Why We Punctuate; or, Reason Versus Rule in the Use of Marks

by William Livingston Klein

An excellent illustration of such erroneous definitions of a parenthesis as is noted above, and of a lack of differentiation between the semicolon and the period, is found in the following sentence, which is the opening sentence of the preface to a work on the proper use of words, written, we believe, by one who was formerly a college professor of English:

69. The author’s main purpose in this book is to teach precision in writing; and of good writing (which, essentially, is clear thinking made visible) precision is the point of capital concern.

From our point of view the principal faults of this sentence are the following:

1. The and relation between the two clauses “and” here connects, is a strained one. The real relation between them would be better expressed by a period without the conjunction.

2. The explanatory group of words set off by parentheses is not a parenthesis, and therefore should not be enclosed in marks of parenthesis. Commas are the proper marks.

DASHES AND PARENTHESES

The indiscriminate substitution of dashes and parentheses for commas, which is quite common in some literary periodicals and in some books by authors of recognized literary ability, greatly weakens the value of marks; for there can be no differentiation between the marks so used, and, consequently, the first part of either mark fails to give to the reader notice of what is to follow. The value of the punctuation is thus weakened. In some sentences, such use of these marks is not objectionable; but the necessity of the substitution is not always apparent.

The occasional substitution of parentheses for commas, where the use of semicolons is thus avoided, is desirable; but the occasion for such use is rare. In the following sentence the use of commas is strictly correct, but the result is not pleasing:

70. The following were appointed a committee on organization: John Smith, chairman, Henry Jones, and William Brown.

This punctuation seems to throw the four nouns following the colon into a series. This effect can be avoided by the use of a semicolon after “chairman”; but this punctuation would require another semicolon after “Jones,” thus grouping the words as words are grouped in Sentences 7, 7-1, and 7-2. The better punctuation of sentences like this is to enclose the descriptive word in parentheses, and retain the commas for the other words: