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• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Index

• 17th edition

6: Punctuation

• Overview
• 6.1The role of punctuation and the scope of this chapter
• Punctuation in Relation to Surrounding Text
• 6.2Punctuation and italics
• 6.3Punctuation and boldface or color
• 6.4Punctuation and font—aesthetic considerations
• 6.5Parentheses and brackets in relation to surrounding text
• 6.6Quotation marks in relation to surrounding text
• 6.7Punctuation and space—one space or two?
• 6.8Punctuation with URLs and e-mail addresses
• Punctuation in Relation to Closing Quotation Marks
• 6.9Periods and commas in relation to closing quotation marks
• 6.10Other punctuation in relation to closing quotation marks
• 6.11Single quotation marks next to double quotation marks
• Periods
• 6.12Use of the period
• 6.13Periods in relation to parentheses and brackets
• 6.14When to omit a period
• 6.15Periods in ellipses and suspension points
• Commas
• 6.16Use of the comma
• 6.17Commas in pairs
• Series and the Serial Comma
• 6.18Serial commas
• 6.19Using semicolons instead of commas in a series
• 6.20Commas with “etc.” and “et al.”
• 6.21Omitting serial commas before ampersands
• Commas with Relative Clauses
• 6.22Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses—“which” versus “that”
• Commas with Appositives
• 6.23Restrictive and nonrestrictive appositives
• Commas with Parenthetical and Descriptive Phrases
• 6.24Commas with parenthetical elements
• 6.25Commas with “however,” “therefore,” “indeed,” and so forth
• 6.26Commas with restrictive and nonrestrictive phrases
• 6.27Commas with “such as” and “including”
• Commas with Independent Clauses
• 6.28Commas with independent clauses joined by conjunctions
• 6.29Commas with compound predicates
• Commas with Dependent Clauses
• 6.30Comma preceding main clause
• 6.31Comma following main clause
• 6.32“And if,” “that if,” and the like
• Commas with Two or More Adjectives Preceding a Noun
• 6.33Commas with coordinate adjectives
• 6.34Commas with repeated adjectives
• Commas with Introductory Words and Phrases
• 6.35Commas with introductory participial phrases
• 6.36Commas with introductory adverbial phrases
• 6.37Commas with “oh” and “ah”
• 6.38Commas with direct address
• 6.39“Yes,” “no,” and the like
• Other Uses of the Comma
• 6.40Commas with “not” phrases
• 6.41Commas with “not . . . but,” “not only . . . but,” and the like
• 6.42Commas with “the more,” “the less,” and so on
• 6.43Commas with “that is,” “namely,” “for example,” and similar expressions
• 6.44Commas between homonyms
• 6.45Commas with dates
• 6.46Commas with addresses and place-names in text
• 6.47“Jr.,” “Sr.,” and the like
• 6.48“Inc.,” “Ltd.,” and the like
• 6.49Commas to indicate elision
• 6.50Commas with quotations
• 6.51Commas with maxims and proverbs
• 6.52Commas with questions
• 6.53Commas relative to parentheses and brackets
• Semicolons
• 6.54Use of the semicolon
• 6.55Semicolons with “however,” “therefore,” “indeed,” and the like
• 6.56Semicolons with “that is,” “for example,” “namely,” and the like
• 6.57Semicolons before a conjunction
• 6.58Semicolons in a complex series
• Colons
• 6.59Use of the colon
• 6.60Space after colon
• 6.61Lowercase or capital letter after a colon
• 6.62Colons with “as follows” and other introductory phrases
• 6.63Colons to introduce speech or quotations
• 6.64Colons with formal direct address
• 6.65Some common misuses of colons
• Question Marks
• 6.66Use of the question mark
• 6.67Question mark within a sentence
• 6.68Indirect questions
• 6.69Requests as questions
• 6.70Question marks in relation to surrounding text and punctuation
• Exclamation Points
• 6.71Use of the exclamation point
• 6.72Exclamation rather than question
• 6.73Exclamation point as editorial protest or amusement
• 6.74Exclamation points with quotation marks, parentheses, or brackets
• Hyphens and Dashes
• 6.75Hyphens and dashes compared
• Hyphens
• 6.76Hyphens in compound words
• 6.77Hyphens as separators
• En Dashes
• 6.78En dash as “to”
• 6.79En dash with an unfinished number range
• 6.80En dashes with compound adjectives
• 6.81Other uses for the en dash
• Em Dashes
• 6.82Em dashes instead of commas, parentheses, or colons
• 6.83Em dash between noun and pronoun
• 6.84Em dashes to indicate sudden breaks
• 6.85Em dashes with “that is,” “namely,” “for example,” and similar expressions
• 6.86Em dashes in place of commas
• 6.87Em dashes with other punctuation
• 6.88Em dashes in lieu of quotation marks
• 6.89Em dashes in indexes
• 2-Em and 3-Em Dashes
• 6.902-em dash
• 6.913-em dash
• Parentheses
• 6.92Use of parentheses
• 6.93Parentheses for glosses or translations
• 6.94Parentheses to enclose numbers or letters
• 6.95Parentheses within parentheses
• 6.96Parentheses with other punctuation
• Brackets and Braces
• 6.97Use of square brackets
• 6.98Square brackets in translated text
• 6.99Square brackets for parentheses within parentheses
• 6.100Square brackets in phonetics
• 6.101Square brackets with other punctuation
• 6.102Angle brackets and braces
• Slashes
• 6.103Other names for the slash
• 6.104Slashes to signify alternatives
• 6.105Slashes with two-year spans
• 6.106Slashes with dates
• 6.107Slashes in abbreviations
• 6.108Slashes as fraction bars
• 6.109Slashes to show line breaks in quoted poetry
• 6.110Slashes in URLs and other paths
• Quotation Marks
• 6.111Quotation marks relative to other punctuation and text
• 6.112Typographer’s or “smart” quotation marks
• Apostrophes
• 6.113Use of the apostrophe
• 6.114“Smart” apostrophes
• 6.115Apostrophes relative to other punctuation
• Multiple Punctuation Marks
• 6.116Likely combinations
• 6.117Abbreviation-ending periods with other punctuation
• 6.118Periods with question marks or exclamation points
• 6.119Commas with question marks or exclamation points
• 6.120Question mark with exclamation point
• Lists and Outline Style
• 6.121Lists and outlines—general principles
• 6.122Run-in versus vertical lists
• 6.123Run-in lists
• 6.124Vertical lists—punctuation and format
• 6.125Vertical lists punctuated as a sentence
• 6.126Vertical lists with subdivided items (outlines)