Hand-book of punctuation

by William Johnson Cocker

EXAMPLES.

1. “As an orator, indeed, he was not magnetic or inspiring.”—G. W. Curtis.

“There is, perhaps, no surer mark of folly, than to attempt to correct the natural infirmities of those we love.”—Fielding.

“There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.”—Burke.

2. “I had grown to my desk, as it were, and the wood had entered my soul.”—Lamb.

“In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature.”—Boswell.

REMARKS.

1. Words and phrases are said to be used parenthetically, when they obstruct, as it were, the flow of the sentence, and might be dropped without destroying the sense.

2. Whenever parenthetical words and phrases readily coalesce with the rest of the sentence, it is better to omit punctuation marks; as, “I am therefore exceedingly unwilling that anything, however slight, which my illustrious friend thought it worth while to express, with any degree of point, should perish.”—Boswell.