This post will deal with points of the compass and, more specifically, when to capitalise and when to hyphenate them, and how to abbreviate them. Capitalisation 1. Do not capitalise when speaking in general terms: Head east on this road…
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Yearly Archives: 2013
Points of the Compass: Capitalisation, Hyphenation and Abbreviation
Tagged with: capitalisation, compass points, east, hyphenation, north, south, west
Posted in Capitalisation
Posted in Capitalisation
Serial Comma
The serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma due to it being common in Oxford publications, is the comma that comes before ‘and’ or ‘or’ in a list of three or more items: I ordered stuffed vine leaves, olives,…
Numbers: Words or Figures?
When should you use words (one, two, three) and when should you use figures (1, 2, 3)? Firstly, when proofreading and copy-editing, you should always adhere to any guidelines governing numbers set out in the house style guide. If you…
Dangling Participles
What is a participle? Participles are words formed from verbs that are used as an adjective (running water) or noun (good breeding). There are two types: the present participle (all end in -ing) and the past participle (usually end in -ed…
Deciding What to Correct
Proofreaders are responsible for finding errors and consistencies and then deciding whether or not to correct them. This will depend on the time/budget allocated for a publication. Proofreaders are the last to read a publication before it goes to print;…
Posted in Proofreading/copy-editing