Punctuation Guide

apostrophe (’)

Follow these guidelines:

POSSESSIVES: See the possessives entry in the main section of the full AP Stylebook.

PLURAL NOUNS NOT ENDING IN S: Add ’s: the alumni’s contributions, women’s rights.

PLURAL NOUNS ENDING IN S: Add only an apostrophe: the churches’ needs, the girls’ toys, the horses’ food, the ships’ wake, states’ rights, the VIPs’ entrance.

NOUNS PLURAL IN FORM, SINGULAR IN MEANING: Add only an apostrophe: mathematics’ rules, measles’ effects.

colon (:)

The most frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence to introduce lists, tabulations, texts, etc.

Capitalize the first word after a colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence: He promised this: The company will make good all the losses. And: There were three considerations: expense, time and feasibility.

comma (,)

The following guidelines are for some of the most frequent questions about the use of commas. Additional guidelines on specialized uses are provided in separate entries, such as dates and scores.

For detailed guidance, consult the punctuation section in the back of Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

IN A SERIES: Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is red, white and blue. He would nominate Tom, Dick or Harry.

Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series; however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction, use this structure: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.

We follow AP's one case in which the Oxford Comma is needed. Use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude.

dash, also known as em dash (–)

Follow these guidelines: ABRUPT CHANGE: Use dashes to denote an abrupt change in thought in a sentence or an emphatic pause: Through her long reign, the queen and her family have adapted – usually skillfully – to the changing taste of the time. But avoid overuse of dashes to set off phrases when commas would suffice. AP style does not use en dashes, a dash larger than a hyphen but narrower than an em dash, at all.

hyphen (-)

Hyphens are joiners. Use them to avoid ambiguity or to form a single idea from two or more words. Think of hyphens as an aid to readers’ comprehension. If a hyphen makes the meaning clearer, use it. If it just adds clutter and distraction to the sentence, don’t use it. (Small-business owner, but healthcare center.)

When a compound modifier — two or more words that express a single concept — precedes a noun, do use a hyphen if it’s needed to make the meaning clear and avoid unintended meanings: small-business owner, better-qualified candidate, little-known song,

No hyphen is needed when such terms are used as modifiers if the meaning is clear and unambiguous without the hyphen. Examples include: chocolate chip cookie, climate change report, public land management.

Generally, also use a hyphen in modifiers of three or more words: a know-it-all attitude, black-and-white photography.

quotation marks (“ ”)

PLACEMENT WITH OTHER PUNCTUATION: Follow these long-established printers’ rules: The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.

The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

semicolon (;)

In general, use the semicolon to indicate a greater separation of thought and information than a comma can convey, but less than the separation that a period implies.

The basic guidelines:

TO CLARIFY A SERIES: Use semicolons to separate elements of a series when the items in the series are long or when individual segments contain material that also must be set off by commas:

He is survived by a son, John Smith, of Chicago; three daughters, Jane Smith, of Wichita, Kansas, Mary Smith, of Denver, and Susan, of Boston; and a sister, Martha, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Note that the semicolon is used before the final and in such a series.