Tilting Forward

The punctuation mark that many of us know as the slash appears on standard computer keyboards. But even though it sits right there next to the period and the comma—and though it was once used as a form of sentence punctuation like those marks—the slash is comparatively uncommon today in ordinary prose.

Still, the slash has a variety of common uses as well as a variety of names. To find out more—or to test your slash knowledge—take the quiz.

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in the answers). (For a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online, click here.)

Note: Style guides sometimes disagree. Except for a few details that can be readily verified in standard dictionaries and encyclopedias, the answers in this quiz rely on the information in the 17th edition of CMOS.

Chicago Style Workout 63: Slashes

1. A slash (/) is also commonly known as all but which of the following?

virgule

solidus

forward slash

semaphore

2. A slash that leans forward (/) is interchangeable with a slash that leans backward (\).

True

False

3. A slash between two words is most likely to mean

or

over

4. Assuming 2021 refers to the year, what would 2021/22 refer to?

2021 or 2022

2021 and 2022

5. As a date, 12/3/2022 would mean

December 3, 2022

March 12, 2022

either of the above

neither of the above

6. The slash in the expression “$450/week” means

per

divided by

7. A fraction expressed with a slash (e.g., 1/4 or ¼), is called a

decimal fraction

vulgar fraction

8. A slash in quoted poetry indicates

a line break

a pause

9. Two slashes in a row in a URL

are not allowed

immediately follow “http:” or “https:”

10. Slashes are typically used like parentheses to indicate

pronunciation

etymology

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