[465] Needless abbreviations, like most that occur in this example, are in bad taste, and ought to be avoided. The great faultiness of this text as a model for learners, compels me to vary the words considerably in suggesting the correction. See the Key.—G. B.
[466] "To be, or not to be?—that's the question."—Hallock's Gram., p. 220. "To be, or not to be, that is the question."—Singer's Shak., ii. 488. "To be, or not to be; that is the Question."—Ward's Gram., p 160. "To be, or not to be, that is the Question."—Brightland's Gram., p 209. "To be, or not to be?"—Mandeville's Course of Reading, p. 141. "To be or not to be! That is the question."—Pinneo's Gram., p. 176. "To be—or not to be—that is the question—"—Burgh's Speaker, p. 179.
[467] In the works of some of our older poets, the apostrophe is sometimes irregularly inserted, and perhaps needlessly, to mark a prosodial synsæresis, or synalepha, where no letter is cut off or left out; as,
"Retire, or taste thy folly', and learn by proof,
Hell-born, not to contend with spir'its of Heaven."
—Milton, P. L., ii, 686.
In the following example, it seems to denote nothing more than the open or long sound of the preceding vowel e:
"That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour,
Even till a lethe'd dulness."
—Singer's Shakspeare, Vol. ii, p. 280.
[468] The breve is properly a mark of short quantity, only when it is set over an unaccented syllable or an unemphatic monosyllable, as it often is in the scanning of verses. In the examples above, it marks the close or short power of the vowels; but, under the accent, even this power may become part of a long syllable; as it does in the word rav´en, where the syllable rav, having twice the length of that which follows, must be reckoned long. In poetry, r=av-en and r=a-ven are both trochees, the former syllable in each being long, and the latter short.
[469] 1. The signs of long and short sounds, and especially of the former, have been singularly slow in acquiring appropriate names—or any appellatives suited to their nature, or such as could obtain the sanction of general use. The name breve, from the French brève, (which latter word came, doubtless, originally from the neuter of the Latin adjective brevis, short,) is now pretty generally applied to the one; and the Greek term macron, long, (also originally a neuter adjective,) is perhaps as common as any name for the other. But these are not quite so well adapted to each other, and to the things named, as are the substitutes added above.
2. These signs are explained in our grammars under various names, and often very unfit ones, to say the least; and, in many instances, their use is, in some way, awkwardly stated, without any attempt to name them, or more than one, if either. The Rev. T. Smith names them "Long (=), and Short (~)."—Smith's Murray, p. 72. Churchill calls them "The long = and the short ~."—New Gram., p. 170. Gould calls them "a horizontal line" and "a curved line."—Gould's Adam's Gram., p. 3. Coar says, "Quantity is distinguished by the characters of - long, and ~ short."—Eng. Gram., p. 197. But, in speaking of the signs, he calls them, "A long syllable =," and "A short syllable ~."—Gram., pp. 222 and 228. S. S. Greene calls them "the long sound," and "the breve or short sound."—Gram., p. 257. W. Allen says, "The long-syllable mark, (=) and the breve, or short-syllable mark, (~) denote the quantity of words poetically employed."—Gram., p. 215. Some call them "the Long Accent," and "the Short Accent;" as does Guy's Gram., p. 95. This naming seems to confound accent with quantity. By some, the Macron is improperly called "a Dash;" as by Lennie, p. 137; by Bullions, p. 157; by Hiley, p. 123; by Butler, p. 215. Some call it "a small dash;" as does Well's, p. 183; so Hiley, p. 117. By some it is absurdly named "Hyphen;" as by Buchanan, p. 162; by Alden, p. 165; by Chandler, 183; by Parker and Fox, iii, 36; by Jaudon, 193. Sanborn calls it "the hyphen, or macron."—Analyt. Gr., p. 279. Many, who name it not, introduce it to their readers by a "this =," or "thus ~;" as do Alger, Blair, Dr. Adam, Comly, Cooper, Ingersoll, L. Murray, Sanders, Wright, and others!
[470] "As soon as language proceeds, from mere articulation, to coherency, and connection, accent becomes the guide of the voice. It is founded upon an obscure perception of symmetry, and proportion, between the different sounds that are uttered."—Noehden's Grammar of the German Language, p. 66.