Q. I am editing a piece that makes several references to unspoken orders. For example: He climbed up the plank and handed the
engineer a “go” order. Or, After ten minutes he signaled “stop.”
Should these orders be in quotations?
A. Yes. Quotation marks needn’t imply that something was spoken. Your sentences are much easier to read
with quotation marks signaling the special uses of “go” and “stop.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hello, Chicago. You state that “an opening parenthesis should be preceded by a comma or a semicolon only in an enumeration” as in (1) a brown fox, (2) a silver fox. There are no other exceptions. You also say that the same rules apply to brackets. Another editor wants this: New Westminster, BC: Pie Tree Press, [1988]. It looks very wrong to me! I say the comma goes, because the bracketed matter is an interpolation, not part of the original text, and the comma has no function. Therefore the punctuation should be as if that interpolation doesn’t exist.
A. Although you could omit the comma or put it inside the brackets, it reads most smoothly the way you’ve shown it. A citation isn’t a quotation. The comma is being supplied by the author who’s writing the citation. In fact, citations in CMOS show a comma before a bracketed date in just this way, so yes, this is another exception to the general rule.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Is there ever a circumstance in which there is not a space before an opening parenthesis? And accordingly, is text within
parentheses always written without any additional spacing (as evidenced here)?
A. We could say never and always, respectively, but then someone would probably write with a counterexample, so let’s
just say that normally there’s a space before the opening parenthesis and no space immediately inside
the opening or closing mark. After the closing mark, anything goes.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have been asked to make only grammatical edits on a document. I believe my boss is misusing semicolons in a passage similar
to this one: “Applications will be reviewed by the board. Selection criteria: (1) profession; (2) type
of project; and (3) documented impacts of the project.” I was under the impression that semicolons are
used in a series only when the items within the series contain internal punctuation. Would it be correct for me to supplant
these semicolons with commas? Or would this be a stylistic change?
A. You’re right that commas, not semicolons, are needed in your sentence. I can’t
know what your boss intended when he or she directed you to correct “only grammar”
(whether that implied “not punctuation”), but since grammar involves the relations
between words in a sentence, and relations are indicated by means of punctuation, I’d go ahead and rip
out those semicolons.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. A lot of times we have magazine spreads with titles like these:
Balancing Talents and Time (large lettering)
What Do Lawyers Do in Their Spare Time? (smaller lettering)
If there are no colons in the spread itself, should I still write the title out with a colon in running text?
A. Yes. If you spend a few minutes looking at magazine articles and book titles in a library or bookstore or online, you’ll
see that colons are rare. We add them in text and in citations to signal where the title ends and the subtitle begins.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Why do you continue to support the nonpossessive apostrophe, as in CD’s, MBA’s?
It serves no function whatsoever.
A. Actually, Chicago omits the apostrophe in the plurals of initialisms, while acknowledging its usefulness in some cases, particularly
with the plural form of lowercase letters (e.g., x’s and o’s). (Not that punctuation is necessarily logical, you know; sometimes it is simply based on convention.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have written a novel and am currently working with an editor, and we have different attitudes toward the use of the semicolon.
According to my editor I have used semicolons copiously, but I have done so in order to achieve the connection of thoughts
and ideas that are related but not so closely that they require a comma, and in order to avoid a series of the staccatolike
sentences that so much current literature is subject to. Is this acceptable in today’s modern fiction?
A. Although an editor should respect a writer’s voice and style, a writer doesn’t
always realize how her voice comes across after it passes through the wickets of punctuation. There should be collaboration
here. Your editor should consider each semicolon before nixing it, rather than wipe them all out on principle alone. You should
acknowledge that a surfeit of semicolons can distract any reader who sees it as a writing tic; it can also be unsightly on
the page, depending on the typeface. Here’s an idea: Find a passage where semicolons dominate and ask
someone to read it out loud. Then replace the semicolons with commas or periods and ask someone else to read it to you. See
whether you hear a difference. It might help you determine the best course.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Can a semicolon ever accompany an exclamation point? I’m not at liberty to share the actual sentence,
but here’s an analogous one of my own creation: The missing cookies could mean one of several things:
(1) Jane had gotten hungry while she was studying; (2) John had come by and helped himself—that moocher!;
(3) I was snacking in my sleep again. I’ve solved the problem in this case by deleting the em dash and
enclosing “that moocher!” in parentheses, but I’m wondering
what the rule is.
A. I think your solution is a good one; a semicolon after an exclamation point wouldn’t wash in this department.
(P.S. We’re dying to know what that secret sentence could be.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Regarding em dashes, does CMOS continue to unequivocally oppose putting spaces before and after em dashes in typography? The font style on this website
leaves at least a tiny space surrounding the em dash. Would it be CMOS heresy for me to stretch that space?
A. “Heresy” is a bit strong. Even our own publications sometimes play with spacing
for display purposes, and some typefaces impose more space than others. In this matter, as in most style matters, if Chicago’s
preferences don’t suit your purposes, work around them. We won’t be offended.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. My author is using the last half of a sentence in an epigraph. He begins it with three dots and a lowercase word. Does this
violate the general rule not to use ellipsis points at the beginning of a quotation?
A. It does violate the general rule. But a general rule by nature may be broken for a good reason, and clarifying a sentence
fragment used as an epigraph sounds like a good reason.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]