This is the Grammar Guy column, a weekly feature written by Curtis Honeycutt. I can think of a few things off the top of my head that I hope never to use: math, a fire extinguisher, Pepto Bismol and ...

I love finding examples of random quotation marks in sentences. I've written about this amusing practice before, but I was determined to find fresh examples after a reader asked about them recently.

The punctuation mark that annoys people the most is, without a doubt, the apostrophe. Whole books have been written lamenting atrocities like “five carrot’s and three kiwi’s” (for the record, that ...

What is the proper style for inserting a person’s nickname into his or her written full name? Most stylebooks specify placing the nickname after the forename and enclosing it in quotation marks. Some ...

With dialogue, specific punctuation is needed. Most often, commas and periods go within the quotation marks, but there are some forms of punctuation and examples that go outside of the quotation marks ...

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Here below the Mason-Dixon Line there exists an irrepressible impulse to over-decorate, a congenital tendency to accessorize everything from sofas to ponytails. Even language gets ...

Ever question the question mark? I don’t recommend it. Inquire about this quirky little squiggle and you’ll end up with more questions than answers. Its history is a mystery. And its use, when ...

We often focus on choosing the right words when we write—but how often do we think about punctuation? These small symbols—dots, commas, dashes, and more—do more than decorate our sentences. They guide ...