National Punctuation Day

By the fifth century BC, Greek playwrights were using some basic symbols to show where actors should pause, and the scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium (c257– c185 BC) invented a formal system of punctuation. He also designed accents to aid pronunciation.

National Punctuation Day is a celebration of punctuation that occurs each year on September 24 in the United States of America. Founded by Jeff Rubin in 2004, National Punctuation Day simply promotes the correct usage of punctuation.

People have used asterisms to mark part of a text, or to indicate minor breaks (e.g., scene changes within a chapter in a novel). But this punctuation mark is rare these days, with a line of three or more asterisks more common. The em dash is the width of the letter M & used when emphasis is required — like when you're trying to make a point. En dashes are a bit longer than hyphens.