Observing the proper position of the accent, and paying particular attention to it, is indispensable for good reading. Those who fail to do so, always read with a drawling, monotonous tone, and cannot please their hearers. There is no precision in their pronunciation, and there can be no clearness in their enunciation. (See the “Columbian Spelling Book,” page 105, where the nature and uses of accents are treated of at considerable length.)
TIME.
The second requisite of good reading is, that due regard be paid to time: if the reader hurries on without making the necessary pauses, the pronunciation is not only indistinct, but the sense is often altogether lost; and if he hesitates, making pauses where none should be made, and reads without animation or spirit, the sense is equally injured, or made difficult to ascertain, and the reading is of that drawling kind to which it is so tiresome to listen.
Those who desire to become good readers, then, must pay due attention to the pauses which should be made. Pauses are of two kinds, Grammatical Pauses, which are marked by characters, and Rhetorical Pauses, which are not marked by characters, but which the sense of what you read, requires to be made. We shall first speak of the Grammatical Pauses; they are—
| The | Comma | (marked) | , |
| ” | Semicolon | ” | ; |
| ” | Colon | ” | : |
| ” | Period | ” | . |
| ” | Interrogation | ” | ? |
| ” | Exclamation | ” | ! |
The Parenthesis () is used to inclose some word or words which are not essential to the structure of the sentence; and the Dash (—) is used to denote a sudden breaking or turning off in the discourse or sentence.
When any of these points is met with in reading, there must be a pause of greater or less duration. You should stop at the comma about as long as you would be saying a word, or while you can draw breath; at the others you should stop a little longer, but there can be no proper time fixed upon; the sense and requirements of the sentence or clause must always determine. It is usual to stop longer at each subsequent pause marked in the table, than at the preceding one; thus, longer at the semicolon than the comma, longer at the colon than the semicolon, and so on. This cannot be given as an invariable rule, however, due attention to the sense of the passage read being the best possible, indeed, the only way in which the proper duration of the pause can be determined.
Rhetorical Pauses are such as the sense requires, though not marked by characters. It will be at once perceived, that the proper making of them is much more difficult to the young reader, than those of which we have just spoken; and yet, if he desires to read with grace and elegance, he cannot dispense with them. We do not think that very young learners will be benefited much by studying rules for making rhetorical pauses, (they can be made to understand their proper use and place more readily by a competent teacher,) but we give a few of the most useful and simple.
1. The rhetorical pause should be made after the subject, or nominative, if it consists of several words; as—To express this connection | two marks are used. The love of riches | is not a virtue. The experience of want | enhances the value of plenty.