Punctuation possibilities

September 24, 2011 is National Punctuation Day®

         To honor this noted occasion, I will highlight a different punctuation mark everyday in September. Visit feliciawrite.blogspot.com and discover detailed definitions followed by lots of "how to" examples. Meanwhile, enjoy this alphabet soup with definitions of familiar (and not so familiar) punctuation points.

       Punctuation marks include any of the signs used in punctuation, such as a comma or question mark; indicate the structure and organization of written language. and also indicate inflection and breaks to be observed in a speech (see italicized highlights).

&; ampersand: used in place of the conjunction "and."

' apostrophe: used in place of a missing letter or letters; also indicates the possessive case.

* asterisk: used to highlight a footnote.

@ at sign: used to designate location.

{ } braces: uncommonly used to contain listed items or multiple lines of text to indicate that they are considered one unit.

[ ] brackets: used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text.

: colon: used after a word (or words) that introduce an example, a quotation, or an explanation. Overall, a colon works as a regulator.  The details that follow a colon prove, explain, or list elements of what was expressed before the colon.  There is only one space needed after a colon mark.

, comma: placed at the baseline of the text; used to separate words, thoughts, or phrases.

© copyright symbol: used in Copyright notices; identifies the copyright owner either by name, abbreviation, or other designation by which it is generally known. The correct way to display this symbol is immediately following the work title in superscript style.

... ellipsis: a dot-dot-dot mark used to indicate a pause in speech, an intentional omission of words from the original text, or trailing off into silence.

— em dash: about the width of the letter m; used to show breaks in thought, shifts in tone; may replace commas, semicolons, colons and parenthesis for added emphasis or an abrupt change in though. Use sparingly (or not at all) in formal writing. There are no spaces between an em dash or an en dash.

– en dash: about the width of the letter n; used for marking the space between dates in a chronological range (e.g., 2009–2012); also used in place of a hyphen when combining open compounds. There are no spaces between an em dash or an en dash.

! exclamation mark: used at the end of an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong emotions, or high volume, i.e. shouting.

. full stop/period: ends a sentence, statement, or complete thought.

- hyphen: used to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word; do not confuse with other dash lookalikes, or the minus sign; all of which have different functions and are longer than the hyphen.

( ) parenthesis: used in pairs to contain qualifying remarks or thoughts.

¶ pilcrow: also called the "paragraph mark," a pilcrow is commonly used to designate individual paragraphs.

? question mark: a punctuation stop mark that goes at the end of an interrogatory sentence. Also, often used in place of missing or unknown data.

" " quotation marks: used to indicate quoted (word-for-word) text.

® registered trademark: provides notice that the work in question has been registered with the National Trademark Office. The correct way to display this symbol is immediately following the work title in superscript style.

; semicolon: used to connect independent clauses.

/ slash: used in some abbreviations such as n/a for not applicable or no answer; w/o for without; w/ for with; and b/c for because. There are usually no spaces either before or after a slash.

⁄ solidus: designates fractions and fractional currency.

™ trademark: designates work that has not been officially registered. The correct way to display this symbol is immediately following the work title in superscript style.