THE WRITER’S DESK BOOK

[Available: [Transcriber's Note]]

OTHER BOOKS BY MR. ORCUTT

GOOD OLD DORCHESTER. A Narrative History

PRINCESS KALLISTO, and other Tales of the Fairies

ROBERT CAVELIER. A Novel

THE FLOWER OF DESTINY. A Novel

THE SPELL. A Novel

THE LEVER. A Novel

THE MOTH. A Novel

The Writer’s

Desk Book

Being a ref­er­ence vol­ume up­on ques­tions of PUNC­TU­A­TION · CAP­I­TA­LI­ZA­TION · SPEL­LING · DI­VI­SION OF WORDS · IN­DEN­TION · SPA­CING ITA­LICS · AB­BREV­IA­TIONS AC­CENTS · NUM­ER­ALS · FAUL­TY DIC­TION · LET­TER WRI­TING · POST­AL REG­U­LA­TIONS · Etc · Etc

By WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT
for many years Head of The University Press · Cambridge · Now associated with THE PLIMPTON PRESS · Norwood Mass.

New York · FREDERICK·A·STOKES COMPANY · Publishers · MCMXIII

Copyright, 1912, by
FREDERICK A. STOKES CO.
SECOND EDITION

THE · PLIMPTON · PRESS
[W · D · O]
NORWOOD · MASS · U · S · A

CONTENTS

PAGE
PUNCTUATION

Importance of correct punctuation — punctuation marks and accents — the comma — the semicolon — the colon — the period — the dash — the exclamation — the interrogation — quotation-marks — parentheses — brackets — the apostrophe — the hyphen

[1]
CAPITALIZATION

Of religious terms — of proper names — of titles — of institutional terms — of references — of ordinals — in general — use of small capitals

[20]
SPELLING

Importance of adopting an authority — basic rules for numbers and diphthongs — simple rules of orthography — accented words — participles — variable endings — list of variable spellings

[31]
COMPOUNDWORDS

General theory — changes in modern uses — rules and examples

[45]
DIVISIONOFWORDS

Rules and examples

[52]
INDENTIONANDPARAGRAPHING

Various forms used in display — en échelon — irregular — hanging — reverse — lozenge — blocked — definition of the paragraph — its value — kinds of paragraphs — length of paragraph

[55]
SPACING

General principles — kerned letters — examples of varying spaces

[59]
ITALIC

Its origin — its uses — when required and when not

[62]
ABBREVIATIONS

Of dates — of proper names — of titles — commercial — of given names — geographical — miscellaneous — scriptural — monetary signs — mathematical signs — medical signs

[65]
NUMERALS

History of their evolution — lists

[93]
CORRECTANDFAULTYDICTION

Dr. Campbell’s canons — good usage — list of words and phrases commonly misused

[99]
LETTERWRITING

Its importance — business, informal, formal — the heading — the address — the salutation — the text — the complimentary close — the signature — the envelope — postal cards — in general — examples

[114]
POSTALINFORMATION

Classes of mail — parcel post — wrapping of mail matter — forwarding mail matter — what cannot be mailed — concealed matter — domestic rates — foreign rates — exceptions — foreign parcels post — money order fees — registered mail — special delivery system — postal distances and time from New York City

[129]
APPENDIX

Standard time — values of foreign coins — comparative thermometers — weights and measures — British weights and measures

[142]
INDEX[163]

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THE WRITER’S DESK BOOK

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