punctuation
For centuries, punctuation served as a rhetorical device, i.e., to guide the reader on when to stop or pause when reciting a text. Today, punctuation mainly serves logical functions in written prose, scientific literature, and mathematical expressions, modifying the tone and providing structure.
style matters
We write the year 2020—the very year that marks the 15th anniversary of the text clinic. For just as long, my intention has been to put brief little summaries of some of the most frequently recurring style questions up on my site. Every time one of these aspects has come
expressing numbers in text
The rules for writing numbers vary by academic discipline. While numbers are not a special focus in standard prose, they are in technical, scientific, or medical texts. Numbers written as numerals emphasize quantity more clearly than numbers spelled out as words. Here's a summary of the rules I generally