Punctuation

Ampersands

Use sparingly, and only if they are part of a title or name (”Johnson & Johnson” i.e.). Otherwise, spell out “and”, even in headings.

Apostrophes

1. Use these to show the possessive in the following instances:
   • Single nouns (Brooke's approach, the donkey's harness) – the only exception is the possessive form of ‘it’ which has no apostrophe (‘the horse is eating its hay’)
   • Plural nouns (donkeys' harnesses, women's voices, people's republic). Nouns in phrases such as collector's item, cow's milk, goat's cheese or writer's cramp are treated as singular
   • Words and names which end in s (Jones' book)
2. Use to indicate a missing letter or letters (can't, we'd, it's, you're).
3. Use in phrases such as one hour's time, 12 years' imprisonment and six weeks' holiday where the time period modifies the noun.

Apostrophes do not make nouns plural.

• 10 donkeys, not 10 donkey’s
• five NGOs, not five NGO's
• FAQs not FAQ's

Bullet points

These are excellent for summarising points and for breaking up text to make it skimmable. Read more about how we use bullet points in lists.

Exclamation marks

Use sparingly! These tend to denote an informal tone, which may be okay for email, but it doesn’t always translate well to websites.

The world's hairiest donkey is called a Poitou.

The world's hairiest donkey is called a Poitou!

However, when communicating sounds or something with a lot of feeling, exclamation marks can be quite effective.

Hee haw! Hee haw! How donkeys' braying makes them unique among equids.

Hyphens

Use them:

• To form short compound adjectives and where there is ambiguity.

Brooke-trained farrier

Brooke trained farrier

• With short and common adverbs (hard-working animal, much-­loved donkey).

Hard-working animal

Hard working animal

Don't use them:

• With most compound adjectives where the meaning is clear and unambiguous.

Civil rights movement

Civil-rights movement

• After adverbs ending in ly.

Genetically modified food

Genetically-modified food