STANDARDS FOR LAYOUT
Text composition
The use of capital letters defined in these standards are based on English usage, with some additions. Use capitals for:
“In some matters of punctuations there are simple rights and wrongs; in others, one must apply apply a good ear to good sense”(Truss 2005: 27). In this section, the authors will summarize the simple rights and wrongs as well as indicate where the student writer must engage in some critical thinking.
Type one space after all punctuation characters. Insertions are enclosed in square brackets. For example:
The author of this text says: “If you follow these . . . rules your text will [obviously] be laid out correct [sic].”
\footnote{Major words include nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, (not articles, conjunctions, or prepositions)}
Apostrophes
Commas
Comma usage is inarguably the trickiest area of punctuation in English. Although the finer points can be quite tricky, following 4 basic rules will resolve a majority of problems. Use commas in the following cases:
Frequently occurring comma mistakes:
Semi-colons
Colons
Full stop, full point, period
Ellipsis
Deletions and omissions from quotations are indicated by ellipsis.
Question marks
Exclamation marks
Hyphens and dashes
The importance of this group of punctuation marks is severely underestimated. First of all, despite the fact that the most frequently used symbols in this category can be easily produced using the same keyboard key, they are not the same. Hyphens and dashes could all be described as ‘horizontal lines’, but they are of different length, are produced slightly differently in most word processors, and—-most importantly—-also serve different purposes. Strictly speaking, we can distinguish between at least four different symbols: the hyphen, the n-dash, the m-dash, and the minus sign; they are used for four different purposes.
Connecting words to create compounds
The general rule is that the hyphen is used ‘to connect words’. However, there are no consistent rules on when to write ‘compounds’ as separate items, when to connect them with a hyphen, and when to write them as a single word—-unsurprisingly, even dictionaries may disagree on when to hyphenate a compound and when not to. One could argue that, as far as word combinations in English go, they appear to ‘evolve’ from being separate words via being hyphenated to being written as solid one-word dictionary entries. Besides that general observation, the student writer is always advised to consult a good dictionary for this purpose\footnote{e.g. Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries for British English, and Merriam-Webster for American English, to name just a few.}. In addition, however, there are definitely quite a few good guidelines on when and where to use hyphens. According to Truss (2008: 145—7), among others, the following situations require the use of hyphens:
When ambiguity must be avoided: ‘a re-formed committee’ can hopefully provide a fresh perspective on things, whereas ‘a reformed committee’ (not a Catholic committee) is an entirely different kettle of fish. Recreation and re-creation are two completely different concepts. A similar problem may be found in the pairs ‘extra-marital relations’ versus ‘extra marital relations’, and ‘newspaper-style book’ versus ‘newspaper style-book’. Similarly, “a small scale factory is a small factory that manufactures scales, while a small-scale factory is a factory that produces a small amount of something” (Ritter 2003, 134).
When numbers over twenty need to be spelled out: thirty-two, forty-nine, etc. (N.B. there’s no hyphen in ‘four hundred’, ‘two thousand’, etc.)
When nouns or adjectives are linked up in case of equal importance or if one can read ‘to’ or ‘and’ between them (cf. Ritter, 140-1). Examples are: employer-employee relationship, on-off switch, Dover-Calais crossing, cost-benefit analysis, American-French relations. In this category, the n-dash may also be used instead.
When a noun phrase is used to qualify another noun: ‘corrugated iron’ versus ‘a corrugated-iron roof’, ‘technology from the twentieth century’ but ‘twentieth-century technology’. A rather embarrassing mistake would be made if one referred to ‘the eight hundred odd members of the House of Lords’ rather than ‘the eight hundred-odd members of the House of Lords’.
In the case of certain prefixes: semi-illiterate, bi-annual, non-negotiable, quasi-scientific. Very often, these may also be written as one (and very often are in US English). In doubt, consult a dictionary.
Mispronunciation or confusion may be avoided through hyphen use in words like co-opt or shel-like (cf. coopt and shelllike).
In case words needs to be divided in two at the end of a line of text. Proper hyphenation (i.e. knowing for certain where to hyphenate) can be very important. The hyphenation in the sentence ‘The suspect was charged with mans-laughter’ (Shackle 2003) is rather awkward. Dictionary consultation is advised, as many dictionaries also include hyphenation points (e.g. ‘man·slaugh·ter’ (Dictionary.com))
Indicating a range or span
T
Setting off additional, non-restrictive information
T
Indicating subtraction (mathematics)
Use of the minus symbol is restricted to the mathematical domain. As far as the subject matter of this guide is concerned, this does not require further explanation.
Practical overview
Table~\ref{hyphens_and_dashes} gives the four different (typographical) forms, indicate how they are used, and show how they can be included—-or acceptably represented—-in most word processors:
[table]
Brackets
Parentheses should not be used as an alternative to other types of punctuation. Instead, use them (sparingly) to enclose numbers, words, phrases or sentences which:
Are cross-references to other parts of your document, such as other chapters, appendices, bibliographies;
Are there to add clarity to your report without altering its meaning
May not be essential to a sentence but may be interesting or helpful to some readers.
Within parentheses, use square brackets [ ] for extra parenthesis.
Slashes
Quotation marks
Short quotations are normally separated from the rest of sentence by commas or colons. Use the double quotation mark symbol (“):
To enclose anything directly quoted word for word from speech or written text by other\footnote{If more than one paragraph is involved, the quotation mark is repeated at the commencement of each paragraph and places at the end of the final paragraph only. Do not enclose direct quotations.};
To set off special words, technical terms, or words used in a special sense (as have been used in section {\ref};
To set off report, essay, or article titles (e.g. “smurfsmurfsmurf”)For titles of reports, essays, articles, etc. mentioned in your own text.
Inside a quotation, commas and full-stops always go inside the closing quotation marks; commas and semicolons always go outside. Use single quotation marks, the apostrophe symbol (‘) to enclose a quotation that appears within a quotation.
Use the following convention [sic] to identify mistakes, misspellings, etc. in quotations, as in the example below (section {\ref})
Normal sentence
Quoted sentence
If part of a list (as a list item)
countries, towns, regions, waters, etc.
compass directions as part of names capitalised as well
capitalise ‘river’ only when it follows the name (i.e. is part of the name); if it’s descriptive, do not capitalise.
nationalities?
institutions, (also Government)
Organisations
Societies
Movements
departments
N.B. Use lower case for millenia and centuries (except when denoting a culturally particular era: ‘the Roaring Twenties’, ‘the Swinging Sixties’)
General rule: all names get initial capital letters, be they a first, middle, or surname (i.e. family name), regardless of order.
Also: language-specific rules
The two overruling criteria:
N.B. Accurately copy the spelling of people’s names, incl. spacing, accents, and punctuation, especially if they are directly addressed, but also if they are involved as a third party or merely referenced. Not doing so might cause offence.
Afrikaans
Arabic
Chinese
Dutch names? (check Burrough-Boenisch still?
French
German
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Irish & Scottish
Japanese
Korean
Spanish
US English
Thai
Vietnamese
Foreign place names
Whether or not to use an original place name (Roma, Köln, Den Haag) or the English translation of that some place name (Rome, Cologne, The Hague) can be a matter of course in some cases, in others it may be more difficult. One would not want to tread on toes due to cultural or political ignorance. In all cases, it may be best to consider this carefully.
largely follow Dutch rules (see below). Examples
In alphabetising, ignore any article—-al or derivatives (e.g. ad-, an-, or as-)—-and list the person under the capital letter of their last name: e.g. Aḥmad al-Jundī is listed as al-Jundī, Aḥmad, but is alphabetised under J. For other aspects of spelling (e.g. spelling variants like Nasser vs. Nasir vs. Nāṣir) please follow the spelling that occurs most frequently in the context in question).
Prefixed elements like abu, umm, ibn, bin, and akhu are not alphabetised but do determine the alphabetical positioning in a list.
Personal names in Chinese usually consist of two parts: a monosyllabic family name (i.e. the surname) followed by a bisyllabic personal name. Both names should be written with an initial capital.
As to the romanisation of other Chinese names (placenames, etc.), the student should be aware of the existence of a number of transcription methods. For consistency, it is considered best to stick to one method of transcription only.
Surnames of UK or US citizens that originate in Dutch surnames usually get initial capitals for ‘de’, ‘van’, and related, and are also used in alphabetisation.
The word Ben in modern Isreali names is a part of the surname, has an initial capital, and must be attached to whichever name follows it by means of a hyphen: David Ben-Gurion. In listing: Ben-Gurion, David.
Hungarian names are transposed in English writing. While the original Hungarian has the surname preceding the given name in normal writing, as in Áder János (surname, given name), English texts should adapt it to the English word order: János Áder (given name, surname). In that case, the alphabetical listing should also follow the English principle: Áder, János (i.e. surname, comma, given name).
Most names in English writing follow an Anglicised spelling: O’Brien, O’Neill (using a capital O with apostrophe) or MacMahon, (Mc)Guinness (using a variation of the prefix Mac directly attached). Some individuals may prefer a more traditionally Irish spelling in English writing, though (e.g. Dara Ó Briain or Proinsias Mac Cana); stick to the bearer’s preference as far as spelling is concerned.
Names derived from Scottish Gaelic follow the same principles. In both cases - also in the case of spelling variants (MacDonald, Macdonald, McDonald, M’Donald, etc.) - alphabetical arrangement should follow as it were spelled ‘Mac’. This means that McDonald would precede Macnab. If a bearer explicitly uses the Gaelic spelling of their name, follow that preference (e.g. Daibhidh Rothach instead of David Munro).
Japanese personal names, like in Chinese and Hungarian, have the surname (e.g. Omura) preceding the given name (e.g. Mizuki). This is maintained in English. The surname leads in alphabetisation, so a listing would give Omura Mizuki under the ‘O’.
Standard order is surname followed by given name, where the surname is most often monosyllabic (e.g. Kim, Yi, Pak, Chong, Ch’oe, etc.) and personal names most often consist of two syllables connected by a hyphen (e.g. Tae-woo, Min-il, Il-Sung). Deviations from this pattern are not uncommon. Consult a native speaker or literature for further details on the romanization of Korean.
Determining which name elements constitute given names and which constitute surnames can be difficult in Spanish due to a large degree of variation. Usually, however, the surname consists of two elements: the father’s family surname followed by the mother’s family surname (sometimes separated by the particle y or i). If there is one surname, the second one may have been dropped. Alphabetisation should be done according to the first surname. Gabriel García Márquez should be listed under the G: García Márquez, Gabriel.
Names that reflect foreign family ties may be treated in various, sometimes unexpected ways. John von Neumann and Bas C. Van Fraasen are listed under N and F rather than V. Names that contain generational suffixes such as Jr. (incl. the period) or III should be separated from the name by a space rather than a comma in APA style: John Smith Jr. and John Smith III. In listing, the suffix should be placed after the given name or initials: e.g. Smith, J., Jr.
In the case of middle names, these always go with the first name; alphabetisation follows the surname. The books by F. Scott Fitzgerald are Fitzgerald’s novels, not Scott Fitzgerald’s novels. Listing would be: Fitzgerald, F. Scott in an index, or Fitzgerald, F. S. in a reference list.
Given name comes before family name, but the given name is often used for alphabetisation (with no inversion and no comma after the first name). Occasionally, the Western approach—-alphabetisation based on surname, with inversion and a comma) is followed, though. The individual’s preferences (if known) had best be followed.
Vietnamese names follow the order family name, middle name, given name: Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, where Nguyễn is the family name. Indexing, referring, or referencing the name is done according to the given name, however. Nguyễn Tấn Dũng could be referred to as Mr Dung in an English text, and referenced as Dung, Nguyen Tan. Military leader Nguyen Vo Giap becomes General Giap and is indexed as Giap, Nguyen Vo
The Oxford Style Manual provides a list of examples of preferred English usage at Oxford University Press:
Ankara (not Angora)
Brussels (not Bruxelles or Brussel)
Gdańsk (not Danzig)
Guangzhou (not Canton)
Lyons (not Lyon)
Munich (not München)
Sichuan (not Szechuan)
Beijing (not Peking or Peiping)
Florence (not Firenze)
Geneva (not Genève, Genf, or Ginevra)
Livorno (not Leghorn)
Marseilles (not Marseille)
Reims (not Rheims)
Vienna (not Wien)
In doubt, they advise the use of reference works such as The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World or the New Oxford Dictionary of English, which includes placenames. Most Wikipedia articles tend to be given the right forms as well…
In the case of place names that have more than one occurrence (say, Wellington in New Zealand or Wellington in Canada), it may be useful to specify, depending on your audience. As the Style Manual puts it, “When in doubt it is best to err on the side of caution, supplying additional clarification for all but the most famous place names.” (Ritter, 2003, p.107)
If the student writer needs to refer to the past of a town or city in a time when the area was under different political control, it is best to use the name that was officially used at that time (e.g. Breslau before 1945; Wrocław after 1945) although in that case, one may have to carefully balance political sensitivities with practical considerations of communication. The same goes for competing place names in current use: considering whether or not to use the term British Isles may not be trivial when working for—-or writing to—-an Irish company.
Foreign toponyms referring to bodies of water may already contain words meaning ‘lake’, ‘sea’, ‘river’, etc. Phrases such as ‘Lake Windermere’ or ‘the IJsselmeer lake’ should be avoided.
Finally, in order to enhance communication, familiarity with anglicised forms may be more important than official transcriptions despite the fact that the latter may be more correct. Hiroshima rather than Hirosima, Seoul and Pyongyang rather than Sŏul and P’yŏngyang, Jerusalem rather than Yerushaláyim, and Gethsemane rather than Gat Shmanim, to name just a few.