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About This Quiz
Punctuation is necessary! It adds clarity to and understanding the written language written. If punctuation did not exist, we would not know when to stop, pause, add emphasis and do a host of other things when reading. When we were younger, we were taught the most common punctuation marks, like commas, periods, question marks, exclamation points, hyphens, and apostrophes.Â
But we're taking it a lot further. We want to know if you can recognize the not-so-common ones like the guillemets, em-dash, diastole, asterism and double quotation marks. Although they're not used very often, at one point in time, they were extremely useful.Â
We've even added some punctuation marks used in other languages. We've gone to India, Japan, China, Greece, Armenia and even Sri Lanka. We've taken some of their marks, so you shouldn't be surprised if you see some things you just aren't familiar with. But don't worry, we've added hints for every question that you can use if you ever get stuck.Â
So, do you know enough about punctuation to recognize all of its marks and points? Will you make your English and literature teacher proud? Or will you go on a permanent detention? Let's find out? Â
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Circumflex
Aigu
Grave accent
Hyphen
The hyphen, which should not be mistaken with the dash, is a punctuation mark used to link words and isolate syllables of a single word.
Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Cedilla
Irony mark
This punctuation mark, which is used to indicate irony in text, was introduced in 1966 by French poet Hervé Bazin.
Crochets
Virgule
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Tiret
Comma
The comma is a punctuation mark used to separate parts in a sentence, such as lists or clauses.
Raya
Underscore
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Degree sign
Interrobang
Also known as the interabang, this modern, non-standard glyph is a combination of the question mark and the exclamation mark.
Ampersand
Number sign
Sarcmark
Which punctuation mark is this?
Breve
Less-than sign
SarcMark
Invented, copyrighted, and trademarked by Paul Sak, this punctuation mark is used to emphasize a sarcastic phrase, sentence or message.
Umlaut
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Perispomene
Caron
Aigu
Snark Mark
Similar to the SarcMarc, this glyph is used to point out sarcasm which may be hard to convey in writing.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Iota subscript
Dotted circle
Percontation Point
As its name suggests, this backward question mark was used at the end of a rhetorical question throughout the late 1500s and the early 1600s.
Titlo strike
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Inverted question mark
Illustrated as an upside down question mark, this glyph, mainly used in Spanish, is used to begin an interrogative sentence or clause.
Cedilla
Backslash
Ring
Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Bar
Love point
One of Hervé Bazin's six proposed punctuation marks, this one is represented by two question marks (one of which is mirrored) that share a single point.
Inverted breve
Grave accent
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Esszett
Dotted circle
Ellipsis
An ellipsis is a group of dots, usually three, used to intentionally omit a word, sentence or portion of a sentence.
Underline
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Degree sign
Virgule
Tiret
Mirrored question mark
Due to the right to left transcription of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages, the question mark is written backward in comparison to its English counterpart.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Underscore
Colon
The colon, comprised of two equally-sized vertical dots, is used between independent clauses: the second of which explains, expands, illustrates, and paraphrases the first sentence.
Aigu
Ampersand
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Question mark
The question mark, also referred to as the interrogation point, query or eroteme, is a mark of punctuation used at the end of an interrogative phrase or sentence.
Circumflex
Raya
Number sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Cedilla
Crochets
Umlaut
Ano Teleia
The ano teleia mark, also known as the áno stigma, is the modern Greek counterpart of the English semi-colon which is used to introduce lists.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Titlo strike
Iota subscript
Period
This punctuation mark serves several purposes, most commonly as marking the end of a sentence. It is also placed after abbreviated words, or after each initialized individual letter.
Perispomene
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Breve
Less-than sign
En-dash
The en-dash is a variant of the dash punctuation mark used to indicate a span or range of dates, number or time.
Ring
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Armenian exclamation mark
The Armenian counterpart of the exclamation mark is depicted as a diagonally rising tilde graphene.
Caron
Underline
Esszett
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Bar
Apostrophe
In English, this punctuation mark is used to indicate the exclusion of letters or numbers, denote possession, and the expression of pluralization.
Dotted circle
Inverted breve
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Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Raya
Virgule
Backslash
Double point
The doubt point, which opposes the certitude point, was created by Hervé Bazin to end a sentence on a note of skepticism.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Underline
Ampersand
Hook
Guillemets
Guillemets, also referred to as angle quotes, are non-English quotation marks depicted as single or double sideways chevrons.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Semi-colon
This punctuation mark is used to set apart major elements of a sentence or may be used in place of a comma when separating items in a list.
Degree sign
Tiret
Grave accent
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Hacek
Underscore
Em-dash
The em-dash, also called the m-rule, is a variation of the dash. It serves several purposes, including in place of a set of brackets or a colon.
Number sign
Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Acclamation point
The glyph for this punctuation mark is represented by two exclamation points, one straight and the other slanted, shared by a single point.
Cedilla
Circumflex
Crochets
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Parentheses
Parentheses, which are considered separate from brackets in American usage, are generally used in formal writing to include additional information.
Perispomene
Iota subscript
Bar
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Ring
Raya
Virgule
Appositive colon
The colon is considered an appositive colon when it is used to set apart the subtitle of a work from its main title.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Esszett
Breve
Question comma
As its name suggests, this punctuation mark which combines the question mark and the comma, is used to indicate a query without ending a sentence.
Inverted breve
Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Hook
Authority point
Hervé Bazin's authority point is used to denote an opinion of expertise which should be taken seriously.
Hacek
Grave
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Double quotation mark
Double quotation marks, also known as inverted commas, are generally used in British practice to enclose a quotation within a quotation.
Backslash
Dotted circle
Caron
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Ampersand
Armenian full stop
The Armenian full stop, officially called the verjaket, are two vertically stacked dots which resembles the Latin colon.
Grave accent
Less-than sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Interpunct
Also referred to as the interpoint or middle dot, this ancient Latin punctuation mark, depicted as a vertically situated dot was used for interword separation.
Circumflex
Cedilla
Crochets
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Perispomene
Iota subscript
Greek question mark
The Greek question mark, which appears similar to the semicolon, is placed at the end of a sentence to imply that a question is being asked.
Number sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Underscore
Raya
Curly bracket
Also called squiggly brackets or brace, this type of bracket is used to group words to avoid confusion when other brackets are being used.
Tiret
Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Aigu
Certitude point
Another of Hervé Bazin's creations, this punctuation point was used to indicate unwavering conviction in texts.
Degree sign
Titlo strike
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Umlaut
Square brackets
This type of bracket, also known as crochets, is primarily used to insert explanatory information or to denote omitted information.
Underline
Inverted breve
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Esszett
Breve
Japanese full stop
The Japanese full stop, which is depicted as a small circle, is often used to separate continuous sentences, rather than finishing every sentence.
Hook
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Ring
Virgule
Bar
Inverted interrobang
The inverted interrobang, which is frequently used in Spanish writing, may also be expressed separately as a question mark and exclamation point.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Hacek
Perispomene
Dotted circle
Lenticular bracket
This blend of square brackets and parentheses is used in some East Asian languages, particularly for inference in Chinese and titles and headings in Japanese.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Poorna Viraam
The poorna viraam, used in the Devanagari script, is a vertical line used to mark the end of a sentence.
Circumflex
Ampersand
Number sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Raya
Underscore
Asterism
Now nearly obsolete, this punctuation mark, depicted as a group of three asterisks placed in a triangle, was used to divide sub-chapters in books or to indicate small breaks in a long text.
Backslash
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Tiret
Crochets
Vertical bar
The vertical bar was the ancient European equivalent of the slash and was used as a period, scratch comma, and caesura mark.
Degree sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Iota subscript
Double hyphen
The double hyphen, not to be mistaken with the equal sign or other variants of the hyphen, is a punctuation mark composed of two parallel hyphens.
Grave accent
Caron
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Aigu
Cedilla
Less-than sign
Chinese ellipsis
The Chinese variant of the ellipsis consists of six dots, or two groups of three dots, which may be written horizontally or vertically.
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Single quotation mark
Single quotation marks are primarily used to enclose direct speech, a quote, or phrase within a sentence.
Breve
Inverted breve
Hook
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Urdu full stop
In the Urdu language, the full stop or period is represented by a small low dash at the end of the sentence.
Umlaut
Underline
Esszett
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Bar
Angle brackets
Angle brackets, also known as Chevron, serve many purposes such as denoting words that are thought rather than spoken.
Titlo strike
Perispomene
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Wiki commons
Which punctuation mark is this?
Dotted circle
Backslash
Kundaliya
The Kundaliya is the only punctuation mark in the Sinhalese language and is illustrated by this sign (à·´).
Ring
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Ampersand
Circumflex
Slash
The slash, of which there are several variants, is a punctuation mark used to represent inclusion or exclusion, fractions and division, and separation dates.
Degree sign
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Which punctuation mark is this?
Underscore
Tiret
Crochets
Arabic comma
The Arabic comma, also used in Persian and Urdu languages, is depicted as an inverted and upside-down version of the standard comma.
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