apostrophe Generally indicates possessive, contraction, or missing letters/numbers.

• the president's memo
• don't walk
• class of '80

       Indicates plural of single letters only:

• A's

• D's

      Do not use to pluralize acronyms or numbers:

• CDs

• temperatures in the 80s

      See class years.

colon Use a colon:

• in Biblical citations;

• when appropriate to introduce a bulleted list;

• when transcribing an interview; and

• when introducing examples.

If using a colon in text, capitalize the first word after the colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a new complete sentence.

    See bullets. See interviews.

commas Use commas to separate elements in a series:

• I like apples, bananas, and oranges.

      Use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases:

• The University is steeped in tradition, has an aesthetically pleasing campus, and attracts top-notch students every year.

      In the case of a complex list in which individual items contain commas or
      conjunctions, a semicolon should be used instead.

      Place a comma after digits signifying thousands,
      except when reference is made to temperature or to
      SAT scores.

• 1,150 students

• 1100 degrees

• SAT score of 1145

      Do not use a comma before or after a Jr. or Sr.

• Robert J. Finnocchio Jr. is the chairman of the Board of Trustees for 2009.

      When writing a date, place a comma between the day and the year as well as after
           the year.

• July 4, 2001, is a day that will go down in memory books for the class of '69.

      Also, see dates.

dashes

em dashes Use in place of hyphens or double hyphens in text. No spaces between text and em dash.

• The landscape—a true reflection of the effect of mankind—has changed the most.

en dashes Use to express a range in charts or listings:

• 5-7:30 p.m.

But do not use dashes in body text:

• The class runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

      See hyphens.

ellipsis In general, treat an ellipsis as a three-letter word, constructed with three consecutive periods. Microsoft Word will autoformat three periods into a single character. Use an ellipsis to indicate the deletion of one or more words in condensing quotes, texts, and documents.  Pay special attention to ellipses in Web publications: There is no HTML character equivalent, and all ellipses characters should be replaced with three periods to avoid errors.

• To do otherwise would be ... a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future.

exclamation point Avoid overuse. Do not use a comma or period after the exclamation mark, even for quoted material:

• "Stop!" the officer cried.

hyphens End-of-line hyphens: Must have at least two letters before break, at least three letters after.

       No more than two end-of-line hyphens in a row.
       Hyphenate re- words when there are back-to-back
       e's:

• re-elect

• re-examine

      See dashes.

parentheses Punctuation generally goes outside the closing parenthesis (as shown in this sentence). Do not capitalize or include a period inside a parenthetical statement unless it is an entire sentence, standing alone. (This is an example.)

question marks Use at the end of a sentence that's a question. For the most part, question marks go inside quotation marks when used in quoted material:

• She loves the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

• "What does that mean?" he asked.

In cases where the question mark is not part of the book or movie title, it is placed outside the quotation marks.

• Have you ever read "The Kite Runner"?

quotation marks Use quotation marks for directly quoted speech or text; for titles of movies, plays, poems, songs, and works of art; and (sparingly) to indicate a colloquial or unusual term. The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks. The dash, semicolon, question mark, and 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.

If a title or quote is contained within quoted material, use single quotes inside the double quotations:

• "I cannot wait to see 'Casablanca' tomorrow," he said.

series/serial comma The comma before "and" in a list of three or more items. Use of this comma is an exception to AP style.

      See commas.

space Only one space after a period in all Web content and printed materials. For additional punctuation usage guidelines, please consult the AP Stylebook.