1. Between the parts of some compound words, son-in-law, simple-hearted, vice-president. With regard to many words, usage varies. The tendency is to omit the hyphen and write the words as one, e.g. football, horsecar. According to some authorities, compound numerals and fractions retain the hyphen, e.g. twenty-nine, one hundred and thirty-first, two-thirds.
2. To separate two vowels which are not pronounced together, e.g. pre-eminent, co-operation. The diæresis is frequently used for the same purpose, e.g. preëminent.
3. To mark the division of a word at the end of a line. Usage varies as to the way in which many words shall be divided. The subject can be best studied by noticing the practice of good printers. The pupil may bear in mind, however, (a) that he should not divide words of only one syllable; (b) that he should be guided by pronunciation; (c) that syllables should begin, if possible, with a consonant. For example, photog-raphy, Napo-leon, litera-ture.
Exercise 152.—Make up three illustrations each of proper uses of the question mark, the exclamation point, parentheses, brackets, the dash, the apostrophe, double quotation marks, single quotation marks, italics, the hyphen.
108. Capitals.—The pronoun I and the interjection O are written with capital letters. Capital letters are used at the beginning of words as follows:—
1. The first word of a sentence, a line of poetry, and a direct quotation.
"Making his rustic reed of song
A weapon in the war with wrong."His last words were: "Mother is coming."
"Run," he said, "there is still time."
2. Names and titles of the Deity and personal pronouns referring to Him, e.g. the Almighty, the Holy Spirit, I pray that He will aid me.
3. Proper nouns and adjectives, including names of streets, the months, the days, races, sects, parties, nations, and parts of the country. For example, John Smith, Broadway, New York City, February, Sunday, Christmas, Indian, Episcopalian, Democrat, English, the South. Notice that negro and gypsy are not begun with capital letters.
Personal titles, whenever they are equivalent to proper nouns. In compound titles, each part begins with a capital.