LESSON LXVI.
1. A declarative or assertive sentence, and an imperative sentence should be followed by a period; as, Your friend gave me a book. Open the door.
2. An interrogative sentence should be followed by the interrogation mark; as, When did you come?
3. An exclamatory word or sentence should be followed by the exclamation mark; as, But hush! hark! A deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
4. Every abbreviated word should be followed by a period; as, Mr., Rev.
5. The title of a composition, the address and the signature of a person, should be followed by a period.
6. Words that are in the same grammatical relation should be separated by commas; as, He is honest, capable, and sympathetic.
Two words that are in the same grammatical relation and connected by and, or, or nor, should not be separated by a comma; as, She is kind and good.
7. Words or phrases in apposition should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, Lady Aberdeen, the wife of the Governor of Canada, has gone on an ocean voyage.
8. A transposed phrase or clause, not closely united with the sentence, should be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma; as, In their large cities, the Egyptians built massive temples.
9. Words or phrases placed between closely related parts of a sentence should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, Their whole army, in fact, did not exceed thirty thousand men.
10. The name of a person addressed should be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma; as, James, hand me the brush.
11. The clauses of a compound sentence, when short and closely connected, should be separated by a comma; as, I finished my work, and then came home.
12. The clauses of a compound sentence, if they are contracted, or are long, or are not closely connected, should be separated by a semicolon; as, Man counts his life by years; the oak, by centuries. His left hand only was free; his open knife was in this hand.
13. A direct quotation should be enclosed by quotation marks; as, He said, “I shall go.” “He is a tall and stately king,” said Harold; “but his end is near.”
14. If a quotation is short, it should be separated from the preceding part of the sentence by a comma; as, He replied, “I am a Briton born.”
15. If a quotation is long, or if it is formally introduced by as follows, these words, etc., it should be separated from the preceding part of the sentence by a colon; as, He replied in these words: “I am a Briton born, and a Briton I shall die.”
16. When an unexpected break, pause, or turn occurs in a sentence, it should be indicated by a dash; as,
To-night will be a stormy night—
You to the town must go.
17. Explanatory words which are not necessary to the sense of the passage, should be enclosed in marks of parenthesis; as,
Know, then, this truth (enough for man to know),
Virtue alone is happiness below.
18. The parts of a compound word when they have not become united into one word, are connected by a hyphen; as, to-day, wind-organ.
A hyphen is also used at the end of a line when a word is divided into syllables.