Version 1.0.0 20260607T012900 Prev: N/A

Double quotation marks: ” - Describes literal speech - May be converted to ‘smart quotes’, “,”, which are equivalent, but attempt to curl inwards to the speech.

Single quotation marks, apostrophe: ’ - As a single quote, paraphrases, quotes speech inside double quotes, or draws attention to the word surrounded, rather than only its literal meaning - When needing to quote inside single quotes, you’d generally begin alternating single and double quotes. “He said ‘she said “they said you’re stupid”’”. - As an apostrophe, creates a contraction, where inner characters may be elided. do not -> don’t - May also be converted to ‘smart quotes’, ‘,’

Space: ” ” - Showing where one word ends and another begins. - Starts a sentence after a previous one ends.

Period, decimal point: . - As a period, indicates an end of sentence. Marks a pause in the cadence. - May be used inside quotation marks to indicate the end of a sentence, but the main sentence may continue outside. This is pretty rare, generally used when a comma isn’t a large enough pause. “I’m going to buy a boat.” said John. - Will generally be used inside the double quotation marks if it ends the sentence. John spoke: “Whelp.” - Used for shortening words like Mister -> Mr., et cetera -> etc., or for acronyms, Limited Liability Company -> L.L.C. Acronyms sometimes don’t use them, like LLC, or laser. - As a decimal point, indicates flipping from nonnegative powers of ten to negative.

Question mark: ? - Indicates that a sentence has the cadence of a question. The user either wants more information, or is ironically asking for information they already have. - Some questions don’t end in a question mark, when the speaker doesn’t say it as a question. “I suppose you want me to die.” could be a question, but it isn’t spoken as such. - Can end a quotation, and the sentence continues on.

Exclamation mark: ! - Indicates extra effort put into an end of a sentence, e.g. shock, anger. - Sometimes used alongside a question mark for both extra effort and a question. - Rarely combined with a question mark into an ‘interrobang’, ‽. - Rarely repeated multiple times for greater emphasis. - Rarely used to indicate a different version of a character, differentiated by a trait. Stupid!Samantha.

Comma: , - Brief pause in the cadence - Usually ends speech quotations if it doesn’t end with a question mark, an exclamation mark, or a period, assuming it doesn’t interfere with the cadence. - Usually used to briefly pause cadence, to make the sentence easier to digest. - Conjunction or disjunction. Creates lists. - Can be used to separate digits in large numbers.

Ellipsis: … - Fading out or fading in. - Elided text, often in quotations. - May indicate a pattern continues. “1, 2, …”

Hyphen, minus sign: - - Joining (some) compound words. Half-scratch, thirty-something. - Many compound words just have a space or are combined into one. - May be used for elements of a list, such as in this document. Has a greater break between elements than a comma, approximately equivalent to a sentence break. - As a minus sign, indicates that a number is negative. - May be used to split a word across lines, indicating that though the line ends, the word continues. Occasionally used at the start of a line, too. - Sometimes used to indicate that a string is an affix. “non-”, “-less”. - Occasionally used to emphasize multiple parts of a word, or have a word be read as a string of letters. “Sa-man-tha” emphasizes that someone is pronouncing first “Sa”, then “man”, then “tha”. “He saw ‘T-O-P-O-L-O-G-Y’” indicates each letter is being read.

En dash: – - Used in a range. “3 – 10”, “Monday – Friday”. - Used to indicate an explanatory remark. “The Channel spell – Send magic outside your body.”

Em dash: — - As a pair, indicates a parenthetical in text, without as strong a jump in subject as literal parentheses (in this text, used with a space on either end). - Attributes author to a letter or quote (in this text, used with a space between the author and the dash). - Indicates a sudden cut off (or fade in) of dialogue or thought.

Parentheses: (, ) - Indicates a parenthetical, a comment which may relate, but isn’t directly relevant to the main focus of the sentence. - May be used to group like objects together, tighter than any other grouping.

Square brackets: [, ] - Indicates words and parts of words which may have been altered or elided.

Asterism: ⁂ - Used as a dinkus. Divides sections. Here, divides subsections in chapters.

Slash: / - Indicates alternation - As a pair, indicates phonetic transcription.

Horizontal bar: ———————– - Divides a header or title from a section proper. - Groups paragraphs within a subsection.

Colon: : - Indicates the start of a list - What is claimed before the colon is demonstrated by what follows it.

Semicolon: ; - Combines two independent clauses which are similar, with less pause than a period, but more than a comma.

Asterisk: * - Footnote. See bottom of page for more info.

Dagger, double dagger, triple dagger, turned dagger: †, ‡, ⹋, ⸸ - Footnote. See bottom of page for more info.

Caret: ^ - The following character is intended to be a superscript. R^3. - Xor

Footnotes: ¹, ², … - Footnote. See bottom of page for more info. May act as a function call.

Bare word cuts: - Very sudden cutoff. “He grabbed the wrong d”

Fermata: 𝄐, 𝄑 - Musical notation. A long hold. Often held for a length at the discretion of the conductor.

Arrow: -> - Indicates a mapping, or an input to an output.