National Punctuation Day Quiz
September 24 is National Punctuation Day! Only writer and editor types even care about such a thing. But since that’s me—and a lot of my followers—I figured it might be fun to “celebrate” with a little quiz to see how well you know the industry-standard punctuation rules.
1. Which punctuation is correct in each of the following examples?
- John Williams’s plotline or John Williams’ plotline
- the witness’s story or the witness’ story
- the Jones’s house or the Joneses’ house
- for goodness sake or for goodness’ sake
2. Which of these sentences are punctuated correctly?
- Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts.
- He graduated in the 1980’s.
- She got all A’s on her report card.
- Donna’s novel was published in ‘82.
3. Should the words in these sentences be capitalized or lowercased?
- Her aunt/Aunt Sharon baked a cake.
- What’s the prognosis, doctor/Doctor?
- John wanted to be a marine/Marine, but he enlisted in the US army/Army.
- I have a bachelor’s/Bachelor’s degree/Degree in literature/Literature.
4. Should commas be added in these instances?
- My name is Harold Harrison Jr.
- Hey girlfriend!
- Jerry walked into the lobby where he met Stacy.
- Marci stood beside the cabinet holding her coat.
5. Which industry-standard reference manuals encourage authors to lowercase pronouns referring to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit?
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- The Associated Press Stylebook
- The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style
- all of the above
6. In these instances, should an en dash, em dash, or ellipsis be used?
- When a character’s dialogue is interrupted
- When a character’s speech trails off
- Between inclusive numbers, such as dates or pages
- To link a city to the name of a university that has multiple campuses
7. Should the following titles be in quotation marks or italics?
- Pride and Prejudice (book or movie)
- Fiction Lover’s Devotionals (book series)
- Amazing Grace (song)
- How to Punctuate Properly (article)
8. Where should periods be in these abbreviations?
- eg (for example)
- ie (that is)
- et al (and others)
- etc (and other things)
9. Where should commas be placed in these sentences?
- “Lord” Sandra prayed “please help me.”
- The real question was “Which writers’ conference should I attend next year?”
- Putting a comma before “Joe hit me” changes the meaning of the sentence.
- “Good grief” Esther laughed.
10. What reference books do writers need to find definitive punctuation guidelines?
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- The Associated Press Stylebook
- The Christian Writers’ Manual of Style
- Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors
ANSWERS for number one:
- John Williams’s plotline (for books or popular-style magazines). John Williams’ plotline (for newspapers or journalistic-style magazines).
- the witness’s story (for books or popular-style magazines). The witness’ story (for newspapers or journalistic-style magazines).
- the Joneses’ house
- for goodness’ sake
ANSWERS for number two:
- Wrong. Should be “Here’s a list of dos and don’ts.” (No apostrophe in “dos.”)
- Wrong. Should be “He graduated in the 1980s.” (No apostrophe in “1980s.”)
- Wrong. Should be “She got all As on her report card.” (No apostrophe in “As.”)
- Wrong. The apostrophe before the 82 is curled the wrong direction. Should be “Donna’s novel was published in ’82.”)
ANSWERS for number three:
- Lowercase kinship names when preceded by a modifier (such as “her”).
- Capitalize titles when used in place of a personal name in direct address.
- Only capitalize military terms when included as part of the official title. In this example, lowercase “marine” but capitalize “US Army.”
- Lowercase names of degrees in running text. (It’s okay to capitalize on a résumé, business card, etc.) Lowercase academic subjects (unless they form part of a department name or an official course name).
ANSWERS for number four:
- No comma before “Jr.” or “Sr.”
- Use a comma to set off names or words used in direct address.
- If this is the lobby where Jerry met Stacy on a previous occasion, no comma. If Jerry walked into the lobby and then met Stacy there, use a comma.
- If the cabinet is holding Marci’s coat, no comma. If Marci is holding her coat, use a comma.
ANSWER for number five: All of the above. But CMOS and CWMS allow for author preference if self-publishing or with approval of the publishing house.
ANSWERS for number six:
- Em dash (—)
- Ellipsis (… or . . .)
- En dash (–) for books or popular-style magazines. Hyphen for newspapers or journalistic-style publications.
- Same as c.
ANSWERS for number seven:
- Book and movie titles should be in italics.
- Series titles are not in italics or quotation marks.
- Song titles should be in quotation marks.
- Article titles should be in quotation marks.
ANSWERS for number eight:
- e.g.
- i.e.
- et al.
- etc.
ANSWERS for number nine:
- Two commas: “Lord,” Sandra prayed, “please help me.”
- No comma here, because the quotation is being used as a noun.
- No comma here—same reason.
- No comma here. Use a period or exclamation point after “Good grief” because “Esther laughed” is not a dialogue tag. (Just try laughing those words.)
ANSWERS for number ten:
- The Chicago Manual of Style is the industry standard for books and popular-style magazines.
- The Associated Press Stylebook is the industry standard for newspapers and journalistic-style publications.
- The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style is the industry standard for Christian-specific terminology (such as capitalization of religious words and formatting of Scripture quotations).
- Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors highlights the most common areas of punctuation (as well as usage, grammar, and spelling) that writers face, based on all of the above reference books.
I hope you enjoyed taking the quiz. And that you have a Happy Punctuation Day!