Here's a breakdown:
Common Punctuation Marks (Around 10-15):
* Periods (.)
* Commas (,)
* Question marks (?)
* Exclamation marks (!)
* Colons (:)
* Semicolons (;)
* Apostrophes (')
* Quotation marks (" ")
* Parentheses ( )
* Brackets [ ]
* Hyphens (-)
* Dashes (–) (—)
* Ellipses (...)
Less Common Punctuation Marks (Several more):
* Slash (/)
* Backslash (\)
* Asterisk (*)
* Ampersand (&)
* Number sign (#)
* Dollar sign ($)
* Percent sign (%)
* At sign (@)
* Plus sign (+)
* Minus sign (-)
* Equal sign (=)
* Greater than/less than signs (> <)
* Quotation marks (`)
Specialized Punctuation Marks:
* Interrobang (!?)
* Pilcrow (¶)
* Section sign (§)
* Dagger (†)
* Double dagger (‡)
* Other symbols used in specific contexts like math, music, etc.
Factors Influencing The Count:
* Context: Some symbols like "@" or "#" might be considered punctuation in certain contexts but not in others.
* Style Guide: Different style guides might have different rules about which symbols are considered punctuation.
* Language: Punctuation can vary slightly between languages.
In Conclusion: While there's no single "correct" number of punctuation marks, the most common ones are those used in standard writing, which number around 10-15.