Mini copyediting course, part 2

I wrote a useful post once. Apparently, it was so useful (and such a break from the norm around here) that people wanted more. So, I'm here to provide you with even more nitpicky information about basic editing and proofreading.

But before I start, let me make it clear that I do not judge blogs by editorial standards. As long as it's coherent and decently written, I don't sit there picking apart comma usage, etc. They're blogs. They're informal forms of personal expression. The stuff I'm talking about here has to do with my job, and standards for formal documents designed for official presentation to and use by other people. So don't worry. Yes, I work as an editor. No, I'm not mentally editing your blog as I read it.

Okay. First, let's talk about the serial semicolon. According to my trusty Chicago Manual of Style, there are two times when a serial semicolon should be used in place of a comma. The first, and more common, is when items in a series contain punctuation of their own. Let's take the example of resumes, since that's what I've been editing recently.

First, a standard series, using commas: Jess writes, edits, and formats.

Now, where the serial comma would come into play would be in a longer sentence where the above series becomes part of a bigger overall series. For example: Jess updates the website regularly; writes, edits, and formats web content; and tracks web statistics.

It is also possible for a semicolon to be used in place of a comma when items in a series are particularly long and complex. In my personal opinion, this is a fairly rare circumstance, and honestly, if your items in a series are so long that they need something stronger than a comma to separate them, and yet they don't require any independent punctuation of their own, they probably need to be reworded. But that's just me.

Now, since we're discussing semicolons anyway, let's look at them a little bit more generally. There are many instances in which a semicolon can be used. But in the interest of brevity, I'm going to distill the rules down to one simple edict: the semicolon can be used if, and only if, the clauses on either side of the semicolon are independent. That is, they must be able to feasibly function as independent sentences. So I could say, for example; "I'm hungry; I haven't eaten all day." Because "I'm hungry" could be its own sentence, and so could, "I haven't eaten all day."

Okay, moving on to other fun punctuation: possessive apostrophes! First of all, its vs. it's. I know this is confusing, because in general one adds an apostrophe S to the end of a word to make it possessive. However, "it" is an exception. "It's" is a contraction that stands for "it is." "Its" is possessive. A dog does not lick it's own balls; a dog licks its own balls. Excuse the crass example.

The other confusing thing about the apostrophe S is attaching it to words that end in S. What's important here is that it's not just whether or not the noun ends in S; it's whether or not it's a singular or plural noun. This rule depends on which style guide you follow. I have my own preferences, though, and they align perfectly with the Chicago Manual, which is essentially the editor's Bible. So, that's what we're going to use.

The general rule, according to the Chicago Manual, is: "The possessive of most singular nouns is formed by adding an apostrophe and an s, and the possessive of plural nouns (except for a few irregular plurals that do not end in s) by adding an apostrophe only."

Got it? If it's singular, you use the S. If it's plural, you don't. So Torsten isn't Jess' fiancé; he's Jess's fiancé. Even though my name ends in S, it is a singular noun and thus the S is is used after the apostrophe.

However, of course, there are exceptions, and not just the one mentioned in the above quote. I'm not going to cover all of them, since some are rather obscure, but there are a couple worth noting. First, if a noun ends in S and is the same in both singular and plural form, such as economics or politics, only the apostrophe is used to make it possessive. If the name of a place or organization, such as the United States, involves a plural noun at the end, only the apostrophe is used to make it possessive. And "For...sake" expressions where the noun ends in S use only the apostrophe, such as "for goodness' sake."

The reason, according to the Chicago Manual, that so many of us are taught that it is okay to leave off the S for all singular nouns that end in S is just to avoid having to worry about exceptions. This is technically accepted practice. But I hate it. Since my name ends in S, I'm allowed to have such a strong opinion. And I do. And now you know what it is.