5. Punctuation

Quotation Marks

Double quotation marks for full quotations.
Single quotation marks for nested quotations or referenced terms.
Example: “Joe said, ‘Are you sure about that?’”.

Oxford Comma

Always used.

Ampersand (&)

Use “and” in prose. Use “&” only to create internal sub-pairings.
Example: shoes & coat, oranges, tutu, guns & ammunition, and a cake.

Mathematical Operators

Use spacing around operators: x + y = z.
MathJax is first preference: https://www.mathjax.org/#gettingstarted
LaTeX is second preference.

Possessives and Plurals

Names ending in s take only an apostrophe: Louis’ chair.
Plurals do not use apostrophes: As, Bs, 1990s.

Abbreviation Period Rule

• If the abbreviation ends with the final letter of the full word, omit the period (Dr).
• If not, include the period (Prof.).
et al. retains the period on al. because it abbreviates alii.

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