Punctuation mark
 

Anyone got any idea what this following punctuation mark is called? Im sure its not just a colon.

:-


Ta very much.

Nev.

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Well I'm not 100% on this but I think that is two punctuation marks: it would be a colon and a hyphen - I don't think together they are actually gramatically correct, although frequently used, if that makes sense.

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Clippies is correct. :)

Re: Punctuation mark
 

is it supposed to represent some face or something :o
not sure what though :D

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Ah that's good then :)

See my midlands education wasn't so bad :D

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Awroit, chick! :p

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Yep, that's right :)
j

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And a hyphen shouldn't be used when you mean to use em-dashes or en-dashes—if you know what I mean.

Experiment (this may not work on all keyboards):

Press the "minus" key. That's a hyphen. Twentieth-century.

Hold ALT and press 0150 on the number keypad. That's an en-dash. Pages 1–10.

Hold ALT and press 0151 on the number keypad. That's an em-dash—for what it's worth. This used to be represented by two hypens. Try it in Microsoft word (no spaces between words). Depending on your settings you may see it gets changed.

They're all different lengths and never have spaces before or after them.

An en-dash is the width of the letter "N" and is traditionally the width of a typesetter's letter "N". An em-dash the width of the letter "M".

The :- does not mean anything as far as punctuation is concerned—you use one or the other. It's more of an emoticon.

Sorry :zzz:

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Nice one. :)

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All originating from the old moveable lead type used on Guttenberg's presses. :D :zzz:

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I was taught it is correct to use :- before a list.

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God bless them teachers! :p

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Not to worry, you seem to have survived so far ;)

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I read in the back of a dictionary that you should use a colon before a list then semicolon to separate the listed items with "and" before the last one. Eg

Sports I like:
Football;
Cricket;
AFL; and
Rugby League.

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I hope you weren't taught to say "Sports I like" though :D

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I don't think there should be one after AFL

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Here is an example from the first page I googled:

"Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry; Babylon 5, by JMS; Buffy, by Joss Whedon; and Farscape, from the Henson Company."

...which has one before the "and" :)

Source: http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/...tion-colon.htm

Re: Punctuation mark
 

OK

I did go to school a long time ago.

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I am aware that I incorrectly use this - but I like it :D

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I was taught that when I did my RSA typing :)

I still don't think it's an actual punctuation mark, just something that has been made up if that makes sense. I used to work in a stockbrokers and some of the words they used to make up were just :confused:

Re: Punctuation mark
 

And how about starting sentences with "and"?

The experts say that it's acceptable, and that teachers were misinformed. Apparantly "and" has been at the start of a sentence for eons....even Shakespeare (sp?) did this.

(This info either from UK's Radio 4 recently or from the "A way with words" podcast, produced by NPR in the USA.....can't remember which.)

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Shakespeare's spelling was cr4p... :D

Guy couldn't even spell his own name!

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True! :D

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Starting a sentence with "And" or "But" can never be right :mad: And I swear a divorce from both hubby and my daughters is on the cards if they continue to say "was" instead of "were" :rolleyes:

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Agree with were/was....and also is/are eg the "company IS" is the correct expression, cos it is a single entity. :)

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Why not just use the Control key and the minus sign? Then you can have any length dash you want (when in MS Word).

=^.^=

Re: Punctuation mark
 

At last! A bunch of people after my own heart. I hate seeing incorrect punctuation, or worse still, no punctuation at all and no capital letters (some posts on this forum are very difficult to read due to lack of punctuation). I'm not perfect either but I did RSA typing and RSA III English Language which stood me in good stead.

Does anyone know anything about the hype about splitting infinitives? At one time it was considered bad English (e.g. "to now say"; "to not go", etc). I did hear that these days it is considered OK to do this, though to me it sounds awkward.

Have I punctuated this post correctly?

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Lol, personally I would move the comma: I hate seeing incorrect punctuation or, worse still, no punctuation at all.

:D

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Another common mistake is to say " would of" instead of "would have". Presumably because people hear would have said as would've which sounds like "would of"?

Borrow mixed with lend (Should be to lend something to someone else, borrow from someone). I remember my games teacher being asked by a classmate who had forgotten their t-shirt if they could "lend a t-shirt" looking confused when the teacher asked who they wanted to lend it to.

Immigrate (to enter a country) when you mean emigrate (to leave) is a common one on here

I seem to remember a very long thread on this sort of thing a few months back.

Re: Punctuation mark
 

ooooh, I hate it when people say "borrow me a pen" :mad:

maybe it's a brummie thing :D

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I hate it too! It may be a brummie thing actually as Dale used to say it until I drummed it out of him!

Re: Punctuation mark
 

It's a chavie thing, walking round town listening to different people talking is so frustrating...if they are English then they just cant speak English properly! isnt it becomes 'ennit' can i have becomes 'gimme dat'
And everyone else is Polish! Our new Polish bus drivers talk 'chavie' english..its really annoying!
The english taught at school isnt much better either, my 15yr old tries talking in chavie, lasts about 2 seconds...but we've noticed some of his written work slumps into chavie/text language and it is not corrected!

Re: Punctuation mark
 

I'm sure you meant to write "to whom they wanted to lend it"! :D

I have to admit "would of"; "could of" etc., is one of my pet hates. ("are two" of my pet hates???)

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And while I'm thinking about it, I hate it when people use the wrong too/to and you're/your.

Your drinking to much :beer: :scared: Ahhhhh!

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Where/were... the list is endless!

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I guess it's slightly off the punctuation theme, but I hate two expressions: in terms of; and you know what I mean

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Amen! :)

Re: Punctuation mark
 

Good onya Worzel, I feel exactly the same way. :)

Another howler is people who say "barter" when they actually mean "haggle." :rolleyes: