Revised as of
4 Jan 2024
Technically, an ampersand represents the word and, but since it is a symbol, I’m tucking it into the Properly Punctuated, so don’t jump down my throat, lol.
That said, I do love the beautiful forms which an ampersand can take. The shapes sometimes make up for those minor, niggly whines of mine about improper usage. I must confess that I was guilty of improperly using ampersands for the longest time, and now, like a reformed smoker, I pounce every time I see it used incorrectly.
InDesign Skills.com has an article on fonts with the best ampersands.
The Properly Punctuated explores . . .
. . . the proper use of quotation marks, commas, semicolons, colons, ellipsis, etc., including how to properly mark dialog, ahem. As Properly Punctuated is in no way complete, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on punctuation with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.
If you found this post on “Ampersand” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Ampersand, & | |||||||||
| Punctuation: & | |||||||||
| Definition: Technically considered a logogram, the ampersand is more commonly referred to as a symbol, and it stands for the conjunction, and. In common use in the 18th century, today it’s confined to company names, departments, and titles. The ampersand is also used in character codes in HTML and acronyms. | |||||||||
| Rule: Don’t use it within text. | |||||||||
| YES | NO | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe and I were running late for our appointment. | Joe & I were running late for our appointment. | ||||||||
| Rule: Used in company names, departments, and titles. | |||||||||
| H&M Kerbisher & Malt AT&T Abercombie & Fitch Black & Decker |
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| Rule: Used as part of an abbreviation for common phrases and acronyms. | |||||||||
|
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| Rule: Used in character coding on the Internet to “tell” the computer this is code.
See the post about the “Diacritic“. |
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| = non-breaking space (a blank space; the Internet only allows a single breaking space, so if you want extra empty character space between letters, etc., you need a non-breaking space)
& = ampersand, & |
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| History of the Symbol | |||||||||
| It originated as a ligature of the letters et, which is the Latin for and. | |||||||||
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Properly Punctuated posts on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Ampersand
Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.
Burckmyer, Becky. Awesome Grammar. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, 2008. <https://amzn.to/3HT5NSX>. Print.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Antsy is kicking back, lounging in the elaborate curls of this ampersand (which I cannot find on the Internet; if you know who created it, let me know so I can credit them.
