Make the Virgule Vanish 

The virgule (slash, slant, solidus, shilling) is way overused and should be restricted to some very specific uses. The blurbs below are a collection of information to that effect, with links to their Web sites.

Slashes

Guide to Grammar and Style 

Slash the Slash - or, The Art of Not Being Oblique 

Stephen de Looze

The slash, variously known as the oblique stroke, bar or mark, the slant line or the virgule. In my opinion it is the most abused punctuation mark.

Use of the Solidus between Words, Symbols, and Abbreviations

PDF 

Except for the term "and/or," the use of the slash is discouraged between words and abbreviations, as the intent of the solidus is ambiguous. Several possibilities for its meaning exist, among them "and," "or," "and/or," and "plus." We require that more precise, and therefore more meaningful, conjunctions be used. In some cases, a hyphen or long hyphen (\en" dash) can serve as a replacement; for example, in "Hartree/Fock theory," the slash should be replaced by a hyphen: "Hartree-Fock theory."

slash (solidus)

The slash (formally, solidus) is overused and often confusing. Avoid it. Instead express in words what you mean.

Wrong: The meeting is for faculty/staff/students.
Right: The meeting is for faculty, staff, and students.

Wrong: The professor will give the information to his/her assistant.
Right: The professor will give the information to his or her assistant.

Wrong: Every student should know where s/he can find financial aid information.
Right: All students should know where to find financial aid information.

Do not use a slash in place of a hyphen.

Wrong: The group will discuss Chinese/Soviet relations in the 1960s.
Right: The group will discuss Chinese-Soviet relations in the 1960s.

Slash Mark (Virgule)

Properly called a "virgule," the slash mark is often found in draft engineering specifications. The purpose of this article is to convince you to never use one in a specification.  In fact, it's not even good form in ordinary writing.

Navy Manual of Style for Technical Publications

English Plus 

The virgule, often called the "slant bar" by computer users, has four specific uses in punctuation.

A virgule separates parts of an extended date.

Example: The 1994/95 basketball season.

Washington was born in February 1731/32.

A virgule represents the word per in measurements:

Example: 186,000 mi./sec. (miles per second)

A virgule stands for the word or in the expression and/or. (Though not considered standard, it sometimes stands for the word or in other expressions also.)

A virgule separates lines of poetry that are quoted in run-on fashion in the text. (For readability, avoid this with more than four lines.)

Example: Ann continued,"And up and down the people go,/ Gazing where the lilies blow/ Round an island there below,/ The island of Shalott."

The Virgule 

101 Words 

Whatever the merits of the word "virgule," too few people know the word.  Better, I've found, to say "slash."

Have you ever found a sentence with "and/or" in it that couldn't be improved in quality and/or diction by simply replacing it with "or"?  "Consult your doctor if you become sick and/or disabled."  And/or vice versa, worsened.  "California and/or bust!"  At this advanced stage in my life, I have yet to come across a case containing the "inclusive-or" that required the extra reassurance afforded by "and/or" for clarity and/or expressiveness.

The "exclusive-or" is something else, but "and/or" has nothing to do with it.  Often the "exclusive-or" is obvious:  "At the intersection, turn left or right."  If not ("The price of your entree includes soup or salad"), then better to say "but not both":  "The price of your entree includes soup or salad but not both" (but only if you want your menu to read as if it were written by an attorney).

Solidus 

The Language of Type - Special characters

Solidus (Math): Used to separate digits in a fraction. A true solidus has a more extreme slant than the slash, Try an italic slash as an alternative

Virgule: Used to separate alternatives (and/or), dates (01/28/99)

Guide to Grammar and Style

The Slash or Virgule 

The slash can be translated as or and should not be used where the word or could not be used in its place. To avoid gender problems with pronouns, some writers use he/she, his/her, and him/her. Many authorities despise that construction and urge writers either to pluralize when possible and appropriate (to they, their, them) or to use he or she, etc. instead. Notice there is no space between the slash and the letters on either side of it (except in poertry).

Virgule

Fact Monster 

1. Separates successive divisions in an extended date: fiscal year 1998/99.
2. Represents per: 35 km/hr, 1,800 ft./sec.
3. Means or between the words and and or: Take water skis and/or fishing equipment when you visit the beach this summer.
4. Separates two or more lines of poetry that are quoted and run in on successive lines of a text: The student actress had a memory lapse when she came to the lines “Double, double, toil and trouble/Fire burn and cauldron bubble/Eye of newt and toe of frog/Wool of bat and tongue of dog” and had to leave the stage in embarrassment.

Virgule

The Armchair Grammarian 

The virgule is the short oblique stroke many of us simply refer to as a slash. The virgule has two functions:

A Dividing Line
Used in dates, fractions, and to show a division of verses in poetry that appears with text. Note that more than three lines of poetry included with text should be handled as a block quotation (see Quotation Marks). When using the virgule with lines of poetry, add a space before and after it.

The incident happened on 3/6/00.
Add 6 3/4 teaspoons
Sweetest love I do not go / For weariness of thee.


A Choice
The virgule may occasionally be used to seperate an option. In such a case, the reader decides which option is appropriate to complete the sense of the text.

The defendant and/or his attorney must appear in this court.
  

Last Date Updated: 08/22/2006
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