Questions tagged [formatting]
Use this tag for questions that relate to how certain aspects of English discourse should be formatted and/or what particular style guides recommend.
33
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Restructuring the case-by-case analysis to be explicit and avoid duplicate sentences
I am working on my thesis (in computer science) and this is the paragraph I am struggling with. I am wondering is there a way to avoid duplication and yet have a case-by-case description?
Maybe if ...
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Proper way to delineate paraphrase in casual (text-based) conversation
First question would be: is it ok to use quotation marks for a paraphrase in casual (text-based) conversation?
Here's my current example:
A: You were insulting people.
B: I'm going to get angry. Deal ...
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Is it common to omit the preposition "of" when referring to dates in British English [duplicate]
In American English, we usually refer to dates using the month-day format. So the date today is spoken as "August eleven" without requiring the preposition "of". However, as far as ...
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Formatting birth and death place and date [closed]
I would like to use the proper form for indicating the birth date and place and death date and place for the author of a book review. For example, would this be considered correct:
Erich Neumann (b. ...
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2
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Is it appropriate to write mixed capped abbreviations and acronyms in all caps for headers, etc?
When using an abbreviation or acronym that has a mix of lowercase and capital letters, such as mmWave or dBm, in a heading or line that is formatted in all caps, is it appropriate to use all caps - or ...
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What nonstandard ways of denoting that something is the title of a work of literature exist?
Recently, for school, I have been taking a fair number of tests through google forms. Unfortunately, in google forms it is impossible to italicize or underline text, so when I write in the title of a ...
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59
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How would you pluralize a quote? [duplicate]
For example, how would I format this following sentence properly?
The others agree a little more heartily with “yeah”s and “it would”s.
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Does “8am” mean 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 08:00:00.000 in the morning, or does it just mean any time closer to that hour than to either 7:00 or to 9:00? [closed]
Suppose I wanted to indicate the range of time from exactly 8:00am to exactly 8:30am. Should I write “8:00am” for explicitness, or is exactly 8:00am implied by “8am”?
Also, is “2:15pm–2:45pm”, for ...
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Sentences within a sentence [closed]
Is there a standard way to manage sentences within a sentence? For example:
Using the following definition
Definition 1: A graph G is isomorphic to another graph H if there is an isomorphism f from ...
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34
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From where does the "s/he" practice originate? [duplicate]
Is s/he eating enough through the day?
I see this all the time these days. Why do they do this? This means:
Is s or he eating enough through the day?
which makes no sense. Clearly, they meant to ...
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Short format indicating the next day in a calendar app
I'm developing a scheduling logic like below.
To avoid confusion, I want to attach each post-midnight time selection with an additional short string indicating that the time belongs to the next day.
...
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27
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Capitalization in dissertation
I am currently finishing my dissertation.
I have a Table of Contents, a List of Figures, and a List of Tables.
While I was trying to consistently (de)capitalize my headings of the chapters, figures, ...
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Should I be removing the zero for "0.9", so that it becomes ".9"?
Am I supposed to remove the "0" for any decimal number which is 0.something? For example:
.9 instead of 0.9
Or:
.45 instead of 0.45
?
Is this a general rule in English? Perhaps also in other ...
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0
answers
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Should informal titles such as the "Father of modern physics" be in title case?
How should text containing descriptions such as the following be formatted?
He was dubbed as the father of modern physics.
Should "father" "modern" and "physics" be capitalised?
Should there be ...
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What punctuation did the original manuscript of Beowulf have?
I am trying to find information on the punctuation of the Beowulf Manuscript, but not getting much. I found an image online of what appears to be a front page of an old looking book, but I'm not sure ...
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Multiday or Multi-day [closed]
What is correct, Multi-day or Multiday?
I have checked the collins dictionary and it does not have an entry for Multi-day but does for Multiday (link)
Despite that, almost every browser or device I ...
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Is an article (a, the) considered a part of the noun, when it comes to text formatting?
Let's say I want to bold the noun "emotion" in the text. Which is better way to do it?
An emotion is the feeling in the heart.
An emotion is the feeling in the heart.
So, should I consider articles (...
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1
answer
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When introducing an initialism for the first time in a paper, but the noun is possessive, do I make the initialism possessive as well?
E.g.,
Mobile network operator's (MNO's) networks are overloaded.
Or
Mobile network operator's (MNO) networks are overloaded.
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Formatting English Translation in Foreign Dialogue
This short paragraph of German dialogue needs to be translated into English within a larger work:
“Zurück bleiben! Fenster schliessen!” Stay back! Close the window! shouted the man on the roof.
...
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Short quotation over two paragraphs
If I am quoting two short consecutive sentences, but the first sentence is the last of a paragraph and the second sentence is the first sentence of the following paragraph, how do I show this? Must I ...
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3
answers
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Should I use a hyphen, an en dash, or an em dash to define or introduce a word? [closed]
I have looked up online and studied usages for the hyphen, en dash, and em dash. I still haven't found an answer if I can define words with a dash in English.
The backstory on dashes defining ...
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How should the name of a series of books be formatted?
I know that you underline – or if you're typing, you put the words in italics – the titles of books, and that you put chapters or quotations from a book in "quotes," but do you do anything to the font ...
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Usage of words between underscores
I noticed that there is people writing words between underscores, such as in the LKML mailing list where Linus Torvalds used to use the following pattern in his message: _hope_, _names_, _I_, _one_ ..
...
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2
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How should I shorten a very wordy title? [closed]
I want to mention a very long title which doesn't have a good shortening using one continuous chunk:
An account of a method of dividing astronomical and other instruments, by ocular inspection; in ...
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1
answer
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How should "sensei" be formatted when used alone? Capitalising when addressing someone - using their job title, rank or role in place of a name [closed]
Example sentence:
Thank you, sensei.
Should it be Sensei, sensei, or sensei?
I searched on Google books and I found many versions. (One problem, though, is that I can't see the italics.)
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Shoud I use a new line after Hi (someone's name) in e-mail? [closed]
In an e-mail, suppose we start with Hi John. Should I follow with
Hi John, some content (i)
or
Hi John,
some content (ii)
Is there any etiquette behind choice (i) vs (ii)?
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When did all-caps formatting come to indicate shouting?
A question on the History stack discusses when all-caps formatting came to indicate shouting in digital text, the answer being that such formatting has been interpreted to indicate shouting long ...
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Pagination styles in novels
While reading novels, I like to put a bookmark on a page where a sentence or a paragraph ends, preferably at the bottom right, which will enable me to just turn the page and put the marker. I can ...
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How to Write an Address in a Single Line?
Not sure about the punctuation and I am finding conflicting resources online. Also, any opinion on whether I should spell out "South" or "Street?"
Here's what I've got so far (not my real address):
...
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Can I rearrange a quotation? [closed]
I am quoting a book (The Origins of the Final Solution, Christopher Browning), and am wondering if I can put the quote 'the other way round':
The actual quote is this:
"Lebensraum and Final ...
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Is there a universal format for 24-hour time?
This may seem like a duplicate but I didn't find the exact answer to this, and all related answers were opposite to each other and confusing to me.
At my work (in the US) we use 24-hour format. I ...
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4
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Deleting a word from the start of a quotation
If you delete a single word (or even two or three words) from the start of a quote, should you still use an ellipsis (…) or can you put the first non-deleted word in square brackets ([Word])?
...
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Can you format a bullet list as a paragraph (so to speak)?
I have no objection to using a bullet list, but to save space I'd like to make the list inline. I know it's not strictly correct grammar, but I know with numbered lists like:
A good article is made ...
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