The 2 Most CONTROVERSIAL Punctuation Practices

You know, I really wish there were just one hard-and-fast set of grammar rules that everyone agreed on and followed all the time. That’d make things much easier for writers, editors, students, and anyone learning English as a second language. Unfortunately for all of us, grammarians tend to disagree a LOT.

These disagreements are why we have different style guides, like the APA, MLA, and Chicago style guides. Those are three of the main ones used in academic writing (and Chicago is my personal favorite), but individual companies will often have their own style guides tailored specifically to the kind of writing they prefer. The United States government even has its own style guide.

This is all just to say that we English nerds really can’t agree on anything, and that’s especially true where punctuation is concerned. We could argue all day about the Oxford comma, suspended hyphens, and how many spaces should come after a period. But two of the MOST controversial punctuation questions are whether you should use slashes to communicate options and whether it’s OK for parentheses to indicate potential plurals.

Let’s dive in!

Using Slashes to Communicate “Options”

Slashes are sometimes used to communicate “options” to the reader, as in these cases:

Bring a pen and/or pencil to the test.

Everyone should pick up his/her instruction manual before beginning the exam.

If you hope to be a writer/editor, you must do well on the English portion of the test.

At any point, if the instructor suspects that you are/were cheating, you will be dismissed.

So is it OK to use slashes like that? Overall, most style guides agree that slashes don’t look great, and too many of them definitely create a messy overall appearance on the page. But beyond just the visual aspect, using slashes in this way can also create some ambiguity problems for the reader.

“A and/or b” is supposed to mean “a OR b OR both,” but in reality, you can usually narrow it down to either “a OR b” or “a AND b.” Writers should really think about what they MEAN before using a slash—do you actually mean and AND or? Or would simply using one or the other actually clarify your meaning better?

In The Copyeditor’s Handbook, Amy Einsohn implores writers to “avoid the Janus-like ‘and/or’ and supply whatever words are needed to clarify the sentence.” This is far preferable to “ask[ing] readers to piece together the desired relationship between the two items.”

Don’t make your readers do extra work—tell them what you really mean! Here’s an example:

“Writer/editor”

If someone is both a writer and an editor, use a hyphen: “My dream is to become a writer-editor.”

If something applies to both writers and editors individually, use “and”: “All writers and editors are expected to have a thorough understanding of the intricacies of English grammar.”

“Or” can be used where just one or the other would be true: “If you hope to become a writer or editor, it’s a good idea to read a lot of books.”

What Do the Style Guides Say?

The Chicago Manual of Style doesn’t mind slashes: “In certain contexts it is a convenient (if somewhat informal) shorthand for or. It is also used for alternative spellings for names.”

Chicago then lists these examples as appropriate uses of a slash:

• he/she
• his/her
• and/or
• Hercules/Hercales
• World War I / First World War

However, Chicago notes that a hyphen is a better mark if you mean and: “Occasionally a slash can include the sense of and—while still also conveying a sense of alternatives. (Note that in most cases a hyphen is the better choice for and—e.g., ‘mother-daughter friendship.’)”

The APA Publication Manual lists several uses for slashes, including “to specify either of two possibilities,” where it then lists “and/or” and “Latino/a” as acceptable uses. APA goes on to clarify that you should NOT use a slash “when a phrase would be clearer.” APA compares these two examples, lauding the first as the clearer and more acceptable option: “Each child handed the toy to their parent or guardian” vs. “Each child handed the toy to their parent/guardian.”

The Index to English reiterates that the problem with slashes lies in their ambiguity: “The trouble with a voguish profusion of slashes is that the reader often has difficulty interpreting them. Is the slash the equivalent of or, of and, or of some other relationship between the terms it separates? If you use the slash, make sure it helps rather than hinders your readers.”

Using Parentheses to Indicate Possible Plurals

Another controversial punctuation practice is using (s) after a noun to communicate that you could mean one or more than one of that noun.

Your dog(s) must be fully vaccinated before attending daycare.

The affected person(s) may be entitled to compensation.

This is common practice in formal documents like legal transcripts and contracts, but in most other writing, it’s just confusing and ugly.

Here are just a few problems with this practice:

1. Does the noun take a singular or plural verb?
   • The girl(s) IS going outside. [OR] The girl(s) ARE going outside.
2. Should a singular or plural pronoun be used?
   • The dog(s) must be vaccinated. If not, he [they?] won’t be allowed inside the daycare facility.
3. How do you handle abnormal plurals?
   • “beneficiary(s)” BUT the plural of beneficiary is actually beneficiaries…so should it be “beneficiary(ies)”?
   • words that take an “es” plural, like “loss(es)”
   • “man,” “woman,” and “child”—is it “ma(e)n,” “woma(e)n,” and “child(ren”)?

To avoid these issues (especially that last one—I am firmly opposed to ever using “ma(e)n” or “woma(e)n” in any kind of writing), it’s best to avoid using (s) for potential plurals except in very formal settings like legal contracts. Here are some alternative ways to communicate the same thing:

Your dog(s) must be fully vaccinated before attending daycare.

All dogs must be fully vaccinated before attending daycare.

The affected person(s) may be entitled to compensation.

The affected person (or persons) may be entitled to compensation.

What Do the Style Guides Say?

I checked the APA style guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the Index to English, and I found literally nothing about this rule. Nada. Zilch.

All of these guides listed many acceptable uses for parentheses, and the use of (s) to communicate potential plurals was not found on any of those lists, so that could mean that none of them condone its use! However, I also found no statement expressly forbidding this practice.

Overall, I think the problems listed above with subject-verb agreement, the correct pronouns to use, and abnormal plurals are just too much to ignore, so I would recommend avoiding (s).

What do you think about these punctuation practices? Let me know in the comments!

Click here to learn about 4 common comma mistakes!

Sources:

• American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020.
• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Ebbitt, D. R., and W. R. Ebbitt. Index to English. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
• Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.