punctuation Archives - Scott Flood Writing

Why you shouldn’t use &

July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 by Scott Flood

I’ll be the first to admit that the ampersand (that familiar little “&” mark) can be handy now and then. But it’s one of the most-misused tools in the punctuation toolbox. The ampersand is a graphic replacement for the word “and.” Used properly in graphic design, it can even be a thing of beauty — … Read more

Exclamation points: the cayenne pepper of writing

November 6, 2019 by Scott Flood

One of the best copywriters I know has few pet peeves about the craft of writing but makes an exception when it comes to exclamation points. She believes we should all be allotted a limited number of them at birth, and once we’ve exhausted our supply, we can’t use any more. It’s her way of … Read more

KILL THE AMPERSAND!

March 18, 2015 by Scott Flood

No, I’m not advocating violence against punctuation. And I’ll admit that the ampersand (that little “&” mark) can be handy now and then. But it’s one of the most-misused tools in the punctuation toolbox. The ampersand serves as a graphic replacement for the word “and.” When used in graphic design, it can even be a … Read more

DEATH TO THE AMPERSAND!

April 6, 2011 by Scott Flood

The ampersand serves as a graphic replacement for the word “and.” When used in graphic design, it can even be a thing of beauty — much prettier than those three letters it replaces. Designers will twist and turn ampersands, run words through and around them, or present them in different colors and typefaces.

QUOTES MAKE THINGS “UNREAL”

May 27, 2010 by Scott Flood

Why do people choose to put so many things in quotation marks? I suspect that they believe wrapping a word or phrase in quotes somehow makes it more prominent or important, but it actually has the opposite effect.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

October 22, 2009 by Scott Flood

After a recent blog entry about exclamation points, fellow writer Tony Perona shared his own personal frustration – people who present their messages with an abundance of capital letters. They generally do it either because they think what they’re saying is REALLY IMPORTANT or because they think it ADDS EMPHASIS. They rank right up there with people who overuse boldface or underlining.

Using ALL CAPS, boldface, or underlining in print is the same as raising your voice to make a point. If you were speaking and wanted to make sure that your audience recognized that something was really important, you’d probably only stress the word “really.” If you stressed every word, you’d end up sounding like a raving maniac.