FIRST, SECOND, WHEN, NOW, BECAUSE, ETC.
Writers on punctuation seem to find the use of marks required by such words as first, second, when, now, because, etc., very puzzling; and their rules to determine the punctuation are exceedingly puzzling to the reader.
This punctuation falls quite readily under the principles of grouping and relationship exemplified in practically all of our illustrative sentences considered up to this point. It will be seen that the difficulty is to determine the actual relation of the word to what precedes or follows, or to both. Illustrative examples will serve to solve this difficulty:
45. You ask me, perhaps, even you, who are all charity, why parts of this book are what they are.
46. You ask me, perhaps even you, who are all charity, why parts of this book are what they are.
In No. 45 the speaker makes in the first three words a statement which may be merely an assumption; and, perceiving this fact as the statement is finished, he wishes to soften the possible severity of his language. This he does by the insertion of a slightly parenthetical word (perhaps). Besides having this parenthetical character, “perhaps” has here also a squinting character (looking both ways),—that is, it may be intended to qualify what precedes it or what follows it. As it is entirely cut off by a comma from what follows it, the reader must determine what it does qualify; and this he readily determines from his knowledge of language. Of course, it here qualifies the statement that precedes it. If “perhaps” were placed before “ask,” the meaning would be unmistakable; but, as the effect of the language would not be exactly the same, the former mode of expression is necessary, and demands proper punctuation.
In No. 46 “perhaps” stands in the regular position of a word that qualifies what immediately follows it, and therefore needs no mark. The commas in this sentence are used to suspend a group of words, as diagrammatically illustrated in Sentence 4-3, coming between words closely connected in sense. The more natural position of this appositive group of words is immediately after the first “you”; but even here it would require the commas, because it is an appositive. They are placed where they are for the same reason that “perhaps” is placed out of its natural order in No. 45.
47. The word therefore sometimes stands, as an adverb, in the natural position of an adverb, and therefore requires no mark, at least after it; it likewise stands, as a conjunction, in the natural position of a conjunction, and therefore no mark is required after it; it also sometimes stands, as either part of speech, out of the regular order of such part of speech, breaking the continuous flow of the thought, and thus becoming slightly parenthetical and requiring the marks (commas) used to show this office of the word. If, therefore, this distinction between the word’s uses be carefully noted, the punctuation required will not be difficult to learn.
The above sentence will serve to illustrate the punctuation required by “therefore” and also by its synonyms, which are accordingly, because, hence, since, thence, wherefore, etc. These words belong to a large group of words whose punctuation is readily determined by the sense relations. The word however, in its relation to other parts of the sentence, will serve to emphasize the distinction between the two uses of many of these words:
48. He was reluctant to discuss the subject. He replied, however, to all questions put to him, however pointed such questions were.