"Stops", Or How to Punctuate Part 4

Whether a comma or a mark of exclamation ought to be used after the vocative case, depends entirely on the degree of emphasis with which the words would be spoken. If, in speaking, a slight pause would be made, the comma, not the mark of exclamation, is the proper point.

XX. If a word be repeated in order to give it intensive force, a comma follows it each time that it occurs; but, in the case of an adjective repeated before a noun, not after the last expression of it.

It was work, work, work, from morning till night.

He travelled a long, long way.

Dean Alford, in "The Queen's English," says that this mode of pointing such expressions as "the wide wide world," "the deep deep sea," makes them absolute nonsense. The suggestion of a pause seems to us to bring out more effectively the intensive force of the repet.i.tion. And we doubt whether Dean Alford himself would have omitted the comma in our first example.

THE SEMICOLON

XXI. The semicolon is the point usually employed to separate parts of a sentence between which there is a very distinct break, but which are too intimately connected to be made separate sentences.

The patient dates his pleasure from the day when he feels that his cure has begun; and, perhaps, the day of his perfect re-establishment does not yield him pleasure so great.

The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; no one has so deeply meditated on the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the event.

Not one word is said, nor one suggestion made, of a general right to choose our own governors; to cashier them for misconduct; and to form a government for ourselves.

The semicolon is used in enumerations, as in the last example, in order to keep the parts more distinctly separate.

XXII. When a sentence consists of two or more independent clauses not joined by conjunctions, the clauses are separated by semicolons.

To command a crime is to commit one; he who commands an a.s.sa.s.sination, is by every one regarded as an a.s.sa.s.sin.

His knowledge was too multifarious to be always exact; his pursuits were too eager to be always cautious.

If the conjunction "and" were inserted in the last sentence, the comma would be used instead of the semicolon. A conjunction forms a bridge over the gap between two statements, and, where they are neither long nor complicated, we pa.s.s from one to the other without noticing any distinct break. But there is such a break when the conjunction is omitted, and therefore we use a stronger point. The two parts of an ant.i.thesis are generally separated in this way.

XXIII. A pause generally indicated by a comma may be indicated by a semicolon when commas are used in the sentence for other purposes.

(See _Introduction: Relativity of Points_.)

I got several things of less value, but not all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before: as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper; several parcels in the captain's, mate's, gunner's, and carpenter's keeping; three or four compa.s.ses, some mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts, and books of navigation.

In this I was certainly in the wrong too, the honest, grateful creature having no thought but what consisted of the best principles, both as a religious Christian and as a grateful friend; as appeared afterward to my full satisfaction.

In the first sentence the semicolon enables us to group the objects enumerated. Had commas been used throughout, the reader would have been left to find out the arrangement for himself.

THE COLON

XXIV. The colon is used to indicate pauses more abrupt than those indicated by the semicolon.

G.o.d has willed it: submit in thankfulness.

The wind raged, and the rain beat against the window: it was a miserable day.

Nevertheless, you will say that there must be a difference between true poetry and true speech not poetical: what is the difference?

The first example contains two clauses that are connected in such a way as to justify us in putting them into one sentence; that it is G.o.d's will, is a reason for submitting. The proper point therefore should be something less than the full stop. But there is a striking difference between the clauses; for we pa.s.s from an affirmation to a command. Therefore something more than the semicolon is needed. Had the clauses been similar in construction, the pause would have been sufficiently indicated by the semicolon: "G.o.d has willed it; man has resisted."

In the second example there is not the same change of grammatical construction, but the change in thought is equally great; we pa.s.s from a statement of details to a statement of the general result. The colon is frequently used in sentences of this kind, where the phrase "in short" is implied but is not expressed.

Many writers indicate such abrupt changes by means of the dash.

XXV. A pause generally indicated by a semicolon may be indicated by a colon, when the semicolon is used in the sentence for pauses of a different nature.

The "Essay" plainly appears the fabric of a poet: what Bolingbroke supplied could be only the first principles; the order, ill.u.s.tration, and embellishments, must all be Pope's.

Not that we are to think that Homer wanted judgment, because Virgil had it in a more eminent degree; or that Virgil wanted invention, because Homer possessed a larger share of it: each of these great authors had more of both than, perhaps, any man besides, and are only said to have less in comparison with one another.

Homer hurries and transports us with a commanding impetuosity; Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty: Homer scatters with a generous profusion; Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence.

Compare these examples with those given to show how the semicolon replaces the comma. (Rule XXIII.) Note also how the last sentence is divided in the middle into two parts, and that each of these two parts is itself divided into two parts. By Rule XXII. the second division is indicated by the semicolon; and we bring out the grouping of the sentence by using a colon for the first division.

XXVI. The colon is used before enumerations, especially where "namely," or "viz.," is implied but is not expressed; and when so used it is sometimes followed by the dash.

Three nations adopted this law: England, France, and Germany.

One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.

Dr Johnson's chief works are the following:--"Ra.s.selas," The Dictionary, "The Lives of the Poets," and "The Vanity of Human Wishes."

When, as in the last example, a list of things is given in a formal way, the dash is generally added. The combination of the two points is partly an attempt to find a point stronger than the colon and not so strong as the full stop, partly, perhaps, an imitation of a finger-post.

XXVII. The colon is generally placed before a quotation, when notice of the quotation is given by some introductory words. In this case also the dash is sometimes used.

In this pa.s.sage exception may fairly be taken to one short sentence, that in which he says: "The law ought to forbid it, because conscience does not permit it."

On the last morning of his life he wrote these words:--"I have named none to their disadvantage. I thank G.o.d He hath supported me wonderfully."

The colon and the dash are used together where the quotation is introduced by formal words such as the following:--"He spoke these words," "he spoke as follows," "he made this speech." But, in the first sentence quoted above, the introductory words are grammatically incomplete without the quotation, which forms the object of the verb "says"; the colon accordingly is the strongest point that can be used.

Sometimes the connexion between the introductory words and the quotation may be so close, or the quotation itself may be so short, as to make the comma sufficient.

He kept repeating to us, "The world has sadly changed."