The colon is sometimes used between complete sentences where the period
would indicate too long a pause, and the semicolon too short a pause.
Examples:--It was a dark and dreary night: the wind was blowing in
fitful gusts.
It is over: let us go.
=Semicolon [;].=--When two clauses are united by either of the
conjunctions _for_, _but_, _and_, or an equivalent word--the one clause
perfect in itself, and the other added as a matter of inference,
contrast or explanation--they are separated by a semicolon.
Example:--Economy is no disgrace; for it is better to live on a little
than to outlive a great deal.
A semicolon is placed between two or more parts of a sentence when
these, or any of them, are divisible by a comma into smaller portions.
Example:--Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and
appearances; they should be judged by the character of their lives and
conversations, and by their works.
When in a series of expressions the particulars depend on a commencing
or concluding portion of the sentence, they should be separated from
each other by a semicolon if laid down as distinct propositions or of a
compound nature.
Example:--Philosophers assert that Nature is unlimited in her
operations; that she has inexhaustible treasures in reserve; that
knowledge will always be progressive; and that all future generations
will continue to make discoveries of which we have not the slightest
idea.
When several short sentences follow one another, slightly connected in
sense or in construction, they should be separated by a semicolon.
Example:--Stones grow; vegetables grow and live; animals grow, live, and
feel.
A semicolon is put before _as_, _viz._, _to-wit_, _namely_, _i. e._, or
_that is_, when they precede an example or a specification of
particulars, or subjects enumerated; and also between these particulars
when they consist each of a disjunct pair of words, or of a single word
or phrase but slightly connected with the others.
Example:--Many words are differently spelled in English; as, “Inquire,
enquire; jail, gaol; skeptic, sceptic.”
=Comma [,].=--Two words belonging to the same part of speech, or used as
such, when closely connected by one of the conjunctions _and_, _or_,
_nor_, are not separated by a comma from each other.
Example:--Pay supreme and undivided homage to goodness and truth.
Two words of the same part of speech and in the same construction, if
used without a conjunction between them, are separated from each other
by a comma.
Example:--We are fearfully, wonderfully made.
Two nouns or pronouns in apposition, or a noun and a pronoun, should not
be separated by a comma if they may be regarded as a proper name or as a
single phrase.
Example:--The poet Milton wrote excellent prose and better poetry.
But a noun or pronoun and a phrase, or two or more phrases, if put in
apposition so that they may not be so regarded, are separated by a comma
from each other, and from what follows in the same sentence.
Example:--Homer, the greatest poet of antiquity, is said to have been
blind.
Words or phrases contrasted with each other, or having a mutual relation
to others that follow them in the same clause, are separated by commas.
Example:--False delicacy is affectation, not politeness.
A comma is put before a relative clause when it is explanatory of the
antecedent or presents an additional thought.
Example:--Behold the emblem of thy state in flowers, which bloom and
die.
But the point is omitted before a relative that restricts the general
notion of the antecedent to a particular sense.
Example:--Every teacher must love a boy who is attentive and docile.
Expressions of a parenthetical or intermediate nature are separated from
the context by commas.
Example:--The sun, with all its attendant planets, is but a very little
part of the grand machine of the universe.
A word or an expression used independently in addressing a person or an
object is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:--Antonio, light my lamp within my chamber.
Adjectival, participial, and absolute phrases are each separated by a
comma from the remainder of the sentence.
Example:--Awkward in his person, James was ill qualified to command
respect.
Adverbs or adverbial phrases, when used as connectives, or when they
modify not single words, but clauses or sentences, are each followed by
a comma; and if used intermediately they admit a comma before as well as
after them.
Example:--The most vigorous thinkers and writers are, in fact,
self-taught.
When a phrase beginning with a preposition, an adverb, or a conjunction
relates to or modifies a preceding portion of the sentence, a comma is
unnecessary if the parts are closely connected in sense.
Example:--For that agency he applied without a recommendation.
Many phrases which, in their natural or usual order, do not require to
be punctuated, are, when placed in some other or unnatural position, set
off by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:--By Cowley, the philosopher Hobbes is compared to Columbus.
When one of two clauses depends on the other, they are separated by a
comma.
Example:--If you would be revenged on your enemies, let your life be
blameless.
Two correlative expressions united by the conjunction _as_ or _than_ are
written without a point between them.
Example:--Men are never so easily deceived as when they plot to deceive
others.
But when united by any other word than one of these conjunctions, the
correlative expressions are separated by a comma.
Example:--Though learned and methodical, yet the teacher was not a
pedant.
Words or phrases in the same construction, forming a series, are
separated from each other by commas.
Example:--Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his
sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole
mourner.--_Dickens._
But when the members of the series are closely connected in sense, the
commas should be omitted.
Example:--Government of the people by the people for the people.
When in a compound sentence the clauses have each a different
nominative, but have only one verb, expressed in the first clause and
understood in the others, the ellipsis, or place of the verb, should be
supplied by a comma.
Example:--A wise man seeks to shine in himself, a fool to outshine
others.
A short quotation, or any expression that resembles a quotation, is
separated by a comma from an introductory clause.
Example:--Dr. Thomas Brown truly says, “The benevolent spirit is as
universal in its efforts as the miseries which are capable of being
relieved.”
=Dash ―.=--The dash denotes an abrupt break in a sentence.
Example:--Here lies the great--false marble, where?
Nothing but sordid dust lies here.
The dash is used to indicate that something is left unfinished.
Example:--We cannot hope to succeed unless--
But we must succeed.
The dash is sometimes used instead of brackets before and after a
parenthesis.
Example:--The man actually--this is in the strictest confidence--filled
his pocket with my cigars when he thought I was not looking.
The dash is used instead of the colon where the word “namely” is implied
but not expressed.
Example:--The sentence should be amended to read “--whenever and
wherever the president shall determine.”
=Parentheses[()].= --Parentheses are used to inclose an explanation,
authority, definition, reference, translation, or any matter not
belonging to the grammatical construction of the sentence.
Example:--He gained from heaven (’twas all he wished) a friend.
=Brackets ([]).=--The use of brackets is about the same as that of the
marks of parenthesis, but is generally confined to words inserted in
quotations for the sake of explanation.
Example:--Dickens has given a very lively account of this place [the
Academy] in his paper entitled “Our School,” but it is very mythical in
many respects.
=Quotation Marks [“”].=--Quotation marks are used before and after a
passage quoted in the exact words of another.
Example:--“My very dog,” sighed poor Rip, “has forgotten me.”
Matter quoted indirectly, or given only in substance, is not placed
within quotation marks.
A quotation within a quotation is inclosed in single marks.
Example:--“His staff and knapsack, her little bonnet and basket, etc.,
lie beside him. ‘She’ll come to-morrow,’ he says, when it gets dark, and
goes sorrowfully home.”
Where a quotation consists of several paragraphs, quotation marks should
be used at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the close of the last
paragraph only.
Titles of books, essays, newspapers, etc., should be placed within
quotation marks, unless in italics or capitals.
=Hyphen [-].=--The hyphen is used between the parts of certain compound
words, and to mark the division of syllables in showing the spelling of
words. It is sometimes used in place of the diæresis after a prefix
ending in a vowel before a word beginning with a vowel.
Example:--Horse-chestnut, Franco-Prussian, re-edit, de-vi-ate,
truth-telling, text-book.
=Compound Words.=--Rule I.--Compounds made by omitting particles, and
used literally, are generally written with a hyphen.
Many such words that coalesce in pronunciation, and have become very
familiar, are written continuously.
after-events broomstick
almond-oil eyeball
arrow-head milkman
battle-ax outlook
Rule II.--Two or more normally separate words are joined with hyphens if
used in an adjective sense before a noun.
A sight never to be forgotten.
A never-to-be-forgotten sight.
Rule III.--A full phrase used as the name of something not literally
indicated by the phrase is written with a hyphen or hyphens.
Those here given are names of plants:
Aaron’s-beard
forget-me-not
Rule IV.--Compound words showing arbitrary application of the literal
idea expressed by their separated elements take no hyphen.
blackberry
bluefish
everybody
however
cottonwood (a tree)
pronghorn (antelope)
marrowfat (a pea)
arrowhead (a plant)
matchlock (a gun)
(Care should be taken not to apply this rule in cases where it does not
really fit. Thus, _any one_, _one’s self_, etc., are often wrongly
printed as _anyone_, _oneself_, etc.)
=Apostrophe [’].= --The apostrophe is used in the possessive case of
nouns, to denote the plural of figures and letters, and to mark the
elision of letters at the beginning or middle of a word, and the
omission of figures in a number or date.
Example:--John’s, men’s, 2’s, 7’s, p’s and q’s, I’ve, I’ll, don’t,
won’t, Po’keepsie, tho’, ’92, ’76.