A question from a non-native speaker: Is there a definitve guide on American punctuation somewhere? I always wonder about American use of punctuation inside single quotes when quoting a term instead of a sentence, and some other cases where I see different intepretations of punctuation.
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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The most commonly used tool for referencing English grammar that I know of is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
I've heard it being a bit snobbish and outdated, despite having newer editions, but I will look into it. Thanks for the tip.
Americans will often call any book snobbish and outdated, though.
That takes me back. That was the standard reference for my journalism degree 35 years ago. I still have it.
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I found this. It seems pretty good. Although I don't really think it matters much. You'll likely be understood the same.
Thanks. I think it is quite well made, and I would love authors read this before they hand in their manuscripts...
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Take a second to actually read this one. It's pretty short and sweet. It's also from 2007, and talks about nouns (maybe compound nouns) that we really don't think and probably never knew were hyphenated. It's not about the use we typically see today.
As an aside, I've noticed people start hyphenating in weird ways, like "I've been at this job for 7-years"
I think at this point MS Word automatically recommends a hyphen after any number + quantifier combo. One time it wanted me to correct "three armed guards" to "three-armed guards" which would have changed the meaning considerably.
The number of times MS autocorrect suggests incorrect changes to grammar is laughably high, and most people just blindly follow the suggestions.
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Could the strange hyphenation be due to the influence of their mother tongue? I don't know if there is any language that does it like that, but it seems plausible.
Special characters suck in on-screen keyboards, and the bastards rarely gave us physical thumboards.
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is old fashioned non-hyphenated?
like red tree
My experience is more "feels" than fact I suppose, but I've always seen it that any adjective or noun playing adverb to another adjective or participle should be hyphenated to the word it describes.
Red-hot coals (coals that are hot to the point of being red)
Red hot coals (coals that are both hot and red)
Ruby-red shoes (shoes that are as red as rubies)
Ruby red shoes (ruby shoes that are red)
Smooth-talking rogue (a rogue who talks smoothly)
Smooth talking rogue (a smooth rogue who talks)
Bamboo-eating panda (a panda who eats bamboo)
Bamboo eating panda (bamboo is eating a panda)
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So English has been devolved by vapid influencers anew.
Language purists are veebs. Communication changes. The definition of language is descriptive, not prescriptive.
Depends on the language, the context, and the application. Sometimes language IS prescriptively defined. Language is more than just casual speech.
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Some of those I've never seen hyphenated in 30 years of being an avid reader. And some of the corrections I see listed, I've seen used the other way.
But I'm sure they read more broadly than I do.