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Apostrophe ( ' )

This punctuation is used to indicate a singular possessive when the word ends in a letter other than an S---add: 's.

Examples:

• That car is John's.
• The children's voices were so sweet, I remember them well.

When the word is plural, but ends in a letter other than an S---add: 's.

Examples:

• The children's voices were so sweet, I remember them well.
• The sheep's wool must pay the bills until next season.

A relational hierarchy of possession, goes from general to specific, last to first, source to item, parent to child, and the like.

Examples:

• He drove John's sister's boyfriend's car to the beach.
• His car's tires needed to be replaced.

If the word is a title, abbreviation, or acronym in uppercase characters, use a lowercase s.

Example:

• IBM's newest drives have giant MR read/write heads.

Don't use apostrophes to make titles, abbreviations, and acronyms plural except to avoid confusion.

Example:

• Dolphins quarterback Joe Neally.
• Dolphins' quarterback, Joe Neally was traded yesterday.
• They shipped the IBMs yesterday.
• On my last report card, I had three A's and two B's.
• The boarded the boat in twos, male and female.
• Those seats are reserved for the PhD.'s and these for the M.A.'s.
• Apostrophe: Plural Possessive

To indicate a plural possessive and possession when the word ends with the letter S, add an apostrophe after it; e.g.: s'.

Examples:

• We shopped at Marshals' new store in the mall.
• Can you show me where the boys' room is.
• After four hours' work, the MacDonalds' manager gave them an hours break.
• Three years' probation; that's all he got.

(The word years' is possessive.)

An apostrophe may be used to indicate omission of letters within an abbreviated word or words.

Examples:

• Use sec'y for secretary.
• Use don't for do not.
• Can't for can not.
• Couldn't for could not.
• Shouldn't for should not.

Don't use an apostrophe to indicate possession for possessives of pronouns.

Specifically:

His, not His'

Hers, not Her's

Theirs, not Their's

Its, not It"s.

Don"t use an apostrophe before the: S to refer to a decade or century.

Examples:

• The 1990s or the '90s, (not the 1990's or the '90's).
• The weather was so pleasant in Europe until the end of the 1100s, that wine grew in Scandinavian; the 1200s were of so unpleasant; a quarter of the population starved to death when rain and snow destroyed crops year after year. Europe still has not recovered from that climate change---eight hundred years later.

Quotation Marks ( " " )

Double Quotation Marks are used before and after a direct quote. For quotations that span multiple paragraphs, repeat the double quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph; as well as at the end of the entire passage quoted.

Quotation Marks: and other punctuation

For full quotes, Commas and Periods go inside quotation marks.

Examples:

• She said, "I will not go," while taking off her coat.
• She said: "I will not go."

For full quotes, Colons and Semicolons go outside even when they are part of the original quotation.

Examples:

• She said: "I will not go. I don't want to go. I never wanted to go." Then turned and ran to her room. (Formal statement or quotation of more than sentence.)
• She said, "I will not go"; then she went to her room and closed the door.

Question marks and Exclamation points go inside quotation marks only if they are part of the quotation. (Wherever you use a question mark or exclamation point, do not use a period with it.)

Examples:

• She said, "I will not go? When did you hear me say that!"
• She said, "I will not go!" She turned and ran to her room.
• Then she said, "I will not go"! after I rushed home to take her.

For partial quotes, punctuate the sentence as if the quotes weren't there.

Example:

• She began her speech: "Listen to me . . ."; but few seemed to notice.

Use Brackets [ ] to enclose interpolations, corrections, comments or directions in a quoted passage.

Examples:

• Ken said: "Analogies [anal logic] can backfire unexpectedly;" then laughed at his own joke.
• Mat said "Wish me good luck [raising the glass above his head] against the Bruins."

Full and partial quotes that continue a thought in the sentence, should not have the first word capitalized unless that word is either a proper noun, or the attribution and quote comprise the whole sentence; i.e., a "conventionally introduced" quote.

Examples:

• She said it was "nice to see you again."

  Quote continues a thought in the sentence and she said is attribution for the whole sentence.

• Without introduction, she said, "you must be Margo's friend."

  Quote continues a thought in the sentence.

• "I think I know you," she said, "you must be Margo's friend."

  Quote continues the sentence after the interruption: she said.

• She said, "Have a good day."

  A conventionally introduced quote.

• Though she didn't have much money, she said, "Place the order."

  Any of these three reasons is sufficient to capitalize Place:

  a) The quote is not a continuation of the thought that began the sentence.

  b) In the first part of the sentence, the writer states something he or she knows, and is not paraphrasing the person who's speaking.

  c) She said is attribution for only the quote.

Use quotation marks to create irony by setting off words you don't take at face value.

Examples:

• During the "confrontation," not a word was spoken, not an eye blinked; both slowly retreated back into the woods.
• Do you think "because it was invented here," that people elsewhere cannot make creative leaps of "innovation and invention"?

(The question mark was not part of the original quote.)

Use quotation marks to emphasize a particular word or to set off a technical or unfamiliar word when using contrasting typestyles (bold, italic, underline) or placing the text in parentheses would create confusion.

Examples:

• We didn't backup the drive before "optimizing" it.
• He said he was "real good," honest!

Do not use quotation marks with imaginary, indirect or unspoken discourse, and rhetorical questions.

Examples:

• Alec said he would arrive before the inspectors. (Indirect discourse)
• What am I doing here? he wondered not for the first time. (Unspoken discourse)
• Don't I always say, trust me; don't I always deliver? (Rhetorical question)

Quotation marks may be used to enclose the title of a short poem, an article, a chapter or part of a publication to add emphases. With or without the quotation marks, italicize the title but not the name of the author or publisher. Emphasize the title of a publication with italic and/or bold type when its publisher or author are not identified in the same sentence.

Examples:

• Read the "Data Storage Drives" chapter in PC What's the Problem?, the new book.

Use single quotes to enclose a quotation within a quote.

Examples:

• Jim said, "I can't understand what they are singing, is it 'Chicago or she can't go?'"

In some desktop publishing software, you'll get "neutral" quotes when you select the double-quote key. These are identical to those used for the inch symbol ( " ).

To obtain the visually pleasing "left and right" quotes, most operating systems require the use of control keys in combination with other keyboard keys for entering special codes. However, these symbols are not supported by HTML, so if you are going to convert the document into an Internet "Web Page," use the neutral quotes.

Parentheses ( ( ) )

Parentheses set off parenthetical words and phrases that digress, explain or amplify the main statement when the interruption is less related to the sentence than would be required for commas. Text within the parentheses can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence.

There is a space before an opening left-parenthesis, and either a space or punctuation after a closing right-parenthesis. There is no space after an opening left-parenthesis or before a closing right-parenthesis. If you put a sentence within parentheses, that sentence's punctuation should be inside the parentheses; those parentheses and their content should not be inside another sentence.

Examples:

• The delivery of the new models (I hope you understand) may be delayed by allocation. The manufacturer usually fills its orders within six weeks.
• She was hoping (I believe) that you would ask her to take more responsibility.

No punctuation should precede the opening left-parenthesis; punctuation may follow the closing right-parenthesis.

Examples:

• The illustration (Figure 3), depicts the positive correlation between low taxes and both economic growth and increased revenues.

Use brackets [ ] to enclose a parenthetical element within a parenthetical element. A bracketed sentence that appears within another sentence need not begin with a capital or end with a period.

Examples:

• The SCSI drive must be properly configured: an ID different from any other installed device, and termination (a Terminal Resistor [part number TR-10209] on the drive's circuitboard) installed only if it is physically the last device connected to the SCSI bus.

Parentheses can be used to enclose numbers and letters that introduce items in a series within a sentence or paragraph. When this occurs, additional punctuation after the closing bracket is unnecessary.

Examples:

• To see the asteroids hit Jupiter: (1) research the types of telescopes for the one best suited for home use; (2) find a store with knowledgeable salespeople and product; (3) make the purchase; (4) find a suitable place for observing that portion of the sky where Jupiter may be seen without a lot of city lights; (5) set up the telescope; (6) view Jupiter (if you are lucky) through a cloudless sky.

Numbers or letters used to introduce items in a list need not have an opening parenthesis.

Example:

• To see the asteroids hit Jupiter:

  1) research the types of telescopes for the one best suited for home use;

  2) find a store with knowledgeable salespeople and product;

  3) make the purchase;

  4) find a suitable place for observing that portion of the sky where Jupiter may be seen without a lot of city lights;

  5) set up the telescope; and

  6) view Jupiter (if you are lucky) through a cloudless sky.

Parentheses enclose a number confirming a written number, as in legal contracts.

Examples:

• The contract stipulates that the job must be completed within ninety (90) days.
• When we get together to sign the contract, the balance will be due in full: twenty-two thousand, fifty dollars and no cents ($22,050.00).

In contracts, as in applications and forms, parentheses may be used to enclose identification prompts for handwritten entry.

Examples:

• (Signature)
• (Witness)
• (Date)

Brackets ( [ ] )

These punctuation marks have different functions than parentheses and should never be substituted for them. They are used for citations in most computer science publications.

Brackets serve as parentheses within parentheses. Like parentheses, the brackets and their contents may be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Example:

• Local regulations (City Ordinance 1023 [sec.8]) permit the substitution.

Brackets set off a word or phrase that is extraneous or incidental, or explanatory.

Example:

• The secretary [Janice LeClear] purchased her stock options.

They may be used to include information left out of a quote or statement.

Example:

• He said, "There is a battle for survival among the new projects now that [interim CEO] Jobes has made cost-cutting a number one priority for company profits."

They may be used to insert editorial comments within a quotation.

Example:

• She said: "Mr. Kinds [the alleged perpetrator] was being investigated."

Dash ( - -- ---)

There are three kinds of dashes: dash (-), en-dash , (--) and em-dash (---). Keyboards only have hyphen keys for adding dashes. Special Codes or command-key combinations are used to create en- and em-dashes, provided that such characters are both included within the chosen typeface and supported by the operating system. If not, then two hyphens are an acceptable substitutes for en- and em-dashes. There is no space between a dash and the words it joins.

A dash is used to join compound nouns.

Examples:

• The system comes with a high-speed, 400-Gigabyte hard disk-drive.
• Yes its expensive, its high-tech; next year it will low-tech and cheaper; but you will have had its benefits for a year. And those benefits are worth more than any savings.
• Did I say your Mother-in-Law is very attractive?

A dash is used to link an adjective of two or more words that precedes a noun---to express the idea of a unit and to avoid ambiguity.

Examples:

• We expect larger-than-life stars to behave the same way we do.
• They won the two-legged race a last year's Father/Son games.
• The fifty-four-year-old car was in excellent mechanical condition.
• The newly-introduced ad was effective.
• A new versatile 200-MHz, 1-GS/s oscilloscope.
• "Faith-based belief can create conditions of fact �."

A dash suspends the second part of a hyphenated compound when used with another hyphenated compound.

Example:

• With what we have in stock, the product can be shipped in one- and four-unit boxes.

A dash combines the parts of a compound which are separated by a conjunction.

Example:

• Both soft- and hardware developers were at the show.

Place a dash between the components of any number-including fractions-below one hundred that is written as two words.

Examples:

• Deposit five-hundred and fifty-four dollars.
• The sixty-four dollar prize can only be spent in their store.
• It is better to say that one-half survived, than one-half perished.

Place a dash between a number acting as an adjective to describe or modify a noun.

Examples:

• To provide the same service as 24-hour ATMs, would require over a million bank tellers. (And probably a 5-dollar transaction fee.)
• A 20-man team, that's what it will take---and a good one.

A dash is sometimes used to attach a prefix or suffix to a word, to prevent two vowels or a small letter and a capital to connect.

Examples:

• The password you enter will not be accepted the first time; you must reenter it three times.
• To get an early acceptance, you must pre-enroll.
• During the re-election campaign, she claimed that people who believed that the money they earned was their's and not the government's---were un-American.
• The pre-existent operation was semi-independent; after the divisions were combined, a lot of managers retired.
• Misused, misinterpreted, and wildly made-up statistics are often used to justify the environmental dogma that provides money and authority for the faithful.

A dashes may be used with a prefix or suffix when the combined word could be misread because of a conflict with another word in the sentence.

Example:

• This should re-activate the reactive compound for another test.

A dash is used to precede the name of an author or source at the end of a quotation. In some layouts the attribution is placed alone on a new line beneath the quote.

Example:

• "This is truly a novel to get lost in and one of the marvels of the publishing year." --COSMOPOLITAN

Two dashes are used to indicate extent or duration; essentially a range from something to something. For this purpose, an En-Dash looks better than the alternatives.

Examples:

• Do the problems on pages 120-125. (Single dash)
• Do the problems on pages 120--125. (En-dash)
• Do the problems on pages 120--125. (Two dashes)
• Do the problems on pages 120---125. (Three dashes)
• Do the problems on pages 120---125. (Em-dash)
• The Chicago--LA flight was delayed 40 minutes. (Two dashes)
• The computer price-performance ratio declined in the 1996--1998 period. (A dash, and an En-dash)

Three dashes may be used to insert a statement or phrase that is a brief thought, closely-related to the subject of the sentence. An Em-Dash is the preferred character for this purpose. It is more emphatic than using a comma, parentheses, or an en-dash.

Examples:

• It was-unknown to him-an important consideration in evaluating his honesty.
• She whispered-very sweetly-her wishes. (Single dash)
• She whispered--very sweetly--her wishes. (Two dashes)
• She whispered---not screamed---her wishes. (Em-dash)
• She whispered, with her hand directing her words, into my ear. (Commas)
• She whispered (I didn't know she could whisper) her wishes. (Parentheses)

A dash can be used to make explanatory statements clear. For this purpose, it is less emphatic than using an em-dash (or triple-dash).

• Two of them---Mary and Ursula---went to the dance in dresses they made at home.

Three dashes often indicates a missing word, or letters in a word. For this purpose, an Em-Dash is the preferred character.

Examples:

• Mr. M---, our department head.
• I really don't give a d---.

En-dashes ( -- )

These characters have the same width an a lowercase n. An En-Dash: -- is equal to two dashes: --. To obtain a visually pleasing En-dash, most operating systems require the use of control keys in combination with other keyboard keys for entering special codes---provided that the character is supported by the chosen typeface. There is no space between an en-dash and the words it joins.

En-dashes are used to represent the word "to" or "through" when referencing both the beginning and end of a sequence, range or duration.

Examples:

• Read pages 1-22, and 45.
• His presidency (1980-88), was a time of continuous economic growth, unique because of its occurrence during a 75-year war that bankrupted ardent enemies with vastly greater human and natural resources, and cause the end of many of them.

---

Em-dashes (--- )

These characters have the same width an a lowercase m. An Em-Dash: --- is equal to three dashes: ---. To obtain a visually pleasing Em dash, most operating systems require the use of control keys in combination with other keyboard keys for entering special codes---provided that the character is supported by the chosen typeface. There is no space between an em-dash and the words it joins.

Examples:

Em-Dashes are used to indicate a break in thought or special emphasis.

• He was talking on the phone---while moving at high speed---when he got the news about his wife's car accident.
• Don't drive---you're drunk!

An em-dash can also be used to replace a colon.

Example:

• You are depriving me of my rights---its wrong.

A em-dash often occurs before a summarizing statement.

Example:

• -Oil, steel and coal---these industries are depressed.

Em-Dash symbols are not supported by HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), so if you are going to convert the document into an Internet "Web Page," use two dashes. HTML only displays ASCII text.

Hyphen ( - )

Hyphen characters are identical to dashes (they use the same keyboard key), but their purposes are very different. A hyphen marks the separation of a word that is too long to fit without separation at the end of a line of text. This may occur with either justified or unjustified text margins; however, the primary consideration is "how does the text look?"

Hyphenation and text layout:

[] Never hyphenate a one-syllable word. A hyphen may separate only a multi-syllable word and then only between two of its syllables.

[] For hyphenation, if you don't know if or where a word's syllables occur, consult an English language dictionary. Just after the word, if it has more than one syllable, the word will be repeated with a small dot indicating the break between each syllable.

[] There must be at least two characters on both sides of the hyphen.

[] Within reason, hyphenated words should not break in a space greater-than 0.5-inch in from the common right-hand side of the text, as may occur in unjustified "ragged-right margin" text. If possible and within reason, try kerning to reduce the space between individual letters within a word, or change the text's tracking to uniformly increase or reduce the word spacing.

[] In a column of text, use no more than three hyphens in three succeeding lines of type.

[] To reduce the number of hyphens, as perhaps in a narrow column, try rewriting the text. You may also add an extra space between some of the words; although this could make the text look too open and unprofessional.

[] Page and column titles with hyphens look unprofessional.

[] With all other typeface considerations equal, use shorter hyphens whenever possible, especially in documents intended for publication and sale.

Ellipses ( ... )

Ellipses indicate the omission of text with the assumption that the missing text is otherwise unnecessary to support the meaning of the sentence and/or may obscure it.

The three dots (periods) should have one full (spacebar) space before and after the sequence---including any punctuation including a period. If there is sufficient space, there should also be a space between each dot, provided that a line break does not separate them. Typographically, the ideal space between the dots is an en-space ("thin-space"). Fortunately, the ellipses character can be typed using a simple key-combination under Windows and MacOS.

For greater emphasis, differentiate the ellipsis from any punctuation before or after it by using a bold typestyle for the dots; as may be desired when they are followed by a period.

An Ellipsis indicates the omission of a word or words from the middle of a quoted passage. If the missing text extends to the end or a sentence, include the ending period; i.e., there will be three dots followed by a period.

Examples:

• "We can express our disbelief ... with humor."
• "We can express our disbelief .... Without denigrating those who do believe."

An ellipsis can be used at the beginning of a quote to indicate a missing portion.

• As they came up the trail, their voices became clearer " ... hi- ho, hi-ho, its off to work we go ...."
• He spoke the pledge quite clearly, raising his voice to emphasize the last words: "� and justice for all!" to signal his commitment to remove the criminals from the Justice Department and to focus its efforts on law enforcement rather than revenge for political opposition.

Use one at the end of a quote only if you want to create the feeling of a trailing-off at the end.

Example:

• "To be or not to be ...." That is the question? Think about it.

Ellipses can be used to indicate hesitation or halting speech in dialogue.

Example:

• Overcomed by emotion, he said: "I ... love you. I would never ... do that."

Ellipses can be used as a substitute for: etc., and so on, and so forth, indicating a continuation of a stream of thought, implying an understanding on the part of the reader of what is not stated.

Example:

• Astronomical! Is it beyond a person's ability to comprehend; big beyond measure, mystery beyond meaning, power beyond stars ... .

Slash ( / )

A Forward Slash, or virgule, has many uses in technical writing in addition to being an substitute for the words: and, or, for, both, and of; albeit an unattractive one. The construction and/or is a always acceptable; although it may be replaced by something more elegant, in technical writing, brevity is more important.

A Slash may be used to join two contrasting words that together limit or qualify a noun; i.e., a compound adjective. As such, a slash emphases the contrast better than, for example, the insertion of the words: both and and. The definitions of each word in the compound adjective may be modified by their combined relationship to the word they modify. The title Manager/Engineer implies some difference in responsibilities from those of a Manager of Engineers, a Manager who is an Engineer, a Manager and an Engineer. The use of a slash should be avoided except when the words name something, or where display space is insufficient to represent the multiple functions of a single item.

The use of abbreviations for words separated by and, or, for, of, and with is not preferable to the whole words divided by a slash. Whole words are always preferable to abbreviations when there is sufficient space for them; just like abbreviations are preferable to icon charcters when there is enough space---unless their purpose is to match two items with identical icons.

Examples:

• The Model A/Model B universal device programmer. (And; a name)
• This multifunction unit programs ICs, tests TTL/CMOS logic ICs, dynamic memory and static memory even if the ICs are defective. (And; a name)
• Includes macro commands and enable/disable byte order swapping. (Or; a name)
• Turn the ON/OFF key to the ON position. (A name)
• Joui Hauiwa Manager/Engineer (And; both; of; for)
• They won the two-legged race a last year's Father/Son games. (And; with)
• The advanced meter functions include Fast/Normal, Smooth, Zero Set, Touch hold on A, and TrendPlot. (And; a name)

Slash in Math

A Forward Slash can be used to indicate the arithmetic symbol for division. The number before the symbol is divided by the number after the symbol; as may be used to represent a fraction.

Example:

• An electron can traverse that distance in 1/1000th of a second.

A Slash may be used in abbreviations to connect related concepts, to substitute for words, and to avoid confusion with other abbreviations, acronyms and words.

Examples:

• A/C Account current
• B/D Bank draft
• B/L Bill of lading
• C/O Care of; for carried over; for cash order
• I/O In office; for input output
• M/D Month's date (i.e., month before the slash, date after it)
• O/C Our customer; for overcharge
• P/A Power of attorney
• / Per; with
• V/O Visit office
• w/ With
• w/o Without

A Forward Slash may be used in representing the British shilling or shillings as a monetary unit; as may be used in pricing.

Example:

• 2/6 (2 shillings and 6 pence)
•  

A Forward Slash has various programming functions.

Example:

It can be used as a programming syntax symbol where the command word precedes the symbol and the optional "switch" code follows it

• KEYB/ID:code

In HTML programming, the slash is added to an opening or start-of-process tag to create a close or end-of-process tag, that affects any content placed between them.

Examples:

• <HTML> � </HTML>
• <TITLE>Technical Writing with Style</TITLE>

Backslash ( \ )

Both forward and backslashes (or back slash) are used as programing symbols. The blackslash is often used to denote a directory address in the DOS/Windows operating system environments.

Examples:

• C:\DOS
  It indicates the DOS subdirectory on C drive.
• COPY C:\directory\filename A:\directory/V
  Copy file from a directory on C-drive to a directory on A-drive; then, /V verify it.

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