Punctuation

Punctuation provides vital clues for reader understanding. It's governed by well-documented rules. For example, every English sentence requires end punctuation (unless it's a title or a heading). Within those rules are stylistic choices, which we'll cover here.

Writing tip The more punctuation you add, the more complex a sentence becomes. If a sentence contains more than a comma or two and ending punctuation, consider rewriting it to make it crisp and clear.

Learn more Refer to The Chicago Manual of Style to learn more about specific punctuation.

This section covers:

• Formatting punctuation in text describing interaction with the UI, parentheses, and brackets.
• Apostrophes in possessives and contractions.
• Colons in lists and to elaborate on a statement.
• Commas in series, clauses, and dates.
• Em dashes, en dashes, hyphens, and minus signs, including em dashes to set off phrases, en dashes in ranges of numbers or dates, hyphens in words and spelled-out numbers, and minus signs for subtraction operations and negative numbers.
• Ellipses in syntax and for omissions.
• Exclamation points, used sparingly.
• Periods in sentences and lists.
• Question marks, used sparingly.
• Quotation marks for quotations only.
• Semicolons between independent clauses, contrasting statements, and items in a list.
• Slashes in phrases, file paths, and URLs.