(7) The nominative absolute should always be marked off.

"The lower part of the town was abandoned by both sides, the British remaining at the chapel and crags."

(8) Expressions like doubtless, however, moreover, then, too, finally, to sum up, to conclude, in the first place, in certain uses require commas.

"One admission, doubtless, I do make."

“I say, then, that this is not the place.”

“In truth, he is never truly at home in these fashionable circles." "They found, however, a comfortable harbour."

"He, too, was surprised at the sight."

"To conclude, the whole business is a farce."

With these contrast the following, where no comma is required.

"He was too surprised to speak."

"They were now ready to conclude a peace."

"He is going today because he could not go then."

"However clever he is, he could not accomplish that.”

(9) Commas are inserted with words and phrases standing out of their regular position, or when proximity would suggest a close connection that does not exist.

"One sultry noon, she descended into this retreat."

"His remains were interred, according to his own request, in St Mark's churchyard."

High above, on both sides, the steep woody slopes of the dingle soared into the sky."

(10) Certain half-parenthetic expressions are marked off by

commas.

(6
"He is now,

I suppose, the senior judge of the whole Court."

66 But where, thought I, is the crew."

66 Here, we are sorry to say, the good old man fell ill."

(11) A comma often denotes a word, or words, understood.

"This is good: that, better."

(12) A comma may be the sign of a pause for rhetorical effect; as in this sentence from Macaulay's account of seventeenthcentury highwaymen: "The Cambridge scholars trembled when they approached Epping Forest, even in broad daylight."

It

THE DASH (—). Some writers use the dash very lavishly. often seems to be an indiscriminate substitute for the comma or the semi-colon. Beware of this careless use.

Note that commas

or semi-colons are not required along with dashes. The dash is employed as follows:

(1) Before or after a list.

"The best orators are against this method-Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke."

"Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke-all the best orators are against this

method."

(2) To indicate some explanation, addition, repetition or afterthought.

"Soon she felt nothing but a supreme immediate longing that curtained off all futurity-the longing to lie down and sleep."

"There was a grace and dignity in this farmer's wife which would have shined in a palace--or so we thought it."

(3) To denote intentional suppression of a word.

"At the

Hotel we were very poorly entertained."

(4) To indicate a pause of suspense; as when a speaker keeps his audience waiting in doubt about the word he will

utter.

"The Count of Africa had thrown for the Empire of the world— and lost."

(5) To show the speaker's agitation, hesitancy, change of mind, or other emotion; or to indicate broken construction, whether from actual interruption or by the figure of aposiopesis : see p. 93.

"You skait, of course, Winkle?' said Wardle.

'Ye-yes; oh yes'; replied Mr Winkle. 'I-I-am rather out of practice.'"

"We were ready; there was only one person that failed us, your Majesty's gracious

'Morbleu, Monsieur, you give me too much Majesty,' said the Prince."

of— '

"These, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted,

Mr Brocklehurst was here interrupted; three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room."

(6) In dialogue to indicate change of speaker.

"What a beautiful day for Hannah !' was the first exclamation of the breakfast table. 'Did she tell you where they should dine?'—'No, ma'am ; I forgot to ask.'-'I can tell you,' said the master of the house. 'I can tell you: in London.'-' In London!'-'Yes.'"

(7) For parentheses.

"So far from being responsive, he surveyed me—he was naturally a bottle-nosed, red-faced man—with a blanched countenance."

BRACKETS. Parentheses are frequently enclosed in curved brackets().

Certainly no works would 'illustrate' better than Spenser's with engravings from the old masters (I should like no better amusement than to hunt him through the print shops!) and from none might a better gallery be painted by new ones. I once wrote an article on the subject in a magazine; and the late Mr Hilton (I do not know whether he saw it) projected such a gallery."

Note that long parentheses, extending to several sentences or a whole paragraph, should be denoted by curved brackets, not by dashes.

Square brackets [ ] are used to enclose explanatory additions to the original statement.

"The Imaginary Conversations [by Walter Savage Landor] compel an interest somewhat akin to the interest of Plutarch."

POINTS OF QUOTATION. These are double (" ") or single (''), and should enclose all direct quotations. The advantage of the two forms is apparent when we require to mark off a quotation within a quotation. We may write either, "Well," said the witness, "all the prisoner said was 'Hurry up!"" or 'Well,' said the witness, 'all the prisoner said was "Hurry up !"

Study the following carefully; and note the points of quotation

and the stops between what is quotation and what is not. Observe the new paragraph for each speech.

"I see,' said the Cardinal, as he entered, serene and graceful as usual, and glancing at the table, 'that you have been reading the account of our great act of yesterday.'

'Yes; and I have been reading it,' said Lothair reddening, ‘with indignation; with alarm; I should add, with disgust.'

How is this?' said the Cardinal, feeling or affecting surprise. 'It is a tissue of falsehood and imposture,' continued Lothair; 'and I will take care that my opinion is known of it.'

'Do nothing rashly,' said the Cardinal. 'This is an official journal, and I have reason to believe that nothing appears in it which is not drawn up, or well considered, by truly pious men.'

'Good God!' exclaimed Lothair. 'Why! take the first allegation, that I fell at Mentana fighting in the ranks of the Holy Father. Everyone knows that I fell fighting against him, and that I was almost* slain by one of his chassepots.'

'I know there are two narratives of your relations with the battle of Mentana,' observed the Cardinal quietly.'

N.B. When a single direct speech covers several paragraphs, put" at the beginning of each paragraph and " at the close of the last only.

Quotation marks are also used (1) with a new word or a word in a new sense, etc.; as People are now [1880] speaking of this as 'boycotting""; (2) instead of italics for names of books, ships, etc.; as "Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.'"

THE APOSTROPHE (') is employed:

(1) To indicate the possessive case; as "Jack's latest prank"; "the soldiers' rations."

But no' appears in its, hers, etc.

(2) To denote the omission of letters; as don't, haven't, e'er, 'tis, o'clock.

(3) In such plurals as "Mind your P's and Q's"; "he makes queer 5's."

THE HYPHEN (-) is found:

(1) In certain compounds; as a well-built house, a seventeenthcentury writer, half-crown, father-in-law, looking-glass, fellowfeeling.

(2) At the end of a line to indicate that at least one syllable

of the word has yet to come; as happi-ness, abun-dance, philo

sophy.

CAPITALS are used as follows:

(1) To begin a sentence, a direct quotation, and a line of poetry.

(2) In proper names and any words used as proper names, in titles, and in proper adjectives; as the Queen, the Prime Minister, Sir John Falstaff, the Duke of Cumberland, the River Thames, Mount Carmel, St James's Square, the French Revolution.

(3) In nouns and pronouns indicating the Deity.

(4) For the personal pronoun I and the interjection O. (5) In personifications: see p. 88.

Other

Examples of these uses of capitals are easy to find. uses occur in older writers and in some modern writers; for example, Carlyle.

EXERCISES

Insert full stops, colons, points of interrogation, points of exclamation, and capital letters in the following.

I. It would be scarcely possible for a man of Mr Southey's talents and acquirements to write two volumes so large as those before us, which should be wholly destitute of information and amusement yet we do not remember to have read with so little satisfaction any equal quantity of matter, written by any man of real abilities we have, for some time past, observed with great regret the strange infatuation which leads the Poet Laureate to abandon those departments of literature in which he might excel, and to lecture the public on sciences of which he has still the very alphabet to learn he has now, we think, done his worst the subject which he has at last undertaken to treat is one which demands all the highest intellectual and moral qualities of a philosophical statesman, an understanding at once comprehensive and acute, a heart at once upright and charitable.

2. Oftentimes at Oxford I saw Levana in my dreams I knew her by her Roman symbols who is Levana reader, that do not pretend to have leisure for very much scholarship, you will not be angry with me for telling you Levana was the Roman goddess that performed for the new-born infant the earliest office of ennobling kindness.