n.
- The use of standard marks and signs in writing and printing to separate words into sentences, clauses, and phrases in order to clarify meaning.
- The marks so used.
- The act or an instance of punctuating.
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punctuation
American Heritage Dictionary:
punc·tu·a·tion |
n.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
punctuation |
For more information on punctuation, visit Britannica.com.
Oxford Companion to Classical Literature:
punctuation |
Punctuation existed in Greek texts from at least the fourth century BC, but its use was sporadic (as it was later in Latin texts). What it consisted of can be inferred from the papyri (see PAPYROLOGY) and early manuscripts, and from explicit statements by Dionysius Thrax. In practice scribes of Greek and Latin texts rarely used more than two marks, the equivalent of the full-stop and the comma. Only for Homer was there a more sophisticated system, invented by Nicanor in the second century AD. See also BOOKS AND WRITING.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
punctuation |
punctuation [Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and pauses, that are equally significant (see grammar and phonetics). In English, stress, pausing, and tonal changes interlock in a set of patterns often called intonations. Such features are represented by punctuation, indicated by signs inserted usually between words, and often following the feature they mark.
The intonations of declaration are classified in three types, symbolized by the comma (,), used to separate words or phrases for clarity; the semicolon (;), used to mark separation between elements in a series of related phrases, generally in a long sentence; and the full stop, or period (.), used to mark the end of a sentence. Other intonations are shown by the exclamation point (!); the interrogation point, or question mark (?); the parenthesis [( )], used to set off a word or phrase from a sentence that is complete without it; and the colon (:), typically used to introduce material that elaborates on what has already been said. Quotation marks (" ") indicate direct quotation or some borrowing, and usually demand special intonation. The ellipsis (…) is used to indicate the place in a passage where material has been omitted or a thought has trailed off. The long dash (-) is especially used in handwriting for incomplete intonation patterns.
Punctuation of material intended to be read silently rather than aloud-the far more usual case today-has introduced refinements designed to help the reader: brackets ([ ]), a secondary parenthesis; capital letters; paragraphing; and indentation. Two other frequent signs are the apostrophe ('), marking an omission of one or two letters, or a possessive case, and the hyphen (-), marking a line division or an intimate joining, as in compound words. These last two are practically extra letters, and their use, belonging with spelling rather than with punctuation, is highly arbitrary.
Each written language has its tradition of punctuation, often very different from that used in English; thus, in German nouns are capitalized, and in Spanish the beginnings of exclamations and of questions are marked with inverted signs. See also accent.
Bibliography
See W. D. Drake, The Way to Punctuate (1971); Words into Type (3d ed. 1974); D. Hacker, A Writer's Reference (4th ed. 1999); Univ. of Chicago Press, The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 2003).
Word Tutor:
punctuation |
IN BRIEF: The use of commas, periods, and other marks in writing.
To write well, you must use punctuation correctly.
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
Random House Word Menu:
categories related to 'punctuation' |
- Punctuation and Diacritics - punctuation: system of standardized graphic symbols inserted in written matter to clarify meaning and separate structural units
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Punctuation |
"Punctuating" redirects here. For other uses, see Punctuating (disambiguation).
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.
In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. For example, "woman, without her man, is nothing" and "woman: without her, man is nothing" have greatly different meanings, as do "eats shoots and leaves" and "eats, shoots and leaves".[1] "King Charles walked and talked; half an hour after, his head was cut off" is less surprising than "King Charles walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off". (For English usage, see the articles on specific punctuation marks.)
The rules of punctuation vary with language, location, register and time and are constantly evolving. Certain aspects of punctuation are stylistic and are thus the author's (or editor's) choice. Tachygraphic language forms, such as those used in online chat and text messages, may have wildly different rules.
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Contents
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History
The first writing systems were mostly logographic and/or syllabic, for example Chinese and Maya script, and they do not necessarily require punctuation, especially spacing. This is because the entire morpheme or word is typically clustered within a single glyph, so spacing does not help as much to distinguish where one word ends and the other starts. Disambiguation and emphasis can easily be communicated without punctuation by employing a separate written form distinct from the spoken form of the language that uses slightly different phraseology. Even today, formal written modern English differs subtly from spoken English because not all emphasis and disambiguation is possible to convey in print, even with punctuation.
Ancient Chinese classical texts were transmitted without punctuation. However, many Warring states era bamboo texts contain the symbols 「└」 and 「▄」 indicating the end of a chapter and full stop, respectively.[2] By the Song dynasty, addition of punctuation to texts by scholars to aid comprehension became common.[3]
The earliest alphabetic writing had no capitalization, no spaces, no vowels and few punctuation marks. This worked as long as the subject matter was restricted to a limited range of topics (e.g., writing used for recording business transactions). Punctuation is historically an aid to reading aloud (vis George Bernard Shaw).
The oldest known document using punctuation is the Mesha Stele (9th century BC). This employs points between the words and horizontal strokes between the sense section as punctuation.
The Greeks were using punctuation marks consisting of vertically arranged dots - usually two (cf. the modern colon) or three - in around the 5th century BC. Greek playwrights such as Euripides and Aristophanes used symbols to distinguish the ends of phrases in written drama: this essentially helped the play's cast to know when to pause. In particular, they used three different symbols to divide speeches, known as commas (indicated by a centred dot), colons (indicated by a dot on the base line), and periods or full stops (indicated by a raised dot).
The Romans (circa 1st century BC) also adopted symbols to indicate pauses.
"On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune."
Lynn Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves.[4]
Punctuation developed dramatically when large numbers of copies of the Christian Bible started to be produced. These were designed to be read aloud and the copyists began to introduce a range of marks to aid the reader, including indentation, various punctuation marks and an early version of initial capitals. Saint Jerome and his colleagues, who produced the Vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin, developed an early system (circa 400 AD); this was considerably improved on by Alcuin. The marks included the virgule (forward slash) and dots in different locations; the dots were centred in the line, raised or in groups.
With the invention of moveable type in Europe began an increase of printed material. "The rise of printing in the 14th and 15th centuries meant that a standard system of punctuation was urgently required."[5] The introduction of a standard system of punctuation has also been attributed to Aldus Manutius and his grandson. They have been credited with popularizing the practice of ending sentences with the colon or full stop, inventing the semicolon, making occasional use of parentheses and creating the modern comma by lowering the virgule. By 1566, Aldus Manutius the Younger was able to state that the main object of punctuation was the clarification of syntax.[6]
By the 19th century, punctuation in the western world had evolved "to classify the marks hierarchically, in terms of weight".[7] Cecil Hartley's poem identifies their relative values:
- 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.[8]
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:
- Charles the First walked and talked
- Half an hour after his head was cut off.
With a semi-colon and a comma added it reads:
- Charles the First walked and talked;
- Half an hour after, his head was cut off.[9]
Shortly after the invention of printing, the necessity of stops or pauses in sentences for the guidance of the reader produced the colon and full point. In process of time, the comma was added, which was then merely a perpendicular line, proportioned to the body of the letter. These three points were the only ones used until the close of the fifteenth century, when Aldo Manuccio gave a better shape to the comma, and added the semicolon; the comma denoting the shortest pause, the semicolon next, then the colon, and the full point terminating the sentence. The marks of interrogation and admiration were introduced many years after.[10]
The standards and limitations of evolving technologies have exercised further pragmatic influences. For example, minimisation of punctuation in typewritten matter became economically desirable in the 1960s and 1970s for the many users of carbon-film ribbons, since a period or comma consumed the same length of expensive non-reusable ribbon as did a capital letter.
Conventional styles of English punctuation
Main articles: Quotation mark#Punctuation and Quotation mark
There are two major styles of punctuation in English: American or traditional punctuation; and British or logical punctuation. These two styles differ mainly in the way in which they handle quotation marks.
Other languages
Other European languages use much the same punctuation as English. The similarity is so strong that the few variations may confuse a native English reader. Quotation marks are particularly variable across European languages. For example, in French and Russian, quotes would appear as: « Je suis fatigué. » (in French, each "double punctuation", as the guillemet, requires a non-breaking space; in Russian it does not).
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 ano teleia (άνω τελεία).
Spanish uses an inverted question mark at the beginning of a question and the normal question mark at the end, as well as an inverted exclamation mark at the beginning of an exclamation and the normal exclamation mark at the end.
Arabic, Urdu, and Persian languages—written from right to left—use a reversed question mark: ؟, and a reversed comma: ، . This is a modern innovation; pre-modern Arabic did not use punctuation. Hebrew, which is also written from right to left, uses the same characters as in English,, and ? .
Originally, Sanskrit had no punctuation. In the 17th century, Sanskrit and Marathi, both written in the Devanagari script, started using the vertical bar (|) to end a line of prose and double vertical bars (||) in verse.
Texts in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean were generally left unpunctuated until the modern era. In unpunctuated texts, the grammatical structure of sentences in classical writing is inferred from context. Most punctuation marks in modern Chinese, Japanese, and Korean have similar functions to their English counterparts; however, they often look different and have different customary rules.
Further information: Chinese punctuation, Hebrew punctuation, Japanese punctuation, and Korean punctuation
Novel punctuation marks
An international patent application was filed, and published in 1992 under WO number WO9219458,[11] for two new punctuation marks: the "question comma" and the "exclamation comma". The patent application entered into national phase exclusively with Canada, advertised as lapsing in Australia on 27 January 1994[12] and in Canada on 6 November 1995.[13]
See also
- Hebrew punctuation
- James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher, a word puzzle in which proper punctuation must be added to give the sentence meaning
- Japanese punctuation
- Obelism, the practice of annotating manuscripts with marks set in the margins
- Scribal abbreviations, abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in Latin
- Terminal punctuation
- Tironian notes, a system of shorthand consisted of about 4,000 signs
- Unicode symbols, characters of symbols that have a well-defined place in plain text, in computing
- Usage
References
- ^ Truss, Lynne (2003). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-612-7.
- ^ 林清源，《簡牘帛書標題格式研究》台北：藝文印書館，2006。(Lin Qingyuan, Study of Title Formatting in Bamboo and Silk Texts Taipei: Yiwen Publishing, 2006.) ISBN 9575201116.
- ^ The History of the Song Dynasty (1346) states 「凡所讀書，無不加標點」 (Among those who read texts, there are none who do not add punctuation).
- ^ Truss, Lynn (2004). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books. p. 71. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
- ^ Truss, Lynn (2004). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books. p. 77. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
- ^ Truss, Lynn (2004). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books. pp. 77–78. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
- ^ Truss, Lynn (2004). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books. p. 112. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
- ^ Truss, Lynn (2004). Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books. pp. 112–113. ISBN 1-592-40087-6.
- ^ I Saw Esau by Iona and Peter Opie (published 1943).
- ^ MacKellar, Thomas (1885). The American Printer: A Manual of Typography, Containing Practical Directions for Managing all Departments of a Printing Office, As Well as Complete Instructions for Apprentices: With Several Useful Tables, Numerous Schemes for Imposing Forms in Every Variety, Hints to Authors, Etc. (Fifteenth - Revised and Enlarged ed.). Philadelphia: MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. p. 63.
- ^ European Patent Office publication
- ^ Australian Official Journal of Patents, 27 January 1994
- ^ CIPO - Patent - 2102803 - Financial Transactions
Further reading
- Allen, Robert (2002-07-25). Punctuation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860439-4.
- Amis, Kingsley (1998-03-02). The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-638746-2.
- Fowler, Henry Watson; Francis George Fowler (June 2002) [1906]. The King's English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860507-2.
- Gowers, Ernest (1948). Plain Words: a guide to the use of English. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Parkes, Malcolm Beckwith (1993). Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07941-8.
External links
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Look up Punctuation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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Wikibooks has a book on the topic of |
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Wikibooks has a book on the topic of |
- Larry Trask: Guide to Punctuation A helpful online resource
- Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization – a comprehensive online guide by NASA
- History of Punctuation, in French Helpful photographs of early punctuation
- Punctuation Marks in English: Clarity in Expression
- Unicode reference tables:
- Ethiopic script
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | ||
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Oxford Essential Desk Reference:
Style and Usage: Punctuation |
Punctuation is an essential element of good writing because it makes the author’s meaning clear to the reader. Although precise punctuation styles may vary somewhat among published sources, there are a number of fundamental principles worthy of consideration. Discussed below are the punctuation marks used in English:
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comma |
apostrophe |
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semicolon |
quotation marks |
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colon |
parentheses |
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period |
dash |
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question mark |
hyphen |
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exclamation point |
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Comma
The comma is the most frequently used mark of punctuation in the English language. It signals to the reader a pause, which generally clarifies the author’s meaning, and establishes a sensible order to the elements of written language. Among the most typical functions of the comma are the following:
1. It can separate the clauses of a compound sentence when there are two independent clauses joined by a conjunction, especially when the clauses are not very short:
It never occurred to me to look in the attic, and I’m sure it didn’t occur to Rachel either.
The Nelsons wanted to see the Grand Canyon at sunrise, but they overslept that morning.
2. It can separate the clauses of a compound sentence when there is a series of independent clauses, the last two of which are joined by a conjunction:
The bus ride to the campsite was very uncomfortable, the cabins were not ready for us when we got there, the cook had forgotten to start dinner, and the rain was torrential.
3. It is used to precede or set off, and therefore indicate, a nonrestrictive dependent clause (a clause that could be omitted without changing the meaning of the main clause):
I read her autobiography, which was published last July.
They showed up at midnight, after most of the guests had gone home.
The coffee, which is freshly brewed, is in the kitchen.
4. It can follow an introductory phrase:
Having enjoyed the movie so much, he agreed to see it again.
Born and raised in Paris, she had never lost her French accent.
In the beginning, they had very little money to invest.
5. It can set off words used in direct address:
Listen, people, you have no choice in the matter.
Yes, Mrs. Greene, I will be happy to feed your cat.
6. The comma can separate two or more coordinate adjectives (adjectives that could otherwise be joined with and) that modify one noun:
The cruise turned out to be the most entertaining, fun, and relaxing vacation
I’ve ever had.
The horse was tall, lean, and sleek.
Note that cumulative adjectives (those not able to be joined with and) are not separated by a comma:
She wore bright yellow rubber boots.
7. Use a comma to separate three or more items in a series or list:
Charlie, Melissa, Stan, and Mark will be this year’s soloists in the spring concert.
We need furniture, toys, clothes, books, tools, housewares, and other useful merchandise for the benefit auction.
Note that the comma between the last two items in a series is sometimes omitted in less precise style:
The most popular foods served in the cafeteria are pizza, hamburgers and nachos.
8. Use a comma to separate and set off the elements in an address or other geographical designation:
My new house is at 1657 Nighthawk Circle, South Kingsbury, Michigan.
We arrived in Pamplona, Spain, on Thursday.
9. Use a comma to set off direct quotations (note the placement or absence of commas with other punctuation):
“Kim forgot her gloves,” he said, “but we have a pair she can borrow.”
There was a long silence before Jack blurted out, “This must be the world’s ugliest painting.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked in a puzzled manner.
“Happy New Year!” everyone shouted.
10. A comma is used to set off titles after a person’s name:
Katherine Bentley, M.D.
Steven Wells, Esq.
The semicolon has two basic functions:
1. It can separate two main clauses, particularly when these clauses are of equal importance:
The crowds gathered outside the museum hours before the doors were opened; this was one exhibit no one wanted to miss.
She always complained when her relatives stayed for the weekend; even so, she usually was a little sad when they left.
2. It can be used as a comma is used to separate such elements as clauses or items in a series or list, particularly when one or more of the elements already includes a comma:
The path took us through the deep, dark woods; across a small meadow; into a cold, wet cave; and up a hillside overlooking
the lake.
Listed for sale in the ad were two bicycles; a battery-powered, leaf-mulching lawn mower; and a maple bookcase.
The colon has five basic functions:
1. It can introduce something, especially a list of items:
In the basket were three pieces of mail: a postcard, a catalog, and a wedding invitation.
Students should have the following items: backpack, loose-leaf notebook, pens and pencils, pencil sharpener, and ruler.
2. It can separate two clauses in a sentence when the second clause is being used to explain or illustrate the first clause:
We finally understood why she would never go sailing with us: she had a deep fear of the water.
Most of the dogs in our neighborhood are quite large: two of them are St. Bernards.
3. It can introduce a statement or a quotation:
His parents say the most important rule is this: Always tell the truth.
We repeated the final words of his poem: “And such is the plight of fools like me.”
4. It can be used to follow the greeting in a formal or business letter:
Dear Ms. Daniels:
Dear Sir or Madam:
5. In the U.S., the colon separates minutes from hours, and seconds from minutes, in showing time of day and measured lengths of time:
Please be at the restaurant before 6:45.
Her best running time so far has been 00:12:35.
The period has two basic functions:
1. It is used to mark the end of a sentence:
It was reported that there is a shortage of nurses at the hospital. Several of the patients have expressed concern about this problem.
2. It is often used at the end of an abbreviation:
On Fri., Sept. 12, Dr. Brophy noted that the patient’s weight was 168 lbs. and that his height was 6 ft. 2 in.
(Note that another period is not added to the end of the sentence when the last word is an abbreviation.)
Question Mark and Exclamation PointThe only sentences that do not end in a period are those that end in either a question mark or an exclamation point.
Question marks are used to mark the end of a sentence that asks a direct question (generally, a question that expects an answer):
Is there any reason for us to bring more than a few dollars?
Who is your science teacher?
Exclamation points are used to mark the end of a sentence that expresses a strong feeling, typically surprise, joy, or anger:
I want you to leave and never come back!
What a beautiful view this is!
The apostrophe has two basic functions:
1. It is used to show where a letter or letters are missing in a contraction:
The directions are cont’d [continued] on the next page.
We’ve [we have] decided that if she can’t [cannot] go, then we aren’t [are not] going either.
2. It can be used to show possession:
a. The possessive of a singular noun or an irregular plural noun is created by adding an apostrophe and an s:
the pilot’s uniform
Mrs. Mendoza’s house
a tomato’s bright red color
the oxen’s yoke
b. The possessive of a regular plural noun is created by adding just an apostrophe:
the pilots’ uniforms [referring to more than one pilot]
the Mendozas’ house [referring to the Mendoza family]
the tomatoes’ bright red color [referring to more than one tomato]
Quotation marks have two basic functions:
1. They are used to set off direct quotations (an exact rendering of someone’s spoken or written words):
“I think the new library is wonderful,” she remarked to David.
We were somewhat lost, so we asked, “Are we anywhere near the art gallery?”
In his letter he had written, “The nights here are quiet and starry. It seems like a hundred years since I’ve been wakened
by the noise of city traffic and squabbling neighbors.”
Note that indirect quotes (which often are preceded by that, if, or whether) are not set off by quotation marks:
He told me that he went to school in Boston.
We asked if we could still get tickets to the game.
2. They can be used to set off words or phrases that have specific technical usage, or to set off meanings of words, or to indicate words that are being used in a special way in a sentence:
The part of the flower that bears the pollen is the “stamen.”
When I said “plain,” I meant “flat land,” not “ordinary.”
Oddly enough, in the theater, the statement “break a leg” is meant as an expression of good luck.
What you call “hoagies,” we call “grinders” or “submarine sandwiches.”
He will never be a responsible adult until he outgrows his “Peter Pan” behavior.
Note that sometimes single quotation marks (the ’stamen.’), rather than double quotation marks as above (the “stamen.”), may be used to set off words or phrases. What is most important is to be consistent in such usage.
ParenthesesParentheses are used, in pairs, to enclose information that gives extra detail or explanation to the regular text. Parentheses are used in two basic ways:
1. They can separate a word or words in a sentence from the rest of the sentence:
On our way to school, we walk past the Turner Farm (the oldest dairy farm in town) and watch the cows being fed.
The stores were filled with holiday shoppers (even more so than last year).
(Note that the period goes outside the parentheses, because the words in the parentheses are only part of the sentence.)
2. They can form a separate complete sentence:
Please bring a dessert to the dinner party. (It can be something very simple.) I look forward to seeing you there.
(Note that the period goes inside the parentheses, because the words in the parentheses are a complete and independent sentence.)
DashA dash is used most commonly to replace the usage of parentheses within sentences. If the information being set off is in the middle of the sentence, a pair of dashes is used; if it is at the end of the sentence, just one dash is used:
On our way to school, we walk past the Turner Farm—the oldest dairy farm in town—and watch the cows being fed.
The stores were filled with holiday shoppers—even more so than last year.
A hyphen has three basic functions:
1. It can join two or more words to make a compound, especially when so doing makes the meaning more clear to the reader:
We met to discuss long-range planning.
There were six four-month-old piglets at the fair.
That old stove was quite a coal-burner.
2. It can replace the word “to” when a span or range of data is given:
John Adams was president of the United States 1797-1801.
Today we will look for proper nouns in the L-N section of the dictionary.
The ideal weight for that breed of dog would be 75-85 pounds.
3. It can indicate a word break at the end of a line. The break must always be between syllables:
It is important for any writer to know that there are numerous punctuation principles that are considered standard and proper, but there is also flexibility regarding acceptable punctuation. Having learned the basic “rules” of good punctuation, the writer will be able to adopt a specific and consistent style of punctuation that best suits the material he or she is writing.
Garner, Bryan A. A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Translations:
Punctuation |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - tegnsætning
idioms:
- punctuation mark skilletegn
Nederlands (Dutch)
interpunctie
Français (French)
n. - ponctuation
idioms:
- punctuation mark signe de ponctuation
Deutsch (German)
n. - Zeichensetzung
idioms:
- punctuation mark Satzzeichen
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (γραμμ.) στίξη
idioms:
- punctuation mark (γραμμ.) σημείο στίξης
Italiano (Italian)
punteggiatura
idioms:
- punctuation mark segno d'interpunzione
Português (Portuguese)
n. - pontuação (f)
idioms:
- punctuation mark pontuação
idioms:
- punctuation mark знак препинания
Español (Spanish)
n. - puntuación
idioms:
- punctuation mark signo de puntuación
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - interpunktion, kommatering
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
标点法, 标点符号, 标点
idioms:
- punctuation mark 标点符号, 标点法
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 標點法, 標點符號, 標點
idioms:
- punctuation mark 標點符號, 標點法
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 句読, 句読法, 中断
idioms:
- punctuation mark 句読点
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) وضع علامات الوقف و الترقيم الخ
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - פיסוק, סימני-פיסוק, הטלת סימני-פיסוק
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 | interrobang |
| question mark (Grammar) |
| alphanumeric reader (electronics) |
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 | American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; sign up free. Read more |
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| Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Punctuation. Read more |
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| Oxford Essential Desk Reference. The Essenial Desk Reference Dictionary. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- interrobang
- question mark (Grammar)
- alphanumeric reader (electronics)
- ellipsis (Grammar)
- exclamation point
- punctuation mark
- stylebook
- format
- period (Grammar)
- punctuative
- semicolon
- alphanumeric characters (computer science)
- argument separator (computer science)
- dictionary sort (computer science)
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