Juan:'There's another symbol that I use all the time, but I don't know what it's called. It's written like this ' ! '.'
Peter:'The sign ' ! ' is called an exclamation mark.'
Juan:'Also, is this ' " ' called a speech mark?'
Peter:'Yes, it can be. ' " ' is more commonly called a quotation mark. There are two types of quotation marks. ' " ' is called a double quotation mark because it has two lines. Where a quotation mark has one line, like this ' ' ', it is called a single quotation mark.'
Juan:'I thought that ' ' ' was called an apostrophe?'
Peter:'It is also called an apostrophe. When the symbol is used in writing to show possession of something (e.g. 'this is John's car') or a contraction of two words into one (e.g. it is, is normally contracted into it's), it is called an apostrophe. But when there are two of them and they are used to close a selection of text or calculation (e.g. 'I like cheese'), then they are called single quotation marks.'
Juan:'That makes sense. Is this ' , ' called a comma?'
Peter:'That's right.'
Juan:'And this symbol ' & '. I have heard people call it 'and'. Is that its name?'
Peter:'People often call it the 'and symbol/sign', but the actual name for ' & ' is an ampersand.'
Juan:'And what about this ' : '?'
Peter:'The ' : ' symbol is called a colon. There is also a similar symbol that instead of having two dots has one dot and a comma below it. It is called a semicolon.'
Juan:'So, a semicolon is written like this ' ; '?'
Peter:'That's right. Another symbol that is sometimes used in computer code, is called the pipe or vertical bar. It is a vertical line and is written like this ' | '.'
Juan:'There are two other symbols which I'd just like to check if I am calling them the right names. This ' $ ' is called the dollar sign, isn't it?'
Peter:'Yes, it is.'
Juan:'And this ' % ' is called percent?'
Peter:'It can be, but ' % ' is normally called the percent sign.'
Juan:'I know that this isn't a sign or symbol, but when there is a gap between two words or numbers with nothing in it, like ' '. What is it called?'
Peter:'Where there is a blank space between words or numbers like this ' ', it is called a space.'