English Alphabet
As used in modern English, the Latin alphabet consists of the following characters
Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
In addition, the ligatures ⟨Æ⟩ of ⟨A⟩ with ⟨E⟩ (e.g. "encyclopædia"), and ⟨Œ⟩ of ⟨O⟩ with ⟨E⟩ (e.g. "cœlacanth") may be used, optionally, in words derived from Latin or Greek, and the diaeresis mark is sometimes placed on the letters ⟨o⟩, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨e⟩ (e.g. "coöperate", "naïve" or "preëxisting") to indicate the pronunciation of ⟨oo⟩, ⟨ai⟩ or ⟨ee⟩ as two distinct vowels, rather than a long one. Hyphenation may also be used, to avoid having to type accented characters: "co-operate" or "pre-existing". Outside of professional papers on specific subjects that traditionally use ligatures in loanwords, however, ligatures and diaereses are seldom used in modern English. Note, however, that some fonts for typesetting English contain commonly used ligatures, such as for ⟨tt⟩, ⟨fi⟩, ⟨fl⟩, ⟨ffi⟩, and ⟨ffl⟩. These are not independent letters, but rather allographs.
Read more about this topic: Latin Script
Famous quotes containing the words english and/or alphabet:
“Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (18741936)
“I believe the alphabet is no longer considered an essential piece of equipment for traveling through life. In my day it was the keystone to knowledge. You learned the alphabet as you learned to count to ten, as you learned Now I lay me and the Lords Prayer and your fathers and mothers name and address and telephone number, all in case you were lost.”
—Eudora Welty (b. 1909)