, and mark transitions between parts of a work. Primarily ornamental, they are not discussed subsequently in the text. Design Although publishers vary in how they style epigraphs, one commonality is that epigraphs are set apart from the main text by being placed at the start of a book, . . .
Published 7 May 2018
No. For more on when to include and omit commas, see our post.
Published 28 March 2018
You can express a number range using words (“from . . . to”): The party will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Or you can use an en dash: The party will take place 6 p.m.–10 p.m. But you cannot combine words (“from”) and an en dash to convey a range: The party will take place from . . .
Published 14 March 2018
A simple principle applies for what seems like a thorny issue: Nest punctuation that appears within punctuation by alternating punctuation marks to disambiguate–in this case, between double and single quotation marks. One Level of Nesting The most common reason for nesting punctuation is shown in section 1.3.7 of the MLA Handbook (p. 87): when you . . .
Published 9 March 2018
Yes.
Published 23 January 2018
Practice varies. As indicated in section 1.6 of the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, MLA style does not use periods between letters for abbreviations composed of mainly capital letters, but you can use periods if you are consistent.
Published 31 January 2018
Be the first to read new posts and updates about MLA style.