 It was used when non-attested words are reconstructed for the sake of argument only, implying that the author did not believe such a word or word form had ever existed.Some scholars used the obelus and various other critical symbols, in conjunction with a second symbol known as the "metobelos" ("end of obelus"), variously represented as two vertically arranged dots, a -like symbol, a mallet-like symbol, or a diagonal slash (with or without one or two dots).They indicated the end of a marked passage.