Questions tagged [orthography]
Questions about norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, punctuation and other aspects of orthography.
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Are there standard guidelines on apostrophising to denote swallowed syllables for scansion?
There are various words in English which can be pronounced in different ways with different numbers of syllables. Poetry often requires them to be read in a particular way for appropriate scansion, ...
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Reason of scare quotes in a text from Via Mala by John Knittel
Via Mala, John Knittel
Il fonda une société. L'évêque de Coire, l'abbé d'Andruss, les barons de Thusis, et quelques paysans qui avaient de l'argent constituèrent un capital, et le capitaine Lauretz ...
- 121
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The beginning words in Andrew's Brain by E. L. Doctorow: "I CAN TELL you"
I know that "I can tell you" is used to emphasize a statement. But , in this paragraph, is the writer pointing to this usage of the idiom? and if so, why is it written in Capital letters?
I ...
7
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Why aren't God's pronouns capitalized in Paradise Lost?
I noticed that God's pronouns are not capitalized in Paradise Lost. Take for example Book III lines 62-3: "on his right/The radiant image of his glory sat..." I would expect a Christian ...
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Why does the "ô" in this "rôle" have a circumflex?
I am reading League of Dragons, by Naomi Novik, as an e-book. Based on the cover art I have the first edition. In Chapter 15, there is what looks like an "o" with a hat:
Laurence sighed ...
- 9,864
4
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1
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What is the difference between parentheses () and square brackets [] when enclosing real-time interjections in the Kane Chronicles?
The conceit that each of the books of the Kane Chronicles is a transcription of an audio recording allows frequent interjections from current-time Sadie and Carter, commenting on the past events or on ...
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Why does Tolkien use neither quotes nor cursive writing, and all lower-case, in this specific "quote"?
Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters: the prancing pony by barliman ...
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Dialogue without quotation marks in Colson Whitehead's "The Intuitionist"
Chuck’s theory is that the Safety’s reemergence is part of an oozing
conservatism observable in every facet of the elevator industry, from
this season’s minimalist cab designs to the return of the ...
- 137
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1
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Why are these biblical scenes mentioned in italics and title case in "Satan in Goray"?
In Isaac Bashevis Singer's Satan in Goray, this is mentioned in the descriptions of Levi, Rabbi Benish's son, and Nechele, Levi's wife:
Nechele never ceased complaining of how she had fallen into a ...
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Why the different spellings of Belarus?
In several poems in Like Water, like Fire, Belarus is spelled "Byelorussia", and in some it's spelled "Biełaruś". Why is that?
4
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Has "To Autumn" ever ended the first stanza with something other than a period?
Is there an edition of Keats' poem To Autumn which ends the first stanza with something other than a period (full stop)? Do we have an edition of it that Keats saw through the press?
I think the ...
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1
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Apostrophes at the beginning of stanzas in Byron's "The Giaour"
My question is about Byron's The Giaour and the opening apostrophe at the beginning of a stanza. For example:
'His floating robe around him folding,
Slow sweeps he through the columned aisle;
With ...
- 1,003
2
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1
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Was it common in the late 19th century to write normal places, like "cross roads" and "corners" in capital letters?
In In the Midst of Alarms (1894) by Robert Barr, a young boy was describing the place of blacksmith’s shop, saying:
Oh, a couple of miles or so; down at the Cross Roads.
Then he said later in ...
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Was it usual for "Society" to be written with an initial capital?
From chapter 9 of The Just Men of Cordova (1917) by Edgar Wallace:
The Earl of Verlond was a stickler for punctuality: a grim, bent old man, with a face that, so Society said, told eloquently the ...
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The Torah is written without vowels?
In Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, Chapter 7 ("The End of Remembering"), he writes:
One of the last places where this tradition of recitation still survives is in the reading of ...
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