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The comma, is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature filled-in figure 9 placed on the baseline .
Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. [1] The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, consisting of points between the words and horizontal strokes between sections.
Chinese punctuation – Punctuation used with Chinese characters; Currency symbol – Symbol used to represent a monetary currency's name; Diacritic – Modifier mark added to a letter (accent marks etc.) Hebrew punctuation – Punctuation conventions of the Hebrew language over time; Glossary of mathematical symbols; Japanese punctuation
Punctuation in the English language helps the reader to understand a sentence through visual means other than just the letters of the alphabet. [1] English punctuation has two complementary aspects: phonological punctuation, linked to how the sentence can be read aloud, particularly to pausing; [2] and grammatical punctuation, linked to the structure of the sentence. [3]
The comma itself is widely attributed to Aldus Manutius, a 15th-century Italian printer who used a mark—now recognized as a comma—to separate words. [21] Etymologically, the word comma, which became widely used to describe Manutius's mark, comes from the Greek κόμμα (lit. ' to cut off '). [22]
For example, "Stop!" has the punctuation inside the quotation marks because the word "stop" is said with emphasis. However, when using "scare quotes", the comma goes outside. Other examples: Arthur said the situation was "deplorable". (The full stop (period) is not part of the quotation.)
Include terminal punctuation within the quotation marks only if it was present in the original material, and otherwise place it after the closing quotation mark. For the most part, this means treating periods and commas in the same way as question marks: keep them inside the quotation marks if they apply only to the quoted material and outside ...
Although terminal marks (i.e. full stops, exclamation marks, and question marks) indicate the end of a sentence, the comma, semicolon, and colon are normally inside sentences, making them secondary boundary marks. In modern English orthography, the semicolon falls between terminal marks and the comma; its strength is equal to that of the colon ...