The use of most of the marks of punctuation should become as automatic as is the spelling of most words; but some parts of each art become automatic only after much study. The similarity between some of the difficulties presented by the arts of spelling and of punctuation seems worthy of notice at this point in our discussion. To spell the word pronounced pâr, one must know whether he is to spell the name of a fruit (pear), two things of a kind (pair), or the act of cutting (pare). Likewise, to punctuate language one must first know what relations exist between the parts of language. Every group of words, as well as every word, sustains some relation to another word or group of words in the sentence or paragraph. Somewhat exact knowledge of this relation is possessed by everybody, even by the child just beginning to talk. It is a part of one’s common sense; but, unfortunately, many text-books on language, used in the grade school, the high school, and the college, bury the common-sense knowledge of the pupil under technicalities that are never mastered. In like manner the technicalities of punctuation have made the art so difficult that it may be said to be almost a lost art. We are attempting to rediscover it through our common sense.
Let the reader challenge the first comma, when he reaches it, in No. 4-2 with “What do you say?” The answer will be, “Reader, if you think ‘like men’ is an adjective describing ‘boys,’ as ‘like Henry’ describes ‘boys’ in No. 4, you are mistaken, and you must look for another meaning.” A like challenge of the second comma, if necessary, will elicit this answer: “Reader, if you think ‘men’ is the subject of ‘may,’ you are mistaken, and you must look for another meaning.”
That the use of the commas in No. 4-2 is practically the same as their use in No. 3-1, may also be illustrated diagrammatically:
4-3. Boys like memay be courageous for principle’s sake.
4-3. Boyslike menmay be courageous for principle’s sake.
There is another and very important class of words whose sense relation is determined by the punctuation we have been considering. We shall merely touch upon this punctuation at this time, leaving it for fuller discussion later.
As the context is often necessary to show the real meaning of a word, we will supply it for our first example.
In response to a request to be excused from school, a teacher informs a pupil that he may go later. At a later hour the teacher says to him:
5. Now you may go.
The word “now” is here expressive purely of time, and suggests no other meaning than that obtained at the first reading. The sentence is another form of “You may go now,” which requires no punctuation other than the period. The word “now,” as here used, is an adverb expressing time.