Book Editing Book Editor Trainer 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In US punctuation style, where do periods and commas go relative to closing quotation marks?
- Always outside the quotation marks
- Always inside the quotation marks (Correct answer)
- Inside only for dialogue
- It depends on sentence length
Correct answer: Always inside the quotation marks
American style places periods and commas inside the closing quotation marks.
Question 2: Which is the correct use of an em dash?
- To separate digits in a phone number
- To set off an abrupt break or parenthetical aside (Correct answer)
- To hyphenate a compound modifier
- To indicate a range of page numbers
Correct answer: To set off an abrupt break or parenthetical aside
The em dash marks an interruption, emphasis, or strong parenthetical break.
Question 3: An en dash is most appropriately used to:
- Join words in a compound adjective like 'well-known'
- Indicate ranges such as pages 10–20 (Correct answer)
- Replace a colon before a list
- Mark a speaker change in dialogue
Correct answer: Indicate ranges such as pages 10–20
The en dash connects ranges of numbers, dates, or times.
Question 4: Which sentence correctly uses a serial (Oxford) comma per Chicago style?
- We bought apples, oranges and pears.
- We bought apples, oranges, and pears. (Correct answer)
- We bought apples oranges, and pears.
- We bought, apples, oranges, and pears.
Correct answer: We bought apples, oranges, and pears.
Chicago recommends a comma before the final 'and' in a series.
Question 5: The word 'their' used for 'there' is an error a spell-checker typically MISSES because it is:
- A correctly spelled but wrong word (homophone) (Correct answer)
- A grammatical fragment
- A run-on construction
- A dangling modifier
Correct answer: A correctly spelled but wrong word (homophone)
Homophones are spelled correctly, so spell-checkers pass them even when the wrong one is used.
Question 6: How should numbers under 100 generally be treated in narrative prose under Chicago style?
- Always written as numerals
- Spelled out (e.g., 'forty-two') (Correct answer)
- Spelled out only if even
- Written as Roman numerals
Correct answer: Spelled out (e.g., 'forty-two')
Chicago's general rule spells out whole numbers from zero through one hundred.
Question 7: A 'comma splice' occurs when:
- A comma separates a list of three items
- Two independent clauses are joined only by a comma (Correct answer)
- A comma follows an introductory phrase
- A comma sets off a nonrestrictive clause
Correct answer: Two independent clauses are joined only by a comma
A comma splice incorrectly links two complete sentences with just a comma.
Book Editing Book Editor Trainer 3
In US punctuation style, where do periods and commas go relative to closing quotation marks?