Which of the following symbols once appeared at the end of the English alphabet?

Today, we tend to think of the ampersand (&) as a slightly old-timey typographical character. Most are probably familiar with it from seeing it incorporated into brand names, such as M&Ms, Barnes & Nobel, or Johnson & Johnson. But in the early 19th century, it was common enough to be included as the 27th "letter" in the alphabet.

The symbol was derived from the way Roman scribes wrote the Latin "et," meaning "and." The actual name of the symbol came much later. In the 1800s, when "&" was still considered to be part of the alphabet, schoolchildren would recite their ABCs by saying "X, Y, Z, and per se and."

(Per se is Latin for “by itself,” so the students were essentially saying, “X, Y, Z, and by itself and.”) Over time, "and per se and" blurred together to become "ampersand”.

Today, while we no longer consider the ampersand part of the alphabet, it is still widely used. The fact is that when it comes to English & grammar, the ampersand comes very in handy.