The Slant (Virgule, Slash, Solidus, Diagonal): Uses in Court Reporting

The slant is a short diagonal line, also called a virgule, slash, solidus, or diagonal. It has several uses in court reporting:

(1) to separate elements in dates expressed as figures (1/6/95); (2) to write mixed numbers as figures (6 1/2 feet); (3) to indicate interchangeable words (and/or, until/unless, if/when, either/or); (4) to mean 'per' or 'over' in statistical or numerical references (20 mg/100 ml, 20/40 vision, 120/80 blood pressure, 24/7); (5) to separate lines of poems or songs typed within the existing text (with spaces before and after); (6) to show that one person has more than one function or one thing has more than one purpose, as an alternative to the hyphen (cashier/checker/supervisor); (7) to separate hyphenated elements in a compound modifier when 'or' can be inserted (walk/don't-walk sign).