Gilded Quill Style Guide — Gilded Quill Communications

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The Gilded Quill Style Guide

Free to use and download
Latest version: September 2024

The Gilded Quill Style Guide is a publicly available English style guide developed by Gilded Quill Communications, the Canadian-based editing and consultation business. This guide focuses more on the contentious subjects of grammar and punctuation, but it explores common issues and questions as well. This guide does not cover strategic communications management such as public perception management.

The guide covers subjects such as the proper usage of semicolons, whether to put the punctuation inside or outside the quotation marks, what to hyphenate, how to use an em dash, what to italicize, and much more, such as how our recommendations differ from other popular style guides. Our guide is having new content added gradually. If you have any requests for us to cover a particular subject, send us an email.

Any person or organization can use this guide to edit their own work or to educate others, but it may not be reproduced for sale. Gilded Quill Communications retains rights of ownership to the name, content, and assets.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

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Table of Contents
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~ Spelling and Usage ~
Doubling Consonants
Word End Variations
ize vs. ise
yze vs. yse
re vs. er
our vs. or
ce vs. se
Spelling – British Diphthongs
Themself or Themselves
Double Negatives
Good or Well
Lie or Lay
Nor
Miscellaneous

~ Possession ~
Plurals and Apostrophes
Possession by Multiple Subjects
Multiple Subjects — Possessive Pronouns
Possession of Gerunds
Noun Phrases — Possessive Indicators

~ Hyphens ~
Compound Adjectives
Compound Adjectives Placed after the Noun
Adverbs Ending with “ly”
Affixes
Compound Nouns

~ Commas and Conjunctions ~
Oxford Commas
Comma Splices
Run-On Sentences
Introductory Phrases
Commas — Contrast and Clarity
Conjunctive Adverbs
Starting with Conjunctions
Single Subjects with Multiple Predicates
Correlative Conjunctions with Commas
Direct Address
A Comma before “Too”
Between Two Modifiers

~ Parentheticals ~
Types of Brackets
Square and Round Brackets with Periods
Options for Parentheticals
Non-Restrictive Phrases

~ Capitalization ~
Proper Nouns
Shortening Proper Nouns
Compass Directions
Common Nouns Derived from Proper Nouns
Personal Titles
Direct Address
Titles, Headings, and Works
Capitalization with Punctuation
Degrees and Certificates

~ Subjects and Objects ~
Than
Relative Pronouns Serving Two Roles
Determiners with Pronouns

~ Quotations ~
Double vs Single Quotation Marks
Quotation Capitalization
Introductory Commas
Adjacent Quotation Marks
Altering Quotations
Inside or Outside the Marks: Termination
Inside or Outside the Marks: Commas

~ Dates and Times ~
Writing Dates
Avoiding Confusion with Dates
Times
Eras

~ Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Initialisms ~
Differentiating
Periods between Letters
Abbreviations Ending Sentences
Capitalization
Apostrophes with Acronyms and Numbers
Omitting the Definite Article
First Occurrence

~ Italics ~
Titles of Works
Names of Vessels
Quotations
Foreign Languages
Emphasis

~ Parallel Structure ~
Lists
Infinitives
Correlative Conjunctions
Vertical Lists

~ Miscellaneous ~
Phone Numbers
Split Infinitives
Subjunctive Mood
Sentences Ending on Prepositions
Scientific Nomenclature
Periods after Email Addresses and URLs
Address Blocks
Numbers
Clarity
Figures

~ Style Guide Differences ~