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::Please do not , even if you disagree with them. ::Please do not , even if you disagree with them.
::Please would you also provide a Misplaced Pages style guideline or policy to support your assertion as to "passive voice" - especially as I know you feel very strongly about this. ]] 06:35, 26 December 2007 (UTC) ::Please would you also provide a Misplaced Pages style guideline or policy to support your assertion as to "passive voice" - especially as I know you feel very strongly about this. ]] 06:35, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
:::Right here: * Article titles generally comprise ]s or ]s (''Effects of the wild'', not ''About the effects of the wild'').
* The title should be short—preferably fewer than ten words.
* Only the first letter of the first word, letters in acronyms, and the first letter of ] are ]; all other letters are in lower case (''Funding of UNESCO projects'', not ''Funding of UNESCO Projects'').
* Unless part of a proper noun, ''a'', ''an'' and ''the'' are normally avoided as the first word (''Economy of the second empire'', not ''The economy of the second empire'').
* Pronouns (''you'', ''they'') are normally avoided, except when they form part of the title of a work.
* Links are never used, in favor of linking the first occurrence of the item in the text.
* Special characters such as the slash (/), plus sign (+), curly brackets ({ }) and square brackets () are avoided; the ampersand (&) is replaced by ''and'', unless it is part of a formal name.

'''Note:''' This guidance also applies to ''Section headings'' below.

=== First sentences ===
* If possible, an article title is the ] of the first sentence of the article; for example, "The '''Manual of Style''' is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as ...". If the article title is an important term, it appears as early as possible. The first (and only the first) appearance of the title is in boldface, including its abbreviation in parentheses, if given. Equivalent names may follow, and may or may not be in boldface. Highlighted items are not linked, and boldface is not used subsequently in the first paragraph. For example: "'''Vienna''' ({{lang-de|Wien}} {{IPA|}}, see also its ]) is the capital of ] and one of that country's nine ]."
* If the topic of an article has no name and the title is merely descriptive—such as ]—the title does not need to appear verbatim in the main text; if it does, it is not in boldface.
* The normal rules for italics are followed in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics ("'''''Tattoo You''''' is an album by ], released in 1981").

===Section headings===
* '''The guidance in ''Article titles'' above also applies to section headings.'''
* Section names should preferably be unique within a page; this applies even for the names of subsections. The disadvantages of duplication are that:
** after editing, the display can arrive at the wrong section; see also below; and
** the automatic edit summary on editing a section with a non-unique name is ambiguous.
* Unspaced multiple equal signs are the style markup for headings. The triple apostrophes ( <nowiki>'''</nowiki> ) that make words appear in '''boldface''' are not used in headings. Nest headings correctly. The hierarchy is as follows:
** the automatically generated top-level heading of a page is H1, which gives the article title;
** primary headings are then <nowiki>==H2==</nowiki>, followed by <nowiki>===H3===</nowiki>, <nowiki>====H4====</nowiki>, and so on.
* Spaces between the == and the heading text are optional (<nowiki>==H2==</nowiki> versus <nowiki>== H2 ==</nowiki>). These extra spaces will not affect the appearance of the heading, except in the edit box.
* Spaces above and below headings are optional. Only two or more line-spaces above and below will change the appearance by adding more white space.
* Avoid restating or directly referring to the topic or to wording on a higher level in the hierarchy (''Early life'', not ''His early life'').
* Avoid using links inside headings themselves (e.g. <code><nowiki>==] colonisation==</nowiki></code>). Instead, link from the first occurrence of the term in the prose of the section.

===Section management===
* Headings provide an overview in the table of contents and allow readers to navigate through the text more easily.
* Change a heading only after careful consideration, because this will break section links to it from the same and other articles. If changing a heading, try to locate and fix broken links; for example, searching for ''wikipedia "section management"'' will probably yield links to the current section.
* When linking to a section, leave an editor's note to remind others that the title is linked. List the names of the linking articles, so that if the title is altered, others can fix the links more easily. For example: <nowiki> ==Evolutionary implications==<!-- This section is linked from ] and ] --> </nowiki>.
* Italicize the section name only if it otherwise requires italics (such as the title of a book).
* When referring to a section without linking, italicize the section name; for example, the current section is called ''Section management''.
* The standard order for optional appendix sections at the end of an article is ''See also'', ''Notes'' (or ''Footnotes''), ''References'', ''Further reading'' (or ''Bibliography''), and ''External links''; the order of ''Notes'' and ''References'' can be reversed. ''See also'' is an exception to the point above that wording comprises nouns and noun phrases. For information on these optional sections, see ] and ].

==Capital letters==
{{main|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (capital letters)}}
There are differences between the major varieties of English in the use of capitals (uppercase letters). Where this is an issue, the rules of the cultural and linguistic context apply. As for spelling, consistency is maintained within an article.

Within articles and other wiki pages, capitals are not used for emphasis. Where wording cannot provide the emphasis, italics are used.
:{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are Not the same as anteaters.
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'': ||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are NOT the same as anteaters.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are ''not'' the same as anteaters.
|}

===Titles===
*'''When used as titles''' (that is, followed by a name), items such as ''president'', ''king'' and ''emperor'' start with a capital letter: ''President Clinton'', not ''president Clinton''. The formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun: ''Hirohito was Emperor of Japan'' and ''Louis XVI was King of France'' (where ''King of France'' is a title). Royal styles are capitalized: ''Her Majesty'' and ''His Highness''; exceptions may apply for particular offices.
*'''When used generically''', such items are in lower case: ''De Gaulle was a French president'' and ''Louis XVI was a French king''. Similarly, ''Three prime ministers attended the conference'', but, ''The British Prime Minister is Gordon Brown''.
*For the use of titles and honorifics in biographical articles, see ].

===Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents===
*'''Religions, sects and churches''' and their followers (in noun or adjective form) start with a capital letter. Generally ''the'' is not capitalized before such names (''the Shī'a'', not ''The Shī'a''). (But see also the ] and ] for the Latter Day Saint movement.)
*'''Scriptures''' are capitalized but not italicized (for example, the names of the Qurʾan, the Talmud, the Granth Sahib, and the Bible). When ''the'' is used, it is not capitalized. Some derived adjectives are capitalized by convention, some are not (''biblical'', but normally ''Koranic''); for others, check a dictionary appropriate to the topic, and be consistent in an article.
*'''Honorifics for deities''', when used alone in reference to a specific figure of veneration, start with a capital letter (''God'', ''Allah'', ''the Lord'', ''the Supreme Being'', ''the Great Spirit''); ''the'' is not capitalized. The same is true when referring to major religious figures and figures from mythology by titles or terms of respect (''the Prophet'', ''the Messiah'', ''the Virgin'', ''a Muse''). When used generically, descriptively or metaphorically, such descriptive terms are not capitalized; thus ''the Romans worshipped many gods'', ''many Anglo-Saxons worshipped the god Wotan'', ''Jesus and Muhammad are both considered prophets in Islam'', ''biblical scholars dispute whether Mary was a virgin for her entire life'', and ''her husband was her muse''.
*''']s and ]s referring to figures of veneration''' are not capitalized in Misplaced Pages articles, even when they traditionally are in a religion's scriptures. They are left capitalized when directly quoting scriptures or any other texts that capitalize them.
*'''Broad categories of mythical or legendary creatures''' do not start with capital letters (''elf'', ''fairy'', ''nymph'', ''unicorn'', ''angel''), although in derived works of fantasy, such as the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and realtime strategy video games, initial capitals are sometimes used to indicate that the beings are regarded as cultures or races in their ]s. Names or titles of individual creatures are capitalized (''the Minotaur'', ''the Pegasus'') as are those of groups whose name and membership are fixed (''the Cherubim'', ''the Magi or the Three Wise Men''). As with terms for deities, generalized references are not capitalized (''cherub-like'', ''the priests of this sect were called magi by some'', ''several wise men were consulted'').
*'''Spiritual or religious events''' are likewise capitalized only when they are terms referring to specific incidents or periods (''the Great Flood'', ''the Exodus'', but ''annual flooding'' or ''an exodus of refugees'').
*'''Philosophies, theories and doctrines''' do not begin with a capital letter unless the name derives from a proper noun (''capitalism versus Marxism'') or has become a proper noun (lowercase ''republican'' refers to a system of political thought; uppercase ''Republican'' refers to one of several specific political parties or ideologies, such as the US Republican Party or Irish Republicanism). Physical and natural laws and parodies of them are capitalized (''the Second Law of Thermodynamics'', ''the Theory of Special Relativity'', ''Murphy's Law''; but ''an expert on gravity and relativity'', ''thermodynamic properties'', ''Murphy's famous mock-law''). Doctrinal topics or canonical religious ideas (as distinguished from specific events) that may be traditionally capitalized within a faith are given in lower case in Misplaced Pages, such as ''virgin birth'', ''original sin'' or ''transubstantiation''.
*'''] or transcendent ideals''' are capitalized (''Good'', ''Truth''), but only within the context of philosophical doctrine; used more broadly, they are lower-case (''Superman represents American ideals of truth and justice''). Personifications represented in art, such as a statue of the figure ''Justice'', are capitalized.

===Calendar items===
*'''Months, days and holidays''' start with a capital letter: June, Monday, the Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise ''July 4'' or ''4 July'').
*'''Seasons''', in almost all instances, are lowercase: ''This summer was very hot''; ''The winter solstice occurs about December 22''; ''I've got spring fever''. When personified, season names may function as proper nouns, and they should then be capitalized: ''I think Spring is showing her colors''; ''Old Man Winter''.

===Animals, plants, and other organisms===
{{main|Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Tree of Life#Article titles|Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (fauna)}}

'''Scientific names''' for ''genera'' and ''species'' are italicized, with a capital initial letter for the genus but no capital for the species; for more specific guidelines for article titles, see ]. For example, the tulip tree is ''Liriodendron tulipifera'', and humans are ''Homo sapiens''. Taxonomic groups higher than genus are given with an initial capital and are not in italics; for example, gulls are in the family Laridae, and we are in the family Hominidae.

'''Common (vernacular) names''' of flora and fauna should be written in lower case—for example, ''oak'' or ''lion''. There are a limited number of exceptions to this:
# Where the common name contains a proper noun, such as the name of a person or place, that proper noun should be capitalized; for example, ''The Amur tiger may have a range of over 500 square kilometers'', or ''The Roosevelt elk is a subspecies of ''Cervus canadensis''.''
# For specific groups of organisms, there are specific rules of capitalization based on current and historic usage among those who study the organisms. These should ordinarily be followed:
<!-- Add to this list if a consensus has been reached within a Wikiproject to deviate from the base prescription. The addition should be a link to the discussion or to the location where a prescription other than the base is detailed. -->
#* ]
# In a very few cases, a set of officially established common names are recognised only within a country or a geographic region. Those common names may be capitalized according to local custom but it should be understood that not all editors will have access to the references needed to support these names; in such cases, using the general recommendation is also acceptable.
In any case, a ] from an alternative capitalization should be created where it is used in an article title.

===Celestial bodies===
*'''''Sun'', ''earth'' and ''moon''''' are not capitalized generally (''The sun was peeking over the mountain top''). They may be proper nouns in an astronomical context but only when referring to specific celestial bodies (our ''Sun'', ''Earth'' and ''Moon''): so ''The Moon orbits the Earth'', but ''Jupiter's moon Io''.
*'''Other planets and stars''' are proper nouns and start with a capital letter: ''The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux.'' Where a name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: ''Alpha Centauri'' and not ''Alpha centauri''.

===Directions and regions===
*'''Directions''' such as ''north'' are not proper nouns and are therefore lowercase. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a ''northern'' road, compared with the ]. Composite directions may or may not be hyphenated (''northeast'' and ''north-east'', ''Southeast Asia'' and ''South-East Asia''), depending on the general style adopted in the article.
*'''Regions''' that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as ''Southern California'', start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the ] is a ''Southerner''. Regions of uncertain proper-noun status are assumed not to have attained it.

===Institutions===
*'''Proper names''' of institutions (for example, ''the University of Sydney'', ''New York-Presbyterian Hospital'', ''George Brown College'') are proper nouns and require capitalization. Where a title starts with ''the'', it typically starts with lowercase ''t'' when the title occurs in the middle of a sentence: ''a degree from the University of Sydney''.
*'''Generic words''' for institutions (university, college, hospital, high school) require no capitalization:
::{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect''&nbsp;||''(generic)'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'' ||''(generic)'': ||The university offers ...
|-valign=top
|''Correct'' ||''(title)'': ||The University of Ottawa offers ...
|}

==Acronyms and abbreviations==
{{main|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (abbreviations)|Misplaced Pages:Edit summary legend}}
:''See also "]", below.''

; Write out both the full version and the abbreviation at first occurrence
: Readers are not necessarily familiar with any particular ] such as ''NASA'' (pronounced as a word) or ] such as ''PBS'' (pronounced by saying the letters themselves). The standard practice is to name the item in full on its first occurrence, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. For example, ''The New Democratic Party (NDP) won the 1990 Ontario election with a significant majority'' (first mention of New Democratic Party in the article) and ''The NDP quickly became unpopular with the voters'' (subsequent mention).
: Initial capitals are not used in the full name of an item just because capitals are used in the abbreviation.
::{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect''&nbsp;||''(not a name)'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||We used Digital Scanning (DS) technology
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||&nbsp; ||We used digital scanning (DS) technology
|-valign=top
|''Correct'' ||''(name)'': ||produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
|}
:If the full term is already in parentheses, use a comma and ''or'' to indicate the acronym; for example, ''They first debated the issue in 1992 (at a convention of the New Democratic Party, or NDP)''.
; Plural and possessive forms
: Acronyms and initialisms are pluralized by adding ''-s'' or ''-es'' as with any other nouns (''They produced three CD-ROMs in the first year''; ''The laptops were produced with three different BIOSes in 2006''). As with other nouns, no apostrophe is used unless the form is a possessive.
; Periods and spaces
: Acronyms and initialisms are generally not separated by ]s (]) or blank spaces (''GNP'', ''NORAD'', ''OBE'', ''GmbH''); many periods and spaces that were traditionally required have now dropped out of usage (''PhD'' is preferred over ''Ph.D.'' and ''Ph.&nbsp;D.'').
:Truncated (''Hon.'' for ''Honorable''), compressed (''cmte.'' for ''committee'') and contracted (''Dr.'' for ''Doctor'') abbreviations may or may not be closed with a period. A period is much more usual in American usage (''Dr. Smith of 42 St. Joseph St.''); and ''no'' period is commonly preferred in British and other usage (''Dr Smith of 42 St Joseph St'', though one or other "St" might take a period, in such a case). Some British and other authorities prefer to drop the period from truncated and compressed abbreviations generally (''XYZ Corp'', ''ABC Ltd''), a practice also favored in science writing. Regardless of punctuation, such abbreviations are spaced if multi-word (''op. cit.'' or ''op cit'', not ''op.cit.'' or ''opcit'').
:; ''US'' and ''U.S.''
::In American English, both ''US'' and, decreasingly, ''U.S.'' are common abbreviations for ''United States''; ''US'' is yet more common in other varieties. When referring to the country in a longer abbreviation (''USA'', ''USN'', ''USAF''), periods are not used. When the United States is mentioned along with one or more other countries in the same sentence, ''US'' or ''U.S.'' can be too informal, and many editors avoid it especially at first mention of the country (''France and the United States'', not ''France and the US''). When the United States is mentioned by acronym in the same article as other abbreviated country names, for consistency do not use periods (''the US, the UK and the PRC''); and especially do not add periods to the other acronyms, as in ''the U.S., the U.K. and the P.R.C.''). The spaced ''U.&nbsp;S.'' is never used, nor is the archaic ''U.S. of A.'', except in quoted materials. ''USA'' and ''U.S.A.'' are not used unless quoted or part of a proper name (''Team USA'').
:In all of these matters, maintain consistency within an article. The sole exception is that for units of measurement, periods are not used even if other acronyms are dotted. (See ] for more information.)
; Do not use unwarranted abbreviations
:The use of abbreviations should be avoided when they would be confusing to the reader, interrupt the flow, or appear informal or lazy. For example, ''approx.'' for ''approximate'' should not be used in most articles, although it may be useful in reducing the width of a table of data, and infobox, or in a technical passage in which the term occurs many times.
::''See also ] for when to abbreviate units of measurement.''
; Do not invent abbreviations
:Generally avoid the ] of new abbreviations, especially acronyms. For example, while it is reasonable to provide ''World Union of Billiards'' as a '''translation''' of '']'', the former is not the organization's name, and it does not use the acronym ''WUB''; when referring to it in short form, use the official abbreviation ''UMB''. In a wide table of international economic data, it might be desirable to abbreviate a ''United States gross national product'' heading; this might be done with the widely recognized initialisms ''US'' and ''GNP'' spaced together, with a link to appropriate articles, if it is not already explained: ''US&nbsp;]'', rather than the made-up initialism ''USGNP''.
; HTML elements
:] that Misplaced Pages runs on does not support ] abbreviation elements (<code>&lt;acronym&gt;</code> or <code>&lt;abbr&gt;</code>); therefore, these tags are not inserted into the source (see ]).

==Italics==
{{further|]}}

; Emphasis
:Italics are used ''sparingly'' to emphasize words in sentences (bolding is normally not used at all for this purpose). Generally, the more highlighting in an article, the less the effect of each instance.
; Titles
{{main|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (titles)}}
:Italics are used for the titles of works of literature and art, such as books, paintings and musical albums. The titles of articles, chapters, songs and other short works are not italicized, but are enclosed in double quotation marks.
:Italics are not used for major revered religious works (for example the Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud).
; Words as words
:Italics are used when ''mentioning'' a word or letter (see ]) or a string of words up to a full sentence: "The term ''panning'' is derived from ''panorama'', a word coined in 1787"; "The most commonly used letter in English is ''e''". For a whole sentence, quotation marks may be used instead, as they are in this manual of style where this helps to make things clear: "The preposition in ''She sat on the chair'' is ''on''", or "The preposition in 'She sat on the chair' is ''on''". Mentioning (to discuss such features as grammar, wording and punctuation) is different from quoting (in which something is usually ''expressed'' on behalf of a quoted source).
; <span id="Italics and quotations" /><!--This span creates a #-link target that is used elsewhere in this page.-->Quotations in italics
:For quotations, use only quotation marks (for short quotations) or block quoting (for long ones), not italics. (See ] below.) This means that (1) a quotation is not italicized inside quotation marks or a block quote just because it is a quotation, and (2) italicization is not used as a substitute for proper quotation formatting.
; Italics within quotations
:Italics are used within quotations if they are already in the source material, or are added by Misplaced Pages to give emphasis to some words. If the latter, an editorial note "" should appear at the end of the quotation ("Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And ''flights of angels'' sing thee to thy rest" ).
:If the source uses italics for emphasis, and it is desirable to stress that Misplaced Pages has not added the italics, the editorial note "" should appear after the quote.
; Effect on nearby punctuation
:Italicization is restricted to what should properly be affected by italics, and not the punctuation that is part of the surrounding sentence.
::{|style="background:transparent"
|-
|valign=top|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;
|colspan=2|What are we to make of ''that?''
|-
|valign=top rowspan=2|''Correct'':
|colspan=2|What are we to make of ''that''?
|-
|&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
|(The question mark applies to the whole sentence, not just to ''that''.)
|-
|valign=top rowspan=2|''Correct'':
|colspan=2|Four of Patrick White's most famous novels are ''A Fringe of Leaves'', ''The Aunt's Story'', ''Voss'' and ''The Tree of Man''.
|-
|
|(The commas, period, and ''and'' are not italicized.)
|}
; Italicized links
:The italics markup must be outside the link markup, or the link will not work; however, internal italicization can be used in ].
::{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||The opera <nowiki>]</nowiki> is his best.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||The opera <nowiki>'']''</nowiki> is his best.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||The <nowiki>]</nowiki> was a submarine.
|}

==Non-breaking spaces==
*In compound items in which numerical and non-numerical elements are separated by a space, a ] (or ''hard space'') is recommended to avoid the displacement of those elements at the end of a line.
*A non-breaking space can be produced with the HTML code <code><nowiki>&amp;nbsp;</nowiki></code> instead of the space bar; thus, <code><nowiki>19&amp;nbsp;kg</nowiki><code> yields a non-breaking ''19&nbsp;kg''.
*A non-breaking space can also be produced by using the {{tl|nowrap}} template; thus, <code><nowiki>{{nowrap|8 sq ft}}</nowiki></code> produces a non-breaking ''{{nowrap|8 sq ft}}''. This is especially useful for short constructions requiring two or more non-breaking spaces, as in the preceding example.
*In some older browsers, quotation marks separated by a non-breaking space may still be broken at the end of a line: ("She said 'Yes!'&nbsp;").
*Unlike normal spaces, multiple non-breaking spaces are not compressed by browsers into a single space.

==Quotations==
{{shortcut|WP:MOSQUOTE}}
:''See also ] above, and ] below.''
; Minimal change
: Wherever reasonable, preserve the original style and spelling of the text. Where there is a good reason not to do so, insert an editorial explanation of the changes, usually within square brackets (''e.g.'', ).
; Attribution
: The author of a quote of a full sentence or more is named; this is done in the main text and not in a footnote. An exception is that attribution is unnecessary for well-known quotations (e.g., from Shakespeare) and those from the subject of the article or section. When preceding a quotation with its attribution, ].
; Quotations within quotations
: When a quotation includes another quotation (and so on), start with double-quotes outermost and working inward, alternate single-quotes with double-quotes. For example, the following three-level quotation: "She disputed his statement that 'Voltaire never said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."&nbsp;'&nbsp;" Adjacent quote marks, as at the end of this example, are separated by a ] (&amp;nbsp;), though this may not work on some older browsers.
; Linking
: Unless there is a good reason to do so, Misplaced Pages avoids linking from within quotes, which may clutter the quotation, violate the principle of leaving quotations unchanged, and mislead or confuse the reader.
; Block quotations
: A long quote (more than four lines, or consisting of more than one paragraph, regardless of number of lines) is formatted as a ], which Wikimedia's software will indent from both margins. Block quotes are not enclosed in quotation marks (especially including decorative ones such as those provided by the {{tl|cquote}} template, used only for "]", which are generally not appropriate in Misplaced Pages articles). Use a pair of <nowiki><blockquote>...</blockquote></nowiki> HTML tags. ''Note: The current version of Misplaced Pages's ] software will not render multiple paragraphs inside a <code><nowiki><blockquote></nowiki></code> simply by spacing the paragraphs apart with blank lines. A ] is to enclose each of the block-quoted paragraphs in its own <code><nowiki><p>...</p></nowiki></code> element.''

:Example:

<blockquote><div style="border:1px solid #999; padding:1em; margin:1em; background:white;">
<code><nowiki><blockquote></nowiki><br />
<nowiki><p>And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!</p></nowiki><br />
<br />
<nowiki><p>—], '']''</p></nowiki><br />
<nowiki></blockquote></nowiki></code>
</div></blockquote>

:The result appears indented on both sides (and, depending on browser software, may also be in a smaller font):

<blockquote><blockquote>
<p>And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!</p>

<p>—], '']''</p></blockquote></blockquote>

:The {{tl|quote}} template provides the same semantic HTML formatting, as well as a workaround for the paragraph spacing bug and a pre-formatted attribution line:

<blockquote><div style="border:1px solid #999; padding:1em; margin:1em; background:white;">
<code><nowiki>{{quote|And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!|]|'']''}}</nowiki></code>
</div></blockquote>

:Which results in:

<blockquote>{{quote|And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!|]|'']''}}</blockquote>

==Punctuation==
{{shortcut|]}}

===Quotation marks===
:''See also ] above.''
The term ''quotation(s)'' in the material below also includes other uses of quotation marks such as those for titles of songs, chapters, and episodes; unattributable aphorisms; ]; "]" passages and constructed examples.

; Double or single'''
:Quotations are enclosed within "double quotes". Quotations within quotations are enclosed within 'single quotes'.
; Inside or outside
:]s are placed inside the quotation marks only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation (this system is referred to as ''logical quotation'').
::{|style="background:transparent"
|rowspan=2 valign=top|''Correct'': || Arthur said that the situation is "deplorable".
|-
|
:(When a sentence fragment is quoted, the period is outside.)
|-
|rowspan=2 valign=top|''Correct'': || Arthur said, "The situation is deplorable."
|-
|
:(The period is part of the quoted text.)
|-
|rowspan=2 valign=top|''Correct'': || Martha asked, "Are you coming?"
|-
|
:(When quoting a question, the question mark belongs inside because the quoted text itself was a question.)
|-
|rowspan=2 valign=top|''Correct'': || Did Martha say, "Come with me"?
|-
|
:(The very quote is being questioned, so here, the question mark is correctly outside; the period in the original quote is omitted.)
|}

:Note: This is not actually an American versus British English stylistic matter: at least one major British newspaper prefers typesetters' quotation (punctuation inside) and ] uses both styles; scientific and technical publications, even in the United States, almost universally use logical quotation (punctuation outside unless part of the source material), due to its precision; and much non-American English-language fiction uses the punctuation-inside method. Misplaced Pages uses logical quotation because, as an encyclopedia, it requires high standards of accuracy in the use of source material, and because logical quotation is far less prone to misquotation, ambiguity and the introduction of coding and other errors.

; Article openings
:When the title of an article appearing in the lead paragraph requires quotation marks (for example, the title of a song or poem), the quotation marks should not be in boldface, as they are not part of the title:
::{|style="background:transparent"
|''Correct'': || "'''Jabberwocky'''" is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.
|}

; Block quotes
:As already noted ], we use quotation marks or block quotes (not both) to distinguish long quotations from other text. Multiparagraph quotations are always block-quoted.

;Straight or curly?
:There are two options when considering the look of the quotation marks (that is, the ]):
:* ] or straight style: <big>'''"'''</big>text<big>'''"'''</big>, <big><b>'</b></big>text<big><b>'</b></big>, text<big><b>'</b></big>s
:* ] or curly style: <big>'''“'''</big>text<big>'''”'''</big>, <big>'''‘'''</big>text<big>'''’'''</big>, text<big>'''’'''</big>s
::(Emphasis added to better distinguish between the glyphs.)
:*] and ]s or backticks (<big>'''`'''</big>text<big>'''´'''</big>) are neither quotation marks nor apostrophes, and must not be used in their place.
:*Foreign characters that resemble apostrophes, such as Arabic ] (<big>'''ʿ'''</big>) and ] (<big>'''ʾ'''</big>), are represented by their correct Unicode characters, despite possible display problems. If this is not feasible, use a straight apostrophe instead.
:The exclusive use of straight quotes and apostrophes is recommended. They are easier to type in reliably, and to edit. Mixed use interferes with searching (a search for ''Korsakoff's syndrome'' will fail to find ''Korsakoff’s syndrome'' and vice versa).
:Whenever quotation marks or apostrophes appear in article titles, make a redirect from the same title but using the alternative glyphs.

; Other matters
*A quotation is not italicized simply because it is a quotation.
*If an entire sentence is quoted in such a way that it becomes a grammatical part of the larger sentence, the first letter loses its capitalization ("It turned out to be true that 'a penny saved is a penny earned'.").
*If a word or phrase appears in an article in single quotes, such as 'abcd', ] will find that word or phrase only if the search string is also within single quotes. This difficulty does not arise for double quotes, and this is one of the reasons the latter are recommended.

===Brackets and parentheses===
A bracketed phrase is enclosed by the punctuation of a sentence (as shown here). However, where one or more sentences are wholly inside brackets, their punctuation comes inside the brackets (see further details ]). These rules apply to both round "(&nbsp;)" brackets, often called ], and square "" brackets. There should not be a space next to a bracket on its inner side. An opening bracket should be preceded by a space, except in unusual cases; for example, when it is preceded by:
* An opening quotation mark
::He rose to address the meeting: "(Ahem)&nbsp;... Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!"
* Another opening bracket
::Only the royal characters in the play ( Hamlet and his family) habitually speak in blank verse.
* A portion of a word
::We journeyed on the Inter.

There should be a space after a closing bracket, except where another punctuation mark (other than an apostrophe or a hyphen) follows, and in unusual cases similar to those listed for opening brackets.

If sets of brackets must be nested, use the contrasting type (normally, square brackets appear within round brackets ). Often, it is better to revise the sentence to reduce clutter, using commas, semicolons, colons or dashes instead.

Avoid adjacent sets of brackets—either put the parenthetic phrases in one set separated by commas, or rewrite the sentence. For example:
:{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919) (also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919), also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv, was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader. He was also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv.
|}

Square brackets are used to indicate editorial replacements and insertions of text. They serve three main purposes:
*To clarify. ("She attended school"—where this was the intended meaning, but the type of school was unstated in the original sentence.)
*To reduce the size of a quotation. If a source says "X contains Y, and under certain circumstances, X may contain Z as well", it is acceptable to reduce this to "X contains Y Z", without ellipsis. When an ellipsis (...; see ]) ''is'' used to indicate material removed from a direct quotation, it should not normally be bracketed.
*To make the grammar work: "She said that ' would not allow this'&nbsp;"—where her original statement was "I would not allow this." (Generally, though, it is better to begin the quotation after the problematic word: "She said that she 'would not allow this.'&nbsp;")

The use of square-bracketed wording should never alter the intended meaning of a quotation.

====Sentences and brackets====

*If any sentence includes material that is enclosed in square or round brackets, it still must end—with a period, or a question or exclamation mark—''after'' those brackets (a rule that applies in all English, whether British or U.S.). The preceding sentence is itself an example. This principle applies no matter what punctuation is used within the brackets.

*Normally, if the words of a sentence begin within brackets, the sentence must also end within those brackets. There is an exception for matter that is added or modified editorially at the beginning of a sentence for clarity, usually in square brackets: "&nbsp;' already told me that,' he objected."

*A sentence that occurs within brackets in the course of another sentence does not have its first word capitalised just because it starts a sentence. The enclosed sentence may have a question mark or exclamation mark added, but not a period: "Alexander then conquered (who would have believed it?) most of the known world"; "Clare demanded that he drive (she knew he hated driving) to the supermarket." These constructions are usually best avoided, for readability.

===Ellipses===

{{cleanup-section}}

An ] (plural ''ellipses'') is a series of three dots. It marks the omission of material from quoted text.

;Style
:Ellipses have traditionally been implemented in three ways:
:*''Three unspaced periods'' (...). This is the easiest way, and gives a reliable appearance in HTML. '''Recommended.'''
:*''Pre-composed ellipsis character'' (…); generated with the <code>&amp;hellip;<code> character entity, or by insertion from the set below the edit window). This is harder to input and edit, and too small in some fonts. '''Not recommended.'''
:*''Three spaced periods'' (.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.). This is an older style that is unnecessarily wide and requires non-breaking spaces to keep it from breaking at the end of a line. '''Strongly deprecated.'''

;Function
:Use an ellipsis if material is omitted in the course of a quotation, unless square brackets are used to gloss the quotation (see ], and the next point below). Put a space on each side of an ellipsis, except at the very start or end of a quotation. Sentence-final punctuation after an omission ellipsis is shown only if it is textually important (as is often the case with exclamation points and question marks, and rarely with periods); no space comes between the ellipsis and the terminal punctuation. Use non-breaking spaces (<code>&amp;nbsp;<code>) ''only'' as needed to prevent improper line breaks, e.g.:
:*To keep a quotation mark from being separated from the start of the quotation: <code>"...&amp;nbsp;we are still worried."</code>
:*To keep the ellipsis from wrapping to the next line: <code>"France, Germany,&amp;nbsp;... and Belgium but not the USSR."</code>

;Pause or suspension of speech
:Three periods are occasionally used to represent a pause in or suspense of speech, in which case the punctuation is retained in its original form (''Virginia's startled reply was: "Could he...? No, I cannot believe it!"''). This usage is avoided in other contexts in Misplaced Pages. <!--This is not a true ellipsis, so should be mentioned only as an aside.-->

;With square brackets
:An ellipsis does not normally need square brackets around it, since its function is usually obvious—especially if the guidelines above are followed. But square brackets may optionally be used for precision, to make it clear that the ellipsis is not itself quoted; this is usually only necessary if the quoted passage also uses three period in it to indicate a pause or suspension. The ellipsis should follow exactly the principles given above, but with square brackets inserted immediately before and after it. (''Her long rant continued: "How do I feel? How do you ''think'' I... look, this has gone far enough!&nbsp; I want to go home!"'')

===Serial commas===
There is no Misplaced Pages consensus on whether to use the ] (also known as the ''Oxford comma'' or ''Harvard comma''), except in the fairly rare case in which including or omitting such comma clarifies the meaning. A serial comma is a ] used immediately before a conjunction in a list of three or more items: the phrase ''ham, chips, and eggs'' contains a serial comma, while the variant ''ham, chips and eggs'' omits it.

Sometimes omitting the comma can lead to an ambiguous sentence, as in this example:
''The author would like to thank her parents, Sinéad O'Connor and President Bush'', which may be a list of either four or two people.

Including the comma can also cause ambiguity, as in:
''The author would like to thank her mother, Sinéad O'Connor, and President Bush'', which may be a list of either two or three people.

In such cases of ambiguity, there are three way to clarify:
* Use or omit the serial comma to avoid ambiguity.
* Recast the sentence.
* Format the list, e.g. with paragraph breaks and numbered paragraphs.

===Colons===
] (<code>:</code>) should not have spaces before them:
:{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||He attempted it in two years : 1941 and 1943
|}

Colons should have complete sentences before them:
:{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||The years he attempted it included: 1941 and 1943
|}

===Hyphens===
{{shortcut|WP:HYPHEN}}
Hyphens (-) indicate conjunction. There are three main uses.
# To distinguish between '''homographs''' (''re-dress'' = dress again, but ''redress'' = remedy or set right).
# To link certain '''prefixes''' with their main word (''non-linear'', ''sub-section'', ''super-achiever''):
#: A clear tendency is emerging to join both elements in all varieties of English (''subsection''), particularly in North America (''nonlinear''). The hyphen is usually used when the letters brought into contact are the same (''nonlinear'', ''subabdominal'', but ''non-negotiable'', ''sub-basement'') or are vowels (''intra-atomic'', ''pre-existing'', ''semi-intensive'', ''co-opt''), where a word is uncommon (''co-proposed'', ''re-target'') or may be misread (''sub-era'', not ''subera'').
# To link related terms in '''compound adjectives and adverbs''':
#* Sometimes the hyphen helps with ease of reading (''face-to-face discussion'', ''hard-boiled egg''); hyphens are particularly useful in long nominal groups where non-experts are part of the readership, such as in Misplaced Pages's scientific articles: ''gas-phase reaction dynamics''.
#* Sometimes the hyphen helps with disambiguation (''little-used car'', not a reference to the size of a used car).
#* Many compound adjectives that are hyphenated when used attributively (before the noun they qualify—''a light-blue handbag''), are not hyphenated when used predicatively (after the noun—''the handbag was light blue''). Where there would be a loss of clarity, the hyphen may also be used in the predicative case (''hand-fed turkeys'', ''the turkeys were hand-fed'').
#* Hyphens are often not used after ''-ly'' adverbs (''wholly owned subsidiary''), unless part of larger compounds (''a slowly-but-surely strategy'').
#* A hyphen is normally used when the adverb ''well'' precedes a participle used attributively (''a well-meaning gesture''; but normally ''a very well managed firm'', since ''well'' itself is modified); and even predicatively, if ''well'' is necessary to, or alters, the sense of the adjective rather than simply intensifying it (''the gesture was well-meaning'', ''the child was well-behaved'', but ''the floor was well polished'').
#* A ''hanging hyphen'' is used when two compound adjectives are separated (''two- and three-digit numbers'', ''a ten-car or -truck convoy'').
#* Values and units used as compound adjectives are hyphenated only where the unit is given as a whole word. Where hyphens are not used, values and units are always separated by a non-breaking space (<nowiki>&amp;nbsp;</nowiki>).
:::{|style="background:transparent"
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'': ||9-mm gap
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||9&nbsp;mm gap (rendered as ''9&amp;nbsp;mm gap'')
|-valign=top
|''Incorrect'':&nbsp; &nbsp;||9&nbsp;millimetre gap
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||9-millimetre gap
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||12-hour shift
|-valign=top
|''Correct'': ||12&nbsp;h shift
|}

Hyphens are never followed or preceded by a space, except when hanging or when used to display parts of words independently, such as the prefix ''sub-'' and the suffix ''-less''.

Hyphens are used only to mark conjunctions; not to mark disjunction (for which en dashes are correct: see below).

Hyphenation involves many subtleties that cannot be covered here; but the rules and examples presented above illustrate the sorts of broad principles that inform current usage.

===Dashes===
{{shortcut|WP:DASH|WP:MOSDASH}}
Several kinds of ] are used on Misplaced Pages.

====En dashes====
En dashes (–) have four distinct roles.
#To indicate '''disjunction'''. In this role there are two main applications.
#*To convey the sense of ''to'' or ''through'', particularly in ranges (''pp. 211–19'', ''64–75%'', ''the 1939–45 war'', ''May–November'') and where movement is involved (''Dublin–Belfast route''). Year and page ranges are often an issue on Misplaced Pages. The word ''to'', rather than an en dash, is used when a number range involves a negative value or might be misconstrued as a subtraction (''&minus;3 to 1'', not ''&minus;3–1''), or when the nearby wording demands it (''he served from 1939 to 1941'', not ''he served from 1939–1941'').
#*As a substitute for some uses of ''and'', ''to'' or ''versus'' for marking a relationship involving independent elements in certain compound expressions (''Canada–US border'', ''blood–brain barrier'', ''time–altitude graph'', ''4–3 win in the opening game'', ''male–female ratio'', ''3–2 majority verdict'', ''Michelson–Morley experiment'', ''diode–transistor logic''; but a hyphen is used instead in ''Mon-Khmer languages'' which lacks a relationship, ''Sino-Japanese trade'', in which ''Sino-'' lacks independence, and ''Indo-European linguistics'' which lacks both relationship and lexical independence).
#**''Spacing:'' All disjunctive en dashes are unspaced, except when there is a space within either or both of the items (''the New York – Sydney flight'', ''the New Zealand – South Africa grand final'', ''], ] – ], ]'').
#For '''negative signs and subtraction operators''', as an alternative to the usually slightly shorter minus sign, ''&minus;'' (input with &amp;minus;). Negative signs (''–8°C'') are unspaced; subtraction signs (''42 – 4 = 38'') are spaced. The en dash was the traditional typographic symbol for this operator, but now that unicode defines a character for this specific use, the minus is preferred. In contexts such as computer code, where the text is intended to be copied and executed or evaluated, the ordinary hyphen works better and is preferred.
#In '''lists''', to separate distinct information within points—particularly track titles and durations, and musicians and their instruments, in articles on music albums. In this role, en dashes are always spaced.
#As a '''stylistic alternative to em dashes''' (]).

Hyphens have often been wrongly used in disjunctive expressions on Misplaced Pages; this is especially common in sports scores.

The article on ]es includes input methods for typing dashes on several operating systems. ] (]) 06:38, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

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Games in Kongo.

Hi!

I had a question on the Misplaced Pages reference desk about the section of this article that talks about games played in Kongo - and specifically the game: 'nclaca'. I did a lot of searching around and I can find NO references to this game in books or on the Internet. Since the information was added by an anonymous editor who has never added anything else to Misplaced Pages - I'm deeply suspicious of this information. Notably, the William Holman Bentley book which supposedly talks about games played in the Kongo makes no mention (according to my search on Google Books) of a game by this name.

I think it's nonsense - so it's gone!

SteveBaker 18:54, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


Sounds like a reasonable action to me.Scott Free 19:59, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
On second thought...we might need to put that section back after all. The following section in googlebooks (which I found in all of 30 seconds) seems to back up some parts of the game section. Check it out...http://books.google.com/books?id=N65pbr2hC4wC&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=bakongo+games&source=web&ots=2HGd7AtRnR&sig=N3ptl4z6oQanWTFJIJ3Byvq2Wjc#PPA102,M1

Scott Free 20:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


An Expansion

A note to all those who love and modify this article. I've made a lot of changes in it, some reorganization, particularly to take the general description out of the pre-fifteenth century part and put it in the seventeenth century part, since it is really based on that material. I've also added a few references, but I need to do more (help welcome). I've also expanded a lot the later years, and made smaller changes here and there. Beepsie (not signed in for now)

All the work done on this section was reverted about two hours afer I finished. I would like to reverse this revert, but will wait a few days before doing soBeepsie (talk) 16:13, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

I have reverted the page to its 15 December version to preserve the changes that I made, inadvertently not signed in, on that dayBeepsie (talk) 20:04, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks are due to all editors who work conscientiously and collegially to improve this article using cited sources and prose that conforms to our Manual of Style.
It is very dispiriting to editors to have their work simply reverted without adequate explanation and dialogue and this is a breach of civility for which editors may be blocked (even without technically breaching WP:3RR):
  • Reverting is a decision which should be taken seriously.
  • Reverting is used primarily for fighting vandalism, or anything very similar to the effects of vandalism.
  • If you are not sure whether a revert is appropriate, discuss it first rather than immediately reverting or deleting it.
  • If you feel the edit is unsatisfactory, improve it rather than simply reverting or deleting it.
  • Do not simply revert changes that are made as part of a dispute. Be respectful to other editors, their contributions and their points of view.
  • Do not revert good faith edits. In other words, try to consider the editor "on the other end." If what one is attempting is a positive contribution to Misplaced Pages, a revert of those contributions is inappropriate unless, and only unless, you as an editor possess firm, substantive, and objective proof to the contrary. Mere disagreement is not such proof. See also Misplaced Pages:Assume good faith.
  • Generally there are misconceptions that problematic sections of an article or recent changes are the reasons for reverting or deletion. If they contain valid information, these texts should simply be edited and improved accordingly. Reverting is not a decision which should be taken lightly.
  • There's sometimes trouble determining whether some claim is true or useful, particularly when there are few people "on board" who are knowledgeable about the topic. In such a case, it's a good idea to raise objections on a talk page; if one has some reason to believe that the author of what appears to be biased material will not be induced to change it, editors have sometimes taken the step of transferring the text in question to the talk page itself, thus not deleting it entirely. This action should be taken more or less as a last resort, never as a way of punishing people who have written something biased. See also Misplaced Pages:Neutral point of view/FAQ
  • Do not revert changes simply because someone makes an edit you consider problematic, biased, or inaccurate. Improve the edit, rather than reverting it. Alice 23:03, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
Beepsie, I reverted you because you reverted my edits... all of them. I know you reverted me because you removed all of the references I had added. Perhaps this was an accident? The organization in your version of the article is not the problem. The problem is that your changes violate a number of stylist rules - improperly capitalizing subsection titles, repeating references with ref names, etc. A number of your references have 20 pages listed for one fact. Is this because they are from JSTOR? In that case, please login and find the specific page you are looking at before inserting the reference. Either that or just use the book without the page number. Another repeated problem is the use of passive voice which should be avoided whenever possible. Jose João (talk) 06:27, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
Please do not remove other editor's comments, even if you disagree with them.
Please would you also provide a Misplaced Pages style guideline or policy to support your assertion as to "passive voice" - especially as I know you feel very strongly about this. Alice 06:35, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
Right here: * Article titles generally comprise nouns or noun phrases (Effects of the wild, not About the effects of the wild).
  • The title should be short—preferably fewer than ten words.
  • Only the first letter of the first word, letters in acronyms, and the first letter of proper nouns are capitalized; all other letters are in lower case (Funding of UNESCO projects, not Funding of UNESCO Projects).
  • Unless part of a proper noun, a, an and the are normally avoided as the first word (Economy of the second empire, not The economy of the second empire).
  • Pronouns (you, they) are normally avoided, except when they form part of the title of a work.
  • Links are never used, in favor of linking the first occurrence of the item in the text.
  • Special characters such as the slash (/), plus sign (+), curly brackets ({ }) and square brackets () are avoided; the ampersand (&) is replaced by and, unless it is part of a formal name.

Note: This guidance also applies to Section headings below.

First sentences

  • If possible, an article title is the subject of the first sentence of the article; for example, "The Manual of Style is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as ...". If the article title is an important term, it appears as early as possible. The first (and only the first) appearance of the title is in boldface, including its abbreviation in parentheses, if given. Equivalent names may follow, and may or may not be in boldface. Highlighted items are not linked, and boldface is not used subsequently in the first paragraph. For example: "Vienna (Template:Lang-de , see also its other names) is the capital of Austria and one of that country's nine states."
  • If the topic of an article has no name and the title is merely descriptive—such as Electrical characteristics of a dynamic loudspeaker—the title does not need to appear verbatim in the main text; if it does, it is not in boldface.
  • The normal rules for italics are followed in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics ("Tattoo You is an album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1981").

Section headings

  • The guidance in Article titles above also applies to section headings.
  • Section names should preferably be unique within a page; this applies even for the names of subsections. The disadvantages of duplication are that:
    • after editing, the display can arrive at the wrong section; see also below; and
    • the automatic edit summary on editing a section with a non-unique name is ambiguous.
  • Unspaced multiple equal signs are the style markup for headings. The triple apostrophes ( ''' ) that make words appear in boldface are not used in headings. Nest headings correctly. The hierarchy is as follows:
    • the automatically generated top-level heading of a page is H1, which gives the article title;
    • primary headings are then ==H2==, followed by ===H3===, ====H4====, and so on.
  • Spaces between the == and the heading text are optional (==H2== versus == H2 ==). These extra spaces will not affect the appearance of the heading, except in the edit box.
  • Spaces above and below headings are optional. Only two or more line-spaces above and below will change the appearance by adding more white space.
  • Avoid restating or directly referring to the topic or to wording on a higher level in the hierarchy (Early life, not His early life).
  • Avoid using links inside headings themselves (e.g. ==] colonisation==). Instead, link from the first occurrence of the term in the prose of the section.

Section management

  • Headings provide an overview in the table of contents and allow readers to navigate through the text more easily.
  • Change a heading only after careful consideration, because this will break section links to it from the same and other articles. If changing a heading, try to locate and fix broken links; for example, searching for wikipedia "section management" will probably yield links to the current section.
  • When linking to a section, leave an editor's note to remind others that the title is linked. List the names of the linking articles, so that if the title is altered, others can fix the links more easily. For example: ==Evolutionary implications==<!-- This section is linked from ] and ] --> .
  • Italicize the section name only if it otherwise requires italics (such as the title of a book).
  • When referring to a section without linking, italicize the section name; for example, the current section is called Section management.
  • The standard order for optional appendix sections at the end of an article is See also, Notes (or Footnotes), References, Further reading (or Bibliography), and External links; the order of Notes and References can be reversed. See also is an exception to the point above that wording comprises nouns and noun phrases. For information on these optional sections, see Misplaced Pages:Guide to layout#Standard appendices and descriptions and Misplaced Pages:Citing sources.

Capital letters

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (capital letters)

There are differences between the major varieties of English in the use of capitals (uppercase letters). Where this is an issue, the rules of the cultural and linguistic context apply. As for spelling, consistency is maintained within an article.

Within articles and other wiki pages, capitals are not used for emphasis. Where wording cannot provide the emphasis, italics are used.

Incorrect:    Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are Not the same as anteaters.
Incorrect: Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are NOT the same as anteaters.
Correct: Contrary to popular belief, aardvarks are not the same as anteaters.

Titles

  • When used as titles (that is, followed by a name), items such as president, king and emperor start with a capital letter: President Clinton, not president Clinton. The formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun: Hirohito was Emperor of Japan and Louis XVI was King of France (where King of France is a title). Royal styles are capitalized: Her Majesty and His Highness; exceptions may apply for particular offices.
  • When used generically, such items are in lower case: De Gaulle was a French president and Louis XVI was a French king. Similarly, Three prime ministers attended the conference, but, The British Prime Minister is Gordon Brown.
  • For the use of titles and honorifics in biographical articles, see Honorific prefixes.

Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents

  • Religions, sects and churches and their followers (in noun or adjective form) start with a capital letter. Generally the is not capitalized before such names (the Shī'a, not The Shī'a). (But see also the style guide and naming convention for the Latter Day Saint movement.)
  • Scriptures are capitalized but not italicized (for example, the names of the Qurʾan, the Talmud, the Granth Sahib, and the Bible). When the is used, it is not capitalized. Some derived adjectives are capitalized by convention, some are not (biblical, but normally Koranic); for others, check a dictionary appropriate to the topic, and be consistent in an article.
  • Honorifics for deities, when used alone in reference to a specific figure of veneration, start with a capital letter (God, Allah, the Lord, the Supreme Being, the Great Spirit); the is not capitalized. The same is true when referring to major religious figures and figures from mythology by titles or terms of respect (the Prophet, the Messiah, the Virgin, a Muse). When used generically, descriptively or metaphorically, such descriptive terms are not capitalized; thus the Romans worshipped many gods, many Anglo-Saxons worshipped the god Wotan, Jesus and Muhammad are both considered prophets in Islam, biblical scholars dispute whether Mary was a virgin for her entire life, and her husband was her muse.
  • Pronouns and possessives referring to figures of veneration are not capitalized in Misplaced Pages articles, even when they traditionally are in a religion's scriptures. They are left capitalized when directly quoting scriptures or any other texts that capitalize them.
  • Broad categories of mythical or legendary creatures do not start with capital letters (elf, fairy, nymph, unicorn, angel), although in derived works of fantasy, such as the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien and realtime strategy video games, initial capitals are sometimes used to indicate that the beings are regarded as cultures or races in their fictional universes. Names or titles of individual creatures are capitalized (the Minotaur, the Pegasus) as are those of groups whose name and membership are fixed (the Cherubim, the Magi or the Three Wise Men). As with terms for deities, generalized references are not capitalized (cherub-like, the priests of this sect were called magi by some, several wise men were consulted).
  • Spiritual or religious events are likewise capitalized only when they are terms referring to specific incidents or periods (the Great Flood, the Exodus, but annual flooding or an exodus of refugees).
  • Philosophies, theories and doctrines do not begin with a capital letter unless the name derives from a proper noun (capitalism versus Marxism) or has become a proper noun (lowercase republican refers to a system of political thought; uppercase Republican refers to one of several specific political parties or ideologies, such as the US Republican Party or Irish Republicanism). Physical and natural laws and parodies of them are capitalized (the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Theory of Special Relativity, Murphy's Law; but an expert on gravity and relativity, thermodynamic properties, Murphy's famous mock-law). Doctrinal topics or canonical religious ideas (as distinguished from specific events) that may be traditionally capitalized within a faith are given in lower case in Misplaced Pages, such as virgin birth, original sin or transubstantiation.
  • Platonic or transcendent ideals are capitalized (Good, Truth), but only within the context of philosophical doctrine; used more broadly, they are lower-case (Superman represents American ideals of truth and justice). Personifications represented in art, such as a statue of the figure Justice, are capitalized.

Calendar items

  • Months, days and holidays start with a capital letter: June, Monday, the Fourth of July (when referring to the U.S. Independence Day, otherwise July 4 or 4 July).
  • Seasons, in almost all instances, are lowercase: This summer was very hot; The winter solstice occurs about December 22; I've got spring fever. When personified, season names may function as proper nouns, and they should then be capitalized: I think Spring is showing her colors; Old Man Winter.

Animals, plants, and other organisms

Main pages: Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Tree of Life § Article titles, and Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (fauna)

Scientific names for genera and species are italicized, with a capital initial letter for the genus but no capital for the species; for more specific guidelines for article titles, see Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Tree of Life#Article titles. For example, the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera, and humans are Homo sapiens. Taxonomic groups higher than genus are given with an initial capital and are not in italics; for example, gulls are in the family Laridae, and we are in the family Hominidae.

Common (vernacular) names of flora and fauna should be written in lower case—for example, oak or lion. There are a limited number of exceptions to this:

  1. Where the common name contains a proper noun, such as the name of a person or place, that proper noun should be capitalized; for example, The Amur tiger may have a range of over 500 square kilometers, or The Roosevelt elk is a subspecies of Cervus canadensis.
  2. For specific groups of organisms, there are specific rules of capitalization based on current and historic usage among those who study the organisms. These should ordinarily be followed:
  3. In a very few cases, a set of officially established common names are recognised only within a country or a geographic region. Those common names may be capitalized according to local custom but it should be understood that not all editors will have access to the references needed to support these names; in such cases, using the general recommendation is also acceptable.

In any case, a redirect from an alternative capitalization should be created where it is used in an article title.

Celestial bodies

  • Sun, earth and moon are not capitalized generally (The sun was peeking over the mountain top). They may be proper nouns in an astronomical context but only when referring to specific celestial bodies (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so The Moon orbits the Earth, but Jupiter's moon Io.
  • Other planets and stars are proper nouns and start with a capital letter: The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux. Where a name has multiple words, it is treated like other proper nouns where each leading letter is capitalized: Alpha Centauri and not Alpha centauri.

Directions and regions

  • Directions such as north are not proper nouns and are therefore lowercase. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a northern road, compared with the Great North Road. Composite directions may or may not be hyphenated (northeast and north-east, Southeast Asia and South-East Asia), depending on the general style adopted in the article.
  • Regions that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as Southern California, start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the Southern United States is a Southerner. Regions of uncertain proper-noun status are assumed not to have attained it.

Institutions

  • Proper names of institutions (for example, the University of Sydney, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, George Brown College) are proper nouns and require capitalization. Where a title starts with the, it typically starts with lowercase t when the title occurs in the middle of a sentence: a degree from the University of Sydney.
  • Generic words for institutions (university, college, hospital, high school) require no capitalization:
Incorrect  (generic):    The University offers programs in arts and sciences.
Correct (generic): The university offers ...
Correct (title): The University of Ottawa offers ...

Acronyms and abbreviations

Main pages: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (abbreviations) and Misplaced Pages:Edit summary legend
See also "Latin abbreviations", below.
Write out both the full version and the abbreviation at first occurrence
Readers are not necessarily familiar with any particular acronym such as NASA (pronounced as a word) or initialism such as PBS (pronounced by saying the letters themselves). The standard practice is to name the item in full on its first occurrence, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. For example, The New Democratic Party (NDP) won the 1990 Ontario election with a significant majority (first mention of New Democratic Party in the article) and The NDP quickly became unpopular with the voters (subsequent mention).
Initial capitals are not used in the full name of an item just because capitals are used in the abbreviation.
Incorrect  (not a name):    We used Digital Scanning (DS) technology
Correct:   We used digital scanning (DS) technology
Correct (name): produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
If the full term is already in parentheses, use a comma and or to indicate the acronym; for example, They first debated the issue in 1992 (at a convention of the New Democratic Party, or NDP).
Plural and possessive forms
Acronyms and initialisms are pluralized by adding -s or -es as with any other nouns (They produced three CD-ROMs in the first year; The laptops were produced with three different BIOSes in 2006). As with other nouns, no apostrophe is used unless the form is a possessive.
Periods and spaces
Acronyms and initialisms are generally not separated by full stops (periods) or blank spaces (GNP, NORAD, OBE, GmbH); many periods and spaces that were traditionally required have now dropped out of usage (PhD is preferred over Ph.D. and Ph. D.).
Truncated (Hon. for Honorable), compressed (cmte. for committee) and contracted (Dr. for Doctor) abbreviations may or may not be closed with a period. A period is much more usual in American usage (Dr. Smith of 42 St. Joseph St.); and no period is commonly preferred in British and other usage (Dr Smith of 42 St Joseph St, though one or other "St" might take a period, in such a case). Some British and other authorities prefer to drop the period from truncated and compressed abbreviations generally (XYZ Corp, ABC Ltd), a practice also favored in science writing. Regardless of punctuation, such abbreviations are spaced if multi-word (op. cit. or op cit, not op.cit. or opcit).
US and U.S.
In American English, both US and, decreasingly, U.S. are common abbreviations for United States; US is yet more common in other varieties. When referring to the country in a longer abbreviation (USA, USN, USAF), periods are not used. When the United States is mentioned along with one or more other countries in the same sentence, US or U.S. can be too informal, and many editors avoid it especially at first mention of the country (France and the United States, not France and the US). When the United States is mentioned by acronym in the same article as other abbreviated country names, for consistency do not use periods (the US, the UK and the PRC); and especially do not add periods to the other acronyms, as in the U.S., the U.K. and the P.R.C.). The spaced U. S. is never used, nor is the archaic U.S. of A., except in quoted materials. USA and U.S.A. are not used unless quoted or part of a proper name (Team USA).
In all of these matters, maintain consistency within an article. The sole exception is that for units of measurement, periods are not used even if other acronyms are dotted. (See Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) for more information.)
Do not use unwarranted abbreviations
The use of abbreviations should be avoided when they would be confusing to the reader, interrupt the flow, or appear informal or lazy. For example, approx. for approximate should not be used in most articles, although it may be useful in reducing the width of a table of data, and infobox, or in a technical passage in which the term occurs many times.
See also Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) for when to abbreviate units of measurement.
Do not invent abbreviations
Generally avoid the making up of new abbreviations, especially acronyms. For example, while it is reasonable to provide World Union of Billiards as a translation of Union Mondiale de Billard, the former is not the organization's name, and it does not use the acronym WUB; when referring to it in short form, use the official abbreviation UMB. In a wide table of international economic data, it might be desirable to abbreviate a United States gross national product heading; this might be done with the widely recognized initialisms US and GNP spaced together, with a link to appropriate articles, if it is not already explained: US GNP, rather than the made-up initialism USGNP.
HTML elements
The software that Misplaced Pages runs on does not support HTML abbreviation elements (<acronym> or <abbr>); therefore, these tags are not inserted into the source (see Mediazilla:671).

Italics

Further information: ]
Emphasis
Italics are used sparingly to emphasize words in sentences (bolding is normally not used at all for this purpose). Generally, the more highlighting in an article, the less the effect of each instance.
Titles
Main page: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (titles)
Italics are used for the titles of works of literature and art, such as books, paintings and musical albums. The titles of articles, chapters, songs and other short works are not italicized, but are enclosed in double quotation marks.
Italics are not used for major revered religious works (for example the Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud).
Words as words
Italics are used when mentioning a word or letter (see Use–mention distinction) or a string of words up to a full sentence: "The term panning is derived from panorama, a word coined in 1787"; "The most commonly used letter in English is e". For a whole sentence, quotation marks may be used instead, as they are in this manual of style where this helps to make things clear: "The preposition in She sat on the chair is on", or "The preposition in 'She sat on the chair' is on". Mentioning (to discuss such features as grammar, wording and punctuation) is different from quoting (in which something is usually expressed on behalf of a quoted source).
Quotations in italics
For quotations, use only quotation marks (for short quotations) or block quoting (for long ones), not italics. (See Quotations below.) This means that (1) a quotation is not italicized inside quotation marks or a block quote just because it is a quotation, and (2) italicization is not used as a substitute for proper quotation formatting.
Italics within quotations
Italics are used within quotations if they are already in the source material, or are added by Misplaced Pages to give emphasis to some words. If the latter, an editorial note "" should appear at the end of the quotation ("Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest" ).
If the source uses italics for emphasis, and it is desirable to stress that Misplaced Pages has not added the italics, the editorial note "" should appear after the quote.
Effect on nearby punctuation
Italicization is restricted to what should properly be affected by italics, and not the punctuation that is part of the surrounding sentence.
Incorrect:    What are we to make of that?
Correct: What are we to make of that?
      (The question mark applies to the whole sentence, not just to that.)
Correct: Four of Patrick White's most famous novels are A Fringe of Leaves, The Aunt's Story, Voss and The Tree of Man.
(The commas, period, and and are not italicized.)
Italicized links
The italics markup must be outside the link markup, or the link will not work; however, internal italicization can be used in piped links.
Incorrect:    The opera ] is his best.
Correct: The opera '']'' is his best.
Correct: The ] was a submarine.

Non-breaking spaces

  • In compound items in which numerical and non-numerical elements are separated by a space, a non-breaking space (or hard space) is recommended to avoid the displacement of those elements at the end of a line.
  • A non-breaking space can be produced with the HTML code &nbsp; instead of the space bar; thus, 19&nbsp;kg yields a non-breaking 19 kg.
  • A non-breaking space can also be produced by using the {{nowrap}} template; thus, {{nowrap|8 sq ft}} produces a non-breaking 8 sq ft. This is especially useful for short constructions requiring two or more non-breaking spaces, as in the preceding example.
  • In some older browsers, quotation marks separated by a non-breaking space may still be broken at the end of a line: ("She said 'Yes!' ").
  • Unlike normal spaces, multiple non-breaking spaces are not compressed by browsers into a single space.

Quotations

Shortcut
See also Italics above, and Punctuation: Quotation marks below.
Minimal change
Wherever reasonable, preserve the original style and spelling of the text. Where there is a good reason not to do so, insert an editorial explanation of the changes, usually within square brackets (e.g., ).
Attribution
The author of a quote of a full sentence or more is named; this is done in the main text and not in a footnote. An exception is that attribution is unnecessary for well-known quotations (e.g., from Shakespeare) and those from the subject of the article or section. When preceding a quotation with its attribution, avoid characterizing it in a biased manner.
Quotations within quotations
When a quotation includes another quotation (and so on), start with double-quotes outermost and working inward, alternate single-quotes with double-quotes. For example, the following three-level quotation: "She disputed his statement that 'Voltaire never said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." ' " Adjacent quote marks, as at the end of this example, are separated by a non-breaking space (&nbsp;), though this may not work on some older browsers.
Linking
Unless there is a good reason to do so, Misplaced Pages avoids linking from within quotes, which may clutter the quotation, violate the principle of leaving quotations unchanged, and mislead or confuse the reader.
Block quotations
A long quote (more than four lines, or consisting of more than one paragraph, regardless of number of lines) is formatted as a block quotation, which Wikimedia's software will indent from both margins. Block quotes are not enclosed in quotation marks (especially including decorative ones such as those provided by the {{cquote}} template, used only for "call-outs", which are generally not appropriate in Misplaced Pages articles). Use a pair of <blockquote>...</blockquote> HTML tags. Note: The current version of Misplaced Pages's MediaWiki software will not render multiple paragraphs inside a <blockquote> simply by spacing the paragraphs apart with blank lines. A workaround is to enclose each of the block-quoted paragraphs in its own <p>...</p> element.
Example:

<blockquote>
<p>And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!</p>

<p>—], '']''</p>
</blockquote>

The result appears indented on both sides (and, depending on browser software, may also be in a smaller font):

And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!

Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba

The {{quote}} template provides the same semantic HTML formatting, as well as a workaround for the paragraph spacing bug and a pre-formatted attribution line:

{{quote|And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!|]|'']''}}

Which results in:

And bring us a lot of horilka, but not of that fancy kind with raisins, or with any other such things—bring us horilka of the purest kind, give us that demon drink that makes us merry, playful and wild!

— Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba

Punctuation

Shortcut
  • ]

Quotation marks

See also Quotations above.

The term quotation(s) in the material below also includes other uses of quotation marks such as those for titles of songs, chapters, and episodes; unattributable aphorisms; literal strings; "scare-quoted" passages and constructed examples.

Double or single
Quotations are enclosed within "double quotes". Quotations within quotations are enclosed within 'single quotes'.
Inside or outside
Punctuation marks are placed inside the quotation marks only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation (this system is referred to as logical quotation).
Correct: Arthur said that the situation is "deplorable".
(When a sentence fragment is quoted, the period is outside.)
Correct: Arthur said, "The situation is deplorable."
(The period is part of the quoted text.)
Correct: Martha asked, "Are you coming?"
(When quoting a question, the question mark belongs inside because the quoted text itself was a question.)
Correct: Did Martha say, "Come with me"?
(The very quote is being questioned, so here, the question mark is correctly outside; the period in the original quote is omitted.)
Note: This is not actually an American versus British English stylistic matter: at least one major British newspaper prefers typesetters' quotation (punctuation inside) and BBC News uses both styles; scientific and technical publications, even in the United States, almost universally use logical quotation (punctuation outside unless part of the source material), due to its precision; and much non-American English-language fiction uses the punctuation-inside method. Misplaced Pages uses logical quotation because, as an encyclopedia, it requires high standards of accuracy in the use of source material, and because logical quotation is far less prone to misquotation, ambiguity and the introduction of coding and other errors.
Article openings
When the title of an article appearing in the lead paragraph requires quotation marks (for example, the title of a song or poem), the quotation marks should not be in boldface, as they are not part of the title:
Correct: "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.
Block quotes
As already noted above, we use quotation marks or block quotes (not both) to distinguish long quotations from other text. Multiparagraph quotations are always block-quoted.
Straight or curly?
There are two options when considering the look of the quotation marks (that is, the glyph):
  • Typewriter or straight style: "text", 'text', text's
  • Typographic or curly style: text, text, texts
(Emphasis added to better distinguish between the glyphs.)
  • Grave and acute accents or backticks (`text´) are neither quotation marks nor apostrophes, and must not be used in their place.
  • Foreign characters that resemble apostrophes, such as Arabic ayin (ʿ) and alif (ʾ), are represented by their correct Unicode characters, despite possible display problems. If this is not feasible, use a straight apostrophe instead.
The exclusive use of straight quotes and apostrophes is recommended. They are easier to type in reliably, and to edit. Mixed use interferes with searching (a search for Korsakoff's syndrome will fail to find Korsakoff’s syndrome and vice versa).
Whenever quotation marks or apostrophes appear in article titles, make a redirect from the same title but using the alternative glyphs.
Other matters
  • A quotation is not italicized simply because it is a quotation.
  • If an entire sentence is quoted in such a way that it becomes a grammatical part of the larger sentence, the first letter loses its capitalization ("It turned out to be true that 'a penny saved is a penny earned'.").
  • If a word or phrase appears in an article in single quotes, such as 'abcd', Misplaced Pages's search facility will find that word or phrase only if the search string is also within single quotes. This difficulty does not arise for double quotes, and this is one of the reasons the latter are recommended.

Brackets and parentheses

A bracketed phrase is enclosed by the punctuation of a sentence (as shown here). However, where one or more sentences are wholly inside brackets, their punctuation comes inside the brackets (see further details below). These rules apply to both round "( )" brackets, often called parentheses, and square "" brackets. There should not be a space next to a bracket on its inner side. An opening bracket should be preceded by a space, except in unusual cases; for example, when it is preceded by:

  • An opening quotation mark
He rose to address the meeting: "(Ahem) ... Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!"
  • Another opening bracket
Only the royal characters in the play ( Hamlet and his family) habitually speak in blank verse.
  • A portion of a word
We journeyed on the Inter.

There should be a space after a closing bracket, except where another punctuation mark (other than an apostrophe or a hyphen) follows, and in unusual cases similar to those listed for opening brackets.

If sets of brackets must be nested, use the contrasting type (normally, square brackets appear within round brackets ). Often, it is better to revise the sentence to reduce clutter, using commas, semicolons, colons or dashes instead.

Avoid adjacent sets of brackets—either put the parenthetic phrases in one set separated by commas, or rewrite the sentence. For example:

Incorrect:    Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919) (also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.
Correct: Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919), also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv, was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.
Correct: Nikifor Grigoriev (c. 1885–1919) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader. He was also known as Matviy Hryhoriyiv.

Square brackets are used to indicate editorial replacements and insertions of text. They serve three main purposes:

  • To clarify. ("She attended school"—where this was the intended meaning, but the type of school was unstated in the original sentence.)
  • To reduce the size of a quotation. If a source says "X contains Y, and under certain circumstances, X may contain Z as well", it is acceptable to reduce this to "X contains Y Z", without ellipsis. When an ellipsis (...; see below) is used to indicate material removed from a direct quotation, it should not normally be bracketed.
  • To make the grammar work: "She said that ' would not allow this' "—where her original statement was "I would not allow this." (Generally, though, it is better to begin the quotation after the problematic word: "She said that she 'would not allow this.' ")

The use of square-bracketed wording should never alter the intended meaning of a quotation.

Sentences and brackets

  • If any sentence includes material that is enclosed in square or round brackets, it still must end—with a period, or a question or exclamation mark—after those brackets (a rule that applies in all English, whether British or U.S.). The preceding sentence is itself an example. This principle applies no matter what punctuation is used within the brackets.
  • Normally, if the words of a sentence begin within brackets, the sentence must also end within those brackets. There is an exception for matter that is added or modified editorially at the beginning of a sentence for clarity, usually in square brackets: " ' already told me that,' he objected."
  • A sentence that occurs within brackets in the course of another sentence does not have its first word capitalised just because it starts a sentence. The enclosed sentence may have a question mark or exclamation mark added, but not a period: "Alexander then conquered (who would have believed it?) most of the known world"; "Clare demanded that he drive (she knew he hated driving) to the supermarket." These constructions are usually best avoided, for readability.

Ellipses

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|section|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

An ellipsis (plural ellipses) is a series of three dots. It marks the omission of material from quoted text.

Style
Ellipses have traditionally been implemented in three ways:
  • Three unspaced periods (...). This is the easiest way, and gives a reliable appearance in HTML. Recommended.
  • Pre-composed ellipsis character (…); generated with the &hellip; character entity, or by insertion from the set below the edit window). This is harder to input and edit, and too small in some fonts. Not recommended.
  • Three spaced periods (. . .). This is an older style that is unnecessarily wide and requires non-breaking spaces to keep it from breaking at the end of a line. Strongly deprecated.
Function
Use an ellipsis if material is omitted in the course of a quotation, unless square brackets are used to gloss the quotation (see above, and the next point below). Put a space on each side of an ellipsis, except at the very start or end of a quotation. Sentence-final punctuation after an omission ellipsis is shown only if it is textually important (as is often the case with exclamation points and question marks, and rarely with periods); no space comes between the ellipsis and the terminal punctuation. Use non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;) only as needed to prevent improper line breaks, e.g.:
  • To keep a quotation mark from being separated from the start of the quotation: "...&nbsp;we are still worried."
  • To keep the ellipsis from wrapping to the next line: "France, Germany,&nbsp;... and Belgium but not the USSR."
Pause or suspension of speech
Three periods are occasionally used to represent a pause in or suspense of speech, in which case the punctuation is retained in its original form (Virginia's startled reply was: "Could he...? No, I cannot believe it!"). This usage is avoided in other contexts in Misplaced Pages.
With square brackets
An ellipsis does not normally need square brackets around it, since its function is usually obvious—especially if the guidelines above are followed. But square brackets may optionally be used for precision, to make it clear that the ellipsis is not itself quoted; this is usually only necessary if the quoted passage also uses three period in it to indicate a pause or suspension. The ellipsis should follow exactly the principles given above, but with square brackets inserted immediately before and after it. (Her long rant continued: "How do I feel? How do you think I... look, this has gone far enough!  I want to go home!")

Serial commas

There is no Misplaced Pages consensus on whether to use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma), except in the fairly rare case in which including or omitting such comma clarifies the meaning. A serial comma is a comma used immediately before a conjunction in a list of three or more items: the phrase ham, chips, and eggs contains a serial comma, while the variant ham, chips and eggs omits it.

Sometimes omitting the comma can lead to an ambiguous sentence, as in this example: The author would like to thank her parents, Sinéad O'Connor and President Bush, which may be a list of either four or two people.

Including the comma can also cause ambiguity, as in: The author would like to thank her mother, Sinéad O'Connor, and President Bush, which may be a list of either two or three people.

In such cases of ambiguity, there are three way to clarify:

  • Use or omit the serial comma to avoid ambiguity.
  • Recast the sentence.
  • Format the list, e.g. with paragraph breaks and numbered paragraphs.

Colons

Colons (:) should not have spaces before them:

Correct: He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
Incorrect:    He attempted it in two years : 1941 and 1943

Colons should have complete sentences before them:

Correct: He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943
Incorrect:    The years he attempted it included: 1941 and 1943

Hyphens

Shortcut

Hyphens (-) indicate conjunction. There are three main uses.

  1. To distinguish between homographs (re-dress = dress again, but redress = remedy or set right).
  2. To link certain prefixes with their main word (non-linear, sub-section, super-achiever):
    A clear tendency is emerging to join both elements in all varieties of English (subsection), particularly in North America (nonlinear). The hyphen is usually used when the letters brought into contact are the same (nonlinear, subabdominal, but non-negotiable, sub-basement) or are vowels (intra-atomic, pre-existing, semi-intensive, co-opt), where a word is uncommon (co-proposed, re-target) or may be misread (sub-era, not subera).
  3. To link related terms in compound adjectives and adverbs:
    • Sometimes the hyphen helps with ease of reading (face-to-face discussion, hard-boiled egg); hyphens are particularly useful in long nominal groups where non-experts are part of the readership, such as in Misplaced Pages's scientific articles: gas-phase reaction dynamics.
    • Sometimes the hyphen helps with disambiguation (little-used car, not a reference to the size of a used car).
    • Many compound adjectives that are hyphenated when used attributively (before the noun they qualify—a light-blue handbag), are not hyphenated when used predicatively (after the noun—the handbag was light blue). Where there would be a loss of clarity, the hyphen may also be used in the predicative case (hand-fed turkeys, the turkeys were hand-fed).
    • Hyphens are often not used after -ly adverbs (wholly owned subsidiary), unless part of larger compounds (a slowly-but-surely strategy).
    • A hyphen is normally used when the adverb well precedes a participle used attributively (a well-meaning gesture; but normally a very well managed firm, since well itself is modified); and even predicatively, if well is necessary to, or alters, the sense of the adjective rather than simply intensifying it (the gesture was well-meaning, the child was well-behaved, but the floor was well polished).
    • A hanging hyphen is used when two compound adjectives are separated (two- and three-digit numbers, a ten-car or -truck convoy).
    • Values and units used as compound adjectives are hyphenated only where the unit is given as a whole word. Where hyphens are not used, values and units are always separated by a non-breaking space (&nbsp;).
Incorrect: 9-mm gap
Correct: 9 mm gap (rendered as 9&nbsp;mm gap)
Incorrect:    9 millimetre gap
Correct: 9-millimetre gap
Correct: 12-hour shift
Correct: 12 h shift

Hyphens are never followed or preceded by a space, except when hanging or when used to display parts of words independently, such as the prefix sub- and the suffix -less.

Hyphens are used only to mark conjunctions; not to mark disjunction (for which en dashes are correct: see below).

Hyphenation involves many subtleties that cannot be covered here; but the rules and examples presented above illustrate the sorts of broad principles that inform current usage.

Dashes

Shortcuts

Several kinds of dash are used on Misplaced Pages.

En dashes

En dashes (–) have four distinct roles.

  1. To indicate disjunction. In this role there are two main applications.
    • To convey the sense of to or through, particularly in ranges (pp. 211–19, 64–75%, the 1939–45 war, May–November) and where movement is involved (Dublin–Belfast route). Year and page ranges are often an issue on Misplaced Pages. The word to, rather than an en dash, is used when a number range involves a negative value or might be misconstrued as a subtraction (−3 to 1, not −3–1), or when the nearby wording demands it (he served from 1939 to 1941, not he served from 1939–1941).
    • As a substitute for some uses of and, to or versus for marking a relationship involving independent elements in certain compound expressions (Canada–US border, blood–brain barrier, time–altitude graph, 4–3 win in the opening game, male–female ratio, 3–2 majority verdict, Michelson–Morley experiment, diode–transistor logic; but a hyphen is used instead in Mon-Khmer languages which lacks a relationship, Sino-Japanese trade, in which Sino- lacks independence, and Indo-European linguistics which lacks both relationship and lexical independence).
      • Spacing: All disjunctive en dashes are unspaced, except when there is a space within either or both of the items (the New York – Sydney flight, the New Zealand – South Africa grand final, 3 July, 188818 August, 1940).
  2. For negative signs and subtraction operators, as an alternative to the usually slightly shorter minus sign, (input with &minus;). Negative signs (–8°C) are unspaced; subtraction signs (42 – 4 = 38) are spaced. The en dash was the traditional typographic symbol for this operator, but now that unicode defines a character for this specific use, the minus is preferred. In contexts such as computer code, where the text is intended to be copied and executed or evaluated, the ordinary hyphen works better and is preferred.
  3. In lists, to separate distinct information within points—particularly track titles and durations, and musicians and their instruments, in articles on music albums. In this role, en dashes are always spaced.
  4. As a stylistic alternative to em dashes (see below).

Hyphens have often been wrongly used in disjunctive expressions on Misplaced Pages; this is especially common in sports scores.

The article on dashes includes input methods for typing dashes on several operating systems. Jose João (talk) 06:38, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

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