The Grammar of English Grammars Part 165

The following are the princ.i.p.al points, or marks; namely, the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period [.], the Dash [--], the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation [?], the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation [!], and the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis, [()].

The Comma denotes the shortest pause; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the comma; the Colon, a pause double that of the semicolon; and the Period, or Full Stop, a pause double that of the colon. The pauses required by the other four, vary according to the structure of the sentence, and their place in it. They may be equal to any of the foregoing.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The pauses that are made in the natural flow of speech, have, in reality, no definite and invariable proportions. Children are often told to pause at a comma while they might count _one_; at a semicolon, _one, two_; at a colon, _one, two, three_; at a period, _one, two, three, four_. This may be of some use, as teaching them to observe the necessary stops, that they may catch the sense; but the standard itself is variable, and so are the times which good sense gives to the points. As a final stop, the period is immeasurable; and so may be the pause after a question or an exclamation.

OBS. 2.--The first four points take their names from the parts of discourse, or of a sentence, which are distinguished by them. The _Period_, or _circuit_, is a complete _round_ of words, often consisting of several clauses or members, and always bringing out full sense at the close. The _Colon_, or _member_, is the greatest division or _limb_ of a period, and is the chief constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Semicolon, half member_, or _half limb_, is the greatest division of a colon, and is properly a smaller constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Comma_, or _segment_, is a small part of a clause _cut off_, and is properly the least constructive part of a compound sentence. A _simple sentence_ is sometimes a whole period, sometimes a chief member, sometimes a half member, sometimes a segment, and sometimes perhaps even less. Hence it may require the period, the colon, the semicolon, the comma, or even no point, according to the manner in which it is used. A sentence whose relatives and adjuncts are all taken in a restrictive sense, may be considerably complex, and yet require no division by points; as,

"Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge On you who wrong me not for him who wrong'd."--_Milton_.

OBS. 3.--The system of punctuation now used in English, is, in its main features, common to very many languages. It is used in Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and perhaps most of the tongues in which books are now written or printed. The Germans, however, make less frequent use of the comma than we; and the Spaniards usually mark a question or an exclamation _doubly_, inverting the point at the beginning of the sentence. In Greek, the difference is greater: the colon, expressed by the upper dot alone, is the only point between the comma and the period; the ecphoneme, or note of exclamation, is hardly recognized, though some printers of the cla.s.sics have occasionally introduced it; and the eroteme, or note of interrogation, retains in that language its pristine form, which is that of our semicolon. In Hebrew, a full stop is denoted by a heavy colon, or something like it; and this is the only pointing adopted, when the vowel points and the accents are not used.

OBS. 4.--Though the points in use, and the principles on which they ought to be applied, are in general well fixed, and common to almost all sorts of books; yet, through the negligence of editors, the imperfections of copy, the carelessness of printers, or some other means, it happens, that different editions and different versions of the same work are often found pointed very variously. This circ.u.mstance, provided the sense is still preserved, is commonly thought to be of little moment. But all _writers_ will do well to remember, that they owe it to their readers, to show them at once how they mean to be read; and since the punctuation of the early printers was unquestionably very _defective_, the republishers of ancient books should not be over scrupulous about an exact imitation of it; they may, with proper caution, correct obvious faults.

OBS. 5.--The precise origin of the points, it is not easy to trace in the depth of antiquity. It appears probable, from ancient ma.n.u.scripts and inscriptions, that the period is the oldest of them; and it is said by some, that the first system of punctuation consisted in the different positions of this dot alone. But after the adoption of the small letters, which improvement is referred to the ninth century, both the comma and the colon came into use, and also the Greek note of interrogation. In old books, however, the comma is often found, not in its present form, but in that of a straight stroke, drawn up and down obliquely between the words.

Though the colon is of Greek origin, the practice of writing it with two dots we owe to the Latin authors, or perhaps to the early printers of Latin books. The semicolon was first used in Italy, and was not adopted in England till about the year 1600. Our marks for questions and exclamations were also derived from the same source, probably at a date somewhat earlier. The curves of the parenthesis have likewise been in use for several centuries. But the clash is a more recent invention: Lowth, Ash, and Ward,--Buchanan, Bicknell, and Burn,--though they name all the rest, make no mention of this mark; but it appears by their books, that they all occasionally _used_ it.

OBS. 6--Of the _colon_ it may be observed, that it is now much less frequently used than it was formerly; its place being usurped, sometimes by the semicolon, and sometimes by the period. For this ill reason, some late grammarians have discarded it altogether. Thus Felton: "The COLON is now so seldom used by good writers, that rules for its use are unnecessary."--_Concise Manual of English Gram._, p. 140. So Nutting: "It will be noticed, that the _colon_ is omitted in this system; because it is omitted by the majority of the writers of the present age; three points, with the dash, being considered sufficient to mark the different lengths of the pauses."--_Practical Grammar_, p. 120. These critics, whenever they have occasion to copy such authors as Milton and Pope, do not scruple to mutilate their punctuation by putting semicolons or periods for all the colons they find. But who cannot perceive, that without the colon, the semicolon becomes an absurdity? It can no longer be a _semicolon_, unless the half can remain when the whole is taken away! The colon, being the older point of the two, and once very fashionable, is doubtless on record in more instances than the semicolon; and, if now, after both have been in common use for some hundreds of years, it be found out that only one is needed, perhaps it would be more reasonable to prefer the former. Should public opinion ever be found to coincide with the suggestions of the two authors last quoted, there will be reason to regret that Caxton, the old English typographer of the fifteenth century, who for a while successfully withstood, in his own country, the introduction of the semicolon, had not the power to prevent it forever. In short, to leave no literary extravagance unbroached, the latter point also has not lacked a modern impugner. "One of the greatest improvements in punctuation," says Justin Brenan, "is the rejection of the eternal semicolons of our ancestors. In latter times, the semicolon has been gradually disappearing, not only from the newspapers, but from books."--_Brenan's "Composition and Punctuation familiarly Explained"_, p. 100; London, 1830. The colon and the semicolon are both useful, and, not unfrequently, necessary; and all correct writers will, I doubt not, continue to use both.

OBS. 7--Since Dr. Blair published his emphatic caution against too frequent a use of _parentheses_, there has been, if not an abatement of the kind of error which he intended to censure, at least a diminution in the use of the _curves_, the sign of a parenthesis. These, too, some inconsiderate grammarians now p.r.o.nounce to be out of vogue. "The parenthesis is now generally exploded as a deformity."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 362. "The Parenthesis, () has become nearly obsolete, except in mere references, and the like; its place, by modern writers, being usually supplied by the use of the comma, and the dash."--_Nutting's Practical Gram._, p. 126; _Frazee's Improved Grammar_, p. 187. More use may have been made of the curves than was necessary, and more of the parenthesis itself than was agreeable to good taste; but, the sign being well adapted to the construction, and the construction being sometimes sprightly and elegant, there are no good reasons for wishing to discard either of them; nor is it true, that the former "has become nearly obsolete."

OBS. 8--The name _parenthesis_ is, which literally means a _putting-in-between_, is usually applied both to the _curves_, and to the incidental _clause_ which they enclose. This twofold application of the term involves some inconvenience, if not impropriety. According to Dr.

Johnson, the enclosed "_sentence_" alone is the _parenthesis_; but Worcester, agreeably to common usage, defines the word as meaning also "the _mark_ thus ()." But, as this sign consists of two distinct parts, two corresponding curves, it seems more natural to use a plural name: hence L.

Murray, when he would designate the sign only, adopted a plural expression; as, "_the parenthetical characters_,"--"_the parenthetical marks_." So, in another case, which is similar: "the _hooks_ in which words are included,"

are commonly called _crotchets_ or _brackets_; though Bucke, in his Cla.s.sical Grammar, I know not why, calls the two "[ ] a _Crotchet_;" (p.

23;) and Webster, in his octavo Dictionary, defines a "_Bracket_, in printing," as Johnson does a "_Crotchet_" by a plural noun: "_hooks_; thus, [ ]." Again, in his grammars, Dr. Webster rather confusedly says: "The parenthesis () and hooks [] include a remark or clause, not essential to the sentence in construction."--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 219; _Improved Gram._, p. 154. But, in his Dictionary, he forgets both the hooks and the parenthesis that are here spoken of; and, with still worse confusion or inaccuracy, says: "The _parenthesis_ is usually included in _hooks_ or curved lines, thus, ()." Here he either improperly calls these regular little curves "_hooks_," or erroneously suggests that both the hooks and the curves are usual and appropriate signs of "_the parenthesis_." In Garner's quarto Dictionary, the French word _Crochet_, as used by printers, is translated, "_A brace, a crotchet, a parenthesis_;" and the English word _Crotchet_ is defined, "The _mark_ of a _parenthesis_, in printing, thus [ ]." But Webster defines _Crotchet_, "In printing, a _hook_ including words, a _sentence_ or a _pa.s.sage_ distinguished from the rest, thus []." This again is both ambiguous and otherwise inaccurate. It conveys no clear idea of what a crotchet is. _One_ hook _includes_ nothing. Therefore Johnson said: "_Hooks_ in which words are included [thus]." But if each of the hooks is a crotchet, as Webster suggests, and almost every body supposes, then both lexicographers are wrong in not making the whole expression plural: thus, "_Crotchets_, in printing, are angular _hooks_ usually including some explanatory words." But is this all that Webster meant? I cannot tell. He may be understood as saying also, that a _Crotchet_ is "_a sentence_ or _a pa.s.sage_ distinguished from the rest, thus [];" and doubtless it would be much better to call a hint thus marked, a _crotchet_, than to call it _a parenthesis_, as some have done. In Parker and Fox's Grammar, and also in Parker's Aids to English Composition, the term _Brackets_ only is applied to these angular hooks; and, contrary to all usage of other authors, so far as I know, the name of _Crotchets_ is there given to the _Curves_. And then, as if this application of the word were general, and its propriety indisputable, the pupil is simply told: "The _curved lines_ between which a parenthesis is enclosed are called _Crotchets_."--_Gram._, Part III, p. 30; _Aids_, p. 40. "Called _Crotchets_" by whom? That not even Mr. Parker himself knows them by that name, the following most inaccurate pa.s.sage is a proof: "The _note_ of admiration _and_ interrogation, as also the _parenthesis_, the _bracket_, and the reference marks, [are noted in the margin] in the same manner as the apostrophe."--_Aids_, p. 314. In some late grammars, (for example, _Hazen's_ and _Day's_,) the parenthetic curves are called "_the Parentheses_" From this the student must understand that it always takes _two parentheses_ to make _one parenthesis!_ If then it is objectionable, to call the two marks "_a parenthesis_," it is much more so, to call each of them by that name, or both "_the parentheses_." And since Murray's phrases are both entirely too long for common use, what better name can be given them than this very simple one, _the Curves_?

OBS. 9.--The words _eroteme_ and _ecphoneme_, which, like _aposteme_ and _philosopheme_, are orderly derivatives from Greek roots[460], I have ventured to suggest as fitter names for the two marks to which they are applied as above, than are any of the long catalogue which other grammarians, each choosing for himself have presented. These marks have not unfrequently been called "_the interrogation_ and the _exclamation_;" which names are not very suitable, because they have other uses in grammar.

According to Dr. Blair, as well as L. Murray and others, interrogation and exclamation are "pa.s.sionate _figures_" of rhetoric, and oftentimes also plain "unfigured" expressions. The former however are frequently and more fitly called by their Greek names _erotesis_ and _ecphonesis_, terms to which those above have a happy correspondence. By Dr. Webster and some others, all _interjections_ are called "_exclamations_;" and, as each of these is usually followed by the mark of emotion, it cannot but be inconvenient to call both by the same name.

OBS. 10.--For things so common as the marks of asking and exclaiming, it is desirable to have simple and appropriate _names_, or at least some settled mode of denomination; but, it is remarkable, that Lindley Murray, in mentioning these characters six times, uses six different modes of expression, and all of them complex: (1.) "Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation." (2.) "The point of Interrogation,?"--"The point of Exclamation,!" (3.) "The Interrogatory Point."--"The Exclamatory Point."

(4.) "A note of interrogation,"--"The note of exclamation." (5.) "The interrogation and exclamation points." (6.) "The points of Interrogation and Exclamation."--_Murray, Flint, Ingersoll, Alden, Pond_. With much better taste, some writers denote them uniformly thus: (7.) "The Note of Interrogation,"--"The Note of Exclamation."--_Churchill, Hiley_. In addition to these names, all of which are too long, there may be cited many others, though none that are un.o.bjectionable: (8.) "The Interrogative sign,"--"The Exclamatory sign."--_Peirce, Hazen_. (9.) "The Mark of Interrogation,"--"The Mark of Exclamation."--_Ward, Felton, Hendrick_.

(10.) "The Interrogative point,"--"The Exclamation point."--_T. Smith, Alger_. (11.) "The interrogation point,"--"The exclamation point."--_Webster, St. Quentin, S. Putnam_. (12.) "A Note of Interrogation,"--"A Note of Admiration."--_Coar, Nutting_. (13.) "The Interrogative point,"--"The Note of Admiration, or of vocation."--_Bucke_.

(14.) "Interrogation (?),"--"Admiration (!) or Exclamation."--_Lennie, Bullions_. (15.) "A Point of Interrogation,"--"A Point of Admiration or Exclamation."--_Buchanan_. (16.) "The Interrogation Point (?),"--"The Admiration Point (!)."--_Perley_. (17.) "An interrogation (?),"--"An exclamation (!)."--_Cutler_. (18.) "The interrogator?"--"The exclaimor!"--_Day's Gram._, p. 112. [The putting of "_exclaimor_" for _exclaimer_, like this author's changing of _quoters_ to "_quotors_," as a name for the guillemets, is probably a mere sample of ignorance.] (19.) "Question point,"--"Exclamation point."--_Sanborn_, p. 272.

SECTION I.--THE COMMA.

The Comma is used to separate those parts of a sentence, which are so nearly connected in sense, as to be only one degree removed from that close connexion which admits no point.

RULE I.--SIMPLE SENTENCES.

A simple sentence does not, in general, admit the comma; as, "The weakest reasoners are the most positive."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 202. "Theology has not hesitated to make or support a doctrine by the position of a comma."--_Tract on Tone_, p. 4.

"Then pain compels the impatient soul to seize On promis'd hopes of instantaneous ease."--_Crabbe_.

EXCEPTION.--LONG SIMPLE SENTENCES.

When the nominative in a long simple sentence is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts, or when several words together are used in stead of a nominative, a comma should be placed immediately before the verb; as, "Confession of sin without amendment, obtains no pardon."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 6. "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure, is a real defect in character."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 268.

"O that the tenor of my just complaint,[461]

Were sculpt with steel in rocks of adamant!"--_Sandys_.

RULE II.--SIMPLE MEMBERS.

The simple members of a compound sentence, whether successive or involved, elliptical or complete, are generally divided by the comma; as,

1. "Here stand we both, and aim we at the best."--_Shak._

2. "I, that did never weep, now melt in woe."--_Id._

3. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay."--_Id._

4. "I am their mother, who shall bar me from them?"--_Id._

5. "How wretched, were I mortal, were my state!"--_Pope_.

6. "Go; while thou mayst, avoid the dreadful fate."--_Id._

7. "Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings, And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings."--_Johnson_.

EXCEPTION I.--RESTRICTIVE RELATIVES.

When a relative immediately follows its antecedent, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be introduced _before_ it; as, "For the things _which_ are seen, are temporal; but the things _which_ are not seen, are eternal."--_2 Cor._, iv, 18. "A letter is a character _that_ expresses a sound without any meaning."--_St. Quentin's General Gram._, p.

3.

EXCEPTION II.--SHORT TERMS CLOSELY CONNECTED.

When the simple members are short, and closely connected by a conjunction or a conjunctive adverb, the comma is generally omitted; as, "Honest poverty is better _than_ wealthy fraud."--_Dillwyn's Ref._, p. 11. "Let him tell me _whether_ the number of the stars be even or odd."--TAYLOR: _Joh.

Dict., w. Even_. "It is impossible _that_ our knowledge of words should outstrip our knowledge of things."--CAMPBELL: _Murray's Gram._, p 359.

EXCEPTION III.--ELLIPTICAL MEMBERS UNITED.

When two simple members are immediately united, through ellipsis of the relative, the antecedent, or the conjunction _that_, the comma is not inserted; as, "Make an experiment on the first man you meet."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 125. "Our philosophers do infinitely despise and pity whoever shall propose or accept any other motive to virtue."--_Ib._, p.

126. "It is certain we imagine before we reflect."--_Ib._, p. 359.

"The same good sense that makes a man excel, Still makes him doubt he ne'er has written well."--_Young_.

RULE III.--MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also:[462] as,

1. "Who, to the enraptur'd heart, and ear, and eye, Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody."--_Beattie_.