{"id":2787,"date":"2016-11-29T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/contentwriters.com\/blog\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2023-10-23T11:29:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T15:29:51","slug":"common-punctuation-mistakes-content-editing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contentwriters.com\/blog\/common-punctuation-mistakes-content-editing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Common Punctuation Mistakes in Content Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think you know where to place a comma? You may be surprised to learn otherwise. Contemporary Editing<\/em> recommends that when in doubt aspiring editors should out leave punctuation marks. Perhaps the problem is too few copy editors doubt themselves. Below are the some of the most common content editing errors and punctuation mistakes we see.<\/p>\n

Too Many Commas<\/h2>\n

Editors should only add punctuation marks if they can recite Contemporary Editing\u2019s<\/em> advice: \u201cMost punctuation errors are overpunctuation errors.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, some content editors would punctuate the following sentence as follows:<\/p>\n

Modern English Usage<\/em> author H.W. Fowler, and How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them,<\/em> author Ben Yagoda, called these words \u201celegant variations\u201d.<\/p>\n

First, if you\u2019re writing content in the United States, the period belongs inside the quotation marks. The rest of the sentence should be punctuated as follows:<\/p>\n

Modern English Usage<\/em> author H.W. Fowler and How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them<\/em> author Ben Yagoda called these words \u201celegant variations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people feel compelled to throw a comma in front of every \u201cand,\u201d \u201cbut,\u201d or \u201cor\u201d they see. This is incorrect. In the above example_, Modern English Usage_ author H.W. Fowler and How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them<\/em> author Ben Yagoda form a compound subject<\/a> \u2013 i.e., two subjects. Just as you wouldn\u2019t place a comma in \u201capples and oranges,\u201d you shouldn\u2019t place a comma between the book authors.<\/p>\n

Nor should you place a comma between the subjects (Modern English Usage<\/em> author H.W. Fowler and How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them<\/em> author Ben Yagoda) and the verb (called).<\/p>\n

Too Few Commas<\/h2>\n

Content writers tend to omit commas in dates, addresses and degrees.<\/p>\n