Keyboard Symbols

The following chart displays the character symbols, name and Latin-1 number on a standard keyboard in their approximate position on the keyboard. Most characters from any Roman based language can be created on any computer using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange or ASCII. Most computers and software also recognized American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) formatting standards as well. View the entire ISO Latin -1 Character Set.

~ Tilde

! Exclamation Point

@ At

# Number

$ Dollar

% Percent

^ Caret

& Ampersand

* Asterisk

(Open or Left Parenthesis

) Close or Right Parenthesis

_ Underscore or Horizontal Bar

+ Plus

` Acute

- Dash or Hyphen

= Equals

{ Open or Left Curly Brace

} Close or Right Curly Brace

[ Open or Left Square Bracket

] Close or Right Square Bracket

: Colon

" Quote

| Or or Vertical Bar

; Semi Colon

´ Apostrophe or Single Quote

\ Reverse Solidus or Backslash

< Less Than

> Greater Than

? Question Mark

, Comma

. Dot, Period or Full Stop

/ Solidus or Forward Slash

Grassroots Updated February 9, 2006

b) Before reading the text try to answer the question:

Do you know what QWERTY stands for?

What is QWERTY?

The first modern typewriter was developed by Christopher Sholes and two of his friends, Carlos Glidden and Sam Soule. They worked on a newspaper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the 1860s.

Sholes put each letter on the end of a metal bar. A key was pushed down and the end of the bar hit the paper. The typewriter keys were put in alphabetical order, but the alphabetical order caused a problem. Fast typing made some of the letter bars get caught on one another. The bars were too close together.

Sholes solved the problem. He found out the most-used letters in English. Then he put these letters far apart on the typewriter keyboard. The letter bars did not hit each other easily. The first six letters on the top of the keyboard are QWERTY!

c) Complete the sentences and word combinations using the text:

1. The first ­­_____ typewriter

2. Sholes put _____ letter

3. were put in _____ order

4. were too close _____

5. he put _____ letters far apart

6. The first ____ letters on the top

7. the alphabetical order _____ a problem

8. the end of the bar _____ the paper

9. He found out the _____ letters in English

10. A key was pushed _____

d) Choose the correct variant to complete the sentences:

1. Sholes worked for____

2. Letters were put on the end of metal ____

3. ____ caused the bars to get caught on one another.

4. Sholes needed to know ____ to solve the problem.

5. Then he put these letters far ____ on the typewriter keyboard.