User Guide

5-10 — Spell-Right Dictionary Smith Corona Corporation
Punctuation Check Rules
1. Space twice after periods, exclamation points, and question marks.
Incorrect — meeting? I will be
Correct — meeting? I will be
2. Space once after commas and semicolons.
Incorrect — Sue brings cheese, crackers
Correct — Sue brings cheese, crackers
3. Space twice after a colon when the next word begins with a capital
letter. Otherwise, space once after a colon.
Incorrect — Party List: Dale, Adam, Jim
Correct — Party List: Dale, Adam, Jim
4. Place periods and commas inside quotation marks.
Incorrect — “War and Peace”.
Correct — “War and Peace.”
5. Place colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.
Incorrect — “illness;” consequently
Correct — “illness”; consequently
6. Do not type a comma before a parenthesis or bracket.
Incorrect — when I retire, (I’m 50 now) I want to
Correct — when I retire (I’m 50 now), I want to
7. Do not type a comma after the words “such as” or “like.”
Incorrect — a manual such as, this one
Correct — a manual such as this one
8. Do not type a comma before the word “than.”
Incorrect — He looks different, than his photo
Correct — He looks different than his photo
9. Space before and after a dash (a dash is two hyphens typed side
by side).
Incorrect — meeting is before noon--not later
Correct — meeting is before noon -- not later
10. Do not type a dash and comma side by side.
Incorrect — one day visit, -- not ten -- because
Correct — one day visit -- not ten -- because
11. Do not type a dash and a period side by side.
Incorrect — It was Bob Rogers -- the guard from
Pleasantville -- .
Correct — It was Bob Rogers -- the guard from
Pleasantville.