The permutations of clauses permitted by our materials give empirical evidence of the pauses and accordingly of the functions of the orthographical signs of suspense in the sentence. These signs are included also in our alphabets. All the exercises hitherto given require more or less spontaneous attention to punctuation. We offer, however, in addition, several series of sentences for analysis in illustration of the principal rules for the use of punctuation points. Almost all of our Italian sentences are taken from Manzoni, a writer especially noteworthy for his care in punctuation. (The majority of the sentences below are taken from the Book of Knowledge, by special permission of the publishers.)
Series I
The comma may separate coordinate elements.
—The mother took a glowing pride in the beauty of her children's faces, the grace and strength of their bodies, their reckless daring and unflinching courage.
—The little star fell plump into the middle of a big puddle, and there it lay sad and shaken and quaking with fright.
—It was dumb and half blind, it had a soiled face, and could give no more light.
—A mouse was just then peeping from its hole to see whether it was going to rain, and whether it would be safe to cross the fields.
—The mouse started running again, and ran until it was tired out and had to sit down.
—The little star poured a flood of bright light over the poor woman, and made her bright and cheerful and strong again, and then the little girl became very happy.