Comma the purpose of the comma. There are also a number of comma-like diacritics with "COMMA" in their Unicode names. These do not serve a punctuation function. A comma-like low quotation mark is also available (shown below; raised single quotation marks are not shown). Various other Unicode characters combine commas or comma-like figures with other characters, and are not shown here. In the 3rd century BC, Aristophanes of Byzantium invented a system of single dots ("distinctiones") that separated verses (colometry) and indicated the amount of breath needed to complete each fragment of the text when reading aloud. The different lengths were
What Is a Nation? What Is a Nation? "What is a Nation?" ("Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?") is an 1882 lecture by French historian Ernest Renan (1823–1892), known for the statements that a nation is "a daily referendum", and that nations are based as much on what the people jointly forget, as what they remember. It is frequently quoted or anthologized in works of history or political science pertaining to nationalism and national identity. Renan wrote "What is a Nation" in order to symbolize the nationalism which was born in France as a result of the French Revolution of 1789. Renan begins his essay by noting