Can you use between or from and to with a number range expressed using numerals and an en dash?
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… Read More
Posts related to punctuation
How do I punctuate a quotation within a quotation within a quotation?
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,… Read More
President’s Day: A Singular Holiday?
Authorities disagree about the name Presidents' Day . . . Read More
Why do periods and commas go inside quotation marks in MLA style?
The MLA Handbook notes, “By convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks” (267). Thus, in the following sentence, the comma… Read More
Should periods be used with degrees (e.g., B.A.)?
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… Read More
How do I handle prefixes such as pre- and post- in MLA style?
MLA style, which follows Merriam-Webster, does not use hyphens after most prefixes. We would write, for example, antiestablishment, coauthor, nonlinear, and prealgebra. A hyphen is needed, however, before a capital letter… Read More
Are there instances when you might not place a parenthetical citation at the end of a sentence?
MLA style aims to make in-text citations as unobtrusive as possible, so we normally recommend placing them at the end of a sentence, but sometimes… Read More
Where do I place an exclamation point or a question mark in relation to a parenthetical reference for a paraphrase?
You should place an exclamation point or a question mark after the parenthetical reference for a paraphrase: Why did Karl Marx say that a commodity is… Read More
Can I use brackets to change the tense of a verb so that a quotation will fit syntactically into my sentence?
When a verb in a quotation does not fit syntactically into your sentence, you may use brackets to change the tense: If Charles Dickens were… Read More