The Editor’s Manual
Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.
Commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, and other punctuation marks that make you tear your hair out.
When an abbreviation like “etc.” appears in parentheses, place another period after the closing parenthesis to end the larger sentence. But if the entire sentence is enclosed in parentheses, use just one period, not two.
You may either omit or include the comma after greetings like “Hi” and “Hello” in informal email salutations, depending on preference.
Use either a comma or a colon after a greeting. The colon is preferred in business or other formal communication in U.S. style.
Place quotation marks around direct speech or a quotation. Quotes may also enclose a word or a phrase used ironically or as itself. Quotation marks set off titles of shorter works (like a chapter, article, or poem).
Smart (or curly) quotes are paired quotation marks that curve toward the text they enclose, indicating clearly whether they start or end a quote. Straight quotes are nondirectional.
Round brackets are called “parentheses” in American English but referred to simply as “brackets” in British English. In American writing, square brackets are used within parentheses, while the British use round within round brackets (nested parentheses).
Use commas to integrate closely related information into the flow of the sentence. Use parentheses to set off supplementary information or an afterthought from surrounding text. Use dashes to be emphatic or dramatic and make additional information or an aside stand out.
Place punctuation inside parentheses if it belongs to the parenthetical text, and outside if it belongs to the larger sentence. Periods, question marks, exclamation points, and quotation marks go inside if they are meant to punctuate the parenthetical text, while commas, dashes, colons, and semicolons always appear after a closing parenthesis.
Place a period within parentheses if the entire sentence is contained in the parentheses. Place the period outside if the parenthetical phrase appears within a larger sentence.
Parentheses (round brackets) are the most commonly used brackets in English, followed by square brackets. The other two types of brackets are braces and angle brackets. Each type serves a different purpose.