Parentheses

5.1 (a) Use parentheses to enclose parenthetical elements (words, phrases, or complete sentences that digress, amplify, or explain) (compare 1.3b) and 4.2).

When APL is on (indicated by the letters APL appearing at the bottom of the screen), no lower-case characters are available.

(b) A parenthesized sentence that appears within another sentence need not begin with a capital or end with a period.

(c) A comma may follow the closing parenthesis (if needed), but one should not precede the opening parenthesis.

5.2 Except in journalism, use square brackets [ ] to enclose a parenthetical element within a parenthetical element.

Ellipsis Dots

6.1 Use three dots

(a) to signal the omission of a word or words from the middle of a quoted sentence:

A senior White House official again asserted the administration's position: "We will not negotiate any treaty with the Soviets...unless it is verifiable."

(b) to signal hesitation or halting speech in dialogue:

"I... don't know what to say," he whispered.

6.2 Use four dots

(a) to signal the omission of the end of a quoted sentence:

"Of all our maladies, the most barbarous is to despise our being.... For my part, I love life and cultivate it."

— Montaigne

(b) to signal the omission of one or more whole sentences.

Except in journalism, ellipses dots should be spaced (... vs. …).

Hyphens

7.1 To express the idea of a unit and to avoid ambiguity, hyphenate compound nouns and compound modifiers that precede a noun:

She was a scholar-athlete.

All-night terminal sessions are counterproductive.

The IBM 4250 printer has all-points-addressable graphics capabilities.

7.2 Use a hyphen between the components of any number (including fractions) below one hundred that is written as two words: thirty-five two-thirds

Apostrophes

8.1 Use apostrophe, s ('s) to indicate singular possessive:

Users keep turning on to IBM's VM operating system.

8.2 Use s, apostrophe (s') to indicate plural possessive:

We found the missing tools in the boys' clubhouse.

8.3 Use apostrophe, s ('s) to form the plural of abbreviations with periods, lowercase letters used as nouns, and capital letters that would be confusing if s alone were added:

M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s x's and y's S's, A's, I's SOS's

8.4 When you can do it without creating confusion, use s alone to form the plural of letters, figures, words treated as words, and hyphenated coinages used as nouns:

three Rs four 8sthey came in twos the 1980s a dozen ifs

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