HAND-BOOK
OF
PUNCTUATION,

WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR

CAPITALIZATION, LETTER-WRITING,
AND
PROOF-READING,

BY
W. J. COCKER, A. M.

A. S. Barnes & Co.,
New York, Chicago, and New Orleans.
1878.

Copyright, 1878, by W. J. Cocker.

PREFACE.

As the pronunciation of words is determined by the usage of the best speakers, so, in a great measure, the punctuation of sentences is based on the usage of the best writers. Recognizing this fact, the author has aimed,—

1. To state such general rules as are recognized by most writers of good English.

2. To illustrate these rules by examples taken from many of our best English classics.

3. To give some of the differences in usage that exist even among the best of writers.

It is frequently asserted that even good writers differ so much in their use of punctuation marks that it is impossible to lay down any general rules, and that it is better for each one to consult his own taste and judgment. With equal reason it might be said that inasmuch as good speakers, and even lexicographers, differ in the pronunciation of words, therefore each speaker should make his own taste and judgment the standard for correct pronunciation. A writer’s mode of expressing his thoughts will determine the character and number of the punctuation marks that he uses, and it is chiefly owing to this that even good writers differ somewhat in punctuating what they have written. There are some rules that are invariable under all circumstances; the use of others depends on the mental characteristics of the writer; and there are still other rules, the application of which is determined by the writer’s taste alone.

By gestures, tones of voice, oratorical pauses, emphasis, and in various ways, a speaker can make his meaning clear to his listeners; and so a writer should certainly use all the aids which punctuation, capitals, and italics afford, in presenting clearly what he has written for the perusal of others. Business men, however, seem to think that they are not amenable to the rules that govern good writers. They affirm that they have no time to punctuate their letters, and yet they subject others to the necessity of expending time and patience in trying to make out their meaning. Serious misunderstandings have arisen between business men, in consequence of the omission or incorrect use of punctuation marks, and expensive lawsuits have originated in the careless punctuation of legal instruments.

Very little attention is paid in our public schools to punctuation, and the rules usually given in English Composition are either disregarded or not properly understood. This may, perhaps, be accounted for by the fact that the rules are wanting in clearness, and are not sufficiently illustrated by examples. The aim of this volume is to remedy, in some measure, these evils, and to secure more attention to what ought to be a prominent part of school instruction. The evils of bad punctuation are really more serious than the evils of bad spelling, and no student can be said to have learned to read well, much less to write well, who has not studied punctuation intelligently.

We would suggest that this hand-book be used at Rhetorical Exercises, and that when essays, orations, criticisms, &c., are handed to the teacher for correction, he should use a red or a blue pencil, so that corrections may be the more readily recognized. Besides the corrections in grammar, spelling, &c., he should be careful to supply punctuation marks when needed, cross out needless ones, and, of course, make such other corrections as may be necessary. When the productions are returned to the pupils, the teacher should first point out the necessity of using certain marks, in order to define and bring out the meaning, and to show the relation between the different members of a sentence. Having thus shown the need of punctuation marks, then reference should be made to some of the simpler rules, to impress this need on the mind. Great care should be taken not to perplex the mind with too many rules before the necessity is created for their use. The great difficulty in the study of punctuation has been that many rules are committed to memory before the need of their use has arisen, so that the mind is perplexed and bewildered instead of enlightened. The rule, it must be remembered, does not create the necessity; the necessity creates the rule. Then, again, we think a great mistake is made by having the beginner punctuate what some one else has written. The better plan is for the pupil, at the very outset, to punctuate what he himself has composed, and in his effort to bring out his own meaning clearly, he will, with the aid of a few rules, almost intuitively fall into the habit of punctuating correctly.

The following suggestions may be of service:—

1. Do not give a pupil a rule to learn, unless it is clearly founded upon examples taken from what he himself has written.

2. Take, at first, the simplest, most frequently used, and most readily understood rules.

3. Advance slowly, remembering that a few simple principles clearly understood, are of much more practical benefit than a number of misty rules hastily committed to memory.

In the preparation of this hand-book, the author is under obligations to various authorities, but he is more especially indebted to Wilson’s “Treatise on Punctuation.”

W. J. COCKER.

Adrian, Mich., Dec. 26, 1877.

Table of Contents.

Punctuation.

Introduction.

The principal punctuation marks are,—

The comma indicates a somewhat close relationship between the parts of a sentence; the semicolon, a more distant relationship; the colon indicates that the parts are almost independent of each other; the period marks the close of a sentence, and indicates that a thought is complete.

In simple sentences, when the words are closely united together, and the relationship of the words to each other is readily perceived, there is usually no need of any punctuation marks, except a period at the close. It should always be borne in mind that punctuation marks are used primarily to assist in bringing out the meaning of the writer, and not to embellish a written or a printed page. In sentences made up of parts that are closely related to each other, but, at the same time, distinct in character, commas should be used. They are way-marks for the accommodation of the reader. A production unpunctuated presents as dreary a prospect to the reader, as the level plain of Chaldæa presents to the perplexed traveler who has lost himself among the sandy mounds on the banks of the Euphrates, and has nothing by which to direct his course.

When the different parts of a sentence are somewhat disconnected, and not closely related to each other, a semicolon or colon should be used. Sentences are sometimes very long and complicated. It is then necessary to separate the main divisions by semicolons, and the smaller by commas. Sometimes the smaller parts of a sentence are separated by commas and semicolons, and the main divisions by colons.

The other marks in use are,—

THE COMMA.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

In order to properly understand some of the rules that are given in the following pages, it is absolutely necessary to have a clear understanding of the difference between a sentence and a clause. A sentence is a combination of words expressing a complete thought, and usually followed by a period; a clause is a distinct part of a sentence. Some sentences are simple in form, and have but one subject and one finite verb; as, “Language is part of a man’s character.”—Coleridge. Other sentences are made up of clauses, each clause having a subject and a verb; in other words, several clauses are sometimes joined together to form one sentence; as, “New forms of beauty start at once into existence, and all the burial places of the memory give up their dead.”—Macaulay. It will be easily seen that clauses will be more readily recognized with the eye, and more easily comprehended, if they are separated from each other by punctuation marks. This will be especially so, if the clauses are long.

In preparing this hand-book, the aim has been to avoid, as much as possible, the use of technical terms. Whenever such terms are used, explanations will usually be found under the head of Remarks.

Rule I. Independent Clauses.—Independent clauses should be separated from each other by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“Savage was discomposed by the intrusion or omission of a comma, and he would lament an error of a single letter as a great calamity.”—Dr. Johnson.

“Man wants but little here below,

Nor wants that little long.”—Goldsmith.

“Take short views, hope for the best, and trust in God.”—Sydney Smith.

REMARKS.

1. An independent clause is one that is not dependent on any other clause for the completion of its meaning; as, Take short views | hope for the best | and trust in God. Independent clauses are frequently connected by and, or, nor, but.

2. When the clauses are short and closely united, the comma may be omitted; as, “Death had lost its terrors and pleasure its charms.”

3. When the clauses are long and divided into smaller portions by commas, they should be separated from each other by semicolons. See Rule I. p. [23].

Rule II. Dependent Clauses.—Dependent clauses should be separated from each other by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.”—Dr. Johnson.

“When Dr. Franklin wished to gain his enemy, he asked him to do him a favor.”

“Clap an extinguisher upon your irony, if you are unhappily blest with a vein of it.”—Lamb.

“Although we seldom followed advice, we were all ready enough to ask it.”—Goldsmith.

REMARKS.

1. A clause is said to be dependent, when it depends on some other clause to complete its meaning; as, When Dr. Johnson wished to gain his enemy | he asked him to do him a favor. The first clause of this sentence would not be complete in meaning without the second. Dependent clauses usually commence with if, when, since, because, until, &c.

2. When clauses are closely connected, the comma may be omitted; as, Mozart published some music when seven years of age.

Rule III. Relative Clauses.—1. A relative clause should be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

2. But the comma should be omitted, when the relative clause is so closely connected with what precedes that it cannot be dropped without destroying the sense.

EXAMPLES.

1. “Men in a corner, who have the unhappiness of conversing too little with present things.”—Swift.

“The waters are nature’s storehouse, in which she locks up her wonders.”—Izaak Walton.

“He had on a coat made of that cloth called thunder-and-lightning, which, though grown too short, was much too good to be thrown away.”—Goldsmith.

2. “Althworthy here betook himself to those pleasing slumbers which a heart that hungers after goodness is apt to enjoy when thoroughly satisfied.”—Fielding.

“A man who is good for making excuses is good for nothing else.”—Dr. Franklin.

“Like Cæsar, Cortes wrote his own commentaries in the heart of the stirring scenes which form the subject of them.”—Prescott.

REMARKS.

1. Relative clauses are generally introduced by the relative pronouns who, which, that, or what.

2. A comma should be placed before the relative clause, even when it is necessary to complete the meaning of the antecedent,—

a. When the relative is immediately followed by a word or an expression inclosed in commas; as, “As a man, he may not have deserved the admiration which he received from those, who, bewitched by his fascinating society, worshiped him nightly in his favorite temple at Button’s.”—Macaulay.

b. When the relative has several antecedents that are separated from each other by commas; as, “All those arts, rarities, and inventions, which vulgar minds gaze at, the ingenious pursue, and all admire, are but the relics of an intellect defaced with sin and time.”—South.

3. The words of which are sometimes preceded by a comma, even when they are necessary to complete the meaning of the antecedent: as, “His mind was formed of those firm materials, of which nature formerly hammered out the Stoic, and upon which the sorrows of no man living could make an impression.”—Fielding.

Rule IV. Parenthetical Words and Phrases. When single words and phrases break the connection between closely related parts of a sentence, they should usually be separated by commas from the rest of the sentence.

1. Words used parenthetically,—

• therefore,
• indeed,
• perhaps,
• namely,
• finally,
• consequently,
• however,
• moreover,
• nevertheless, &c.

2. Phrases used parenthetically,—

• in short,
• in truth,
• of course,
• in fact,
• in a word,
• you know,
• in reality,
• no doubt,
• as it were, &c.

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.

3. A distinction should be made between words used parenthetically, and adverbs qualifying particular words; as, “And with learning was united a mild and liberal spirit, too often wanting in the princely colleges of Oxford.”—Macaulay.

“That, too, has its eminent service.”—Burke.

Rule V. Parenthetical Expressions.—Expressions of a parenthetical character should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“She was tumbled early, by accident or design, into a spacious closet of good old English reading, without much selection or prohibition, and browsed at will upon that fair and wholesome pasturage.”—Lamb.

“He [Sheridan] who, in less than thirty years afterward, held senates enchained by his eloquence and audiences fascinated by his wit, was, by common consent both of parent and preceptor, pronounced a most impenetrable dunce.”—Moore.

“It is clear that Addison’s serious attention, during his residence at the university, was almost entirely concentrated on Latin poetry.”—Macaulay.

REMARKS.

1. A distinction should be made between parenthetical words and parenthetical expressions.

a. Parenthetical words can be omitted without destroying the sense. See examples under Rule IV.

b. Parenthetical expressions obstruct the flow of the sentence, but can not be omitted without either destroying the sense, or changing the meaning intended to be conveyed. See examples given above.

2. When parenthetical expressions are short, or closely connected with the rest of the sentence, it is better to omit punctuation marks.

3. Writers differ very much in omitting or using commas in parenthetical expressions. It is sometimes immaterial whether punctuation marks are used or not, but, in many cases, there are few rules so well adapted to bring out the meaning of the writer.

Rule VI. Inverted Expressions.—Expressions which are not in their natural order, are frequently separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

EXAMPLES.

“In everything that relates to science, I am a whole Encyclopædia behind the rest of the world.”—Lamb.

“In all unhappy marriages I have seen, the great cause of evil has proceeded from slight occasions.”—Steele.

REMARKS.

1. The natural order of the first sentence is, I am a whole Encyclopædia behind the rest of the world in everything that relates to science.

2. When the inverted expression is closely connected with what follows, the commas should be omitted; as,—

“Of Addison’s childhood we know little.”—Macaulay.

“That inward man I love that’s lined with virtue.”—Beaumont and Fletcher.

Rule VII. Short Quotations.—Short quotations should be separated from what precedes by a comma.

EXAMPLES.

The Italians say, “Good company in a journey makes the way to seem shorter.”

A writer in Lippincott’s Magazine says, “It is the little courtesies that make up the sum of a happy home.”

Schiller has said, “Men’s words are ever bolder than their deeds.”

REMARKS.

1. An expression resembling a quotation should be preceded by a comma; as, “Therefore the question still returns, What is the First Principle of all things?”

2. Quotations and general statements introduced by that are frequently preceded by a comma; as, “Tacitus says of Agricola, that he governed his family, which many find to be a harder task than to govern a province.”—Arthur Helps.

3. When single words or a part of a sentence are quoted, a comma should not be used; as, “His wife was a domesticated, kind-hearted old soul, who had come with him ‘from the queen city of the world,’ which, it seemed, was Philadelphia.”—Dickens.

4. Quotation divided. “A man could not set his foot down,” says Cortes, “unless on the corpse of an Indian.”—Prescott.

5. When the quotation is a long one, it should be preceded by a colon.

Rule VIII. Person or Thing Addressed.—The name of the person or thing addressed, together with its modifying words, should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“Now, Macaulay, when I am gone, you’ll be sorry that you never heard me speak.”—Sydney Smith.

“Why, Romeo, art thou mad?”—Shakespeare.

“My lords, we are called upon, as members of this house, as men, as Christians, to protest against such horrible barbarity!”—Pitt.

REMARK.

When strong emotion is expressed, an exclamation point should be used; as, “O Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in twain.”—Shakespeare.

Rule IX. Participial Clauses.—Participial clauses, having no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence, should be separated from what follows, and, if they do not commence a sentence, from what precedes, by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“Success being now hopeless, preparations were made for a retreat.”—Alison.

“Such being their general idea of the gods, we can now easily understand the habitual tone of their feelings towards what was beautiful in nature.”—Ruskin.

REMARK.

Being or having been is usually the sign of a participial clause.

Rule X. Verb Omitted.—When a verb, previously used, is omitted, a comma usually takes its place.

EXAMPLES.

“Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.”—Bacon.

“Chaucer painted persons; Spenser, qualities.”

REMARKS.

1. When the comma takes the place of an omitted verb, the main clauses or numbers should be separated by semicolons.

2. Sometimes a comma does not take the place of an omitted verb; as, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”—Bacon.

“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”—Bacon.

Rule XI. Appositives.—A noun in apposition and its modifiers should be separated by commas from the rest of the sentence.

EXAMPLES.

“When death, the great Reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness we repent of but our severity.”—George Eliot.

“The exploits of Mercury himself, the god of cunning, may be easily imagined to surpass everything achieved by profaner hands.”—Leigh Hunt.

REMARKS.

1. An appositive is a word, placed by the side of some other word to explain or characterize it.

2. The comma should be omitted,—

a. When two nouns without modifiers are in apposition; as, Cicero the orator was born near Arpinum. If the sentence was, Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, was born near Arpinum, commas would be necessary.

b. When a noun and a pronoun are in apposition; as, Mercury himself surpassed everything achieved by profaner hands.

c. When two pronouns are in apposition; as, He himself did this.

d. Between the parts of a person’s name; as, George William Curtis.

3. In annexing titles to a person’s name, whether the titles are abbreviated or written in full, commas must be used; as, Richard Whately, D. D., Archbishop of Dublin.

Rule XII. Words in Pairs.—Words in pairs should have a comma between each pair.

EXAMPLES.

“In all the characters, patriots and tyrants, haters and lovers, the frown and sneer of Harold were discernible in an instant.”—Macaulay.

“Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”—Webster.

Rule XIII. Unconnected Words.—When two words, of the same part of speech, are not connected by a conjunction, a comma should be placed between them.

EXAMPLES.

“He had in himself a radiant, living spring of generous and manly action.”—Burke.

“A still, small voice.”—Kings.

“Where sits our sulky, sullen dame,

Gathering her brows like gathering storm,

Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.”—Burns.

REMARKS.

1. When two nouns, the subjects of a verb, are not connected by a conjunction, a comma should be placed between the two words and also after the second; as, “Indignation, expostulation, were powerless upon him as a mist upon a rock.”—Macdonald.

2. When two adjectives come together, the first qualifying the second adjective and also the noun, a comma should not be used; as, A beautiful white horse.

3. A word repeated for emphasis usually has a punctuation mark before and after it; as,—

“Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.”—Coleridge.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”—John xiv. 12.

Rule XIV. A Series of Words.—1. When a series of words, of the same part of speech, are connected by and, or, nor, they should not be separated from each other by punctuation marks.

“The fruits and flowers and shrubs sent forth grateful perfumes.”—Irving.

Some writers place a comma before each and. This, however, is not necessary.

2. When a conjunction is used only with the last word in the series, a comma should be placed before the conjunction and between the other words.

The fruits, flowers, and shrubs sent forth grateful perfumes.

3. When the conjunctions are omitted, a comma should be placed between each word and also at the end of the series.

The fruits, flowers, shrubs, sent forth grateful perfumes.

REMARKS.

1. When the last word in the series precedes only a single word, the comma should be omitted; as, “A refined, thoughtful, warm-hearted, pure-souled Englishman.”

2. When two words or expressions are connected by or, the latter explaining the former, the explanatory word or expression should be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas; as, “The love of variety, or curiosity of seeing new things, which is the same, or at least a sister passion to it, seems woven into the frame of every son and daughter of Adam.”—Sterne.

Rule XV. Phrases and Clauses.—Phrases and clauses, either with or without conjunctions, having a mutual relation to some other word in the sentence, should be separated from each other and from what follows by commas.

EXAMPLES.

“Purity of style, and an easy flow of numbers, are common to all Addison’s Latin poems.”—Macaulay.

“The unbought grace of life, the chief defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone.”—Burke.

“The little that is known, and the circumstance that little is known, must be considered as honorable to him.”—Macaulay.

“Books that you can carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.”—Dr. Johnson.

REMARKS.

1. A phrase is one of the smaller divisions of a sentence, and consists of two or more words. Apart from the rest of the sentence, it is incomplete in meaning. It does not, like a clause, include a subject and a verb.

2. When two brief expressions are connected by a conjunction, it is better to omit punctuation marks; as, “Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue.”—Izaak Walton.

3. When words and phrases form a series, a conjunction being used only with the last phrase, they should be separated from each other and from what follows by commas; as, “Virtue, merit, and everything that is praiseworthy, will be made the subject of ridicule and buffoonery.”—Addison.

Rule XVI. Logical Subject.—When the logical subject ends with a verb, or is separated into parts by commas, or is unusually long, a comma should be placed between the logical subject and the main verb.

EXAMPLES.

“This imaginary promise of divine aid thus mysteriously given, appeared to him at present in still greater progress of fulfillment.”—Irving.

“The voice of praise, too, coming from those to whom we had thought ourselves unknown, has a magic about it that must be felt to be understood.”—Charles Lever.

“Those who can put the best countenance upon the outrages of this nature which are offered them, are not without their secret anguish.”—Addison.

REMARKS.

1. The logical subject consists of the name of the person or thing, of which something is affirmed, together with its modifying words. It is “the subject according to the real meaning or logic of the sentence.”

2. Some writers always place a comma before the verb, when its subject consists of many words.

Rule XVII. Contrasted Expressions.—Contrasted expressions or comparisons should be separated by a comma.

EXAMPLES.

“Of the other two men, one was a species of giant, the other a sort of dwarf.”—Hugo.

“The more I reflected upon it, the more important it appeared.”—Goldsmith.

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”—Psalms.

“Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read.”—Bulwer.

REMARKS.

1. When the comparison is short and the words closely connected, the comma may be omitted.

2. When so—that, so—as, rather—than, more—than, connect expressions, the comma is usually omitted; as, “Ingratitude never so thoroughly pierces the human heart as when it proceeds from those in whose behalf we have been guilty of transgression.”—Fielding.

When, however, the expressions themselves are divided into smaller parts by commas, or are unusually long, they should be separated by a comma; as,—

“So over-violent, or over-civil,

That every man with him was God or Devil.”—Dryden.

3. When two short expressions are united by as or than, a comma should not be used; as,—

“He knew what’s what, and that’s as high

As metaphysic wit can fly.”—Butler.

When, however, the expressions are long, it is better to use a comma; as, “I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it.”—Dr. Johnson.

4. When the first expression is negative and the other affirmative, a comma should be placed between the expressions and before the negative word, if it does not commence a sentence; as, “The world generally gives its admiration, not to the man who does what nobody else even attempts to do, but to the man who does best what multitudes do well.”—Macaulay.

If, however, a finite verb immediately precedes the negative word, the comma should be omitted; as, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”—Confucius.

Rule XVIII. Numeral Figures.—Arabic numbers should be separated into periods of three figures each, commencing at the right.

EXAMPLE.

2,509,909,456.

REMARK.

Dates should not be separated into periods; as, 1877.

Rule XIX. Expressions at the End of Sentences.—It is frequently necessary, at the end of a sentence, to separate an expression beginning with a preposition from the rest of the sentence, in order to avoid ambiguity.

EXAMPLES.

“He trudged along, unknowing what he sought,

And whistled as he went, for want of thought.”—Dryden.

“Angling is always to be considered as a stick and a string, with a fly at one end and a fool at the other.”—Swift.

GENERAL REMARK.

A comma should always be used, when it aids in bringing out the meaning of the writer, or in avoiding ambiguity.

THE SEMICOLON.

Rule I. Long Sentences.—When the smaller divisions of sentences are separated by commas, the main divisions should be separated by semicolons.

EXAMPLES.

“Sheridan, Pitt, and Fox all drank hard and worked hard; they were all great in the councils of the nation, but not one could rule his own household.”—London Athenæum.

“Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;

Was every thing by starts, and nothing long.”—Dryden.

“Nor is it always in the most distinguished achievements that men’s virtues or vices may be best discerned; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person’s real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles.”—Plutarch.

Rule II. Expressions Complete in Themselves.—Short expressions, complete in themselves but slightly connected in meaning, may be separated by semicolons.

EXAMPLES.

“We do not want precepts so much as patterns; an example is the softest and least invidious way of commanding.”—Pliny.

“It is a beautiful thing to model a statue and give it life; to mould an intelligence and instil truth therein is still more beautiful.”—Hugo.

“There are on every subject a few leading and fixed ideas; their tracks may be traced by your own genius as well as by reading.”—Sheridan.

REMARK.

When as introduces an example, a semicolon should be placed before and a comma after it.

Rule III. Series of Expressions.—When several clauses follow each other in succession, having a common dependence on some part of the sentence, they should be separated from each other by semicolons, and from the clause on which they depend, by a comma.

EXAMPLE.

“If such men will make a firm and solemn pause, and meditate dispassionately on its importance; if they will contemplate it in all its attributes, and trace it to all its consequences, they will not hesitate to part with trivial objections to a constitution, the rejection of which would, in all probability, put a final period to the Union.”—Hamilton.

REMARK.

Commas may be used instead of semicolons, when the clauses are short; as, “When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments.”—Webster.

GENERAL REMARK.

When the members of a sentence seem to be loosely connected, they are frequently separated by semicolons.

EXAMPLES.

“Honest name is goodly; but he that hunteth only for that, is like him that hath rather seem warm than be warm.”—Sir Thomas Wyatt.

“Some blemishes may undoubtedly be detected in his character; but the more carefully it is examined, the more will it appear sound in the noble parts.”—Macaulay.

Some writers use commas in the examples given above in preference to semicolons, and usage varies so much among our best writers that it is impossible to lay down a general rule that will be applicable in all cases. If it is desirable to indicate a somewhat close connection between the members of a sentence, a comma should be used; if the connection is slight, it is better to use a semicolon.

THE COLON.

Rule I. Long Sentences.—When the smaller divisions of sentences are separated by semicolons, the main divisions should be separated by a colon.

EXAMPLES.

“Emulation is a dangerous passion to encourage, in some points, in young men; it is so linked with envy: if you reproach your son for not surpassing his school-fellows, he will hate those who are before him.”—Sheridan.

“A man over ninety is a great comfort to all his elderly neighbors: he is a picket-guard at the extreme outpost; and the young folks of sixty and seventy feel that the enemy must get by him before he can come near the camp.”—O. W. Holmes.

Rule II. A Quotation.—A colon should precede a long quotation. If, however, the quotation is short, it is better to use a comma.

EXAMPLES.

Socrates recommended to one of his disciples the following prayer: “O Jupiter, give us those things which are good for us, whether they are such things as we pray for, or such things as we do not pray for; and remove from us those things which are hurtful, though they are such things as we pray for.”

When the Earl of Dudley took leave of Sydney Smith, on going from London to Yorkshire, he said: “You have been laughing at me constantly, Sydney, for the last seven years, and yet, in all that time, you never said a single thing to me that I wished unsaid.”

REMARK.

1. When the quotation is long, or it begins a new paragraph, a dash is frequently placed after the colon.

2. When a direct quotation is introduced into the middle of a sentence, a comma should be used; as, “He was surprised, but replied, ‘I am not the king, he is there,’ pointing at the same time to a different part of the hall.”—Lingard.

Rule III. Enumeration of Particulars.—A colon should precede an enumeration of particulars, when they are formally introduced by thus, following, as follows, this, these, &c.

EXAMPLES.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”—Jefferson.

“The penalty is graduated thus: the mildest, confiscation; the moderate, closing the shop; the severest, exposure.”—Lippincott’s Magazine.

REMARKS.