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Punctuation
Numbers and Dates
<i>The Ithacan</i> and other Greek Things
Clean Up Your Copy
Fix it.
100
How do you form a hyphen, an en dash and an em dash?
hyphen (-) option+hyphen (–) shift+option+hyphen (—)
100
What is the difference between 100 and “a hundred”?
100 is specific; a hundred is an estimate
100
What are the four ways to refer to students who’ve graduated from the college?
alumnus/alumni, alumna/alumnae s.m./pl.m. or mixed, s.f./pl.f.
100
2 errors: The Blue and Gold won their first game of the season 5-7.
The Blue and Gold won their first game of the season 7–5.
100
2 errors: Students take the TCAT in order to shop at The Commons. (hint: one is a partial error)
Students take the Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit in order to shop on The Commons.
200
Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks. What’s the rule for question marks, exclamation points, em dashes, etc.?
Inside if pertaining to the quoted material; outside if pertaining to the sentence as a whole ex. Have you read "The Things They Carried"? ex. Have you ever seen "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"
200
The general rule says single-digit numbers are written out. Name three exceptions.
dates, times, percents, street addresses, ages, scores, measurements, fractions
200
What is the difference between The New York Times and The Ithacan (for the sake of our paper)?
The Ithacan is in italics
200
2 errors: The SUNY Stonybrook Seawolves have a strong 4–0 Conference record with an overall record of 12–5.
The Stony Brook University Seawolves have a strong 4–0 conference record with an overall record of 12–5.
200
2 errors: The new girl in my class, who I met yesterday, seems very smart.
The new woman in my class, whom I met yesterday, seems very smart.
300
When is it acceptable to use a semicolon?
In a complex list; avoid when possible in all other situations
300
When would you spell out 37?
Start of a sentence
300
Does The Ithacan use “syllabi” or “syllabuses”? Does this follow AP?
syllabi; no
300
2 errors : Department of biology chair Peter Melcher gave a presentation, gave a presentation.
Peter Melcher, chair of the Department of Biology, gave a presentation.
300
3 errors: Tom Rochon, president of Ithaca College, Ben Rifkin, Provost and Vice President for Educational Affairs, and Dom Recckio, president of the Student Government Association, made announcements.
Tom Rochon, president of Ithaca College; Benjamin Rifkin, provost and vice president for educational affairs; and Dominick Recckio, president of the Student Government Association, made announcements.
400
When do you capitalize after a colon?
What follows is a full sentence or a proper word (noun/adj./verb) ex. One emotion took him over: dread. ex. One thought trumped all others: Would I make friends?
400
What is The Ithacan’s stance on days of the week?
Avoid when possible/replace with a real date
400
Name the two quads (DO NOT say "upper quads" and "lower quads"; not asking for the dorms).
Campus Center Quad and Academic Quad
400
2 errors: The Bombers travelled to Cortland, New York, to compete against the Cortland Dragons.
The Bombers traveled to Cortland to compete against the Cortland Dragons.
400
3 errors: The women’s basketball team kept their record at .500 this week after splitting a pair of games against Elmira and St. John Fisher.
The women’s basketball team kept its record at .500 this week after splitting a pair of games against Elmira College and St. John Fisher College.
500
Which forms of punctuation do you need a space on either side of?
em dash & ellipse
500
When do you abbreviate months?
when they accompany a date (Jan. 28; Jan. 28, 2015), but not when with years
500
When is IC acceptable?
in organization/initiative names, in headlines and in quotes
500
3 errors: The students constant screaming caught James attention January 28.
The students’ constant screaming caught James’ attention Jan. 28.
500
4 errors: The newly-wed couple announced its divorce May 31 at 5:00 p.m.
The newly wed couple announced their divorce at 5 p.m. May 31.