"the marks hierarchically, in terms of weight"". Cecil Hartley's poem identifies their relative values: <poem style=margin:4em;> The stop point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. At ev'ry comma, stop while ""one"" you count; At semicolon, ""two"" is the amount; A colon doth require the time of ""three""; The period ""four"", as learned men agree. </poem> The use of punctuation was not standardised until after the invention of printing. According to the 1885 edition of ""The American Printer"", the importance of punctuation was noted in various sayings by children such as: <poem style=margin:4em;>"
"and the ""exclamation comma"". The ""question comma"" has a comma instead of the dot at the bottom of a question mark, while the ""exclamation comma"" has a comma in place of the point at the bottom of an exclamation mark. These were intended for use as question and exclamation marks within a sentence, a function for which normal question and exclamation marks can also be used, but which may be considered obsolescent. The patent application entered into the national phase only in Canada. It was advertised as lapsing in Australia on 27 January 1994 and in Canada on 6 November"
"column above may not render correctly in all browsers."" Interpunct An interpunct ( · ), also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot, and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did not appear until some time between 600 and 800.) It appears in a variety of uses in some modern languages and is present in Unicode as code point . The multiplication dot or dot operator indicates multiplication and is optionally used instead of the styled × for multiplication of real"
"Dot (diacritic) When used as a diacritic mark, the term dot is usually reserved for the ""Interpunct"" ( · ), or to the glyphs 'combining dot above' ( ◌̇ ) and 'combining dot below' ( ◌̣ ) which may be combined with some letters of the extended Latin alphabets in use in Central European languages and Vietnamese. Language scripts or transcription schemes that use the dot above a letter as a diacritical mark: The overdot is also used in the Devanagari script, where it is called anusvara. In mathematics and physics, when using Newton's notation the dot denotes the time"
"signified by a dot at the bottom, middle, or top of the line. For a short passage (a ""komma""), a ""media distinctio"" dot was placed mid-level ( · ). This is the origin of the concept of a comma, although the name came to be used for the mark itself instead of the clause it separated. The mark used today is descended from a diagonal slash, or ""virgula suspensiva"" ( / ), used from the 13th to 17th centuries to represent a pause. The modern comma was first used by Aldus Manutius. In general, the comma shows that the words"
"Question mark The question mark [ ? ] (also known as ""interrogation point"", ""query"", or ""eroteme"" in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions. The question mark glyph is also often used in place of missing or unknown data. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Lynne Truss attributes an early form of the modern question mark in western language to Alcuin of York. Truss describes the ""punctus interrogativus"" of the late 8th century as, ""a lightning flash, striking from right to left""."
"Interpunct An interpunct ( · ), also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot, and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did not appear until some time between 600 and 800.) It appears in a variety of uses in some modern languages and is present in Unicode as code point . The multiplication dot or dot operator indicates multiplication and is optionally used instead of the styled × for multiplication of real numbers: is equivalent to or ""a times b"". The"
"""query diverticulitis""). Question mark The question mark [ ? ] (also known as ""interrogation point"", ""query"", or ""eroteme"" in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions. The question mark glyph is also often used in place of missing or unknown data. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Lynne Truss attributes an early form of the modern question mark in western language to Alcuin of York. Truss describes the ""punctus interrogativus"" of the late 8th century as, ""a lightning flash, striking from right"
"Nuqta Nuqtā (Hindi-Urdu नुक़्ता, نقطہ, from Arabic ""nuqta"" نقطة ""dot,"" or ""period.""), also spelled Nuktā, is a term for a diacritic mark that was introduced in Devanāgari and some other Indian scripts to represent sounds not present in the original scripts. It takes the form of a dot placed below a character. Also, in the Urdu script, there ""are some letters in Urdu that share the same basic shape but differ in the placement of dots(s) or nuqta(s)"": the letter ع ""ain"", with the addition of a nuqta, becomes the letter غ g͟hain. Examples from Devanāgari, the script used to"
"Comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe ( ' ) or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or with the appearance of a small, filled-in . The comma is used in many contexts and languages, mainly for separating parts of a sentence such as clauses, and items in lists, particularly when there"
"Colon (punctuation) The colon ( : ) is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line. A colon precedes an explanation or an enumeration, or list. A colon is also used with ratios, titles and subtitles of books, city and publisher in bibliographies, Biblical citations between chapter and verse, and for salutations business letters and other formal letter writing, and often to separate hours and minutes. The most common use of the colon is to inform the reader that what follows the colon proves, explains, defines, describes, or lists elements of what preceded"
"Quotation mark Quotation marks, also known as quotes, quote marks, quotemarks, speech marks, inverted commas or talking marks, are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same character. Quotation marks have a variety of forms in different languages and in different media. The double quotation mark is older than the single. It derives from a marginal notation used in fifteenth-century manuscript annotations to indicate a passage of particular"
"sounds can also be denoted by asterisks or other punctuation marks. Colons can also be used to represent eyes in emoticons. Colon (punctuation) The colon ( : ) is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line. A colon precedes an explanation or an enumeration, or list. A colon is also used with ratios, titles and subtitles of books, city and publisher in bibliographies, Biblical citations between chapter and verse, and for salutations business letters and other formal letter writing, and often to separate hours and minutes. The most common use of the"
"Exclamation mark The exclamation mark (British English) or exclamation point (American English) is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume (shouting), or to show emphasis, and often marks the end of a sentence, for example: ""Watch out!"" Similarly, a bare exclamation mark (with nothing before or after) is often used in warning signs. Other uses include: Graphically the exclamation mark is represented as a full stop point with a vertical line above. One theory of its origin is that it is derived from a Latin exclamation of joy (""io""). The"
"expression was marked by a high dot ⟨˙⟩, called the ""stigmḕ teleía"" () or ""terminal dot"". The ""middle dot"" ⟨·⟩, the ""stigmḕ mésē"" (), marked a division in a thought occasioning a longer breath (essentially a semicolon) and the low dot ⟨.⟩, called the ""hypostigmḕ"" () or ""underdot"", marked a division in a thought occasioning a shorter breath (essentially a comma). In practice, scribes mostly employed the terminal dot; the others fell out of use and were later replaced by other symbols. From the 9th century, the full stop began appearing as a low mark instead of a high one;"
"derivative as in formula_1. However, today this is more commonly written with a prime or using Leibniz's notation. In addition, the overdot is one way used to indicate an infinitely repeating set of numbers in decimal notation, as in formula_2, which is equal to the fraction ⅓, and formula_3 or formula_4, which is equal to ⅐. In Unicode, the dot is encoded at: and at: There is also: Pre-composed characters: Dot (diacritic) When used as a diacritic mark, the term dot is usually reserved for the ""Interpunct"" ( · ), or to the glyphs 'combining dot above' ( ◌̇ )"
"reader. Quotation marks are particularly variable across European languages. For example, in French and Russian, quotes would appear as: (in French, each ""double punctuation"", as the guillemet, requires a non-breaking space; in Russian it does not). In French of France, the signs : ; ? and ! are always preceded by a thin unbreakable space. In Canada, this is only the case for :. In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point , known as the (). In Georgian, three dots, , were"
"the dot used as a thousands separator (though a thin space is sometimes used for the latter purpose, especially in technical writing, regardless what the decimal separator is). In computing, the dot is used as a delimiter more broadly, as site and file names (""wikipedia.org"", ""192.168.0.1."" ""document.txt""), and serves special functions in various programming and scripting languages. Guillemets sometimes called French quotation marks, are relatively uncommon in English, but are sometimes used as a form of quotation mark. The question mark is used to mark the end of a sentence which is a question. Quotation marks are used to mark"
"Quotation marks in English In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, speech marks, quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name. They are also used to indicate that the meaning of the word or phrase they surround should be taken to be different from (or, at least, a modification of) that typically associated with it (e.g. in the sentence ""the elite, composed by people of mixed ancestry,"
"sentence. The Syriac question mark, known as the ""zagwa elaya"" or ""upper pair"", has the form of a vertical double dot over a word. In English, the question mark typically occurs at the end of a sentence, where it replaces the full stop (period). However, the question mark may also occur at the end of a clause or phrase, where it replaces the comma : or: This is quite common in Spanish, where the use of bracketing question marks explicitly indicates the scope of interrogation. A question mark may also appear immediately after questionable data, such as dates: In Spanish,"
"confused with other chevron-shaped characters, such as or , which may occasionally be called carets, too. The caret was originally and continues to be used in handwritten form as a proofreading mark to indicate where a punctuation mark, word, or phrase should be inserted into a document. The term comes from the Latin , ""it lacks"", from , ""to lack; to be separated from; to be free from"". The caret symbol is written below the line of text for a line-level punctuation mark, such as a comma, or above the line as an inverted caret (cf. ) for a higher"
"wishes and commands. If the sentence formally reflects one mood, but it actually refers to a different idea, the punctuation mark is selected based on the actual meaning. Punctuation marks may be repeated or combined to express an intense or mixed emotion. (For example, ""Hogy képzeled ezt?!"" ‘How do you dare?!’) In case of coordinating clauses, the punctuation mark is adapted to the ending clause. Subordinated clauses take a punctuation mark reflecting the main clause – except if the main clause is only symbolic, emphasizing the subordinate clause. A comma (or a colon, semicolon etc.) should be placed at the"
"Serial comma In English language punctuation, a serial comma or series comma (also called an Oxford comma or a Harvard comma) is a comma placed immediately before the coordinating conjunction (usually ""and"" or ""or"") in a series of three or more terms. For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated either as ""France, Italy,and Spain"" (with the serial comma), or as ""France, Italyand Spain"" (without the serial comma). Opinions among writers and editors differ on whether to use the serial comma, and usage also differs somewhat between regional varieties of English. In American English, not using a serial"
"the Greek comma. The modern Greek ano teleia mark (, ""ánō teleía"", lit. ""upper stop""), also known as the ""áno stigmī́"" (), is the infrequently-encountered Greek semicolon and is properly romanized as such. It is also used to introduce lists in the manner of an English colon. In Greek text, Unicode provides a unique code point——but it is also expressed as an interpunct. In practice, the separate code point for ano teleia canonically decomposes to the interpunct. The Hellenistic scholars of Alexandria first developed the mark for a function closer to the comma, before it fell out of use and"
"use. An apostrophe was used to mark an interrogative word, and a comma appeared at the end of an interrogative sentence. From the 12th century on, these were replaced with the semicolon (the Greek question mark). In the 18th century, Patriarch Anton I of Georgia reformed the system again, with commas, single dots, and double dots used to mark ""complete"", ""incomplete"", and ""final"" sentences, respectively. For the most part, Georgian today uses the punctuation as in international usage of the Latin script. This table lists the three scripts in parallel columns, including the letters that are now obsolete in all"
"are three or more items listed. The word ""comma"" comes from the Greek (), which originally meant a cut-off piece; specifically, in grammar, a short clause. A comma-shaped mark is used as a diacritic in several writing systems, and is considered distinct from the cedilla. The rough and smooth breathings () appear above the letter in Ancient Greek, and the comma diacritic appears below the letter in Latvian, Romanian, and Livonian. The basic comma is defined in Unicode as , and many variants by typography or language are also defined. Some languages use a completely different sort of character for"
"Inverted question and exclamation marks Inverted question marks (¿) and exclamation marks (Commonwealth English) or exclamation points (American English) (¡) are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences (or clauses), respectively, in written Spanish and sometimes also in languages which have cultural ties with Spanish, such as in older standards of Galician (now it is optional and not recommended) and the Waray language. They can also be combined in several ways to express the combination of a question and surprise or disbelief. The initial marks are normally mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the"
"verb forms used after such preverbal elements (the prototonic forms), e.g. ""carries"", to distinguish them from forms used without preverbs, e.g. ""carries"". In other works, the hyphen (, ) or colon (, ) may be used for this purpose. Runic texts use either an interpunct-like or a colon-like punctuation mark to separate words. There are two Unicode characters dedicated for this: and . In SI units the middle dot or non-breaking space is used as a multiplication sign. Only a comma or full stop (period) may be used as a decimal marker. In mathematics, a small middle dot can be"
"""cum"" in some compounds separated by a slash; ""over"" or ""out of"" in fractions, division, and numbering; and ""per"" or ""a(n)"" in derived units (as km/h) and prices (as $~/kg), where the division slash stands for ""each"". Slash (punctuation) The slash is an oblique slanting line punctuation mark. Once used to mark periods and commas, the slash is now most often used to represent exclusive or inclusive or, division and fractions, and as a date separator. It is called a solidus in Unicode, is sometimes known as a stroke in British English, and it has several other historical or technical"
"dots, or the same number of dots next that have equal or greater ""force"", or the end of the line. Dots next to the signs ⊃, ≡,∨, =Df have greater force than dots next to (""x""), (∃""x"") and so on, which have greater force than dots indicating a logical product ∧. Example 1. The line corresponds to where the colon represents the outer (), the next two dots represent the parentheses around ~p and ~q, the third dot represents the parentheses around p ∧ q, and the fourth dot (rather confusingly) represents the logical symbol ∧ rather than a pair"
"character, . In British typography, the space dot is an interpunct used as the formal decimal point. Its use is advocated by laws and by academic circles such as the Cambridge University History Faculty Style Guide and is mandated by some UK-based academic journals such as ""The Lancet"". When the British currency was decimalised in 1971, the official advice issued was to write decimal amounts with a raised point (for example, £21·48) and to use a decimal point ""on the line"" only when typesetting constraints made it unavoidable. This usage, however, has been declining since the mid-1970s, as the importation"
"have general category ""Punctuation"", and a subcategory Open, Close, Initial, Final or Other (codice_21). = Also sometimes used by 18th- and 19th-century printers for the small ""c"" for Scottish names, e.g. M‘Culloch. For a printed example see the Green Bag reference or the (Wikisource). The same U+2019 code point and glyph is used for typographic (curly) apostrophes. Both U+0027 and U+2019 are ambiguous about distinguishing punctuation from apostrophes. Quotation mark Quotation marks, also known as quotes, quote marks, quotemarks, speech marks, inverted commas or talking marks, are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct"
"consortium calls it) is a small dot used for interword separation. It is also known as ""nakapochi"", ""nakapotsu"" and ""nakaten"". It has a fixed width that is the same as most kana characters. Uses include: The part alternation mark ( ""ioriten"" or ""utakigō"") is used to indicate the beginning of a song, or the beginning of the next player's part. It was most common in Noh chanting books and Renga (linked verse). In Noh books it is used to mark the beginning of each character's (or the chorus') parts. The opening square quotation mark () may also be used. are"