The Writer's Desk Book / Being a Reference Volume upon Questions of Punctuation, Capitalization, Spelling, Division of Words, Indention, Spacing, Italics, Abbreviations, Accents, Numerals, Faulty Diction, Letter Writing, Postal Regulations, Etc.

by William Dana Orcutt

6. After subheads set in separate lines.

7. After date-lines at the top of letters.

8. After signatures at the end of letters.

9. At end of lines in display composition, such as titles,[2] blocked headings, etc.

10. After roman numerals, even though they possess the value of ordinals: e.g., Vol. VIII; George V is king of England.

[2] First adopted by William Pickering, the London publisher, about 1850.

THE DASH

The dash is more misused and overused than any of the other punctuation marks. The following rules define its proper use: {13}

Use the dash:

1. Whenever the construction or the sense is suddenly changed or suspended: e.g., You cannot believe — but I will not humiliate myself by asking the question.