Are you ready for some good clean proofreading-related fun? I thought as much.
Here are three challenges for you to whet your wits upon. Put your answer in the comments, and I’ll release the correct answers in due course.
Disclaimer: one part of one of these challenges (and no, I’m not telling you which) is something of a trick question. One of the other challenges may not even have a correct answer, but may result in injury, maiming or death. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Challenge One: match the characters to the names.
1 guillemet
2 interrobang
3 obelus
4 pilcrow
5 asterism
6 solidus
7 hedera
8 octothorpe
A ÷ B ⁂ C # D « E ‽ F ¶ G / H ❧
Challenge Two: where would you hyphenate the following words?
buried
canopy
guardians
minute (tick tick, not tiny)
sautéed
startling
strength
wheedling
Challenge Three: are you for or against the Oxford comma? «barricades self under desk and refuses to come out»
How fun! Q 1: I knew or could guess 2,5,7, and 8. I cheated and looked up the answers to the others. Q 2: How about bur-ied, can-o-py, guar-dian, sau-teed, start-ling, strength, wheed-ling. Q 3: See above.
I like how you slid that Oxford comma in there! Very smooth.
The Oxford Comma is a joy forever, if used correctly.
I am not drawn to those odd punctuation-things, so no comment.
And finally, but most importantly, hyphenating of words, unless they are obvious two-part words, is a behaviour up with which I will not put. (Why do people not move the whole word down to the next line, if it doesn’t fit on the end of the current line?)
Possibly because that will throw the spacing out on justified lines? Nothing as odd as a line with massive gaps between the words.
On the other hand, if one is writing by hand, it suggests more a lack of foresight than anything. Or possibly a desire to make the greatest possible use of the paper available.