Style guide for authors when writing manuscripts. Top copy-editing tips.

I have worked freelance as a copy-editor since 2003 and, during that time, I have noticed the same grammatical errors crop up in manuscripts. I therefore decided to put together this guide to help potential book authors and writers. 

When To Capitalise A Term Of Address 

When To Capitalise “Mum” and “Dad” 

Dialogue 

Quoting Within Dialogue 

Punctuation Before and After Dialogue 

Ok/Ok/Okay 

Words That Are Not Words 

En Dashes and Hyphens 

Em Dashes 

Ellipses 

Exclamation Marks and Question Marks 

Interjections In Sentences 

Numbers 

Times 

How To Punctuate Years 

Apostrophes With Numbers 

Commas 

These will most commonly be at the beginning or end of a sentence.

Incorrect 

"Gemma can you come here?" 

"That’s very kind of you John."

"Not a problem pal."

Correct

"Gemma, can you come here?"

"That’s very kind of you, John."

"Not a problem, pal."

Incorrect

"Time to go you lot."

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome."

Correct 

"Time to go, you lot."

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome."

On some occasions, the address will appear in the middle of a sentence. In such cases, a comma should be either side.

Incorrect

"Just bear with me officer while I look for it."

"Come on lads we’re going."

Correct 

"Just bear with me, officer, while I look for it."

"Come on, lads, we’re going."

Most of the time this will be a given name, but any title used to address someone directly should also be capitalised. This can be a nickname, a title, an award, etc.

Incorrect

"Listen, doctor, this is an emergency."

"You may be employee of the week, but that doesn’t give you the right to stroll about the place like you’re doing now."

Correct

"Listen, Doctor, this is an emergency."

"You may be Employee of the Week, but that doesn’t give you the right to stroll about the place like you’re doing now."

It is imperative to note that a title is only considered a proper noun if it is being used in place of the name or as part of the name.

If a person’s title is preceded by a determiner (e.g. a/the/many/every) then it is not a proper noun.

Incorrect

"Listen to me, I’m the Prime Minister."

"The incumbent, senator Ernst, won by a landslide."

Correct

"Listen to me, I’m the prime minister."

"The incumbent, Senator Ernst, won by a landslide."

Please note that “sir” and “madam” are only considered proper nouns if they are used as a title.

Incorrect

"I’ll be with you right away, Sir."

"Come this way, Madam."

"Have you seen the size of sir Lancelot’s scabbard?"

 

Correct

"I’ll be with you right away, sir."

"Come this way, madam."

"Have you seen the size of Sir Lancelot’s scabbard?"

When one of these terms is used as a common noun, it should not be capitalised. A common noun can be differentiated from a proper noun in that it can be preceded by a determiner (a/the/many/his). If the term in question could not be replaced with a specific name this would indicate a common noun. For example, you would say “My dad…” when referring to him because you wouldn’t say “My John…”

Incorrect

"I went to visit my Dad at the weekend."

"My Mum’s coming over soon."

"Is your Father well, Jason?"

Correct

"I went to visit my dad at the weekend."

"My mum’s coming over soon."

"Is your father well, Jason?"

Incorrect

"Thanks for your help in this, mum."

"It’s great to see you again, grandpa."

Correct

"Thanks for your help in this, Mum."

"It’s great to see you again, Grandpa."

Each time there is a new speaker, their dialogue must be placed on a new line. Multiple characters’ dialogue must never appear on the same paragraph.

If a character’s speech continues on to a new paragraph, the initial paragraph would not have a close quotation mark but there would be one of at the start of the following one.

When writing dialogue you will often use ‘tags’. These are verbs that link the spoken words with the remainder of the sentence. Dialogue should be linked with the tag using a comma. 

If a full stop is used, this breaks the dialogue and the tag into two sentences and therefore does not make sense. See examples below:

Incorrect 

“It’s been a long day.” She said. 

Correct

“It’s been a long day,” she said.

In direct speech, punctuation should always be inside speech marks. Punctuation inside speech can be a comma, exclamation mark, question mark, en dash, ellipsis, or em dash. If there is no tag there should be a full stop.

Incorrect

“Yeah, I suppose so,” John sounded sarcastic.

Correct 

“Yeah, I suppose so.” John sounded sarcastic.

Incorrect

“What was that?” He asked.

“Come, now!” She said.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Come, now!” she said.

Tags can be used at the start of a sentence before direct speech, for example:

He said, “What’s going on, my homeboy?”

“John told me to ‘butt out’ of his business.”

“Mum sat me down and said, ‘If you want to be a gigolo, son, then go ahead’. It was all the advice I needed.”

In these instances, the quote should be marked with the opposite quotational marker (single or double) to that used for direct speech. Punctuation, unlike with dialogue, would go outside the speech markers. Note that these should only be used for direct speech – indirectly reported speech (e.g. he said that we may eat it) does not need quotation marks.

Tags, the phrases before and after speech, should only ever be descriptions of the dialogue itself. If the phrases before or after speech do not describe it, they should be separate sentences, as shown with the examples below.

Incorrect

Ben nodded, “That’s true,” he said.

“What are you doing?” she turned to face her.

“Yes I know,” he remarked, “It’s a shame.”

Correct

Ben nodded. “That’s true,” he said.

“What are you doing?” She turned to face her.

“Yes I know,” he remarked. “It’s a shame.”

A common issue in manuscripts is for ‘ok’ to be written all in lowercase. You may also find ‘Ok’ at the start of a sentence. 

This is not acceptable: it must either be capitalised (OK) or written out as a word (okay). In ordinary English literature, examples of both kinds can be found. However, please ensure that there is consistency and that ‘ok’ is corrected in all places.

"This all looks ok to me."

“Ok then,” she said.

Correct

"This all looks okay to me."

"OK then," she said.

Incorrect 

"This seems alright to me." 

"Alright, mate, how’s it going?"

Correct

"This seems all right to me."

"All right, mate, how’s it going?"

Similarly, anymore is not recognised as a word by any mainstream publishers, so this needs to be corrected accordingly.

Incorrect 

"I don’t want to do this anymore."

"I can’t think of anymore reasons why."

Correct

"I don’t want to do this any more."

"I can’t think of any more reasons why."

Dashes can be categorised into two variants: an en dash and an em dash.

A en dash is the longer line used as punctuation in sentences coming in between words, with a space before and after the horizontal line – like this, and is often used instead of parentheses. 

He said that the ‘firm’ - their name for the national crime squad - would pay for a rented flat in the north west of England and he could use both addresses depending where in the country he was deployed.

Correct

He said that the ‘firm’ – their name for the national crime squad – would pay for a rented flat in the north west of England and he could use both addresses depending where in the country he was deployed.

Sometimes you may find instances where a hyphen is incorrectly used to indicate an abrupt change of thought or an interruption. Most of the time, this will appear in speech. This needs to be replaced with an em dash, shown in the examples below:

Incorrect

"No. I’m -"

"You’re what?"

Correct

"No. I’m—"

"You’re what?"

Incorrect

"Well why not, after all-" Darren hastily bit his tongue, thinking impatiently that it would be interesting to hear her mother’s explanation.

Correct

"Well why not, after all—" Darren hastily bit his tongue, thinking impatiently that it would be interesting to hear her mother’s explanation.

Some manuscripts may use em dashes throughout, in places where you would often find an en dash. As long as there is consistency this can be left as it is. For example, if the passage below appeared in a manuscript, this could be left alone, as long as em dashes were being employed in this manner throughout.

“Excuse me, miss?” a honey smooth voice said. His accent threw me—it was English but mixed with something else—was it French?

Please note that em dashes are never separated by spaces either side.

"I mean, really busy...I just feel so overwhelmed."

"Listen.....They’re going!"

Correct

"I mean, really busy… I just feel so overwhelmed."

"Listen… They’re going!"

Description will usually negate the need for both a question mark and exclamation mark, so it is advised to include the least obvious. If unsure, remember that in most cases an exclamation mark ‘trumps’ a question mark, although judgement is always recommended.

Incorrect

"Sometimes I wondered where he kept them all!!!!"

"What are you doing now, Lisa??"

Correct

"Sometimes I wondered where he kept them all!"

What are you doing now, Lisa?"

Incorrect

"Well I’m glad that’s over."

"Similarly this was not one John had seen before."

"Hey where are you going with that?"

Correct

"Well, I’m glad that’s over."

"Similarly, this was not one John had seen before."

"Hey, where are you going with that?"

Incorrect

"Excuse me what is going on here?"

"I’d like to but goodness me it’s a long way."

Correct

"Excuse me, what is going on here?"

"I’d like to but, goodness me, it’s a long way."

Compound numbers – between twenty-one and ninety-nine – must be hyphenated. When such numbers appear within a larger number they should still contain hyphens.

Incorrect

David was twenty six years old.

In total there were a hundred and sixty eight people there.

Correct

David was twenty-six years old.

In total, there were a hundred and sixty-eight people there.

An incident such as this hadn’t taken place since 1982.

The Mercedes had a 3.2 litre engine.

The time recorded was 12.7 seconds.

It cost £12.99 in total.

A sentence should never begin with a numeral. If a sentence begins with a number falling into the category of those in Example 2, the sentence should be rephrased.

Times that are on the hour, half hour, or quarter hour should be written out as words

Incorrect

The meeting was over by 5:30.

Proceedings began at around 2.00.

The match was an early kickoff, scheduled for 12:30.

Correct

The meeting was over by five-thirty.

Proceedings began at around two.

The match was an early kickoff, scheduled for twelve-thirty.

Incorrect

John usually finished work at 6pm

As usual, Samir opened the shop at 9:00 am.

Correct

John usually finished work at 6 p.m.

As usual, Samir opened the shop at 9 a.m.

[Alternatively, you can omit the full stops between a.m. or p.m. so that it reads 6 pm or 9 am, with a space between the number and letter. Whichever style you choose, it must be used consistently.]

Precise times, which do not fall into the earlier categories, should be expressed using numerals and a full stop separating the numbers, not colons.

The official time of death was 1.27 p.m.

Ben woke up to his alarm clock at 7.55 a.m. 

Incorrect

Steely Dan were the best band to come out of the 1970’s.

Correct

Steely Dan were the best band to come out of the 1970s.

However, an apostrophe may be used at the beginning of the year to indicate the omission of the century. Please ensure that is an apostrophe that is used and not an open quotation mark symbol:

Incorrect

Andy Cole was never as good after the 90s.

Andy Cole was never as good after the ‘90s.

Correct

Andy Cole was never as good after the ’90s.

When referring to a decade like this, it would also be acceptable to write it in prose-form (e.g. ‘the nineties’) and so it is advised to leave it in the same styling as the author’s original.

The decade should not be capitalised unless it used as a proper noun:

Incorrect

The Vietnam War was a real downer on the swinging sixties.

Correct

The Vietnam War was a real downer on the Swinging Sixties.

Incorrect: Since the 1980’s, the Thomas’s, both of whom have multiple PhD’s, sell old book’s and magazine’s at the fair on Saturday’s and Sunday’s.

Correct: Since the 1980s, the Thomases, both of whom have multiple PhDs, sell old books and magazines at the fair on Saturdays and Sundays.

Joining commas join independent (sentence-like) clauses that have intervening conjunctions such as and, but, for and while, and their use is often discretionary.

I asked him several times to turn down the volume, but he ignored me.

The conjunction but joins two independent clauses, and in this example the comma is optional; it does no harm, but the sentence is sufficiently short to cope without it. The longer the clause preceding the conjunction, however, the greater the need for a comma – 

I asked him several times in the course of the afternoon to turn down the volume of his damned stereo, but he ignored me.

Listing commas separate items, actions or ideas in a series and are used to avoid unnecessary repetitions of the conjunctions and and or. For example, instead of writing –

He climbed into the car and fastened his seat belt and started the engine and drove off

We write – 

He climbed into the car, fastened his seat belt, started the engine and drove off.

The listing comma is also used after all but the last in a string of adjectives –

After her jog, she took a long, hot, relaxing bath.

A comma may also be used to separate two adjectives –

After her jog, she took a hot, relaxing bath.

but it is generally omitted when the adjectives are strongly related or frequently used together –

After her jog, she took a long hot bath.

Good old Jack!

Their daughter, Edwina, is a lovely little thing.

The purpose of isolating commas is to cordon off information that is not essential to the sentence, whether a clause, a phrase or a single word –

They discussed the problem for several hours but, as usual, found no solution.

Suddenly, Jenny heard a clap of thunder.

I think, nevertheless, that you should give yourself some time.

Larks, which nest on the ground, fly higher than most other birds.

In each of these cases, we can remove what comes between the commas (or what comes before the only comma) without damaging the basic sentence –

They discussed the problem for several hours but found no solution.

Jenny heard a clap of thunder.

I think that you should give yourself some time.

Larks fly higher than most other birds.

There are circumstances, however, in which these comma omissions can cause problems

Introductory adverbs and phrases

Introductory adverbs are traditionally followed by commas –

Suddenly, Jenny heard a clap of thunder.

Outside, the temperature had dropped considerably.

Nevertheless, I think you should give yourself some time.

A fused or run-on sentence is a grammatical error in which two or more sentences are incorrectly written as one. Instead of a full stop or semicolon, the writer uses a comma or nothing at all.

Incorrect

You need take no action, however you might wish to keep this letter for your records.

Correct

You need take no action. However, you might wish to keep this letter for your records.