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Between items in a series or listing when the items contain internal punctuation, especially parenthetic commas, where the semicolons function as the serial commas for the series or listing. The semicolon divides the items on the list from each other, to avoid having a jumble of commas with differing functions which could cause confusion for ...
Its use is consistent with other means of separating items in a list (for example, when semicolons are used to separate items, one is always included before the last item). [32] Common arguments against the consistent use of the serial comma are: The comma's omission is consistent with the conventional practice of the region. [33]
This list gives those most commonly encountered with Latin script. For a far more comprehensive list of symbols and signs, see List of Unicode characters . For other languages and symbol sets (especially in mathematics and science), see below .
If the individual items of a list are long, complex, affixed with description, or themselves contain commas, semicolons may be preferred as separators, and the list may be introduced with a colon. In news headlines, a comma might replace the word "and", even if there are only two items, in order to save space, as in this headline from Reuters: [11]
A leading semicolon;, in column 1 of a line, causes the line to be displayed as the name part of a description list. These lists contain a name, followed by one or more descriptions that apply to it (e.g. in a glossary). These descriptions are indicated by starting them with :.
The following table lists many common symbols, together with their name, how they should be read out loud, and the related field of mathematics. Additionally, the subsequent columns contains an informal explanation, a short example, the Unicode location, the name for use in HTML documents, [ 1 ] and the LaTeX symbol.
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.
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]