What Is a Slash?
A slash is a mark mainly used to indicate line breaks, fractions, ratios, paired terms, and dates. (Note that the use of slashes in fractions, ratios, paired terms, and dates is better suited to informal, rather than professional, writing.)
When discussing fewer than three lines of poetry in a paper, writers use slashes to show where one line ends and another begins. (Longer poetry excerpts are formatted in indented block text.)
To indicate line breaks in a poem, be sure to insert a space both before and after the slash. However, when using a slash in fractions, ratios, paired terms, or dates, do not insert any spaces before or after the slash mark.
Examples:
Poetry
In “Chicago,” poet Carl Sandburg describes the city as “Hog Butcher for the World, / Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat” (1–2).
In his poem “Byzantium,” William Butler Yeats writes, “Before me floats an image, man or shade, / Shade more than man, more image than a shade” (9–10).
Fractions
Mix together 2/3 cup of sugar with the cinnamon, butter, and flour.
Add 1/4 cup of bleach to one gallon of water to make a disinfectant.
Ratios
To train for the marathon, we suggest running five miles/day.
The vet recommends bringing the cat in for treatments two times/year.
Paired Terms
Call and/or email the dressmaker when you know the date of the wedding.
Try pressing the on/off switch on the printer to see if that fixes the problem.
Dates
Please respond to our request for additional information by 2/15/16.
I’ll graduate from college on 12/22/15.
Check out this worksheet on Using the Slash in Writing and The Slash as Punctuation.