A REVIEW OF PUNCTUATION
Punctuation is a system of disjunctive marks by which the eye and ear are
helped to understand the sense of what is written. It is desirable to
regard the subject as governed to a great extent by a few principles of
common sense. The present chapter reviews those matters of capitalization
and punctuation which seem to give most trouble to secondary school
students.
=Capitals.=
1. Of course all proper nouns should begin with capital letters, and
so should adjectives derived from them: examples, _Russia_, _Russian_,
_Jew_, _Jewish_, _Gentile_, _French_, _German_. But the word _christian_
is not always capitalized, especially if it is used vaguely as a synonym
for good, righteous, etc.
2. We capitalize the words _North_, _South_, _East_, _West_, when,
because we mean parts of the country, we use the article _the_ before
them. Thus, “The extreme West favors free silver.” But if we speak
of direction merely, we do not capitalize: “Many people took Horace
Greeley’s advice and went west.” Capitalize sections of the country, but
not points of the compass.
3. Names of the seasons are not capitalized. Thus, though we write
_June_, _September_, we also write _spring_, _autumn_.
4. In the salutation of a letter, the word _Sir_ is capitalized, but not
the preceding adjective unless that begins the salutation. Thus: “My dear
Sir.” So in the leave-taking only the first word receives a capital.
Thus: “Yours very truly.”
5. One valuable device is the use of the capital to introduce the
semblance of a quotation, or what might be called a rhetorical quotation.
Note: “I should answer, No.” Here the quotation _No_ is merely
rhetorical, or pretended, not real. Or this: “Let me give you a short
rule for success: Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” Or this, from
Longfellow: “Perhaps the greatest lesson which the lives of literary men
teach us is told in a single word: Wait!”
6. In titles of books, essays, etc., the important words are capitalized.
Thus: “My theme-title to-day was, A Description of a Person.”
7. Names of Deity begin with a capital, and many persons prefer to
capitalize adjectives referring directly to Deity. Thus: “We crave Thy
grace.” But this habit should not be carried so far as the capitalization
of words like _divine_, _omniscient_, when these are not applied to
Deity. Rather: “His goodness was divine.”
=Written Exercise.=—Copy the following, capitalizing where necessary:—
1. After going south last spring I understood better than before what is
meant by the new south. The southerners have taken to manufacturing; the
cotton is no longer all shipped away. Wealth has multiplied. Immigration
has increased—the french are not the only foreigners now. There are
colleges and even universities, that compare favorably with those of the
north. Are the people wide-awake and ambitious? I answer, yes.
=The Reasons for Punctuation.=—In early days manuscripts were written
“solid,” thus:—
MANUSCRIPTSWEREWRITTENSOLID.
It was found that both eye and ear demanded spaces and punctuation. The
reader’s train of thought goes straight ahead from word to word until the
punctuation mark warns it that there is danger of misunderstanding if it
does not pause. The mark shows that the words which precede it are to
be understood mentally as a group, and to be read orally as a group. If
the thought is kept in mind that a punctuation mark is a sort of danger
signal, many of the difficulties of the subject vanish. “Henry rose, and
I with him laughed at the story we had heard.” If that comma be omitted
between _rose_ and _and_, what happens?
=The Comma.=
1. The comma, even more than other points, shows what the meaning of
the sentence is; it should set off the parts of the thought. Nothing is
easier than to spoil a minor unit of thought by breaking it in two with
a comma. So far as may be, the modified subject of a sentence should not
be cut into by a comma; neither should the modified predicate; nor should
a subject and its predicate be separated any oftener by commas than
is necessary. The following passage, written by a lad of fifteen from
dictation, shows the minor units of thought divided by too many commas:—
The mean appearance of the houses, in old Boston, was, to
some extent, relieved by the rich display, of painted, and
sculptured signs, which adorned the front of taverns, and
stores.... They served sometimes, as advertisements of the
business, sometimes merely as designations, of the shops which
were indicated popularly, and, in the newspapers, by their
signs.
If this passage be read aloud, a pause being made wherever a comma is
placed, it will sound unnatural, disconnected. Revised, it will read
somewhat as follows:—
The mean appearance of the houses in old Boston was, to some
extent, relieved by the rich display of painted and sculptured
signs which adorned the front of taverns and stores.... They
served sometimes as advertisements of the business, sometimes
merely as designations of the shops, which were indicated
popularly and in the newspapers by their signs.
2. Commas are used to set off matter that is parenthetical, but not
sufficiently so as to need parentheses or dashes. Such words as
_therefore_ are not usually to be considered as parenthetical. A
parenthetical group of words is not to be broken into unnecessarily by
a comma. Incorrect form: “The squire remarked, as all we who live here,
in Smithboro, know, that, so far as the people who lived over there, in
Edinburgh, are concerned, we are as happy as they.” Correct form: “The
squire remarked, as all we who live here in Smithboro’ know, that so far
as the people who live over there in Edinburgh are concerned, we are as
happy as they.”
3. Vocative words, that is, words used in direct address, are set off by
commas. “Come, men, let’s go!” “Well, sir, how now?” It is curious that
in the expressions “Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” in pronouncing which we do not
pause before “_sir_,” we still place a comma here. Probably no rule of
punctuation is more neglected than this of vocative words. Something like
this usage is the placing of a comma after the expletive _Now_. Thus:
“Now, I think that the case is a little different.”
4. (_a_) Words or phrases forming a series are separated by commas when
conjunctions are omitted; and the comma is used between the last two
members of the series, conjunction or no conjunction. Thus: “Burns,
Barnes of Dorsetshire, and Riley are poets of the people.” If the last
comma were omitted, we should seem not to be considering each man
separately. Exceptions: “little old man,” “fine fat hen,” etc.
(_b_) A rapid series of independent propositions, very closely related in
sense, may be punctuated by commas. Thus: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
This is the only structure in which an independent statement, not
introduced by a conjunction, is ever pointed with the comma. If there
is any doubt whether or not the series is rapid enough to admit commas,
semicolons should be used instead.
5. Relative clauses not restrictive[10] are set off by commas. This is a
rather important rule. If I say, “The moon, which, as everybody is aware,
goes round the earth, is cold,” the _which_ clause does not so restrict
or define the word “moon” that it is necessary to our understanding what
is meant by “the moon”; the relative clause can be picked out bodily,
and the sentence will still be intelligible. “The moon is cold,” is
clear enough to people who live on the earth. They understand that the
earth’s moon is meant. But suppose I say, “The moon which goes round the
earth is smaller than one of Jupiter’s moons”; now the relative clause
identifies, restricts the word “moon”—tells what moon is meant. The
clause forms an integral part of the subject. It is no longer the moon
merely, a thing that everybody knows about; it is one particular moon:
the-moon-which-goes-round-the-earth. Occasionally such a clause can be
identified by _that_, for many writers save this relative for restrictive
clauses.
=Written Exercise.=—Copy and punctuate the following sentences, all of
which, except the first, are from Robert Louis Stevenson. Defend orally
your pointing:—
1. There goes President Harper who is so much interested in everything
that interests students.
2. Marquis I said if you take another step I fire upon you.
3. In the midst of these imagine that natural clumsy unintelligent and
mirthful animal John.
4. The terms and spirit in which he spoke of his political beliefs were
in our eyes suited to religious beliefs and _vice versâ_.
5. Oh yes I dare say said John.
6. Moy pronounced Moÿ was a pleasant little village.
7. We were in a large bare apartment adorned with two allegorical prints
of music and painting and a copy of the law against public drunkenness
8. Now what I like so much in France is the clear unflinching recognition
by everybody of his own luck
9. If it ever be a good thing to take such despondency to heart the
Miserere is the right music and a cathedral a fit scene
10. But the sun was already down the air was chill and we had scarcely a
dry stitch between the pair of us
11. The inn to which we had been recommended at Quartes was full.
12. Mme. Gilliard set herself to waken the boy who had come far that day
and was peevish and dazzled by the light.
13. Do you remember the Frenchman who was put down at Waterloo Station
14. The children who played together to-day by the Sambre and Oise canal
each at his own father’s threshold when and where might they next meet
15. I began with a remark upon their dog which had somewhat the look of a
pointer
16. The only buildings that had any interest for us were the hotel and
the café
17. Not long after the drums had passed the café [we] began to grow
sleepy and set out for the hotel which was only a door or two away
=The Semicolon.=
1. The semicolon is a kind of weak full-stop, _i.e._ period. Nearly
always it separates clauses that are grammatically able to get along
without each other, but that are closely related in sense. So rare indeed
are the cases in which the semicolon may be used with a dependent clause,
that a high school student may properly ignore them. _For the present,
avoid using the semicolon to point a dependent clause._
2. Sometimes the semicolon punctuates a series of mere phrases. This
occurs if some particular emphasis is desired for them, or if they are
too long to be set off by commas. Example:—
An enormous smoke-stack blocks my view; built of brick, and massive; blue
in the cold winter mist; glowing like a pillar of fire as soon as the
sunlight reaches it; the most changing, the most stable, thing is this
landscape.
=Oral Exercise.=—Which statements in the following sentences are
independent? which dependent? (It need hardly be suggested that the
necessity of understanding a subject or a predicate does not make a
statement dependent.)
1. If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.
2. Faults are thick, where love is thin.
3. Happy is he that is happy in his children.
4. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile;
natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to
contend.
5. O, there be players that I have seen play,—and heard others praise,
and that highly—not to speak it profanely, that neither having the
accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed, that I have thought some of nature’s journeymen
had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so
abominably.—_Hamlet_, Act III. Sc. 2.
The following sentences were written by a pupil in the first year of the
high school. If there are mistakes in punctuation, explain what principle
is violated:—
1. When the time came to retire; my uncle was shown to the tower-room.
2. A short time afterward when he was travelling through Normandy; he
came to an old castle standing in the midst of a park.
3. The postilion was ordered to drive to the castle; where my uncle
received a welcome from the little Marquis.
4. This seemed the very night for ghosts; with the wind howling outside
and whistling through the ill-fitting casement.
=The Colon.=
1. The colon is usually a mark of specification. Thus, “The old idea of
education was simple: reading, writing, arithmetic.” A fine distinction
of logic can be shown by using it: a general statement may be followed
by a colon, after which the details that explain the statement may be
given. In the following sentence the colon _specifies_ what is meant by
fine character. “He was a fellow of fine character: brave, honorable,
free from false pretense.” Usually the colon separates clauses that are
logically, if not grammatically, in _apposition_ with each other.
2. The colon introduces a formal or long, the comma an informal or
short, quotation. “He answered, ‘I will work while the day lasts.’” “The
Declaration of Independence begins as follows: ‘When, in the course of
human events.’”
=The Dash.=
1. The dash shows a sudden break in the thought. Thus: “We were hurrying
onward—but first let me tell what happened before that.”
2. The dash sometimes precedes a _summing up_. Here it usually follows a
comma, since the members of the series are set off by commas: “Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Wordsworth,—very many of our great poets indeed, were at
home in the country.” Sometimes the dash is used when there is no real
summing up, but an appositive phrase is added, as a further explanation.
For an example, see the last sentence of the next paragraph,—and this
sentence also.
3. The dash, like the comma, is often used to set off a parenthetical
expression. (See 2, under the comma.) Examples: “His father—that iron
gentleman—had long ago dethroned himself.” “He was a man—the reader must
already have perceived—of easy, not to say familiar, manners.” Note that
in these examples no commas are used with the dashes, because if the
parenthetical words were lifted out, the sentence would close up without
punctuation. But suppose the sentence were such that it could not close
up without punctuation; then the comma would be needed. The comma in “His
father being angry, he felt afraid,” remains when the parenthesis is
inserted: “His father being angry,—that iron gentleman,—he felt afraid.”
Note that in such a case a second comma is used,—with the second dash.
=Written Exercise.=—Copy and punctuate the following sentences from
Stevenson. In the first is there not a choice of punctuation after
“difficulties”?
1. All the way down we had our fill of difficulties sometimes it was a
wear which could be shot sometimes one so shallow and full of stakes that
we must withdraw the boats from the water and carry them round
2. But this is a fashion I love to kiss the hand or wave a handkerchief
to people I shall never see again to play with possibility and knock in
a peg for fancy to hang upon
3. You see what it is to be a gentleman I beg your pardon what it is to
be a pedler.
4. Centralization said he but the landlord was at his throat in a minute
5. There should be some myth but if there is I know it not founded on the
shivering of the reeds there are not many things in nature more striking
to man’s eye
6. “The fire should have been here at this side” explained the
husband “then one might have a writing table in the middle books and”
comprehensively[11] “all it would be quite coquettish _ça serait
tout-à-fait coquet_.”
=Quotation Marks.=
1. Marks of quotation, or, as the English call them, inverted commas, are
placed around direct quotations. Many students neglect a part of this
little duty: they fail to mark _the end_ of the quotation.
2. A quotation within a quotation stands between single commas. Thus:
“We were gathered on shore, watching the schooner. Gray spoke up: ‘She’s
certainly going down, and we must let the saving station know it. Maybe
the patrol has already seen her; I saw a sailor walking on the beach not
long since, and singing, “Yeave ho, my lads, the wind blows free.”’” Note
that when there is a quotation _within the second quotation_, it receives
the double marks.
3. Sometimes a quotation is given in substance, with no attempt at
accuracy; to show this fact it is quoted in single commas. Thus: ‘A
foolish consistency frightens little minds.’ This is the substance of
Emerson’s remark, “A foolish consistency is the bugbear of little minds.”
=Theme.=—Write a dialogue a page or two long. Show the change from
speaker to speaker by the use of quotation marks and paragraphing. Each
reply of each interlocutor, with its word or two of introduction, if such
there be, should go by itself as a paragraph. Choose your own topic;
or take one of these, changing the wording: (1) Smith tries to make
Brown see the difference between relative clauses restrictive and those
merely coördinate. (2) Two girls lament the difficulties of punctuation.
(3) Two lads [or, men] talk politics. Do not begin each speech as in
Shakespeare each is begun—with the speaker’s name. Refer occasionally
to the speakers, if you please, _e.g._, “‘Not by any means,’ responded
Bangs, rather tartly”; but do not hesitate to let most of the speeches
stand without comment. Punctuate the dialogue carefully, as you write.
Then revise it carefully for punctuation.
=Brackets.=
Brackets indicate that the included matter is inserted by another person
than the original author; that is, by a person who is quoting or editing
the passage. Thus: “He [Goethe] tells us that character is developed in
the busy world, though intellect is developed in solitude.”
=The Exclamation Point.=
1. There is a tendency to punctuate with the period sentences that are
really exclamatory; it is better to use the exclamation point. Thus: “I
am so delighted to see you!”
It is better still to avoid an excess of exclamatory sentences, however
correctly punctuated.
2. The word _oh!_ should be followed by an exclamation point or by a
comma. This is not the word _O_, which is used in direct address—
“O thou that rollest above,
Round as the shield of my fathers,”
and to express a wish:
“O that I had wings like a dove.”
3. The exclamation point may stand in the midst of a sentence, at the end
of a clause. The mark is then not followed by a capital letter. Thus: “Is
it possible! is it credible!” exclaimed the Bishop.
=The Interrogation Point.=
1. Placed in parentheses the interrogation point questions the accuracy
of a statement. Ex.: “It is in New York (?) that the largest number of
exiled Russians is found.”
2. Like the exclamation mark, the question mark may stand at the end of
a clause, before a small letter. Thus: “Do you believe it? was the way
he greeted me as I finished reading the letter.” Or, “Shall we lie here
inactive? Shall we plan nothing? attempt nothing? do nothing?”
=Written Exercise.=—Copy and punctuate the following sentences from
Stevenson:—
1. Such a dinner as we were going to eat such beds as we were to sleep in
2. Where were the boating men of Belgium where the judge and his good
wines and where the graces of Origny
3. Come back again she cried and all the hills echoed her
4. All the gold had withered out of the sky and the balloon had
disappeared whither I ask myself; caught up into the seventh heaven or
come safely to land somewhere in that blue uneven distance into which the
roadway dipped and melted before our eyes
=Italics.=
1. A good rule for italics is to shun them—that is, not to use them
freely to denote emphasis. Emphasis can be secured by some other means;
for instance, by putting the emphatic word near the beginning of the
sentence. Thus: “It was such a very _fine_ thing to spin along over the
ice” becomes, “A fine thing it was, to spin along over the ice.”
2. Use italics to show that a word is foreign. Thus: “Sophronia likes to
interlard her English with such fine phrases as _en passant_, _fin de
siècle_, and _al fresco_.”
3. It is usual to italicize single words if they are specified,—spoken of
as words. Thus: “A good many words that pass muster with most people are
not really in good use; for example, _burglarize_.”
=The Apostrophe.=
1. One use of the apostrophe is to mark the plural of single letters, or
figures. Ex.: Distinguish between your 8’s and 3’s; dot your _i’s_ and
cross your _t’s_.
2. The commoner use of the apostrophe is to mark the possessive case.
There is however no apostrophe in the word _its_, which is considered an
adjective, not a personal, pronoun.
=Asterisks.=
A row of asterisks is used to show an omission. Thus, if a writer were
quoting, and wished to skip a page or two, he would insert this sign
* * * * But if he omitted only a few words, he would rather use
“leaders”; thus....
=Oral Exercise, in Review.=—Read this passage over carefully, and
listen to the reading of it aloud by some member of the class or by the
instructor. Then explain how it should be punctuated.
Mr. Higginbotham Mr. Higginbotham tell us the particulars about old
Mr. Higginbotham bawled the mob what is the coroner’s verdict are the
murderers apprehended is Mr. Higginbotham’s niece come out of her
fainting fits Mr. Higginbotham Mr. Higginbotham
The coachman said not a word except to swear awfully at the ostler for
not bringing him a fresh team of horses the lawyer inside had generally
his wits about him even when asleep the first thing he did after learning
the cause of the excitement was to produce a large red pocket-book
meantime Dominicus Pike being an extremely polite young man and also
suspecting that a female tongue would tell the story as glibly as a
lawyer’s had handed the lady out of the coach she was a fine smart girl
now wide awake and bright as a button and had such a sweet pretty mouth
that Dominicus would almost as lieves have heard a love tale from it as a
tale of murder
Gentleman and ladies said the lawyer to the shopkeepers the mill men
and the factory girls I can assure you that some unaccountable mistake
or more probably a wilful falsehood maliciously contrived to injure Mr
Higginbotham’s credit has excited this singular uproar we passed through
Kimballton at three o’clock this morning and most certainly should have
been informed of the murder had any been perpetrated but I have proof
nearly as strong as Mr. Higginbotham’s own oral testimony in the negative
here is a note relating to a suit of his in the Connecticut courts which
was delivered me from that gentleman himself I find it dated at ten
o’clock last evening
So saying the lawyer exhibited the date and signature of the note which
irrefragably proved either that this perverse Mr. Higginbotham was alive
when he wrote it or as some deemed the more probable case of two doubtful
ones that he was so absorbed in worldly business as to continue to
transact it even after his death but unexpected evidence was forthcoming
the young lady after listening to the pedlers explanation merely seized a
moment to smooth her gown and put her curls in order, and then appeared
at the tavern-door making a modest signal to be heard
Good people said she I am Mr. Higginbotham’s niece
=Written Exercise, in Review.=—Copy, punctuate, and capitalize the
following, from Charles Lamb:
And first let us remember as first in importance in our childish eyes the
young men as they almost were who under the denomination of _Grecians_
were waiting the expiration of the period when they should be sent at
the charges of the Hospital to one or other of our Universities but more
frequently to Cambridge these youths from their superior acquirements
their superior age and stature and the fewness of their numbers for
seldom above two or three at a time were inaugurated into that high order
drew the eyes of all and especially of the younger boys into a reverent
observance and admiration how tall they used to seem to us how stately
would they pace along the cloisters while the play of the lesser boys
was absolutely suspended or its boisterousness at least allayed at their
presence not that they ever beat or struck the boys that would have
been to have demeaned[12] themselves the dignity of their persons alone
insured them all respect the task of blows, or corporal chastisement they
left to the common monitors or heads of wards who it must be confessed in
our time had rather too much license allowed them to oppress and misuse
their inferiors and the interference of the Grecian who may be considered
as the spiritual power was not unfrequently called for to mitigate by its
mediation the heavy unrelenting arm of this temporal power or monitor
in fine the Grecians were the solemn Muftis of the school œras[13] were
computed from their time it used to be said such or such a thing was
done when S—— or T—— was Grecian.
=Common Abbreviations.=
The following list of abbreviations should be learned, Latin words and
all.
A. B., _Artium Baccalaureus_. Bachelor of Arts. In England, B.
A.
A. D., _Anno Domini_. In the Year of our Lord.
AD. LIB., or _ad. lib._, _Ad libitum_. At pleasure.
ÆT., _Ætatis_. Of age; aged.
A. M., _Ante Meridiem_. Before noon.
A. M., _Artium Magister_. Master of Arts. In England, M. A.
A. U. C., _Anno Urbis Conditæ_. In the year from the Building
of the City (Rome).
D. C. L. Doctor of Civil Law.
D. D., _Divinitatis Doctor_. Doctor of Divinity.
D. D. S. Doctor of Dental Surgery.
Do., _Ditto_. The same.
E. E. Errors excepted. (Used in book-keeping.)
E. O. E. Errors and omissions excepted.
E. G., or _e. g._, _Exempli gratia_. For example.
ETC., or &C., _Et cætera_. And so forth; literally, And others.
F. R. S. Fellow of the Royal Society.
H. M. His _or_ Her Majesty.
H. M. S. His _or_ Her Majesty’s Ship _or_ Service.
H. R. H. His _or_ Her Royal Highness.
IBID., _Ibidem_. In the same place. Used in quoting several
selections from one book, or making several references to one
source.
I. E., or _i. e._, _Id est_. That is. In reading aloud, one
gives the English words only.
I. H. S., sometimes explained as _Iesus Hominum Salvator_.
Jesus the Saviour of Men. More properly, this abbreviation
merely means “Jesus.” It is made up of the first three letters
of the Greek word for Jesus—ΙΗΣΟΥΣ. The H, in I. H. S., is
really the Greek letter êta, from which we get our capital E.
I. N. R. I., _Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudæorum_. Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews.
L. H. D., _Litterarum Humanarum Doctor_. Doctor of Humane
Letters.
LL. D., _Legum Doctor_. Doctor of Laws.
M., _Meridies_. Mid-day.
M. A. Master of Arts.
M. D., _Medicinæ Doctor_. Doctor of Medicine.
MESSRS. Gentlemen. (French, _Messieurs_.)
MME. Madame.
MLLE. Mademoiselle.
MS., or Ms. Manuscript. MSS. Manuscripts.
N. B., _Nota bene_. Mark well, or take notice.
N. S. New Style (after 1752).
OB., _Obiit_. He _or_ she died.
O. S. Old Style (previous to 1752).
PH. D., _Philosophiæ Doctor_. Doctor of Philosophy.
PP. Pages.
P. P. C., _Pour prendre congé_. To take leave. This is not an
abbreviation for the English words: Paid parting call.
PRO TEM., _Pro tempore_. For the time being.
PROX., _Proximo_. Next, _or_ the next month.
Q. E. D., _Quod erat demonstrandum_. Which was to be
demonstrated.
R. S. V. P., or R. s. v. p., _Répondez, s’il vous plaît_.
Answer, if you please.
VIZ., or viz., _Videlicet_. Namely, to wit. _Videlicet_ has
etymologically about the force of “You see,” or “It can be
seen.”
VS., _Versus_. Against.