The Essential 99 Punctuation Rules for Court Reporters: Student Edition

Book excerpt: An Inexpensive Solution: Unfortunately, many court reporting students cannot afford Morson's English Guide (LMEG), Bad Grammar / Good Punctuation (BGGP), or The Gregg Reference Manual (GRM). The 99 Punctuation Rules is meant as an inexpensive solution until the court reporting student can purchase one or more of these references. 80/20 Principle: The 80/20 principle states that about 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of the causes. Therefore, roughly 80 percent of punctuation usage comes from 20 percent of the punctuation rules. The 99 Punctuation Rules focuses on the 20 percent or the most commonly used punctuation rules. Grammar: There is an initial focus on understanding grammar. You don't need to be a grammarian, but you can't punctuate well without knowing the basics of grammar and sentence structure. References: The rules in the 99 Punctuation Rules are not my rules. They are the rules in the most current edition of LMEG, BGGP, and GRM. Other references were consulted when the LMEG, BGGP, and/or GRM did not agree. Differences in the references are highlighted.