Some excerpts from

The Personal Style Sheet*

of

Will de Kypia
__________________

If "mandatory" punctuation marks look
awkward in a poem I decline to use them.
~
I do not use commas to separate quotations from
the main discourse, i.e., in speech (or dialogue) tags.

"You should use commas with speech tags," they told him.
"I don't like them, never have, never will" Will replied.
~
I do use the serial (Oxford or St. Irenaeus) comma:

Will's favorite breakfast is coy —
coffee, oatmeal, and yogurt.
~
And I place commas and periods outside
quotation marks unless the punctuation
is part of the quote (British style):

The sign said_“No Parking On The Green-Coloured Grass”.

versus

Then the guy said_“Don't ever come back here again.”
~
But I prefer the American style of double quotes
for the main quote and single quotes for
the secondary (or nested) quote:

My mother screamed_“Not in this house!”

and

He said_“Then my mother screamed_‘Not in this house! ’”
~
It's fun to use a lot of different fonts.
~
These are my rules. I reserve the right to violate
any of them at any time for any reason or none.
________________________

* As of the 2026 Summer Solstice
__________________

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