Grammar and Mechanics

The guidelines below help you maintain grammatical consistency throughout your writing. For mechanics not explicitly discussed below, refer to the Microsoft Manual of Style.

Spelling

Use standard American English spellings. Refer to Merriam-Webster Dictionary for guidance on spelling.

Punctuation

Learn about proper punctuation usage from the guidelines below.

Apostrophes

white_check_mark Do: cross_mark Don’t:

Use an apostrophe to indicate possession. For singular nouns, including those that end with s, add an apostrophe and an s:

  • The man’s hat

  • The box’s interior

  • The tableau’s composition

  • The bus’s passengers

  • Lukas’s fiancée

  • Its documentation

Use an apostrophe with a possessive pronoun:

  • The decision is their’s.

  • Her’s is the hat with the pink ribbon.

  • That bowl of soup is his’s.

Add an apostrophe for plural nouns that end with an s (without an additional s after the apostrophe):

  • The necklaces' gemstones

  • The princesses' tiaras

  • The organizations' members

Use an apostrophe for the possessive form of it:

  • Break the ship down to it’s core components.

  • The company changed it’s logo last year.

  • The tree lost it’s leaves in autumn.

You may write it’s when the word can be replaced with it is or it has. For instance, you can rewrite the sentence, It has been a long day as It’s been a long day. Refer to Contractions for more details.

Colons

For titles, headings, and subheadings, capitalize the first word immediately following a colon.

  • Bridging the Waters: How a Seattle-Based Start-Up is Connecting Africa and the West by Supporting Local Businesses

  • Impact = connection + community: An equation for generational impact

When you use a colon in body text, lowercase the first word following the colon unless that word is a proper noun, or the text following the colon is an independent clause.

  • Carmen went to the grocery store to buy three different types of fruit: apples, peaches, and lychees.

  • His life’s work had led up to that moment: earning the coveted title.

  • She has visited three countries before: Italy, Algeria, and New Zealand.

  • Understanding: We seek to foster mutual compassion and trust between community members.

For more information on capitalization conventions, see Capitalization.

Commas

In a list of three or more items, separate each item, including the last one, with a comma. This final comma is known as an Oxford comma or a serial comma.

  • Rosina’s costume usually includes a corset, a necklace, and a petticoat.

  • Rosina usually wears feathers, flowers, or ribbons in her hair.

A notable exception is when you are creating citations for a social media post, and multiple sources corroborate a certain piece of information. For more information, see Citations.

Use a comma between conjunctions when they separate two independent clauses.

  • Carmen went to the store to buy fruit for a cake, but they did not have cherries.

  • Carmen went to the store to buy fruit for a cake, and she found they had lychees.

For more information on writing with conjunctions, see Conjunctions.

Note that, when you are writing lists with items that contain commas or other punctuation, you should list the items in an unordered list. For more information, see Unordered lists.

Use commas to introduce quotes.

The chorus sang, "Oh, the pleasure of the plains!"

Use a pair of commas to offset a nonessential clause in a sentence in the following cases:

  • When the clause itself does not contain commas

  • When you want to signal a brief, less intrusive pause than that which would be achieved with a pair of em dashes

In other cases, use a pair of em dashes to offset nonessential information. For more information, see Em dashes.

Violetta, the tragic heroine of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, believed in the pursuit of pleasure over that of love until she fell for Alfredo.

Use a comma after an introductory word, phrase, or clause.

After verifying your account, you can enter the enrollment portal.

Use a comma to separate the elements of a date or address.

  • Coralie was born on May 16, 1997.

  • Coralie lives at 200 Sablecrest Avenue, Seattle, WA 98105.

Ellipses

In conversational UI messages, use ellipses to indicate pauses.

Hmmm…​ it seems that page is missing.

Use ellipses between square brackets to indicate ommitted text longer than three words, such as in a block quote. For sufficient context, provide three words from the block quote on either end of the ommission. For clarity, ensure that the words on either side of the ommission can themselves form a complete sentence.

She said she wasn’t ready […​] but she still looked confident.

Take care to not alter the meaning of the text when ommitting anything for brevity.

Note that ommitting text via ellipses and square brackets is acceptable for graphics, but you should avoid doing so for longform textual content (e.g. blog posts).

Regardless of the type of content you are creating, it is acceptable to omit the following information from quotes:

  • Derogatory language or obscenities

  • Filler words (e.g. uh, um, huh)

  • Personally identifiable information, such as home addresses

Em dashes

Use a pair of em dashes (—) to offset a nonessential clause in the following cases:

  • When the clause contains commas

  • When you want to emphasize the clause

  • When you want to signal a longer pause than that which would be achieved with a pair of commas

In other cases, use commas to offset nonessential information. For more information, see Commas.

Do not add spaces around em dashes.

She received a letter from Anja—the singer from the garden party and Lukas' fiancée—and tore it open in anticipation of good news.

Exclamation points

Use exclamation points sparingly to express enthusiasm in UI text, quotations, and copy.

  • Awesome! You’re now signed up for Paraqlet’s monthly email newsletter.

  • "That’s great!" said Estari. "It’s wonderful to see so many local businesses embracing inclusive communications as part of their brand ethos."

Don’t follow an exclamation point with another punctuation mark unless the exclamation point is part of a title or proper noun (e.g. Yahoo!).

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Use brief exclamatory words and phrases to express excitement:

Nice! You’re on your way to receiving tailored insights straight to your inbox each month.

Use exclamation points at the end of long phrases other than quotes:

You’ve signed up for our email newsletter!

Use one exclamation point at the end of a phrase:

Don’t miss out! Follow us for more insightful content.

Use multiple exclamation points:

Wow!!! You’re real close to the finish line.

Use exclamatory words and phrases sparingly for the greatest positive impact:

Great! You’re almost there.

Use multiple exclamatory words or phrases in a row:

Awesome! Amazing! You’ve come so far!

Hyphens

Use hyphens to form compound nouns when one word is abbreviated. In the examples below, the word electronic is abbreviated.

  • E-book

  • E-commerce

Note that email is an exception to this rule due to widespread usage.

Hyphenate two or more words if, taken together, they modify a noun.

  • Upper-right corner

  • Center-aligned text

  • Line-by-line analysis

  • Up-to-date content

Use hyphens to avoid duplicated letters and to avoid confusion with the resulting word.

  • Pre-emptively

  • Non-native

  • Non-HTML

Use hyphens to spell out compound numerals or fractions. Do not use numbers separated by a slash to express fractions (e.g. 1/2, 3/4).

  • Just three months into the social season, twenty-three exhibitions have already reached out to Marceau for permission to showcase his paintings.

  • Lukas finished three sixty-fourths of his poetry anthology today.

  • The family has eaten one-third of the cake already.

See Numbers for additional guidance on writing numbers.

A suspended hyphen is when two or more similar compound modifiers appear next to each other in a sentence (e.g. for the phrase one-way street, one-way is a compound modifier that modifies street), and the word they modify is ommitted from all but the last compound modifier.

When using suspended hyphens, make sure there is a hyphen attached to all the adjectives. Use a space following all the hyphens except the last one. For more than two suspended hyphens in a sentence, format the adjectives as a list. See Commas for more information.

  • Upper- and lower-right corners

  • Left-, right-, and center-aligned text

You can use hyphens to delineate the items in an unordered list if you are writing for a platform that does not support rich text, such as social media. For more information on unordered lists, see Unordered lists.

Do not use two hyphens (--) in place of an em dash. For more information about em dashes, see Em dashes.

Capitalize any part of a hyphenated word that would be capitalized if there were no hyphen(s). For more information, see Capitalization.

Parentheses

Always use parentheses in pairs. Use parentheses to offset nonessential information—that is, information that the reader does not need to know in order to understand the meaning of a sentence.

Rebecca’s cat (a British shorthair named Waffles) was one of the first subjects of her cat-themed album.

You can use commas to offset nonessential information. See Commas for more information.

Place punctuation marks outside of the closing parenthesis unless they are used to separate a list (commas).

  • After the finance department reviewed the data (which found a 0.9% increase in spending on breakroom refreshments), they decided to remove complimentary tea and coffee from the common areas.

  • Carmen liked eating pastries made with various different fruits (e.g. apples, cherries, lychees, pears).

Parenthetical examples

You can also use parentheses to include brief in-line examples in your content with e.g. preceding the examples. Do not add a comma, colon, or any additional punctuation mark after the second period in e.g.

Many different birds are native to North America (e.g. Canada goose, greylag goose, willow ptarmigan).

If you need to draw attention to list items, or if your list is longer than three items, use an unordered list. For more information, see Unordered lists.

For parenthetical examples with only one item, whether you precede the example with e.g. or not will depend on the specificity of the example. For general or hypothetical examples, use e.g. For specific examples, do not use e.g.

  • Willow’s favorite type of bird (the willow ptarmigan) is her namesake.

  • The willow ptarmigan eats plants for most seasons, but it is known to eat a variety of different foods during summertime (e.g. insects).

Note that, when possible, it is best to provide more than one general or hypothetical example. Do not use i.e. to precede examples of any kind.

Periods

End every independent clause with a period. In the case of single-line captions for visual content, you may end a sentence fragment witha period. See Captions for visual content for more information.

Use periods to end the items in a list if the items can stand alone as sentences without the contextual phrase that precedes the list. For more information on lists, see Lists.

Use periods in body text, but not in titles or UI labels. An exception is if the period is part of the UI label, in which case you should include the period in bold text along with the rest of the label. See Documenting UI interactions for more information.

Question marks

Use a question mark to denote a direct question or in conversational UI text.

  • Why wouldn’t we choose to work with such a cool business?

  • Looks like that page isn’t available right now. Why not explore one of these pages?

Do not use interrobangs (‽) or question marks alongside exclamation points (?!). In addition, do not use more than one question mark at the end of any text (e.g. ???).

Quotation marks

Use double quotes to offset a direct quotation from a person.

"This," Elina said, looking at her hand, "is why I don’t play bridge."

Use single quotes to offset a quotation within a quotation.

Elina said, "Victoria glanced at my cards, smirked, and said, 'There’s no way you’re winning with a hand like that.' Turns out she was right."

As in the example above, place punctuation marks inside of quotation marks.

Semicolons

Use semicolons to connect together two closely related sentences, especially when they are not connected by a conjunction like and, or, or but. Use periods to connect together two sentences that are not closely related.

Carmen went to the grocery store; then, she went home.

You can also use semicolons to separate items in a list when the items themselves include commas. However, in complex lists, it is best to use an unordered list. For more information, see Unordered lists.

The garden party included many fashionable, bohemian guests: Anja, the singer; Coralie, the ballet dancer; Lukas, the poet; and Marceau, the painter.

Slashes

Refrain from using slashes in place of or. It’s okay to use slashes when UI component labels use them. For more information on documenting UI interactions, see Documenting UI interactions.

Capitalize any part of a phrase using a slash that would be capitalized if there were no slashes. For more information, see Capitalization.

Square brackets

Use ellipses inside of square brackets to omit text from block quotes for brevity or clarity. For more information, see Ellipses.

Use square brackets to insert text inside of quotes in the following cases:

Case Example

Clarifying ambiguous pronouns or references

We’ve loved working with [Paraqlet Solutions] because they have care about how and why they communicate as much as what they communicate.

Indicating a change in capitalization to fit the structure of your sentence

[T]he company’s PR team declined to comment.

Adding context necessary for the user to understand your writing

The researchers argue that most small businesses [in the Pacific Northwest] need to clarify their internal guidelines around inclusive communication.

Correcting a spelling mistake that the person you are quoting has not proactively reached out to change

Para[q]let solutions strives to support local businesses.

Always use square brackets in corresponding pairs ([ ]).

Use square brackets to denote citations for social media and for web content where multiple sources corroborate one claim. For more information on citations, see Citations.

Parts of speech

Learn about the different parts of speech from the guidelines below.

Collective nouns

A collective noun refers to a group of people, animals, things, or ideas as a single unit.

  • Audience

  • Flock

  • Group

  • Committee

  • Company

Collective nouns take a singular pronoun. Use it/its when the collective noun refers to the group as a single entity, and they/them when you want to emphasize the individual members of the group.

  • The class has been working hard on its final project showcase.

  • The audience sprang out of their seats at the conclusion of the aria.

For information on using pronouns, see Pronouns.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions coordinate words in the same clause, and they connect clauses or sentences together. In English, there are seven conjunctions:

  • For

  • And

  • Nor

  • But

  • Or

  • Yet

  • So

When a conjunction connects two or more independent clauses (phrases that can stand alone as complete sentences), use a comma before it.

Susanna wanted to go to the garden, but it was raining.

You can begin a sentence with a conjunction to prevent sentences from being too long, or to emphasize certain content.

  • Susanna wanted to go to the garden. But, because it was raining, she decided to stay inside.

  • Susanna wanted to go to the garden. And, when she went outside, she found it was raining.

Plural nouns

Plural nouns refer to a group of people, animals, things, or ideas.

Refer to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for guidance on the proper spelling of plural nouns.

Prepositions

A preposition defines the relationship between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. Use prepositions to describe the following:

  • Time

    • One point in time: in, at, on

    • A duration of time: by, during, since, with, within, for, from […​] to, from […​] until

  • Direction: to, in, into, on, onto

  • Location: in, at, on

  • Place: at, in, on, inside

    • Higher in relation: over, above

    • Lower in relation: beneath, below, under, underneath

    • Closer in relation: by, near, between, among, opposite, next to

Prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase combines a preposition (see Prepositions) and a noun to describe or modify part of a sentence.

The cat drank the milk in the bowl next to the dining table.

In the example above, in the bowl is a prepositional phrase that describes the location of the milk. Likewise, next to the dining table describes the location of the bowl.

When using multiple prepositional phrases in your writing, as in the example sentence above, use as few words as possible. Refrain from using which or that unless necessary to clarify what the prepositional phrases are describing or modifying. Which introduces nonessential information while that introduces essential information.

  • The house in which I was born used to be painted pastel yellow.

  • It’s ridiculous that the house in which I was born is no longer pastel yellow.

Refer to Merriam-Webster Dictionary for guidance on proper usage of prepositional phrases.

Pronouns

Refrain from using gendered pronouns (she/her/hers, he/him/his) in copy. Instead, use the second-person pronoun you or refer to the subject’s role.

Paraqlet gives you the tools to stay connected with your audience and community.

If you need to refer to a real person, ask for their pronouns and use them in copy. If applicable, ask the subject how to use their pronouns in copy, such as when a person uses two different pronouns (e.g. she/they, he/they), and adhere to their guidance.

For hypothetical people, use they/them over he/she or (s)he for inclusivity and so your writing flows more smoothly.

  • Everyone should have their plans in place for this event.

  • If they were foreward-thinking, they would have seen this happening from a mile away.

For further guidance on writing using pronouns, see Gender-inclusive communication and Gender-neutral communication.

See Collective nouns for guidance on using pronouns to refer to groups of individuals.

Verbs

Learn about proper usage of verb tense and mood and subject-verb agreement from the guidelines below.

Verb tense

The tense of a verb indicates when the subject of a sentence performed an action. In English, there are twelve verb tenses. Refer to the table below for examples of each and proper usage.

Verb tense Usage Example

Simple past

A completed action

Rebecca studied photography in college.

Past continuous

An action once in progress at a specific time in the past

Rebecca had been studying photography in college when she started freelancing.

Past perfect

An action completed before a different one in the past

By the time Rebecca completed her first year of college, she had already taken 10,000 photographs.

Past perfect continuous

An action that was ongoing before a different one in the past

Rebecca had already taken the client’s photographs when she received a phone call.

Simple present

General truths, habits, repeated actions, discussions of fictional events or literary works

Rebecca enjoys landscape and portrait photography.

Present continuous

An action happening in the present or very close to the present

Rebecca is outside taking photographs.

Present perfect

An action that started in the past and is either still ongoing or has a result in the present

Rebecca has taken 10,000 photographs.

Present perfect continuous

An action that started in the past, continues into the present, and is still ongoing

Rebecca has been out all day taking photographs.

Simple future

An action that will happen in the future

Rebecca will take photographs of cats tomorrow.

Future continuous

An action that will be ongoing at a specific time in the future

Rebecca will be photographing cats all day tomorrow.

Future perfect

An action that will be completed before a specific time in the future

By the end of the week, Rebecca will complete her photo album.

Future perfect continuous

An action that will be ongoing up to a specific time in the future

By the end of the week, Rebecca will have been working as a freelance photographer for 15 years.

Mood of verbs

The mood of a verb indicates the writer’s attitude or intent.

Refrain from switching moods in a sentence. Doing so may cause the sentence to be overly long or confusing, as in the example below.

Here at Paraqlet, we are wired for connection and community, and should your business ever wish to be the same way, be sure to connect with us.

Refer to the table below to learn about when you can use various verb moods in your writing.

Mood of verb Usage Example

Indicative

Factual, neutral situations

Here at Paraqlet, we are wired for connection and community.

Imperative

Instructions, requests, commands, procedures

Connect with us on social media.

Subjunctive

Suggestions, hypothetical situations, wishes

Should we form a professional relationship, communication will be critical for harmony.

For most Paraqlet writing, use the indicative mood.

Verb agreement

The subject and verb must agree in number. Refer to the table below to learn how to match verbs with subjects.

The subject is The verb is Example

Singular

Singular

The cat is drinking a bowl of milk.

Plural—subject composed of plural words separated by and

Plural

The kittens, birds, and puppies are growing larger every day.

Plural—subject composed of a plural word and a singular word

Plural

The cat and kittens are climbing up the hill.

Plural—subject composed of plural words separated by or

Singular

Either the avocado oil or the olive oil is a healthy choice for cooking.

Active and passive voice

In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action.

Ilya threw the ball over the fence.

In passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action.

The ball was thrown over the fence by Ilya.

Keep the voice of your writing active in most cases. By using active voice, you can avoid the confusion of incorrectly used modifiers, such as:

  • A dangling modifier describes a word or phrase not in the sentence.

  • A misplaced modifier describes a word or phrase that is in the sentence, but is in the wrong place.

When using modifiers, ensure the modifier is next to the word or phrase it describes.

When connected by common understanding, communities can strengthen their bonds.

In the above example, When connected by common understanding modifies communities. This is clear because they are next to each other in the sentence.

Contractions

Use common contractions such as it’s, that’s, and you’re to create a conversational tone in your writing. Refer to Merriam-Webster Dictionary for common contractions. For more information on Paraqlet’s brand voice and tone, see Voice, Tone, and Values.

Avoid forming a contraction from a noun and a verb.

Paraqlet’s got a big surprise coming this spring!

Avoid using a contraction and its spelled-out equivalent in the same sentence.

It’s possible the fox could not outrun the wolf because the fox couldn’t see as well in the forest.

Numbers

Spell out numbers from one to ten. For numbers greater than ten, use numerals, except when referring to groups (e.g. hundreds, dozen, thousands).

For numbers in the thousands and greater, use a comma between every three digits.

  • There are 5,280 feet in a mile.

  • There are 525,600 minutes in a year.

When writing decimals less than 1.0, always use a leading zero (a zero to the left of the decimal point).

The HR department reported a 0.8% decrease in average employee well-being, as quantified by the corresponding quarter’s survey, since the office implemented its new wellness programs last spring.

Do not use trailing zeroes (zeroes to the right of the decimal point).

The finance department reported a 5.9% increase in spending on refreshments for the breakroom for the second fiscal quarter.

A notable exception to this rule is when you are providing media attributions for each slide in a social media post. In this case, you may write numerals for numbers less than ten. For more information on social media content attributions, see Attributions in social media posts.

Similarly, when you are creating citations for posts on social media, you may use numerals for numbered citations. See Citations in social media content for more details.

Lastly, when you are creating ordered lists, you may use numerals for numbers less than ten. For more information, see Ordered lists.