The web's most comprehensive guide to American punctuation.

The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons ⁠—in each case to slightly different …

There are two schools of thought on how best to lighten the punctuation of such a sentence. The traditional approach, advocated by William Strunk Jr. in The Elements of Style, removes the …

Terminal punctuation chart Use of the question mark with other punctuation, including quotation marks, is explained in the section on terminal punctuation.

The easiest way to solve a vexing punctuation problem is to avoid it. If you aren’t sure how to properly punctuate a sentence⁠—or if the proper punctuation results in a convoluted, confusing, …

When the quoted material flows directly from your introductory text, no punctuation should be used before the quotation. A very short quotation may also be introduced without punctuation.

Example Punctuation Quarterly 4:86–89 Explanation: This reads as “pages 86 through 89 of volume four.”

Slash The slash ( / ), also known as the virgule, has several uses, most of which should be avoided in formal writing. Never use a backslash ( \ ) in place of a slash. Poetry The one …

If it is, the sentence must be recast. This is an easy mistake to avoid. Simply read your sentence without the parenthetical content. If it remains grammatically correct, the parentheses are …

En dash The en dash (–) is slightly wider than the hyphen (-) but narrower than the em dash (—). The typical computer keyboard lacks a dedicated key for the en dash, though most word …