When it comes to punctuation, the two most common kinds of errors involve the use of apostrophes and quotation marks. The rules governing the use of apostrophes and quotation marks are, for the most part, clear and unyielding.

Let us review apostrophes first. They are used for two purposes: to show possession and for contractions.

Possession:
To show possession of something or someone by a singular noun, an apostrophe followed by an “s” is used, as in the following examples:

• The doctor’s office was crowded.
• My younger son’s friends are coming for dinner tonight.
• Where is Marty’s coat?
• That is the girl’s necklace.
• This is Charles’s coat. (Notice that, even though “Charles” ends in an “s,” it is still necessary to add an apostrophe and another “s.”)

The only time that you would add just an apostrophe to the end of a noun ending in “s” would be if adding an apostrophe and an “s” would change the pronunciation of the word, as in the following:

• We have discussed Sophocles’ body of work.

It should not be “Sophocles’s work.” That would change the pronunciation of “Sophocles.”

When you are indicating possession by plural nouns, just an apostrophe is added, as in the following examples:

• All of the girls’ mothers came to the reception.
• That building contains several doctors’ offices.

Irregular plural nouns require the addition of an apostrophe and an “s,” as in the following:

• That is the children’s room.
• He decided to join the men’s club.

Contractions:
Contractions are formed by combining two words. Apostrophes are added in place of letters which have been dropped, as in the following examples:

• should not……shouldn’t
• could not……..couldn’t
• she will…………she’ll
• it is……………….it’s (This should not be confused with the possessive form of “it,” which is “its” (no apostrophe).
• you are…………you’re
• cannot (always written as one word)…….can’t

Quotation marks are correctly used only to indicate the actual words that someone has said or written or sung, around the titles of certain created works, and to set off unique phrases.

To indicate speech:
The following are examples of quotation marks being used to indicate the actual words of a speaker or those in a written work or a song:

• “My brother has been gone all day,” Ken said.
• “Do you know where he could possibly be?” asked Ralph.
• “Well,” Ken replied, “he could be anywhere.”
• I am always thrilled when I hear the phrase “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Titles:
The titles of newspaper, magazine articles, or periodical articles, the titles of short stories, plays, films, musical pieces, poems, essays, and television and radio programs should be enclosed in quotation marks.

Unique phrases or irony:
Quotation marks may be used to indicate that a word or phrase is unique and should, therefore, be set apart from the rest of a sentence, as in the following:

• Tom decided that he did not want to be part of “the moral majority.”

Here is an example of quotation marks being used to indicate irony:

• Well, I am going to show my boss just how “irresponsible” I can be.

More often than not, errors involving the use of apostrophes and quotation marks have to do with their overuse. They should not be used to emphasize important phrases. The following is an example of that:

• Everyone is invited to the “Big Sale.”

As stated above, the rules involving the use of apostrophes and quotation marks are clear. Learning how to use them involves simply studying the rules.

One of the best ways by which to learn how to write properly is to read—almost anything, novels, non-fiction books, newspaper and magazine articles, and the content of some Web sites (Notice, I said “some.”). By virtue of a process of slow, deliberate, careful reading, you will be able to observe how to construct well-written sentences, use punctuation correctly, and vary your vocabulary.

This is a time-honored technique. It is said that Abraham Lincoln, who attended country schools only intermittently as a youngster, developed his prodigious oratorical and speech writing skills by devoting his undivided attention to reading.

This process of careful reading is very easily done. All that is required is a well-written reading selection and your ability to concentrate. If you want to make notes, then you should do so on a notepad or right on the text (as long as it is yours, and not the property of the public library). You might want to mark significant pages with paper clips so that you may refer to them at a later point.

In order for this to be an effective learning technique, you must be prepared to devote all of your attention to the task, so the television must be off, the kids must be out of sight, and you must be focused. Just about the only reading materials that might be unsuitable for this task are those found on the Internet because, by and large, they are not subject to rigorous proofreading, review, or editing, so quite a lot out there in cyberspace, while interesting, is poorly written. Much of it defies the rules of Standard English usage.

That said, the process is very simple: just read and observe; when you come across a sentence or phrase that contains something of interest, note or underline it and mark it with a paper clip, if you want. Notice the author’s use of periods, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, semi colons, and exclamation and question marks. Observe the composition of complete sentences. Notice that a well-constructed sentence may be long, as long as it communicates one complete thought. Take note of the fact that a well written piece relies on a variety of words. Rather than repeatedly using the word “take,” a skilled writer will substitute “obtain,” “attain,” “gather,” and “acquire,” along with other synonyms.

If you have a specific question that you would like answered or a problem to be solved, at some point in your reading, you will probably come across a sentence which will provide you with the information for which you have been searching. If, for example, you are unsure about how to properly place quotation marks in a section of dialogue, when you come to one of those sections (with which novels abound), read it carefully, underline or note it in the margin of the book, and clip it. Look at the following example from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee:

“Give me those scissors,” Atticus said. “They’re no things to play with. Does this, by any chance, have anything to do with the Radleys?”
“No sir,” said Jem, reddening.

Just by reading, observing, and noting, you can learn a great many of the fundamentals of writing. While you are conducting this exercise, you need not deprive yourself of the pleasure of reading. So, read, enjoy, and learn at the same time.

In general, editing a work of fiction involves allowing more flexibility and variation in wording than the standard type of editing that is used for non-fiction documents. As works of fiction, short stories and novels often contain idiosyncratic language and usages which would, in an essay, newspaper article, research paper, letter, or other type of non-fiction writing appear to be incorrect.

For starters, since short stories and novels almost always include dialogue, both exterior and interior, and since conversational language does not always adhere to the rules of written usage, the editor must ignore what appear to be errors. Here is an example of dialogue which includes non-Standard English from Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty:

“Lord, it ain’t been dry yet,” Pea said. “It’s rained aplenty.”

Notice that, despite the fact that the dialogue contains variations from Standard English in terms of the use of “ain’t” and “aplenty,” the punctuation and the tag (Pea said) are correctly written. Punctuation and proper designation of tags are essential in all works of fiction. (However, all bets are off when it comes to poetry. Language in poetry can range from Standard English to the bizarre. It can be edited only for style and appeal, not for adherence to Standard English.) Proper spelling should also be used, even in dialogue. However, there are times when an author wants a character to mispronounce words or to use inappropriate words or speak in a dialect. In those cases, those altered words should be written in italics and/or spelled out phonetically so that the reader understands that they are variations from the usual spelling. In the following example of the use of dialect from Hard Times by Charles Dickens, the author does not use italics, but he does use phonetic spelling:

“I ha’ thowt on ‘t, above a bit, sir. I simply canna coom in. I mun go th’ way as lays afore me. I mun tak’ my leave o’ aw heer.”

In most cases, portions of narration conform to the rules of English usage. Therefore, those portions of works of fiction should be edited in the same way as essays, research papers, letters, etc. In some cases, however, the author wants the narrator’s use of language to vary from the standard. Look at this example, which is the first sentence of Huckleberry Finn:

You don’t know me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.

Of course, if Mark Twain had wanted the narrator to speak in standard English, the sentence would have been written as follows:

You will not know of me unless you had read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that does not matter.

Authors of works of fiction often use, along with full sentences, short phrases for emphasis. In the following example from The Color of Water by James McBride, the first sentence is full and complete, but it is followed by two declarative phrases, which are not full sentences:

Helen didn’t come home that night. Nor the next day. Nor the next.

Notice the use of the contraction didn’t. In serious non-fiction pieces, the use of contractions is frowned upon. In fiction, contractions are acceptable at all times.

If that portion of narration had been part of a non-fiction document, it would be written as follows:

Helen did not come home night, nor for the next two nights.

In general, when editing works of fiction, the rule is that portions of narration should conform to all of the rules of English usage unless the author wants the narrator’s voice to vary from the standard. Short phrases which are not complete sentences should not be altered. Contractions should be allowed. Portions of dialogue should be left as they are written, regardless of how far removed from proper English usage they appear to be. However, all rules of punctuation should always be adhered to throughout the manuscript. Correct punctuation is necessary in order for the reader to be able to understand what the narrator or character is saying.

Remember, the goal of writing is to communicate. If the reader is unable to understand what is written, then the piece of writing, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, is not fulfilling its goal.

As an editor, I am used to correcting the typical writing errors that appear in most papers, such as those having to do with spelling, vocabulary usage, punctuation, tense, and grammar. However, in addition to those common errors, some writers make little ones which should be corrected before their documents are submitted for publication or review. Here are a few of them:

1. Inconsistencies in terms of font and size: Some writers vary their use of font and text size in their papers, sometimes in the same paragraph. This often occurs when the writer has copied and pasted text from another source into his or her document. This error detracts from the appearance of the paper, and may cause difficulties in comprehension for the reader. It is very easy to correct this mistake. Once the paper has been completed, the writer need only choose “Select All” from the toolbar at the top of Microsoft Word, and then designate one style of font and one size. Of course, if there are titles, subtitles, headings, charts, graphs, etc., then choosing “Select All” would be a mistake. In that case, sections of text should be chosen and highlighted separately, and then standardized.
2. Misaligned margins: Some documents suffer from inconsistent left-side margins or/and varying types of alignment. Some parts of a paper may be further or closer to the left-side margin than others, and some sections of text may be aligned-left, while others are aligned-right, or centered, or justified in terms of block text. The only instances in which there should be variations in terms of alignment should be when inserting long quotes or graphs or charts or tables or other additions to the regular text.
3. Paragraph styles: Within a paper, all paragraphs should either be indented or block justified. Block justified paragraphs should be separated from each other by one space. In general, indented paragraphs shuld not be separated by spaces.
4. Headings, subheadings, and titles: All headings, subheadings, titles, etc. should be consistent in terms of font, size, and the use of italics and boldface. That is not to say that all headings must be the same. Major headings or titles may be written differently from minor headings or titles, but all major headings should look alike and all minor headings should be consistently written.
5. Numbering: If letters or numbers are used to designate sections in a paper, they should be consistent and in order. If the writer begins by using capital letters to designate sections, then he or she should continue with that, and not skip letters. The same is true in terms of lower case letters. This also applies to numbers. They should all be either Arabic or Roman. All letters or numbers should also be consistent in terms of the use of boldface and italics. Of course, there may be differences in terms of lettering or numbering when designating different types of information. For example, major headings might be set off with the use of capital letters in boldface, and individual facts listed below them may be designated by the use of lower case letters or Roman or Arabic numerals that are not in boldface. There also may be differences in size from one type of heading to another. It is important, however, that all sections of similar importance be designated with the same type of letter or number in the same size.
6. Use of capitalization: Besides the normal use of capital letters at the beginnings of sentences and for proper nouns, they can be used to set off titles. If they are used for that purpose, then all similar paragraphs must be written in that way.

These fine points are important to the appearance of a paper, and consistency in terms of their use should be incorporated into all documents.