1. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    Inverted Commas

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by CH878, Sep 11, 2011.

    In my novel there are a number of squadrons, named 'A' Squadron, 'B' Squadron and so on.

    My question is, how should these names be punctuated? Is it correct to use inverted commas around the letter (as above) or should I just leave it as A Squadron, or is there another way?

    In a similar way, there are also different troops, named 'one' troop, 'two' troop, etc. How should these be punctuated?

    Many thanks.
     
  2. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    My father was in the RA, and he always seems to note as: 3 Troop, 2nd Division, etc, so I suspect this is how it appears in reports, without the inverted commas.
     
  3. Faerytale

    Faerytale New Member

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    Either leave it be or use hyphens: A-squadron, one-troop, etc.
     
  4. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    i don't see the hyphens working well at all... i'd say just capitalize the group's names as mad suggests and don't use ' ' ...
     
  5. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    I'd have no trouble with 'A' Squadron or A-Squadron. Go with the house style of the military in your fictional world (which you get to invent). I don't like A Squadron because the A could look like an indefinite article at the beginning of a sentence. You could make sure it never appears at the start of a sentence, but you'd be placing unnecessary restrictions on yourself.
     

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