Punctuation

Use simple punctuation

Avoid complex punctuation like semicolons, parentheses, and dashes.

Ampersand (&)

In general, do not use ampersands (&) because not all readers will be familiar with them. This applies to headings and regular text.

Use “and” unless the ampersand is part of an official name, like Community Advocacy & Legal Clinic.

Commas

Use with “for example”

Always put a comma after “for example”. Put a comma before as well if it’s part of a sentence.

Example: The pay stub must give the pay period, for example, April 16 to May 1.

Use serial commas

Use serial commas. They help avoid confusion.

Use: Your attorney can be a family member, a close friend, or anyone else you trust.

Not: Your attorney can be a family member, a close friend or anyone else you trust.

Dashes

Dashes are used to punctuate a break within a sentence. But for basic readers, this can be confusing. It’s best to keep sentences short and limit them to one idea.

Hyphens

Do not hyphenate words so they break over 2 lines. This includes compound words. For example, for a word like “step-parent”, do not make a break between “step-” and “parent”.

Parentheses

As a general rule, do not use parentheses.

It’s a common practice in legal writing use parentheses to:

define a term, or
identify content as an aside or an exception.

But some people do not read text that’s set inside parentheses. And if they do read it, they may not easily see its relationship with the rest of the sentence.

Write: Sign your tenancy agreement. This is also called a lease.

Not: Sign your tenancy agreement (lease).

Quotation marks

Use “double” not ‘single’ quotation marks.

For print materials, use smart or curly quotes.

Example: These are “curly quotes”.

For online information, straight quotes are more readable.

Example: These are "straight quotes".

Put punctuation outside quotation marks, unless the punctuation is part of a passage being quoted or a direct quote that someone said.

Example: If you inherit more than $100,000, you need to set up a “discretionary trust”.

Example: Ask yourself, “Do I want to go to jail?”

Read about when to use quotations marks to highlight text in Highlight important words.