The Grammar of English Grammars Part 173

"Consult the statute; 'quart.' I think, it is, 'Edwardi s.e.xt.,' or 'prim. et quint. Eliz.'"--_Pope_, p. 399.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--It seems to be commonly supposed, whether correctly or not, that short sentences which are in themselves distinct, and which in their stated use must be separated by the period, may sometimes be rehea.r.s.ed as examples, in so close succession as not to require this point: as, "But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which?

Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."--SCOTT, ALGER, AND OTHERS: _Matt._, xix, 17, 18, 19. "The following sentences exemplify the possessive p.r.o.nouns:--'_My_ lesson is finished; _Thy_ books are defaced; He loves _his_ studies; She performs _her_ duty; We own _our_ faults; _Your_ situation is distressing; I admire _their_ virtues.'"--_L.

Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 55. What mode of pointing is best adapted to examples like these, is made a very difficult question by the great diversity of practice in such cases. The semicolon, with guillemets, or the semicolon and a dash, with the quotation marks, may sometimes be sufficient; but I see no good reason why the _period_ should not in general be preferred to the comma, the semicolon, or the colon, where full and distinct sentences are thus recited. The foregoing pa.s.sage of Scripture I have examined in five different languages, ten different translations, and seventeen different editions which happened to be at hand. In these it is found pointed in twelve different ways. In Leusden's, Griesbach's, and Aitton's Greek, it has nine colons; in Leusden's Latin from Monta.n.u.s, eight; in the common French version, six; in the old Dutch, five; in our Bibles, usually one, but not always. In some books, these commandments are mostly or wholly divided by periods; in others, by colons; in others, by semicolons; in others, as above, by commas. The first four are negative, or prohibitory; the other two, positive, or mandatory. Hence some make a greater pause after the fourth, than elsewhere between any two. This greater pause is variously marked by the semicolon, the colon, or the period; and the others, at the same time, as variously, by the comma, the semicolon, or the colon. Dr. Campbell, in his Four Gospels, renders and points the latter part of this pa.s.sage thus: "Jesus answered, 'Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not give false testimony. Honour thy father and mother; and love thy neighbour as thyself." But the corresponding pa.s.sage in Luke, xviii 20, he exhibits thus: "Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not give false testimony; honour thy father and thy mother." This is here given as present advice, _referring to_ the commandments, but not actually _quoting_ them; and, in this view of the matter, semicolons, not followed by capitals may be right. See the common reading under Rule XIV for Capitals, on page 166.

OBS. 2.--Letters written for _numbers_, after the manner of the Romans, though read as words, are never words in themselves; nor are they, except perhaps in one or two instances, abbreviations of words. C, a hundred, comes probably from _Centum_; and M, a thousand, is the first letter of _Mille_; but the others, I, V, X, L, D, and the various combinations of them all, are direct numerical signs, as are the Arabic figures. Hence it is not really necessary that the period should be set after them, except at the end of a sentence, or where it is suitable as a sign of pause. It is, however, and always has been, a prevalent custom, to mark numbers of this kind with a period, as if they were abbreviations; as, "While pope Sixtus V. who succeeded Gregory XIII. fulminated the thunder of the church against the king of Navarre."--_Smollet's Eng._, iii, 82. The period is here inserted where the reading requires only the comma; and, in my opinion, the latter point should have been preferred. Sometimes, of late, we find other points set after this period; as, "Otho II., surnamed the b.l.o.o.d.y, was son and successor of Otho I.; he died in 983."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ This may be an improvement on the former practice, but double points are not _generally_ used, even where they are proper; and, if the period is not indispensable, a simple change of the point would perhaps sooner gain the sanction of general usage.

OBS. 3.--Some writers, judging the period to be wrong or needless in such cases, omit it, and insert only such points as the reading requires; as, "For want of doing this, Judge Blackstone has, in Book IV, Chap. 17, committed some most ludicrous errors."--_Cobbett's Gram._, Let. XIX, -- 251.

To insert points needlessly, is as bad a fault as to omit them when they are requisite. In Wm. Day's "Punctuation Reduced to a System," (London, 1847,) we have the following obscure and questionable RULE: "_Besides denoting a grammatical pause_, the _full point_ is used to mark _contractions_, and is requisite after _every abbreviated word_, as well as after _numeral letters._"--Page 102. This seems to suggest that both a pause and a contraction may be denoted by the same point. But what are properly called "_contractions_," are marked not by the period, but by the apostrophe, which is no sign of pause; and the confounding of these with words "_abbreviated_," makes this rule utterly absurd. As for the period "after _numeral letters_," if they really needed it at all, they would need it _severally_, as do the abbreviations; but there are none of them, which do not uniformly dispense with it, when not final to the number; and they may as well dispense with it, in like manner, whenever they are not final to the sentence.

OBS. 4.--Of these letters, Day gives this account: "_M._ denotes _mille_, 1,000; _D., dimidium mille_, half a thousand, or 500; _C. centum_, 100; _L._ represents the lower half of _C._, and expresses 50; _X._ resembles _V._ _V._, the one upright, the other inverted, and signifies 10; _V._ stands for 5, because its sister letter U is the fifth vowel; and _I._ signifies 1, probably because it is the plainest and simplest letter in the alphabet."--_Day's Punctuation_, p. 103. There is some fancy in this. Dr.

Adam says, "The letters employed for this purpose [i.e., to express _numbers_.] were C. I. L. V. X."--_Latin and Eng. Gram._, p. 288. And again: "A thousand is marked thus CI[C-reverserd], which in later times was _contracted_ into M. _Five hundred_ is marked thus, I[C-reversed], or by _contraction_, D."--_Ib._ Day inserts periods thus: "IV. means 4; IX., 9; XL., 40; XC., 90; CD., 400; CM., 900."--Page 703. And again: "4to., _quarto_, the fourth of a sheet of paper; 8vo., _octavo_, the eighth part of a sheet of paper; 12mo., _duodecimo_, the twelfth of a sheet of paper; N. L., 8., 9'., 10"., North lat.i.tude, eight degrees, nine minutes, ten seconds."--Page 104. But IV may mean 4, without the period; 4to or 8vo has no more need of it than 4th or 8th; and N. L. 8 9' 10" is an expression little to be mended by commas, and not at all by additional periods.

OBS. 5.--To allow the period of abbreviation to supersede all other points wherever it occurs, as authors generally have done, is sometimes plainly objectionable; but, on the other hand, to suppose double points to be always necessary wherever abbreviations or Roman numbers have pauses less than final, would sometimes seem more nice than wise, as in the case of Biblical and other references. A concordance or a reference Bible pointed on this principle, would differ greatly from any now extant. In such references, _numbers_ are very frequently pointed with the period, with scarcely any regard to the pauses required in the reading; as, "DIADEM, Job 29. 14. Isa. 28. 5. and 62. 3. Ezek. 21. 26."--_Brown's Concordance_.

"Where no vision is, the people perish, Prov. xxix. 18. Acts iv. 12. Rom.

x. 14."--_Brown's Catechism_, p. 104. "What I urge from 1. Pet. 3. 21. in my Apology."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 498. "I. Kings--II. Kings."--_Alger's Bible_, p. iv. "Compare iii. 45. with 1. Cor. iv. 13."--_Scott's Bible, Pref. to Lam. Jer._ "Hen. v. A. 4. Sc. 5."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 41. "See Rule iii. Rem. 10."--_Ib._, p. 162. Some set a _colon_ between the number of the chapter and that of the verse; which mark serves well for distinction, where both numbers are in Arabic figures: as, "'He that formed the eye, shall he not see?'--Ps. 94: 9."--_Wells's Gram._, p. 126. "He had only a lease-hold t.i.tle to his service. Lev. 25: 39, Exod. 21: 2."--_True Amer._, i. 29. Others adopt the following method which seems preferable to any of the foregoing: "Isa. Iv, 3; Ezek. xviii, 20; Mic. vi, 7."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 133. Churchill, who is uncommonly nice about his punctuation, writes as follows: "_Luke_. vi, 41, 42. See also Chap. xv, 8; and _Phil._, iii. 12."--_New Gram._, p. 353.

OBS. 6.--Arabic figures used as ordinals, or used for the numeral adverbs, _first_, or _firstly, secondly, thirdly, &c._, are very commonly pointed with the period, even where the pause required after them is less than a full stop; as, "We shall consider these words, 1. as expressing _resolution_; and 2. as expressing _futurity_."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 106.

But the period thus followed by a small letter, has not an agreeable appearance, and some would here prefer the comma, which is, undoubtedly, better suited to the pause, A fitter practice, however, would be, to change the expression thus: "We shall consider these words, 1st, as expressing _resolution_; and, 2dly, as expressing _futurity_."

OBS. 7.--Names vulgarly shortened, then written as they are spoken, are not commonly marked with a period; as, _Ben_ for _Benjamin_. "O RARE BEN JOHNSON!"--_Biog. Dict._

"From whence the inference is plain, Your friend MAT PRIOR wrote with pain."

--LLOYD: _B. P._, Vol. viii, p. 188.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE PERIOD.

UNDER RULE I.--DISTINCT SENTENCES.

"The third person is the position of the name spoken of; as, Paul and Silas were imprisoned, the earth thirsts, the sun shines."--_Frazee's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 21; Ster. Ed., p. 23.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because three totally distinct sentences are here thrown together as examples, with no other distinction than what is made by two commas. But, according to Rule 1st for the Period, "When a sentence, whether long or short, is complete in respect to sense, and independent in respect to construction, it should be marked with the period." Therefore, these commas should be periods; and, of course, the first letter of each example must be a capital.]

"Two and three and four make nine; if he were here, he would a.s.sist his father and mother, for he is a dutiful son; they live together, and are happy, because they enjoy each other's society; they went to Roxbury, and tarried all night, and came back the next day."--_Goldsbury's Parsing Lessons in his Manual of E. Gram._, p. 64.

"We often resolve, but seldom perform; she is wiser than her sister; though he is often advised, yet he does not reform; reproof either softens or hardens its object; he is as old as his cla.s.smates, but not so learned; neither prosperity, nor adversity, has improved him; let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall; he can acquire no virtue, unless he make some sacrifices."--_Ibid._

"Down from his neck, with blazing gems array'd, Thy image, lovely Anna! hung portray'd, Th' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, Suspended in a golden chain was seen,"--_S. Barrett's E. Gr._, p. 92.

UNDER RULE II.--ALLIED SENTENCES.

"This life is a mere prelude to another, which has no limits, it is a little portion of duration. As death leaves us, so the day of judgment will find us."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 76.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pause after _limits_, which is sufficient for the period, is marked only by the comma. But, according to Rule 2d, "The period is often employed between two sentences which have a general connexion, expressed by a personal p.r.o.noun, a conjunction, or a conjunctive adverb." It would improve the pa.s.sage, to omit the first comma, change the second to a period, and write the p.r.o.noun _it_ with a capital.

_Judgment_ also might be bettered with an _e_, and _another_ is properly two words.]

"He went from Boston to New York; he went from Boston; he went to New York; in walking across the floor, he stumbled over a chair."--_Goldsbury's Manual of E. Gram._, p. 62.

"I saw him on the spot, going along the road, looking towards the house; during the heat of the day, he sat on the ground, under the shade of a tree."--_Id., ib._

"George came home, I saw _him_ yesterday, here; the word him, can extend only to the individual _George_"--_S. Barrett's E. Gram._, 10th Ed., p. 45.

"Commas are often used now, where parentheses were formerly; I cannot, however, esteem this an improvement."--See the _Key_.

"Thou, like a sleeping, faithless sentinel Didst let them pa.s.s unnoticed, unimproved, And know, for that thou slumb'rest on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar For every fugitive."

--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 222; _Enfield's Sp._, p. 380.

UNDER RULE III.--OF ABBREVIATIONS.

"The term p.r.o.noun (Lat _p.r.o.nomen_) strictly means a word used for, or instead of a noun."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 198.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the syllable here put for the word _Latin_, is not marked with a period. But, according to Rule 3d, "The period is generally used after abbreviations, and very often to the exclusion of other points; but, as in this case it is not a constant sign of pause, other points may properly follow it, if the words written in full would demand them." In this instance, a period should mark the abbreviation, and a comma be set after _of_. By a.n.a.logy, _in stead_ is also more properly two words than one.]

"The period is also used after abbreviations; as, A. D. P. S. G. W.

Johnson."--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, p. 211. "On this principle of cla.s.sification, the later Greek grammarians divided words into eight cla.s.ses or parts of speech, viz: the Article, Noun, p.r.o.noun, Verb, Participle, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 191.

"'_Metre_ is not confined to verse: there is a tune in all good prose; and Shakspeare's was a sweet one.'--_Epea Pter_, II, 61. Mr. H. Tooke's idea was probably just, agreeing with Aristotle's, but not accurately expressed."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 385.

"Mr. J. H. Tooke was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, in which latter college he took the degree of A. M; being intended for the established church of England, he entered into holy orders when young, and obtained the living of Brentford, near London, which he held ten or twelve years."--_Div. of Purley_, 1st Amer. Edition, Vol. i, p. 60.

"I, nor your plan, nor book condemn, But why your name, and why A. M!"--_Lloyd_.

MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR.

"If thou _turn_ away thy foot from the sabbath, &c. _Isaiah_. lviii.

7."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 67. "'He that hath eeris of herynge, _here he_.

_Wiclif_. Matt xi."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 76. "See General Rules for Spelling, iii., v., and vii."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 81. "'False witnesses _did_ rise up.' _Ps_. x.x.xv. ii."--_Butlers Gram._, p. 105.

"An _explicative_ sentence is used for explaining. An _interrogative_ sentence for enquiring. An _imperative_ sentence for commanding."--_S.

Barrett's Prin. of Language_, p. 87. "In October, corn is gathered in the field by men, who go from hill to hill with baskets, into which they put the ears; Susan labors with her needle for a livelihood; notwithstanding his poverty, he is a man of integrity."--_Goldsbury's Parsing, Manual of E.

Gram._, p. 62.

"A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable. A word of two syllables; a dissyllable. A word of three syllables; a trissyllable. A word of four or more syllables; a polysyllable."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, 1st Ed., p.

15. "A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable. A word of two syllables, a dissyllable. A word of three syllables, a trissyllable. A word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, Ster. Ed., p. 17.

"If I say, '_if it did not rain_, I would take a walk;' I convey the idea that it _does rain_, at the time of speaking, _If it rained_, or _did it rain_, in the present time, implies, it does not rain; _If it did not rain_, or _did it not rain_, in present time, implies that _it does rain_; thus in this peculiarity, an _affirmative_ sentence always implies a _negation_, and a _negative sentence_ an _affirmation_."--_Frazee's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 61; Ster. Ed., 62. "_If I were loved_, and, _were I loved_, imply, I am _not_ loved; _if I were not loved_, and, _were I not loved_, imply, I am loved; a negative sentence implies an affirmation; and an affirmative sentence implies a negation, in these forms of the subjunctive."--_Ib._, Old Ed., p. 73; Ster. Ed., 72.

"What is Rule III.?"--_Hart's Gram._, p. 114. "How is Rule III.

violated?"--_Ib._, p. 115. "How do you pa.r.s.e 'letter' in the sentence, 'James writes a _letter'? Ans._--'Letter is a noun com., of the MASC.