CAPITAL LETTERS AND PUNCTUATION—REVIEW.
+Direction+.—Give the reason for each capital letter and each mark of punctuation in these sentences:—
1. A bigot's mind is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour
upon it, the more it contracts.
2. This is the motto of the University of Oxford: "The Lord is my light."
3. The only fault ever found with him is, that he sometimes fights ahead of
his orders.
4. The land flowing with "milk and honey" (see Numbers xiv. 8) was a long,
narrow strip, lying along the eastern edge, or coast, of the
Mediterranean, and consisted of three divisions; namely, 1. On the
north, Galilee; 2. On the south, Judea; 3, In the middle, Samaria.
5. "What a lesson," Trench well says, "the word 'diligence' contains!"
6. An honest man, my neighbor,—there he stands—
Was struck—struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Ursini.
7. Thou, too, sail on, 0 Ship of State;
Sail on, 0 Union, strong and great.
8. O'Connell asks, "The clause which does away with trial by jury—what,
in the name of H——n, is it, if it is not the establishment of a
revolutionary tribunal?"
9. There are only three departments of the mind—the intellect, the
feelings, and the will.
10. This—trial!
11. American nationality has made the desert to bud and blossom as the
rose; it has quickened to life the giant brood of useful arts; it has
whitened lake and ocean with the sails of a daring, new, and lawful
trade; it has extended to exiles, flying as clouds, the asylum of our
better liberty.
12. As I saw him [Weoster, the day before his great reply to Col. Hayne of
South Carolina] in the evening, (if I may borrow an illustration from
his favorite amusement) he was as unconcerned and as free of spirit as
some here present have seen him while floating in his fishing-boat
along a hazy shore, gently rocking on the tranquil tide, dropping his
line here and there, with the varying fortune of the sport. The next
morning he was like some mighty admiral, dark and terrible, casting the
long shadow of his frowning tiers far over the sea, that seemed to sink
beneath him; his broad pendant [pennant] streaming at the main, the
stars and the stripes at the fore, the mizzen, and the peak; and
bearing down like a tempest upon his antagonist, with all his canvas
strained to the wind, and all his thunders roaring from his broadsides.
13. The "beatitudes" are found in Matt. v. 3—11.
TO THE TEACHER.—If further work in punctuation is needed, require the pupils to justify the punctuation of the sentences beginning page 314.
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LESSON 150.
QUALITIES OF STYLE.
+Style+ is the manner in which one expresses himself. Styles differ as men differ. But there are some cardinal qualities that all good style must possess.
I. +Perspicuity.+—Perspicuity is opposed to obscurity of all kinds; it means clearness of expression. It demands that the thought in the sentence shall be plainly seen through the words of the sentence. Perspicuity is an indispensable quality of style; if the thought is not understood, or it is misunderstood, its expression might better have been left unattempted. Perspicuity depends mainly upon these few things:—
1. +One's Clear Understanding of What One Attempts to Say.+—You cannot express to others more than you thoroughly know, or make your thought clearer to them than it is to yourself.