Contents -- Introduction -- Author's Note -- Definitions -- What You Need to Know First: 19 Principles -- 1. Punctuation can't rescue sense from nonsense. -- 2. The main reason to punctuate is to clarify your intent. -- 3. One of punctuation's tasks is to supply the various signals given by the voice. -- 4. In workplace writing, a sentence should yield its meaning instantly. -- 5. Punctuation should be invisible. -- 6. Punctuation follows the arrangement of words. -- 7. Punctuation indicates how ideas relate. -- 8. Punctuation suggests how much emphasis an idea deserves. -- 9. Punctuation slows the reading. -- 10. Don't count too much on context to make your meaning plain. -- 11. Know the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive expressions. -- 12. Respect the distinction between that and which. -- 13. When is punctuation optional? -- 14. Use the serial comma. -- 15. When do I separate adjectives with a comma? -- 16. Use the hyphen to clarify "improvised usage." -- 17. Sometimes, no matter how you punctuate, a reader is going to think it's wrong. -- 18. Feed your head. -- 19. When you see an odd usage, consider the source. -- The Marks -- Apostrophe -- Brackets -- Colon -- Comma -- Dash -- Ellipsis -- Hyphen -- Parentheses -- Period -- Question Mark -- Quotation Marks -- Semicolon -- Slash -- Punctuating Common Sentence Structures -- Appendix: How to List Ideas -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.