Casagrande: Flexibility is key to punctuation fitness

Punctuation stresses people out. Pretty much everyone in the English-speaking world knows what it’s like to sit at a keyboard, finger hovering above the hyphen or comma key, paralyzed by self-doubt.

Some punctuation rules are so strict that this anxiety is warranted. But others are more flexible, giving you several options to choose from and maybe even a free pass if you’re just guessing.

With that in mind, here are five punctuation conundrums you can stop sweating.

•Should I put spaces around this dash? Chances are you’ve never paused in the middle of a good book or article to take note of whether the dashes have spaces around them. So when it’s your turn to write something, you may not know whether your own dashes should float freely or touch the words on either side.

Good news: The rules vary by style. The editing style used in book and magazine publishing prefers its dashes to touch the surrounding words. The style used for news media puts spaces around dashes. This means you can’t go wrong.

•Should I use a serial comma? Which is right: “the flag is red, white and blue” or “the flag is red, white, and blue”? That little comma, or the absence of it, is the subject of unending vicious debates. Yet this raging controversy is something you can ignore completely.

Just like spacing around dashes, this extra comma, called a serial or Oxford comma, is neither right nor wrong. It’s just a matter of editing style. Use the serial comma if you want to write more like books and magazines, and skip it if you want to mimic news and business writing.

•Should I use a semicolon or a period? The single most important function of the semicolon is to show off that the writer knows how to use semicolons. Of course, this punctuation mark also has a secondary function, which is to show how little the writer cares about the reader. But in its other jobs, a semicolon can usually either be replaced by a period or, at times, rendered unnecessary by better writing.

So if you have two closely related clauses, like “cheese is good” and “it melts on your burger,” you can dazzle the world by writing “Cheese is good; it melts on your burger.” Or you can get over yourself and just write “Cheese is good. It melts on your burger.”

•Should I set off this parenthetical information with parentheses, commas or dashes? The boss — a man of great wisdom — will lead the meeting. The boss, a man of great wisdom, will lead the meeting. The boss (a man of great wisdom) will lead the meeting. Which one is right?

Well, if you’ve been paying attention, you can probably anticipate my answer: They all are. The real question is which one is better. And that depends not on punctuation rules but on what you want to say. Parentheses, dashes and commas are not always interchangeable. But to set off parenthetical information like “a man of great wisdom,” you have a choice. Go with whichever adds just your desired amount of emphasis.

•Should I hyphenate this two-word adjective? “Two word” before “adjective” is a two-word adjective. The words “two” and “word” are working together to modify the noun “adjective.” We call these compound modifiers.

Some of them, like “good-looking,” are already in the dictionary. But if you want to use a compound that’s not in the dictionary, you can make your own. Often, a hyphen can help: a human-eating lobster could have a very different interpretation without the hyphen.

But the rules here are very flexible. Most rule books say to hyphenate compound adjectives when the hyphen helps but that there’s no need to use one otherwise.

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of “The Best Punctuation Book, Period.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.