English Grammar Rules & Mistakes: Learn All of the Essentials: Writing, Speaking, Literature and Punctuation Rules Complete with 10 Key Skills and Over 200 Common Error Examples

‘A Christmas Carol’ all across the city.
We can also use quotation marks to highlight the name of a short story,
chapter or article in text. To do this, you can use only one quotation mark
rather than two to indicate that it is not a direct quote. Be careful with this
though as it is commonly misused. Using double quotation marks around the
word or phrase is bad practice. It is called air quotes and is only used in
media for emphasis. On the whole, it is better to italicize names and
translations to highlight them. Any name of a book, film or famous person
should never be put in quotes. However, if you stick to the italic format in
your word processor, you can’t go wrong.
“‘A Christmas Carol’ is my favorite of all Dickens’s short stories,”
said the professor.
Sometimes, we like to try and play with the mind of our computer and see if
it can keep up with the strength of our punctuation knowledge! One such
example is when we need to put quotation marks within a quotation mark. It
can send your computer a little bit haywire if you are not careful. When
quoting the name of a short story, poem or article when also quoting what
someone else has written, use only one quotation mark. As you can see in the
above example, the name of the short story comes at the beginning of the
sentence, which means you have three quotation marks in a row. It is strictly
correct, however, if you can restructure the sentence to avoid this, it is much
more pleasing to the eye and won’t send your computer into a download
spiral of grammar confusion!
The end is now in sight, you have almost earned your badge for being a
punctuation pro. Let’s wrap it up with parentheses. A very useful punctuation

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mark, mainly because of our love of embellishing our sentences with
additional information, the parenthesis is used to denote additional
information within a sentence. 
While climbing the stairs (paying more attention to his phone than
his feet), Juan tripped and fell.
The main test for using parentheses is does the sentence make sense without
the additional information? If it does, then you have a good case to use
parentheses. Make sure that you always use them in pairs to surround the
additional information and add a punctuation mark such as a comma, colon,
or period, directly after the last parenthesis. In this example, the additional
information is not needed for the meaning to remain the same, that Juan
tripped on the stairs. Yet, its addition adds useful insight into why he fell.
My assignment is to write about the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) with my classmate (Jessica).
This example is a test. Can you see which word is correctly put in
parentheses and which one is not? Let me help you out. NATO has been
placed correctly in parentheses because it is an acronym of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. It is more commonly known by its acronym so its
addition to the sentence adds clarity for the reader. You will notice that you
don’t include punctuation after an acronym in parentheses. I must warn you
though that our use of acronyms has gotten wildly out of control. We use
acronyms for everything, particularly in the corporate business world. Don’t
just stick in an acronym for every long name or concept, only use the ones
that are widely known by the general public. I do know that when you are
fighting for word space in your papers at college, you want to use an acronym
to save on space and time. However, have mercy on your professor who just
doesn’t want to read that the FTA has commissioned the HRH to work on
behalf of the NWRA in partnership with the SPRCAN. Stuffing sentences
with acronyms is painful and to be avoided.

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The mistake in the example is that Jessica, the name of the person’s
classmate, should not be in parentheses. Even though it is additional
information and the sentence makes sense with or without its inclusion, you
simply add a comma and then place the name.
Lastly, let’s talk about square brackets. These super helpful guys are a form
of parentheses that you can use to add clarity to quotes. You can insert words
into quotes to make them easier to read.
It was written in the monthly report that, “The desired effect [of
the presentation] was achieved, everyone clapped and cheered.”
As you can see in the example, square brackets have been used to ensure that
the reader knows that what is being talked about is the presentation. It is a
small addition to the quote to ensure the meaning is translated correctly. Keep
in mind that when using square brackets, the additional information should be
very brief and concise. One of the main purposes of square brackets is for
quoting the work of other people. So, if you add information into their quote
that manipulates the meaning to something it is not meant to be, you are
headed for trouble.
And there you have it, folks! We have come to the end of our sojourn through
essential English language punctuation. I am certain by now that you will
have a much more thorough understanding of when and when not to use the
different punctuation marks. You know what I am going to say, practice
makes perfect, so go through the examples as much as you can. That way,
you can proudly show off your pro skills, with newfound confidence born
from finally knowing what a semicolon actually is.

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