by Bobbie Christmas
Q: What does it mean when a magazine says, “No serial commas, except to avoid confusion.” What are serial commas?
A: Also called the Oxford comma, a serial comma is one that appears before the last item in a list. In the following example, the comma before “blue” is a serial comma: The American flag is red, white, and blue. In some styles other than Chicago style, the punctuation would be without the second comma, like this: The American flag is red, white and blue.
Q: When one writes a creative nonfiction essay targeted to be published in an e-zine, should it be written in AP style or Chicago style?
A: It depends on the style the e-zine follows. If you can’t ask the editor or find guidelines as to the publication’s style, read some of its published essays. Look for clues that tell you the style it follows. You’ll find clues in the way it handles numerals, commas, and capitalization. Those are the three things that differ the most from style to style. For example, does it use numerals or words for numbers above 10? Does it use the serial comma or not? Notice what words it capitalizes. If you know both AP and CMOS, you’ll be able to tell what style the e-zine follows.
Q: I have perused your Purge Your Prose of Problems manual, and I see in the “To/too” section that you did not place a comma before “too” in the example: “He’s coming along too.” Are writers no longer required to place a comma before “too” when it implies inclusion? It is hard to keep up with all these changes, and I am extremely grateful to have your manual.
A: The Chicago Manual of Style, which dictates the style preferred by book publishers, says the adverbs “too” and “either,” used in the sense of “also,” generally do not need to be preceded by a comma.
Q: I like semicolons, but when you edited my latest manuscript you changed some of them. What’s up with that? Did I use them incorrectly?
A: Rather than go over your manuscript again, I’ll answer in generic terms. Sometimes I find semicolons overused in manuscripts. Overuse of semicolons can indicate that too many sentences are too long. Long sentences—sentences of more than 10 words—can get confusing, and certainly sentences of more than 15 or 20 words beg for a break. Because a semicolon in regular prose is most often used between two independent clauses not joined by a conjunction, those two clauses can often be separated into two sentences. Yes, semicolons are beautiful things, but it’s best to use them sparingly.
Q: In school I was taught to capitalize the word “president” whenever it referred to the elected leader of the United States. The editor of my book sometimes lowercased the word in my manuscript and sometimes left it capitalized. Why the inconsistencies? Is the editor incompetent, or is there something I don’t know?
A: Issues like yours often arise because of the differences in style guidelines. Some schools may teach a style called MLA, which stands for Modern Language Association. That style is often used in the humanities, writing on language and literature. As an example, an essay that analyzes the metaphors used in a poem probably follows MLA style. Book publishers, however, usually follow Chicago style. The two differ in several important ways. For example, Chicago style capitalizes the word “president” only when it is followed by the name of the president, as in President Ford. If no name follows, such as in the phrase “the president gave a speech,” the word is not capitalized. Your editor correctly followed Chicago style for your book manuscript.
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more Ask the Book Doctor questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.
