5 Uses, 1 Misuse
A slash (/), also known as a virgule or solidus, divides alternatives, fractions, months and days, and similar elements.
545 Use a slash to separate alternatives (but remember to avoid “and/or”!).
• The fourth line might look as if it has the antithesis that we are used to (“shoot”/“be shot,” and so on). (Christopher Ricks)
• And as she bends to shake each one’s hand, I glance down at her pad on the coffee table and read the notes she has jotted: Trauma/dictatorship/family bonds strong/mother devoted. (Julia Alvarez)
• You may have been the recipient of a comment in the vein of “I think I just saw/read/heard/ate something that you created/wrote/composed/cooked.” (Henry Alford)
• My metaphors, speaking gear versus writing gear or uttering versus constructing, imply a binary, either/or choice. (Peter Elbow) [An en-dash is also permissible here: either–or choice.]
546 Use a slash to separate the numerator from the denominator in a fraction.
• If the elasticity of demand is, say, 1/4, it means that a 1 percent reduction in output will bring a 4 percent increase in price. (Mancur Olson)
• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped. (Irma S. Rombauer)
• Never mind all that: like the old Ivory Soap ads, 99 and 44/100 percent pure—it floats! (Barbara Herrnstein Smith)
547 In informal writing, use a slash to separate the elements in a date.
• This was just after 9/11, when the cynicism and shallowness that had been beaten through the lifeblood of the city was interpreted as unnecessary cruelty, and it was all at once tacky to wish for anything other than world peace. (Candace Bushnell)
548 In informal writing, use a slash as a shorthand signal for “per.”
• Your travel allowance will be $75/day.
• The industry is now losing workers at the rate of 1,000/week.
• We have a minimum of $20/bet.
549 Use a slash to indicate separate lines of poetry or of a song.
• To be excessively controlled by sexual reinforcement is to be “infatuated,” and the etymology of the word was memorialized by Kipling in two famous lines: “A fool there was and he made his prayer . . . / To a rag, a bone, and a hank of hair.” (B. F. Skinner)
• Say, did you ever hear that old song of Kurt Weill’s from Knickerbocker Holiday: “When lovely Venus lies beside / Her lord and master Mars / They mutually profit / By their scars”? (Kurth Sprague)
• One of the most arresting places in the entire passage, for the sensitive reader, has this kind of mixed diction for its chief distinction: we have done but greenly, / In hugger-mugger to inter him. (John Crowe Ransom)
550 Don’t use a slash when a hyphen or en-dash would suffice.
Not this: On July 4/5, 1968, celebrations in the nation’s capital were hot, violent affairs.
But this: On July 4–5, 1968, celebrations in the nation’s capital were hot, violent affairs.
Not this: The historic evening of December 31, 1999/January 1, 2000, will be remembered forever as monumentally uneventful.
But this: The historic evening of December 31, 1999–January 1, 2000, will be remembered forever as monumentally uneventful.