​In general, don’t use physical attributes, age, sexual orientation or race to describe someone unless it is integral to the writing. It’s better to identify people geographically than by race. Only specify race if it’s relevant.

​uncle’s birthday, women’s (not womens’) rights, children’s hunger, alumni’s donation

Plural nouns ending in s take an apostrophe alone.

​teachers’ tests, the families’ friendship

The use of the apostrophe with names ending in s relates totally to the word’s pronunciation. If the second s is pronounced, then use two, as in:

​Mr. Jones’s party.

If it isn’t natural to pronounce another s, then use one:

​Brussels’ bureaucrats

​Classical names traditionally take just one s:

​Moses’ tablets, Mars’ crafters, Socrates’ plays

In general, try to use brackets sparingly, when other punctuation won’t do the job.

​Her biggest challenges were teaching (it was a new course that year) and getting along with the department chair.

Use brackets to enclose equivalents and translations.

​We can expect two inches (five centimeters) of rain.

Use brackets to enclose political affiliations.

​Sen. Iva Villamn (Lib-Man.)

If a punctuation mark applies to the whole sentence, put the mark after the closing bracket.

​At Leiden, the dissertation defence takes place in the Academiegebouw (Academy Building), the university’s oldest building.

If a punctuation mark applies only to the words inside the parenthetical section, put the mark inside the closing bracket.

​Most employees learned the new system quickly. (It helped to have supervisors on hand.)

Commas are needed to make the meaning clear and to provide pauses in long or complicated sentences. Short adjectival phrases often can be used without commas.

In the following examples, commas wouldn’t be wrong but they aren’t necessary.

prefer In September I’ll be going to Alberta.
avoid In September, I’ll be going to Alberta.

prefer By 1995 six classes had graduated.
avoid By 1995, six classes had graduated.

With longer phrases (such as this one), commas make the sentence easier to understand.

Put commas between the elements of a series but not before the final and, or or nor unless that avoids confusion.

​          coats, slacks, skirts and blouses

​BUT   The federal granting councils fund research in medicine, natural sciences and engineering, and socials sciences and humanities.

Use commas before clauses introduced by the conjunctions and, but, for, or, nor and yet if the subject changes.

​We are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others.

When a title comes before the name, commas aren’t used. When the title comes after the name, they are.

​          University of Calgary Registrar Amy Dambrowitz said that…

​BUT   Amy Dambrowitz, Registrar at the University of Calgary, said…

In university administrative titles (especially vice-president and associate or associate vice-president) put commas around specialties:

​Cynthia Holmes, who was formerly Associate Dean, Faculty and Academic, was promoted to Dean, effective July 1.

Use em dashes to set off mid-sentence lists punctuated by commas.

The administrators will discuss common problems — underfunding, lack of secretarial support, few permanent positions — at their informal meeting.

Use an em dash to mark a sharp break in a sentence.

​“So the man said to his priest — but maybe you’ve heard this joke already.”

Use an em dash to introduce a phrase or clause that summarizes, emphasizes or contrasts what has gone before.

​Quiet, respectful, deferential, even obsequious — those were Mulliner’s chief characteristics.

An en dash (–) is primarily used to show range, such as between figures.

​1939–45

​An em dash (—) is used as punctuation, as described above.

In general, always use double quotation marks except for headlines and quotes within a quote.

The question mark, period, comma and exclamation mark go inside the quote marks when they apply to the quoted matter only or, in the case of a period, end a complete thought.

He said, “The students are asking for trouble.”
“Are you feeling better?” asked Dr. Morgan.

Colons and semicolons normally go outside quotations.

​He said the students “ask for trouble”; they deserved their punishment, he added.

When a long quote by a single speaker extends for more than one paragraph, put quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph but at the end of only the last one.

​“The publishers of the Test of English as a Foreign Language say that it should to be used as an initial screening device, but that is the way we use it at most universities.

​“We know that high school grades, graduate record examinations and undergraduate grades are better predictors of graduate performance than the TOEFL. It’s amazing that the TOEFL is given a stronger weight.”

Do not use quotation marks to enclose slogans and headlines.

​The pickets carried signs that read Cut Taxes, Not Jobs and Cut Government Spending.

​The article was headed Drug Squad Flouts Gun Rules.

In quoted matter, use square brackets to show that something is substituted for the original, or to add information that makes the material more meaningful, but which isn’t actually quoted.

​“We had run the experiment several times and were not getting good results. [The professor] suddenly appeared and stayed with us, teaching every step through until we understood what had been going wrong.”

Use three periods to indicate an omission in text or a quotation.

​“When I taught this poem in 1958 I thought it was too sentimental, but in 1960 I began to see how the poet was using the sentimentality…and I began to appreciate it.”