Why We Punctuate; or, Reason Versus Rule in the Use of Marks

OR REASON VERSUS RULE IN THE USE OF MARKS BY WILLIAM LIVINGSTON KLEIN “Punctuation seems to be an art based upon rules without congruity, and derived from practice without uniformity.” Second Edition—Entirely Rewritten MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA THE LANCET PUBLISHING COMPANY 1916
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY WILLIAM LIVINGSTON KLEIN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TO MY WIFE
who during the many years the subject of punctuation has occupied my attention has ever been ready, with great intelligence and helpfulness, to discuss with me the intricate and often dull problems which punctuation presents
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED IN LOVING APPRECIATION

The first edition of this work was published in 1896, and the treatment of the subject was so highly commended by many leading men and periodicals of the country that the entire edition, though a large one, was soon exhausted. In spite of this favorable commendation, which may have been due to my effort to set forth reasons, instead of rules, for the use of marks, I had a keen sense of certain shortcomings in the work, and have long been unwilling to permit its reprinting or to undertake its rewriting. At least one of the reasons—and I hope the principal one—why the work fell short of my ideal of the book needed, was the inevitable failure inherent in the mode of treating the subject. As a sentence may contain the four principal marks (comma, semicolon, colon, and period) and, in addition, one or more of the other marks, a writer courts failure if, in treating the difficult art of punctuation, he deals with the marks separately, beginning, as all writers, myself included, have hitherto done, with the comma, the most difficult mark to understand, and proceeding, one at a time, with the other marks. Failure follows this mode of treatment because it disregards the interrelation of marks and the relations between groups of words to be interpreted by marks.
In this edition, which has been entirely rewritten, I have endeavored to avoid the fault of such mode of treatment, and have dealt, from the outset, with groups of interrelated marks, exhibiting, for instance, in a single illustrative sentence (No. 6) the four principal marks in their interrelation as affected by the sense relations of the language of the sentence. I believe that this treatment of the subject of punctuation is the only logical one; and because of the lack of a logical treatment of the subject it is no exaggeration to say that almost utter chaos as regards punctuation which is helpful to both reader and writer, exists everywhere, inside and outside of printing-offices.