PUNCTUATION

THE COLON
When hours and minutes are expressed in figures, separate them with colon. No space precedes or follows this colon.

A colon is used to represent the word “to” in proportions:

In business letters, use a colon after the salutation. In social letters, use a comma.

THE DASH
Use dashes in place of commas to set off a nonessential element that requires
special emphasis. Do not leave a space before or after the dash.

To give special emphasis to the second independent clause in a compound sentence, use a dash rather than a comma before the coordinating conjunction.

Use dashes instead of parentheses when you want to give the nonessential element strong emphasis.

Use a dash to show an abrupt break in thought or to separate an afterthought from the main part of a sentence. Do not leave space before or after the dash.

PARENTHESES.
Parentheses and dashes serve many of the same functions, but they differ in one significant respect: parentheses can set off only nonessential elements, where as dashes can set off essential and nonessential elements.

With references:

With dates:

With enumerated items within a sentence:

Note: Letters are used to enumerate items within a sentence when the sentence itself is part of a numbered sequence.

3. Please include these items on your expense account (a) the cost of your hotel room;
(b) the cost of meals, including tips; and (c) the amount you spent on transportation.

Do not use a period before the closing parenthesis except with an abbreviation.

THE UNDERSCORE.
Underscoring in typewritten material is the counterpart of italic type in printed material.

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