Not long ago, I mentioned in this space that a period or comma always comes before a closing quotation mark. For example: Beth used the word “covert,” not the word “clandestine.” I mentioned, too, ...

Apostrophes are equal opportunity humiliators. As I wrote recently, apostrophes incriminate less-word-savvy types by popping up in plurals like “We play bridge with the Smith’s” and “He had two ...

What’s a novel without its words? Just punctuation. But when you take those lines of commas, periods, exclamation points, and quotes, then arrange them in a big spiral, you can still tell something of ...

Most of us who are picky about punctuation—we like to think of ourselves as fastidious, thank you very much—are content to silently grumble when we come across an errant apostrophe on a restaurant ...

Punctuation is the homely, workaday cousin to the glamorous word. It works quietly in the background, sweeping up and trying to keep the information flow tidy, while words prance around spilling ...

Everyday punctuation marks from the simple full stop to the quotation mark now mean something totally different as Gen Z adapt them to form new meanings, experts have revealed. Recently it was ...

Appreciate the apostrophe, salute the semicolon and exalt the exclamation point today. It’s National Punctuation Day! The holiday started when Jeff Rubin, a former reporter, grew increasingly ...