Writing words out in English does not typically require accent marks or special character combinations. However, English has also adopted many words and phrases into the vernacular that come from other languages that do require unique characters. So it's still very possible to run across these examples even if you aren't writing in, for example, Spanish or French or German. And in the event that you are writing in another language, knowing these special characters would be all the more useful!
When adding accent marks to letters, ampersand notation works in a formula of combining the desired letter with an abbreviated name for the accent type. So for example, if you want an n with a tilde (~), the ampersand notation will be "n + tilde" = "ñ". See the table below for the code and common examples of various accent marks.
| Accent | Formula | Example | Example in a Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| tilde | & + letter + tilde; | ñ | El Niño |
| acute | & + letter + acute; | é | resumé |
| grave | & + letter + grave; | à | voilà |
| circumflex | & + letter + circ; | â | coup-de-grâce |
| cedilla | & + letter + cedil; | ç | façade |
| umlaut | & + letter + uml; | ä | doppelgänger |
| ligature | & + two letters + lig; | œ | hors d'œuvre |
