One Space or Two?
It hasn’t reflected publishing standards since the Jazz Age. And it isn’t Chicago style. But some people continue to do it in their own documents—from manuscripts to emails. You’ll even see it occasionally on social media.
Oxford, Chicago, and the Serial Comma
Its generic name is the serial (or series) comma, but a lot of people refer to it by a fancier name: Oxford comma.
Numbers in Creative Writing
When we think about writing numbers, we tend to think of research papers, financial reports, sports columns, and other quantity-laden nonfiction settings. But novelists and playwrights and poets also puzzle over how to style numbers.
Chicago Style Workout 41: Prefixes
This month’s Chicago style workout focuses on the fourth and last section of our hyphenation table, “Words Formed with Prefixes.”
Semicolons in Fiction
Anyone who learned to type on a QWERTY keyboard would be excused for thinking the semicolon is the most important mark of punctuation in English; why else would it be sitting right there on the home row?
“Ain’t Misbehavin’ ”: When Quotation Marks and Apostrophes Collide
In 1929, when the song “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” became a big hit, composers Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks probably weren’t too worried about that final apostrophe.
What Does an Editor Know? A Quiz
To celebrate the end of another decade, we’ve put together eleven questions designed to test your knowledge of some random editorial facts.
“Had had”? Flashbacks and the Past Perfect
What exactly is the past perfect? And what’s wrong with using it?
How Strunk Lost His Comma
Chicago style doesn’t require commas when “Jr.” or “Sr.” follows a name. Until just a few decades ago, however, commas were the norm.
Chicago Style Crossword No. 2: Specialty Publishing
Welcome to our second “Chicago Style” crossword puzzle. The theme this time is specialty publishing.
Can I Put an iPhone in My Novel?
Now and then, a writer or editor asks our online Q&A whether mentioning a brand name in a work of fiction requires permission or the addition of the trademark (™) or registered (®) symbol.
