7.55 Alternatives and headings

An oblique may indicate alternatives:

• Send in your cheque / money order without delay.
• and/or
• Parent/Guardian: ______________________

A similar use is seen in bilingual titles such as L’Actualité terminologique / Terminology Update.

The expression and/or may be redundant and should be used with caution:

• The engines will be manufactured in Canada and/or the United States.

but

• renovations or repairs not renovations and/or repairs

Oblique strokes may separate headings on a form:

• Division/Branch
• Series/Cert. No.

The oblique is used increasingly to indicate complex relationships between words, a role traditionally filled by the hyphen:

• the student/teacher ratio (the student-teacher ratio)
• labour/management relations (labour-management relations)
• owner/manager (owner-manager)
• the total Boston–Montréal/Montréal–Toronto air mileage

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