TEXX TYPE, AND STYLE A Cornpendium of Atlantic Us a^e z 25: 'J. CE^acneU UtttQetBttg ffithrarg Jtifaca. S^Ein lork BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 W8 (Stf j8 \J"* 1 1 s -' Cornell University Library Z253 .195 Text type and style: a , In connection with the "formal periodic ar- rangement" of sentences described in the fore- going quotation, this is, perhaps, a convenient place to refer to a rare little volume, called " Punc- tuation in Verse: or the Good Child's Book of Stops," by one Madame de Leinstein, of which there is a copy in the Children's Department of the New York Public Library; this copy, through the courtesy of Miss Annie Carroll Moore of that department, the writer was allowed to examine. It was printed in London, presumably a great many years ago, — it bears no date, — consists of only thirty-odd pages, of which one half are blanks, and is "Embellished with Twelve handsomely colored Engravings." The two couplets follow- ing (put in the mouth of "Cook Comma"), — At the Comma, each reader should stay, and count one; As, "Charles had an orange, a tart, and a bun." At each Semicolon, take breath and count two; As, " This is a Christian; that other, a Jew," — with which the little book opens, confirm, as will be seen, Messrs. Fowlers' statement that "the old stopping was frankly to guide the voice in reading ' The King's English, pp. 220^. 6o PUNCTUATION aloud." But it is curious to observe that, by reversing these simple rules, we can measurably subserve the purpose of modern "stopping" — "to guide the mind in seeing through the gram- matical construction." For example, take Cook Comma's first exam- ple, "Charles had an orange, a tart, and a bun." To show how it should be read, with exactly the same pause after "tart" as after "orange," we put a comma after each word; whereas, in the sentence, "We have had all sorts of weather to- day : rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunder and lightning; but we can expect nothing better in this climate," we omit the comma after "thunder," to show that there should be no pause after it, because it and "lightning" are more closely connected than any other two atmospheric disturbances. That is to say, instead of bidding the reader "to stay and count one" when he sees a comma, and "two" when he sees a semicolon, modern rules in effect bid the writer to insert a comma when he wishes the reader to "stay and count one," and a semi- colon when he wishes to indicate a slightly longer pause, as after "lightning" in the sentence above: a decidedly arbitrary distinction, of course, and capable of endless variations, but still not without value. (Madame Leinstein's next "rule," — For the Colon count three — for the Period four, — PUNCTUATION 6i is of more limited application, as the colon has been "practically disused as a member of the series," and as the "periodic " system is manifestly inapplicable to the period, with which it seems etymologically most closely connected.) The passage quoted above from "The King's English" seems to show clearly the impossibility of setting down any fixed rules for semicolons and commas.! This being so, there is no disposition to thwart the author's wishes, so long as they can be definitely determined. But such determination is almost never possible — about that, there can be no question. The practically universal use of the typewriter, while of great advantage in most cases, — though by no means in all, — because of the greater legibility of the copy, is distinctly dis- advantageous in that it so seldom has the benefit of careful revision by the author, whether he is, or is not, his own typist. The writer has no hesita- tion in saying that among all the hundreds of arti- cles which he has "prepared" for the printer, there have not been half a dozen in which such matters as punctuation, capitalization, and the like have been handled with entire consistency throughout, even when there have been indica- tions of revision by the author. Typists are • We shall see, later, that, though the colon has been practically eliminated from this sort of problem, the dash has come in to com- plicate matters. 62 PUNCTUATION notoriously unreliable in such matters, — I am not referring, of course, to the trained commercial or professional variety, but to those who are likely to be employed by authors,' — whether from ig- norance or from haste; and, as I have said, their work is often left unrevised and full of inconsist- encies, to say nothing of errors. Copy occasionally comes in with instructions to follow it exactly, as it has been "carefully pre- pared"; but not a single instance comes to mind where strict compliance with such instructions would not have resulted in certain blemishes with which the author would probably have been the first to find fault. It should be said, also, that it is not possible in all cases to give the authors of "Atlantic" papers an opportunity to read proofs. Many of the pa- pers come from across the ocean ; and in the case of many others, there is likely to be so much need of haste in "making up" the magazine, that it is impossible to await the return of galley proofs , even when they are sent. So that it is almost always necessary, even apart from other considerations, to abide by the general usage of the magazine in the matter of punctuation ; for the make-up of the forms cannot be disturbed except to make impor- ' A little book published by the Dennison Manufacturing Com- pany gives a good idea of the care with which business typists are trained to write — with almost as close attention to matters usually connected with typography alone, as is demanded of compositors. PUNCTUATION 63 tant corrections in the text. Thus, in the case of the "Atlantic," it may be said that "punctuation is an art nearly always left," not to the composi- tor, but to the editorial department in the pre- paration of the copy, and to the proof-reader in overlooking both preparation and composition. In preparing "Atlantic" copy for printing, then, as well as in reading the proofs, an attempt is made to keep constantly in mind, so far as punc- tuation is concerned, these two considerations: (i) that the proper function of the various points is to assist the reader; and (2) that the maga- zine is coming to be widely used in classes in Eng- lish Composition. The hopelessness (which Mr. Summey makes so clear) of attempting to formulate iron-bound rules for the internal punctuation of sentences, together with the desire, discussed more at length in the section on ' ' Spacing and Syllabification,' ' to produce a page unmarred by uneven spacing, ex- cuses, it is believed, the assumption of a some- what wide discretion in the method of pointing clauses which are plainly parenthetical, — whether with commas or dashes or parentheses, — so long as the sense is in no wise interfered with. In the following sections an attempt ip made to distinguish between those cases which demand the application of fixed rules, and those which are gov- erned by the general principles of Atlantic usage 64 PUNCTUATION in the matter of punctuation, subject always to the fallibility and infirmities of editors of copy, compositors, and proof-readers. In the discussion of the proper use of the colon, something is said of its peculiar employment by Charles Dickens, who, we may presume, was re- sponsible, generally speaking, for the punctuation of his own works. Even if we did not know that John Ruskin was emphatically his own punctua- tor, we could readily assume it from such sen- tences as the following, in which the curious mix- ture of diiferent points could hardly have been evolved from the brain of any compositor or proof- reader. It is taken from "Sesame and Lilies." ' A web more fair in the weaving, by Athena's shuttle; an armour, forged in diviner fire by Vulcanian force — a gold only to be mined in the sun's red heart, where he sets over the Delphian cliffs; deep-pictured tissue, impenetrable armour, potable gold ! — the three great Angels of Conduct, Toil, and Thought, still calling to us," etc. Speaking of "Lord" Timothy Dexter's famous expedient of bunching his points at the end of his book, for his readers "to pepper and salt as they chose," Mr. Garrison says, in the paper already quoted, "This ignoramus intimated two truths — one that punctuation is, to a large extent at least, ' See also another passage from the same work in the section on the "Dash," p. 139 infra. THE PERIOD 65 a personal matter; the other that punctuation may be good without being scientific." ' A less extensive, but more pointed, application of Lord Timothy's idea by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is narrated by Mr. Hart, on the authority of George Augustus Sala. "In the House of Commons Sheridan one day gave an opponent the lie direct. Called upon to apologize, the offender responded thus: 'Mr. Speaker I said the honourable member was a liar it is true and I am sorry for it.' Naturally the person concerned was not satisfied; and said so. ' Sir,' continued Mr. Sheridan, ' the honourable Member can interpret the terms of my statement according to his ability, and he can put punctua- tion marks where it pleases him.' "^ The Period The chief use of the period, is, of course, to mark the end of a complete sentence.^ We do not undertake to discuss here when the 1 Atlantic, April, 1906, pp. 238, 239. ' Rules for Compositors and Readers, etc., p. 57. ' It is impossible to define the word "sentence" in connection with the use of the period without laying one's self open to the charge, say, of reasoning in a circle, thus: the period is used to mark the close of a sentence, which is a grammatical division properly brought to a close by a period. The various clauses, separated by semicolons, or even by commas, of what is called a complex sen- tence, are often, and properly, spoken of as so many sentences in themselves; so we have tried to avoid the difficulty, for this pur- pose, by adopting the term "complete sentence." 66 PUNCTUATION sentence is so "complete" that the period is called for, but leave that question for inferential treat- ment in the sections on the colon and semicolon. The period is used after abbreviations, except chemical symbols, the phrase "per cent," and cer- tain other technical forms which appear infre- quently in the "Atlantic," and as to which special instructions are always given. The term "abbreviation," properly applied only to forms resulting from the omission of a letter or letters at the end of a word, is here intended to include contractions, in which letters are dropped from the middle of a word — as advt. In some ofhces, however, a certain distinction is made between the two, and the period is not used where the last letter of the whole word is retained — as Dr, plf, etc. Thus MS. (manuscript) takes a period, while MSS (manuscripts) and Mr do not. In the "Atlantic," contractions are printed with a period when the omitted letters are not replaced by an apostrophe, as plf., advt., etc.; but pl'f, adv't, etc. It was formerly the universal practice, still fol- lowed by some printers, to use a period with Roman numerals, and with the technical forms denoting the format of books ; but these are not, strictly speaking, abbreviations, and the period is now generally omitted. Volume IV, George V, 8vo, i6mo, etc. THE PERIOD 67 If an abbreviation ends a sentence, the period is not repeated ; but all other punctuation marks are retained with the abbreviation period. These great Roman writers: Virgil, Horace, Lucre- tius, and Catullus, all lived in the first century B.C. The meeting was announced to begin at 4 p.m., but it was half an hour later when the speakers entered the hall. Occasionally one has to do with an author who insists upon repeating the period when the abbre- viation ends the sentence. If the conditions are such that his preference must be followed, the un- happy proof-reader, who marks the extra period on successive proofs, can count upon being criti- cized as a blunderer by everybody who has to han- dle the type or plates. The period is set always inside quotation marks. ^ It is set inside the closing parenthesis or bracket when the parenthetical matter forms a complete independent sentence in itself ; otherwise outside. 1 For a discussion of the contrary English practice, it is worth while to consult the late Horace Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers, etc., already referred to, pp. 64 Jf. But the rule there laid down — " If an extract ends with a point, then let that point be included before the closing quotation mark; but not otherwise" — is, now, so far as the period is concerned, more honored in the breach than in the observance, even in England, although some of the leading periodicals there and a few printers of books still put the period outside the closing quotation mark. Mr. Hart, of course, is discussing the position of oM punctuation marks ("points") with reference to "quotes." 68 PUNCTUATION Ellipsis Points Three periods are used to indicate the omission of one or more words. If the sentence preceding the ellipsis ends with a period, that period is not included in the three omission points.^ Certain writers have a habit, more or less per- sistent, of using what Mr. Summey^ calls "re- inforcing suspension periods, — a row of dots, usually three, — to strengthen or modify a period, or other full stop. The period," he continues, "is a sign of completion ; the period with suspension points following is made suspensive, with the sug- gestion that the reader is to think a moment about the preceding words, or to look forward with spe- cial interest. . . . The suspension periods are not likely to mark a distinct topical break; they are indefinite signs of meditation." Experience with many hundreds of contribu- tions to the "Atlantic" justifies a strong doubt as to the accuracy of Mr. Summey's ascription of this "device" to American writers in particular. Indeed, the only example he gives in this connec- tion is taken from H. G. Wells. These same "suspension periods" are used sometimes in the middle of a sentence, marking ' In most fonts of type, the period and the omission points dif- fer slightly; but for the purposes of this book they can safely be treated as identical. * Modern Punctuation, p. 59. ELLIPSIS POINTS 69 "preceding matter as unfinished, or left dangling for an instant, for special attention." 1 But there is, on the part of those writers who habitually use the "suspension periods" in either of the above positions, so marked a lack of uniformity of pur- pose in such use, — even by the same persons at different times,* — and their significance is there- fore so vague and indeterminate, that it is the practice of the "Atlantic" to entrust all such functions to the dash, which, to quote Mr. Sum- mey once more, is "the point nearest suspension periods in effect"; and to use the three periods solely as ellipsis (or omission) points. This rule may be suspended in compliance with the urgent desire of an author, even though the special sig- nificance which he attributes to the "suspension periods" may not be apparent to the reader. The very few sporadic cases of the use of these points to set off a parenthetical clause that had fallen within the writer's experience seemed hardly worthy of notice. But in "The Brim- ming Cup," Dorothy Canfield's latest novel, they are so used, to the exclusion of dashes and par- entheses, with a consistency that seems to indi- cate malice aforethought on the author's part. Here is an example : — ' Modern Punctuation, p. 183. ' In Sir Harry Johnston's The Man Who Did the Right Thing, they are used for all purposes, with an unsparing lavishness that defies analysis or comprehension. 70 PUNCTUATION It's absurd to think that businessmen . . . they're the flower of the nation, they're America's specialty, you know . . . can only find their opportunity for ser- vice to their fellow men by such haphazard contacts. Speaking of ellipsis points, it should be said that some printing-offices use a full line of periods to indicate the omission of a complete paragraph or more, and three to mark a lesser omission. This distinction is not made in the "Atlantic," except inverse, where an omitted line or stanza is replaced by a line of periods. The Colon The main definition of "colon," as a mark of punctuation, in the " Century Dictionary," is — a point "used to mark a discontinuity of grammati- cal construction greater than that indicated by the semicolon and less than that indicated by the period." We have already referred, in the intro- duction to this chapter, to the inclusion of the colon as one of the four points in the "formal, periodic arrangement" of sentences, quoting the authors of "The King's English " to the effect that it has now, by almost universal consent, fallen into disuse as one of that series, and been "turned over to useful work at certain little odd jobs." Indeed, the definition quoted above is practically contradicted by the subdivisions that follow but have little relation to it. THE COLON 71 "Many people continue to use it," — we are once more quoting from "The King's English," ^ ■ — "but few, if we can trust our observation, with any nice regard to its value. Some think it a pret- tier or more impressive stop than the semicolon, and use it instead of that; some like variety, and use the two indifferently, or resort to one when they are tired of the other." The truth of these remarks is constantly exem- plified in "Atlantic" copy; and a consistent, if not always successful, effort is made to confine the colon to the specific duties to which it is now gen- erally assigned. The most frequent and most generally accepted formal uses of the colon are two. (i) To introduce a direct quotation. In Atlan- tic usage, when the matter thus introduced begins a new paragraph, the colon is followed by a dash. (In the magazine, when the quotation is intro- duced by "said," or an equivalent word, a comma is used instead of a colon.) If, however, some such phrase as "he said," or "he answered," is interpolated within the quota- tion, a period should be used before it. After another selection by the band, Senator ■ was introduced and spoke as follows : — "My friends, it is the purpose of this meeting," etc. ■ Page 263. 72 PUNCTUATION When quiet had been in a measure restored, the mayor advanced to the front of the platform, and ad- dressed the huge audience in these words. ' ' Ladies and gentlemen , " he began , ' ' after the warmth of this greeting," etc. "The colon and the dash have many functions in common," says Mr. Garrison. "Either may be used before a quoted passage — and so may the comma, but preferably before a short quotation. "^ (2) After the formal address of a letter — thus : — Messrs. Marshall Field & Co. Gentlemen : — ^ The colon is used also before a formal list, or before statements or specifications introduced by a general statement, or by such words or phrases as "thus," "namely," "for example," "as fol- lows," and the like. This rule is subject to many exceptions, a comma being sometimes preferred when the general style of the work is less formal, — as in lighter essays and stories, — and the dash being often a legitimate and useful substitute. The remaining function to which the colon is assigned in the purposed practice of the "Atlan- ' Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 235. ^ The above is the style adopted in Atlantic books. In the Atlantic itself, the ordinary style would be: — Gentlemen, — THE COLON 73 tic," while really akin to those already mentioned, is less easily defined. Perhaps the simplest state- ment which practically embodies the idea is that given by the oldest authority quoted in these pages, Cobbett's "English Grammar": — "The colon is often used when the sense is com- plete, but when there is something still behind, which tends to make the sense fuller or clearer." Cobbett, by the way, frequently violated his own rules, generally when he was more intent on cudgeling his political enemies than on his theme ; as in this instance, where his own precepts de- mand a semicolon after "demonstrates." How destitute of judgment and of practical talent these persons have been in the capacity of statesmen and of legislators, the present miserable and perilous state of England amply demonstrates: and I am now about to show you, that they are equally destitute in the capacity of writers. In the manual by Mr. Horace Hart heretofore cited, it is said that "the colon marks an abrupt pause before a further but connected statement." "The colon," says Mr. Summey,i "is usually an equality mark, with emphasis mainly on the explanation, quotation, or other following mat- ter. Though still used by some writers as a com- pounding point, no more anticipatory than the semicolon, it is most often a mark of anticipa- ' Modem Punctuation, p. 192. 74 PUNCTUATION tion, introducing an extract, a list, or matter of any sort for which definite preparation has been made." And, according to the Messrs. Fowler, two of the "odd jobs" are (4) "introducing a sentence that comes as fulfilment of a promise expressed or implied in the previous sentence; (5) introducing an explanation or proof that is not connected with the previous sentence by 'for' or the like." * These various definitions (which may be taken to include such specific instances as the use of this point "before a series of details in apposition with some general term, as, 'Three nations adopted this law: France, England, and Germany' "; and numerous others given by various textbooks, handbooks, and manuals) all come to about the same thing, and the following digest of them all was prepared for the guidance of compositors and readers on the "Atlantic" : — "The colon should be used when the preceding part of a sentence is complete in sense and con- struction, and the following part is a statement naturally arising from it or explaining it, and de- pending on it in sense, though not in construc- tion." In the numerous examples that follow, the colon is correctly used according to this rule, the succeeding words being in each case an explana- tion or authentication of what precedes. 1 The King's English, p. 263. THE COLON 75 The cry of "no sentiment" is indeed a sinister thing, for it is a sure sign that the meanest sentiments are de facto in possession: the sentiments which set the world at variance with itself, the sentiments which prompt contemptible actions, the sentiments which drive men and nations to sell their souls. — L. P. Jacks. 1 The room was well furnished for a hut: besides the bed and the table there was a writing-desk, etc. Suppose, for example, that a nation declares war on any member of the League: under the delegated form, the representative body would meet, etc. The laughter and the talking ceased abruptly. I glanced about: every flower had disappeared, every head was bent. Tuira had risen and was pulling at my sleeve: the meal was ready. There was a great deal to do next morning: gifts to select and present, luggage to be packed and stowed aboard the boat, and a long session of farewells. I claim that there is only one Art : that the picture, the poem, the sonata, the statue, the cathedral, are expressions of the same spiritual ideals through differ- ent media. Nor can he create them once, and forever after con- tain them: each time that they are before him, they must be created afresh. France has reaped from [the Revolution] one fruit, the natural and legitimate fruit, though not precisely the grand fruit she expected : she is the country in Eu- rope where the people is most alive. — Arnold. ' For the use of which in this sentence, see p. 218 infra. 76 PUNCTUATION That is what I call living by ideas: when one side of a question has long had your earnest support, when all your feelings are engaged, when you hear all round you no language but one, when your party talks this lan- guage like a steam-engine and can imagine no other — still to be able to think, still to be irresistibly carried, if so it be, by the current of thought to the opposite side of the question, and, like Balaam, to be unable to speak anything but what the Lord has put in your mouth. — Arnold. And a container is both inert and indifferent: a pig idly accepts anything; a tool-chest takes no active part to receive its tools. — Huxley. Leaving aside for the moment the question of the proper assignment of responsibility for punc- tuation between author and printer (or proof- reader) , it is probably safe to assume that the very peculiar use of the colon by Charles Dickens, no- ticeable in all editions of his works from the be- ginning, is chargeable to him alone. Mr. Tupman thought of the widow at Rochester: and his mind was troubled. — Pickwick Papers. The echoes caught it up, the owls hooted as it flew upon the breeze, the nightingale was silent and hid her- self among the thickest boughs: it seemed to goad and urge the angry fire, and lash it into madness; every- thing was steeped in one prevailing red ; the glow was everywhere; nature was drenched in blood: still the remorseless crying of that awful voice — the Bell, the Bell. — Barnaby Rttdge. THE COLON 77 Mr. Jingle fell on his knees, remained thereupon for five minutes thereafter: and rose the accepted lover of the spinster aunt: conditionally upon Tupman's perjury being made clear and manifest. — Pickwick Papers. In the next example, from another source, a semicolon would ordinarily be used instead of the first colon, and a dash instead of the second. To what passes with the anchored vermin we have little clue : doubtless they have their joys and sorrows; their delights and killing agonies : it appears not how. — R. L. Stevenson. In the occasional use of colons to enclose a par- enthetical clause, as in the first of the following examples, Dickens does not stand entirely alone among English writers, as is shown by the second, taken from a recent novel; but no such use is recommended as authorized by good usage in any work on punctuation that has come under the writer's eye. As he sat down by the old man's side, two tears: not tears like those by which recording angels blot their entries out, but drops so precious that they use them for their ink: stole down his cheek. — Martin Chuzzlewit. So was the keeper: Macpherson by name: and more of a brother than any — an elder brother — was John. There seems to be so little justification for the peculiar use of the colon in the next passage, also 78 PUNCTUATION from a recent novel, that one is not inclined to hold the author responsible for anything more than careless proof-reading. She engaged Mrs. Adams to take her place, [a semi- colon is indicated here] and although the parlour-maid took offence and cut the painter of domestic service, went off to the munitions till Sergeant Frederick Sum- mer should get leave to come home and marry her ; and they were obliged to engage another parlour-maid in her place at double the wages: Mrs. Rossiter had done a very wise thing. The colon is always placed outside quotation marks, as it is generally quite impossible to follow the rule, sometimes laid down, that it should be inside or outside according as it is, or is not, " part of the quotation." In most cases it is used in relation to the whole sentence. The Semicolon "The semicolon is now become a big brother of the comma," says Mr. Garrison,^ "enabling long sentences to be subdivided with great advantage to comprehension and oral delivery." This may be recommended as a general statement of the chief employment of the semicolon, it being sim- pler than, yet quite as intelligible and satisfactory as, most of the rules to be found in handbooks and manuals. For, after all, consideration of "ad- ' Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 238. THE SEMICOLON 79 vantage to comprehension" — in other words, of assistance to the reader — assumes greater impor- tance in the matter of the use of semicolons and commas than anywhere else. A study of the various attempts to formulate rules in this behalf discloses much repetition and much inconsistency. (In a number of works one finds no other assistance than something like this : "The semicolon is used in sentences like the fol- lowing.") As a simple skeleton, which, although sadly lacking in definiteness, may serve in a meas- ure as a guide to the general principle involved, this formula is suggested : — The semicolon is used to separate sentences between which there is a more distinct break than is usually indicated by a comma, but which are too closely connected to be printed as separate sentences.' In other words, — paraphrasing Madame de Leinstein's rule in "The Good Child's Book of Stops " : " At each semicolon take breath and count two," — when one should pause long enough to count two, use a semicolon instead of a comma. Something of the artist's soul must go to the making of the thing created ; and as the artist . . . has to earn his living, etc. — W. J. Locke. 1 Or, as Cobbett puts it (English Grammar, ed. 1906, p. 77), "The semicolon is used to set off, or divide, simple sentences, in cases where the comma is not quite enough to keep the simple sen- tences sufficiently distinct." 8o PUNCTUATION All this in Balzac's hands becomes an organic whole; it moves together; it has a pervasive life; the blood cir- culates through it; its parts are connected by luminous arteries. — H. James. It would be difficult to rebut a charge that the formula suggested above contains a rather flagrant specimen of the classic fallacy, petitio principii, in assuming that the distinctness, or lack of dis- tinctness, of the break "usually indicated by a- comma," and the degree of connection which is too close to permit separate sentences, are defi- nitely established facts ; whereas they are likely to be defined differently by different writers in in- numerable cases. All of which means simply that, generally speaking, each case must be dealt with on its own merits, unless an author has definite ideas and indicates them clearly, in which case they will ordinarily be followed, even if they seem to be at variance with Atlantic usage, especially if they have to do with the author's distinctive style, or are intended to serve a special rhetorical purpose. For example, Anne Douglas Sedgwick, in her later stories at least, separates by periods sentences that might properly be separated by semicolons only.^ She, too, then grew very pale. It was as he had fore- seen. She had not really believed. It had only been a 1 See The King's English, pp. 220 _^., for a discussion of "the spot-plague — the tendency to make full stops do all the work." THE SEMICOLON 8i haunting dream. And her hope had been that to him, too, it was only a dream. Poor child ! Poor, poor child ! And poor Malcolm. The following "rules," laid down in the "Man- ual of Style" issued by the University of Chicago Press, are quoted here as a striking proof of the confusion in which this subject is enveloped. 1. "A semicolon is used to mark the division of a sentence somewhat more independent than that marked by a comma." One would naturally think at first glance that "independent" referred to "sentence" ; but it is a "division" that the semicolon is said to "mark," so that "that marked by a comma" must mean that "division"; hence it is "the division of a sen- tence" that is "more independent" — a manifest absurdity. 2. "In enumerations use a semicolon between the different links if these consist of more than a few words connected [italics ours] , and especially if individual clauses contain any punctuation mark of less value than a period, or an exclamation or interrogation point {unless enclosed in parentheses) [italics ours], yet are intimately joined one with the other, and all with the sentence or clause leading up to them, for instance, through de- pendence upon a conjunction like that preceding them." Aside from the question of clarity of language in 82 PUNCTUATION this rule, it is interesting to note that, in the first illustrative example under this head, three of the " links" consist of one word, one of two words, and one of three; and although there is an individual clause containing punctuation of less value than a period, it is enclosed in parentheses; so that no part of the rule is applicable. The following sentences are good examples of the correct use of semicolons. It is right that a false Latin quantity should excite a smile in the House of Commons; but it is wrong that a false English quantity should not excite a frown there. RUSKIN. We find such a perfume in Shakespeare ; we find it, in spite of his so-called cynicism, in Thackeray; we find it, potently, in George Eliot, in George Sand, in Tur- genieff. — H. James. When you think that we dress in black ourselves, and put our fellow-creatures in green, pink, or canary- colored breeches; that we order them to plaster their hair with flour, having brushed that nonsense out of our own heads some fifty years ago; that some of the most genteel and stately among us cause the men who drive their carriages to put on little Albino wigs, and sit behind great nosegays, etc. — Thackeray. But some day, when experience shall have winnowed you with her wing; when the illusions and hopes of youth alike are faded ; when eternal principles of order are more to you than sensations that pass in a day, however exciting; when friends that know you and your roots and deviations are more satisfactory, how- THE SEMICOLON 83 ever humdrum and hoary they be, than the handsome recent acquaintances that' know nothing of you but the hour ; when, in short, your being is mellowed, dulled, and harmonized by time so as to be a grave, wise, deep, and discerning moral and intellectual unity (as mine is already from the height of my forty centuries!), etc. And this characteristic passage of George Mere- dith, although merely an enumeration of the guests at a dinner-party, would be quite hopelessly in- volved without the semicolons. Present at a dinner little indicating the last, were Whitmonby, in lively trim for shuffling, dealing, cut- ting, trumping, or drawing trumps; Westlake, polish- ing epigrams under his eyelids; Henry Wilmers, who timed an anecdote to strike as the passing hour without freezing the current; Sullivan Smith, smoked, cured, and ready to flavour; Percy Dacier, pleasant listener, measured speaker, and young Arthur Dacier, the neo- phyte of the hostess's training, of whom she had said to Emma, etc. In the first of the two following passages from "Sesame and Lilies" the use of the colon, instead of a semicolon, is justified by no rule or usage that has come to the writer's notice; and in the second, while the first semicolon is the appropriate mark, the other usurps the place of a colon, the last clause being explanatory of the one imme- diately preceding. ' On this use of that for who, see p. 207 infra. 84 PUNCTUATION I put aside his [Scott's] merely romantic prose writ- ings as of no value: and though the early romantic poetry is very beautiful, etc. We find in all a quite infallible and inevitable sense of dignity and justice; a fearless, instant, and untiring sense of duty . . . and, finally, a patient wisdom of deeply restrained affection, which does infinitely more than protect its objects from momentary error; it gradually forms, animates, and exalts the characters, etc. And in this, the semicolon should be placed after "county," and should be replaced by a comma after "another." One view called to another; one hill to its fellow, half across the county, and since I could answer at no more trouble than the snapping forward of a lever, I let the county flow under my wheels. — Kipling. As to the misuse of the semicolon in this next quotation, the authors of "The King's English" say: "It looks as if Carlyle had thought it dull to have so many commas about ; but the remedy was much worse than the dullness." ^ Nay, do not the elements of all human virtues and all human vices ; the passions at once of a Borgia and of a Luther, lie written, in stronger or fainter lines, in the consciousness of every individual bosom! The rule generally laid down, that semicolons should be used to separate independent clauses or ' Page 257. THE SEMICOLON 85 sentences that have commas or dashes within themselves, 1 is often a convenient guide; but it is by no means of universal application : in less for- mal matter, when the sense is not to be mistaken, commas are often sufficient, and give a lighter and freer touch. Strict enforcement of the rule would require a semicolon after "aloud" in the first of the next two examples, and after "house" in the second. He belonged to the class of his countrymen who have a dungeon-vault for feelings that should not be suffered to cry aloud, and into this oubliette he cast them, let- ting them feed as they might, or perish. He became a guest at her London house, and his re- port of the domesticity there, and notably of the house, pleased Lady Dunstane more than her husband's. On the other hand, in the following, from a let- ter of William James, the semicolons were made necessary by the interpolation of the phrase "na- tional . . . foremost." I am against all big organizations as such, national ones first and foremost; against all big successes and big results; and in favor of the external forces of truth. For the benefit of those who may like to go more deeply into the question when commas, and when semicolons, should be placed between gram- 1 "When the sentence contains commas doing less important work than the one about which the question arises." The King's English, p. 257. 86 PUNCTUATION matically independent sentences ("sentences in the proper meaning of the word"), we quote the following from "The King's English," referring the reader, at the same time, to the numerous exam- ples there given of the improper use of commas. "Though independent sentences are regularly parted by at least a semicolon, there are large exceptions to the rule. . . . There are three con- ditions that may favor the reduction of the semi- colon to a comma: (i) Those coordinating con- junctions which are most common tend, in the order of their commonness, to be humble, and to recognize a comma as sufficient for their dignity. The order may perhaps be given as : and, or, but, so, nor, Jor; conjunctions less common than these should scarcely ever be used with less than a semi- colon; and many good writers would refuse to put a mere comma before /or. (2) Shortness and lightness of the sentence joined on helps to lessen the need of a heavy stop. (3) Intimate connection in thought with the preceding sentence has the same effect."' In a formal enumeration, independent clauses or sentences, especially if marked in order by let- ters or figures, should be separated by semicolons if compressed in a single paragraph; but if each is given a separate paragraph, the better practice is to use periods. ' Pages 255, 256. THE SEMICOLON 87 The procession entered the Senate Chamber in the following order: the President, who took his seat on the Vice-President's right hand; the Justices of the Su- preme Court; the members of the Cabinet; the mem- bers of the House of Representatives, headed by the Speaker, military and naval ofificers in order of rank; invited guests. The subjects to be discussed are three in number: — (i) The desirability of a league of nations. (2) The adequacy or inadequacy of the proposed League, as its duties and powers are defined in the Covenant that forms part of the treaty. (3) The form of the "reservations," if any, which should be made part of the resolution of ratification. The combination of semicolon and dash was formerly used with much greater frequency than now — sometimes where the best modern usage calls for the colon; as in this passage from "The Scarlet Letter " : — Here, it is true, were none of the appliances which popular merriment would so readily have found in the England of Elizabeth's time, or that of James; — ^no rude shows of a theatrical kind ; or ' minstrel, with harp and legendary ballads, nor^ gleeman, with an ape dan- cing to his music. One needs only to glance through the works of Ruskin, Emerson, and scores of other writers of eminence of a half -century ago, to appreciate the free use of this combination and the impossi- bility of attributing to it any special or definite 'As to this use of or and nor, see p. 235 injra. 88 PUNCTUATION significance. It is sometimes described as a "rein- forced," or "strengthened" semicolon. It has long been falling into disuse, although it is by no means obsolete. But it is never used in the "At- lantic," and in Atlantic books only in reprinted matter. At the end of quotations, the semicolon is al- ways set outside the quotes, because in such cir- cumstances it is almost invariably used in relation to the whole sentence. In any event, the frequent suggestion that it should be set inside the quotes, " if it is a part of the quotation," is practically im- possible to follow, for obvious reasons. Note. — Mr. Garrison, in the "Atlantic" paper so often quoted, gives this curious account of an early use of the semi- colon: "In the days of the scribes, it shared with the colon a function now confined to the period, viz., of denoting a ter- minal abbreviation — sometimes standing apart, as in un- diq ; (for undique) ; sometimes closely attached to the final let- ter, as, q; for que. The early printers duly adopted this, with other conventions of the manuscripts. When the Gothic let- ter was abandoned for the Roman, a curious result ensued in the case of the abbreviation of videlicet (viz.). The semicolon was detached from the i, but no longer as a point. It took the shape of the letter it resembled in Gothic script, though not in Roman print, and thus really gave a twenty-seventh letter to our alphabet- — a pseudo z. Not unnaturally, it ac- quired the sound of z or ss, as exemplified in the lines from 'Hudibras': — " That which so oft by sundry writers Has been applied t' almost all fighters. More justly may b' ascribed to this Than any other warrior, viz. THE COMMA 89 "Naturally, too, it ceased even to signify a contraction; for our printers follow it with a period (viz.) for that purpose; and if the practice observed by Goetz of Cologne, of using a zed for a period, had prevailed, we might have seen the odd form vizz arise." 1 The Comma The comma is by far the most frequently used mark of punctuation ; it is much more Hkely to be overworked than underworked ; and this tendency, being generally recognized, leads some writers to go to the other extreme and to follow rather too closely Mr. DeVinne's preference for the "open or easy system" over the "close or stiff system" in ordinary descriptive writing: (i) by the use of commas where semicolons would be of more assistance to the reader; ^ (2) by the omission of commas where the grammatical relation between words, phrases, and clauses cannot be properly indicated without them. There is a broad twilight zone where, so far as the sense is concerned, the use or omission of the comma makes no real dif- ference, but is largely a matter of taste; and in such cases, the best modern practice undoubtedly inclines toward much greater economy in its use "^ Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 237. 2 It is difficult to draw a definite line, in this matter of the choice between comma and semicolon, and say how far it should be dis- cussed under the one head or the other. For instance, the writer finds that he has quoted in the semicolon section the sentences im- mediately following the passage of The King's English quoted below. 90 PUNCTUATION than was customary until within, say, the last half- century. The intricacy, when dealt with scientifically, of this apparently simple subject is illustrated by the following extract from "The King's English," under the heading: "The comma between inde- pendent sentences." "Among the signs that more particularly be- tray the uneducated writer is inability to see when a comma is not a sufficient stop. Unfortu- nately little more can be done than to warn be- ginners that any serious slip here is much worse than they will probably suppose, and recommend them to observe the practice of good writers. "It is roughly true that grammatically inde- pendent sentences should be parted by at least a semicolon; but in the first place there are very large exceptions to this; and secondly, the writer who really knows a grammatically independent sentence when he sees it is hardly in need of in- struction ; this must be our excuse here for enter- ing into what may be thought too elementary an explanation. Let us take the second point first; it may be of some assistance to remark that a sentence joined to the previous one by a coordi- nating conjunction is grammatically independ- ent, as well as one not joined to it at all. But the difference between a coordinating and a subordi- nating conjunction is itself, in English, rather fine. THE COMMA 91 Everyone can see that 'I will not try; it is dan- gerous' is two independent sentences — independ- ent in grammar, though not in thought. But it is a harder saying that ' I will not try, for it is dan- gerous' is also two sentences, while 'I will not try, because it is dangerous ' is one only. The rea- son is that 'for' coordinates, and 'because' subor- dinates; instead of giving lists ... of the two kinds of conjunctions, we mention that a subor- dinating conjunction may be known from the other kind by its being possible to place it and its clause before the previous sentence instead of after, without destroying the sense: we can say, 'Because it is dangerous, I will not try,' but not, ' For it is dangerous, I will not try.' This test can- not always be applied in complicated sentences; simple ones must be constructed for testing the conjunction in question." ^ The purpose of this book is more modest, and can be served, it is believed, so far as the comma is concerned, by giving a few rules which, while not perhaps to be followed absolutely in every in- stance, are of nearly universal application in the classes of cases to which they respectively refer. I. The comma is used after a word or words of address or salutation at the beginning or end of a sentence, and both before and after such word, or words, within a sentence. 1 The King's English, pp. 254, 255. 92 PUNCTUATION Lord, have mercy upon us! My lady Countess, suffer my page to kiss your hand. Thy blessing on thy people, Lord ! And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake. Of course, Mrs. Warwick, it is not for me to hint at things that lawyers could say on this subject. 2. In a series, — whether of nouns, or of adjec- tives or adverbs used absolutely or modifying the same word, — a comma should be used after each member (except, usually, the last, when the series consists of modifying words, as in the last two examples below). The United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, of which England is usually called the predominant partner. In nature, character, and intellect, he has no rival. 1 think that you would like him, he is so tender, so gentle, and so mild, although fully as big as a calf. The cross-examination was most searchingly, inex- orably, almost cruelly conducted, to the utter discom- fiture of the witness. The God of heaven and earth loves active, modest, and kind people, and hates idle, proud, greedy, and cruel ones. 3. When the last two members of a series are connected by and, the comma should not be omit- ted before and unless those two are more closely related in sense to each other than to those that precede. In all the foregoing examples, the comma THE COMMA 93 is rightly retained, but it is rightly omitted in those that follow. Bad health, a feeling of the purposelessness of his own particular existence, his philosophic doubts and his constant preoccupation with them — all these com- bined, etc. The omission of the comma after "doubts" shows that his preoccupation was with them, and not with his health and the feeling of the purpose- lessness of his existence as well. Zinovieff shot over five hundred of the bourgeoisie at a stroke — nobles, professors, officers, journalists, men and women. Here, the omission of the comma after men means that the classes previously mentioned — nobles and the rest — were of both sexes. On one side, elemental order, sandstone and granite, rock-ledges, peat-bog, forest, sea and shore, and, on the other part, thought, the spirit which composes and decomposes nature — here they were, side by side, god and devil, mind and matter, king and conspirator, . . . riding peacefully together in the eye and brain of every man. — Emerson. When all the members of a series are connected by and, or, or nor, no commas are required be- tween them. He was a learned and wise and upright man. I can't remember who told me — whether it was Smith or Brown or Jones or Robinson. 94 PUNCTUATION Here little coyote was, without any house or clothes or book or anything. In him there abode neither faith nor hope nor char- ity — to any appreciable extent. If commas are used in such cases, it is always for greater emphasis or impressiveness — that is, for a rhetorical, not a logical, purpose. There is Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill, and there they will remain forever. Neither the Court, nor society, nor Parliament, nor the older men in the army have yet recognized the fundamental truths, etc. There was nothing in his career to distinguish him above the common herd: neither his intellect, nor his learning, nor his industry, nor his record of achieve- ment. And let me tell him further, as my lord will tell you, gentlemen, that a counsel, in the discharge of his duty to his client, is neither to be intimidated, nor bullied, nor put down ; and that any attempt to do either the one or the other, or the first, or the last, will recoil on the head of the attempter, be he plaintiff, or be he de- fendant, be his name Pickwick, or Noakes, or Stokes, or Stiles, or Brown, or Thompson. A comma should always be used before &€. or etc., at the end of a series, or of an unfinished quo- tation ; but the use of these abbreviations, except in quoted matter or in footnotes, is avoided in the "Atlantic." THE COMMA 95 4. When a series of adjectives, without connec- tive, precedes a noun, all the members should be separated by commas unless the last one is more closely related to the noun, so that the earlier ones modify the two together; in which case the comma is omitted before the last adjective. But hope only; for this instinctive, reckless virtue cannot last. Instinctive and reckless both modify "virtue." . . . any foreign city in which the spread of your presence is not marked ... by a consuming white leprosy of new hotels and perfumers' shops. Consuming modifies "white leprosy." Here little coyote was, with his big furry ears, and his clean white teeth, and his joyful, cheerful little body. Bigmodifies "furry ears," cleanmodiHes "white teeth," and joyful and cheerful modify "little body." The late Mr. Henry James, having, in his later books and in the revised versions of his earlier ones, found abundant employment for all the com- mas of which he could conscientiously make use, in pointing off the numerous parenthetical and quasi-parenthetical clauses with which his sen- tences are so profusely besprinkled, disregarded in great measure the hitherto universally accepted rule for the use of commas between adjectives 96 PUNCTUATION modifying the same noun. But in this he has been followed, if at all, only timidly and half-heart- edly, and it is believed that his practice in this respect is not to be regarded as authority. In the story called "Pandora" the following sentence occurs : — He was a model character for such a purpose — seri- ous civil ceremonious curious stiff. As an instance of his later manner of overwork- ing the comma in other directions, this passage from "The Princess Cassamassima " may serve. In the original version, a love-scene between the hero and a young woman is brought to a close thus : — "My dear girl, you're a comfort," Hyacinthe added as they moved further. In the revised version the following sentence is added : — - Soon after which, the protection afforded by the bole of a great tree being suflSciently convenient, he had, on a large look about them, passed his arm round her, and drawn her closer and closer — so close that, as they again passed together, he felt her yield, with a fine firmness, as it were, and with the full mass of her interest. But Mr. James is almost outdone at this game by a very modern novelist, who writes : — THE COMMA 97 Aunt Selina, snatching at her own immunity, has also shared, by suggestion, with you, a new freedom, at_ once attainable. 5. Generally speaking, the comma is used be- tween the separate but closely connected elements of a sentence.! His ears and face are black, his eyes are yellow, his paws are magnificent, his tail keeps wagging all the time, and he makes on me the impression, etc. — William James. That so they might keep their mountain waters pure, ■ their mountain paths peaceful, and their traditions of domestic life holy. 6, A comma should generally be placed before not, or not only, not merely, not simply, and the like, introducing an antithetical clause, and before the corresponding correlative but, but also, etc. But the application of this rule sometimes leads to an unpleasant degree of stiffness, and it is subject to many exceptions, which it is impossible to classify. In the examples that follow it will be noted that the comma, when it is used before not, always means that we naturally pause at least long enough to "count one." The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. — Macaulay. ' It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between this rule and those relating to the members of a series (numbers 2 and 3 above). 8 98 PUNCTUATION These instances are presented, not to belittle the power of the United States, but to make clear, etc. And after all, justice consists, not in correcting or punishing past injustice, but in the constant and per- petual desire to satisfy the reasonable wants of every man. Whenever two of the talkers met at the same table, there was danger of an unedifying encounter, not so much of wits as of temper. By faith you can move mountains ; but the important thing is, not to move the mountains, but to have the faith. Now it is a fad with some people to talk as if the war had not only made necessary, but made actual, a vast religious revival. The Board, however, showed plainly that Colman was not only a sage, but a best-dresser. If the correlative is omitted, the comma should ordinarily be omitted before not, etc., and a semi- colon be placed at the end of the not clause. The significant thing is not that those brought before them are not treated as criminals; it is that their de- linquencies, etc. If we substitute "but" for "it is," a comma should be inserted before the first not, and the semicolon be changed to a comma. 7. A comma should be used when the subject changes, even if there are but two clauses, and they are joined by and, unless they are very closely connected in thought; generally, also, when the THE COMMA 99 voice or mood changes, though the subject re- mains the same. The banished of Eden had to put on naetaphors, and the common use of them has helped largely to civilize us. Her hat was suited for all weathers, and she had made it herself. She determined to learn riding, and was forced to admit that the exercise was too strenuous for her. In the following example, the comma is prop- erly omitted between the first two clauses, and in- serted before the third. He was the man and she was the woman, and the world was a Garden of Eden, conjured up by the power of passion. 8. A comma is required both before and after an explanatory word or phrase within a sentence; that is to say, between words, or a word and a phrase, in apposition. Most of the white inhabitants were Scots merchants, men who had monopolized Virginia business before the Revolution, lost all their gains, . . . and returned happily for more. A colon after "merchants" would be logical, but too stiff and formal ; according to modern prac- tice, a dash would be an acceptable alternative. The great Whig general, Churchill, with his wife, exerted a controlling influence over the Queen's mind. 100 PUNCTUATION The question, "Shall the resolution of ratification pass?" was put amid intense, but controlled, excite- ment. So that, in all cases, with Scott as with Shakespeare, it is the woman who watches over, teaches, and guides the youth. — Ruskin. 9. A comma should generally be placed after the following words and phrases at the beginning of a sentence, either suggesting a relation to what has gone before, or referring, in a general sense, to what follows. The same and similar words and phrases should be set off by commas when they occur in the middle of a sentence. Again (not relating to time) Besides (object omitted) Finally First (firstly) Further (furthermore) However Indeed Meanwhile Moreover Naturally After all At any rate (in any case, at all events) At last At least For instance (for example) In the first place, etc. Nay Now (not relating to time) Perhaps (perchance, per- adventure, mayhap) Secondly, thirdly, etc. Therefore Well Wherefore (not interrog- ative) Why (not interrogative) In the meantime Of course On the one hand On the other hand (on the contrary) That is (that is to say) To be siu-e THE COMMA loi These lists are by no means exhaustive. More- over, one should be careful to make sure of the sense in which the word or phrase in question is used. "The [proof-] reader is not to be com- mended, who, being told that the word however was usually followed by a comma, insisted upon altering a sentence beginning ' However true this may be,' etc., to 'However, true this may be.' "' Besides, the decision of Judge , of the United States District Court of Connecticut, will, if affirmed by the Supreme Court, cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars. Finally, even words that have not begun to be natu- ralized may be used exceptionally, when a real point can be gained by it. Further, it may be said with even greater force that the whole business is bad politics as well as bad morals. Secondly, it is a sound principle that as few stops should be used as will do the work. Meanwhile, the feet of the couple were going faster than their heads to the end of their journey. Why, no such outrageous scheme was ever put for- ward before! It is, at any rate, defensible under these circum- stances. Of course, anyone can imagine a condition of affairs in which such repressive measures, or much more re- pressive ones, might be justified. ^ ' Hart, Rules for Compositors and Readers, etc., p. 58 n. ^ "01 course" does not require a comma in such simple con- structions as: "Did you go to your father's study as you were told?" "Of course I did." 102 PUNCTUATION Perhaps, after all, the Redworths of the world were right. — Meredith. The first thing, therefore, that a bishop has to do is, at least, to put himself in a position in which, at any moment, he can obtain the history, etc. — Ruskin. Nay, I will go further and confess, since here if any- where we are candid, etc. — Lowes Dickinson. Perhaps, however, before proceeding to analyze the spiritual ideals of the American people, I had better give some idea of their country. — Lowes Dickinson. No one, to begin with, is more conscious than a true socialist of the importance of science. Gautier's death, indeed, in the nature of things could not but be touching and dispose one to large allowances. Well, now, assuming this standpoint, let us go on to see how some of the questions look which have been touched upon. ID. Participial clauses at the beginning of a sentence should be followed by a comma. Having reached this point in the ascent, he turned to look back. Thinking over his abrupt retirement from the crowded circle, Diana felt her position pinch her. II. In general, a comma should follow any clause placed at the beginning of a sentence out of its natural order, for emphasis, or to serve some other end. Of such a rule, all men, dimly and at moments, are aware. — LowES Dickinson. THE COMMA 103 For people like myself, there is no longer a place in politics. In "Romeo and Juliet," the wise and entirely brave stratagem of the wife is brought to ruinous issue by the reckless impatience of her husband. — Ruskin. Instead of trying to do this, you turn away from it. This practice is carried to extremes by news- paper correspondents of the present day, in devis- ing their so-called "leads" to attract attention at once to what they consider the most important feature of a "story." The examples that follow are found on two pages of a journal that happens to lie at the writer's hand. Ignoring the state department's order of deporta- tion, Secretary of Labor Wilson today granted Lord Mayor O'Callaghan of Cork, who arrived in Newport News last week without a passport, permission to land as a seaman. Surprised at the failure of the Secretary of Labor to recognize the formal ruling of the state department, ordering deportation of Mr. O'Callaghan . . . Acting Secretary of State Davis announced tonight, etc. Close on the heels of rumors that Police Commis- sioner Enright had offered his resignation to Mayor Hylan, subpoenas were served today on both ofHcials, etc. Although liquor, some of it good, but much of it bad, still is obtainable in large quantities, the head of the prohibition enforcement corps believes, etc. 104 PUNCTUATION Before an altar of ferns and roses, under an arch draped by the American flag, with extreme simplicity that even precluded music, Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci, coloratura soprano, and Homer Samuels, pianist and composer, her accompanist, were married at noon to- day at his home here. 12. A single comma should not stand between the subject and predicate, as in the sentences given below. In each of them the difficulty can be avoided by inserting a comma where the brack- eted comma stands, before the subordinate modi- fying clause. But when this cannot logically be done, as, for instance, in the case of defining relative clauses, it is the better practice to omit the offending comma, although, under the desig- nation of "suspensive comma," its use is insisted upon by some authors. A few words [,] well chosen and well distinguished, will do work that a thousand cannot. — Ruskin. Also, a great nation [,] having made up its mind that hanging is quite the wholesomest process for its homi- cides in general, can yet with mercy distinguish be- tween the degrees of guilt in homicide. But always the artist [,] in launching a new work on the world, does offer for sale a part of that within him which we are bound to call his soul. — W. J. Locke. Mr. Pickwick [,] with his hands in his pockets and his hat cocked completely over his left eye, was leaning against the dresser. THE COMMA 105 Therefore the creative power of poetry wanted [,] for success in the highest sense, materials and a basis. In the next sentence the comma is hardly ex- cusable ; in the one from Emerson commas might conceivably be supplied before the two withs; but the result would be intolerably stifif and jerky, and it would be much better to omit those after " spirit" and "passion." Ruskin's punctuation is sui generis here, as often elsewhere. Those of us whose memories go back twenty-five years or so, remember it as the medium of that great music-hall artist, Albert Chevalier. But observe that from those who with deepest spirit, meditate, and with deepest passion, mourn. — Emerson. The elements that feed us, judge, as they minister — and the pleasures that deceive us, judge, as they in- dulge. — ■ RUSKIN. It is sometimes said that the comma may on occasion properly be used between subject and predicate "for the sake of clearness"; also that "it should always be used at the end of a long, modified subject"; but it would seem to be the more logical practice to use the comma only to avoid downright awkwardness or patent ambi- guity. "The considerable length of the subject, it must be admitted, makes a comma comforting; it gives us a sort of assurance that we have kept our io6 PUNCTUATION hold on the sentence. It is illogical, however, and, owing to the importance of not dividing subject from verb, unpleasantly illogical." ^ In the next two examples the subject and its verb are not divided, although the subject is in each case long and modified. The very fact that the same word, "romantic," is used to designate the wonder of the infinite and the wonder of the limitless shows how early we merge to- gether these extreme opposites. — P. E. More. It should seem that a party whose theories are based on confidence in untrammeled human nature ought to present the aims ... of mankind in a fairer Hght than its adversary. — P. E. More. In each of the following the comma seems to be necessary: in the first two, to separate the is's; in the others, to obviate any, even momen- tary, hesitation as to the syntax of the words immediately preceding and following the comma. "Sometimes," says Mr. Garrison, "we must be willfully ungrammatical in order to be lucid." ^ Whatever is, is right. How irrational this dislike is, is proved both by logic and by the pleasure taken in this custom by the 61ite of mankind over here. — W. James. ' The King's English, p. 240. And see the examples given on that and the following page, from Swift, Huxley, Bryce, Emerson, Balfour, Leslie Stephen, and Morley. 2 Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 239. THE COMMA 107 So the women who should, veiled themselves, and the others remained like pillars of stone. Anything that impairs the welfare of the humblest mortal, is fatal to the moral welfare of the greatest. The boy in "Pickwick" who secured the tight gold chain by butting with his head, alone had realized a short method with eloquent talkers. The rise of such a society to such power as it now has, witnesses to profound modifications in the prev- alent religious conceptions. The comma between subject and verb is much more frequently justifiable when the subject is a phrase than when it is a noun, especially when the phrase ends with a word that may at first sight be mistaken for the subject of the verb. That a clear conscience is still the best bedfellow, is the conclusion you have arrived at. What the theoretical purpose may be, matters little. How new was the idea, is illustrated by the fact that Lavoisier himself, was afterwards . . . led to call oxy- gen, the name by which it has since been known, "the principle which enters into combustion." — Sir M. Foster. In the last example, the commas after ' ' oxygen ' ' and "known" are hardly strong enough, and should be replaced by dashes or parentheses. It remains only to call attention to those cases of a comma between subject and verb for which there seems to be no justification unless it be some io8 PUNCTUATION undisclosed rhetorical motive in the mind of the author. Such motive can seldom, if ever, be suf- ficient to justify the confusion caused by the pres- ence of the obtrusive mark. A little hard-headed Ripstone-pippin-faced man, was conversing with a fat old gentleman. — Dickens. But the crew of the Bounty, mutinied against him, and set him half naked in an open boat. — Borrow. Depreciation of him, fetched up at a stroke the glit- tering armies of her enthusiasm. — Meredith.^ Although Dickens was a confirmed sinner in this respect, it is questionable whether any writer of repute has ever been so addicted to this habit as Emerson. The following examples are taken from two of his essays. A strong, astringent, bilious nature, has more trucu- lent enemies than the slugs, etc. The secret of the world is, the tie between persons and events. A certain degree of progress from the extremes, is called Civilization. And all that the primary power or spasm operates, is, stUl, vesicles, vesicles. Another besetting peculiarity of the same au- thor, namely, the use of a second comma between the verb "is" and its complementary subject, is thus commented upon by "The King's English": 1 This and the preceding example are borrowed from The King's English, p. 239. THE COMMA 109 " Impressiveness is what is aimed at; it seems to us a tawdry device for giving one's sentence an ex cathedra air." The reason why the world lacks unity, is, because man is disunited with himself. The charm in Nelson's history, is, the unselfish greatness. One more faggot of these adamantine bandages, is, the new science of statistics. 13. It is equally important that the object should not be separated by a single comma from the verb that governs it. In the first of the exam- ples that follow, the comma is simply wrong ; in the second, a comma after "carry" would justify the otherwise unjustifiable one after "nature"; in the third, the comma after "ideas," which sepa- rates "drew" from its object, "groups," not only is illogical, but leads one to think for the moment that "groups" and "usages" are members of a series of which "ideas" is the first member. In the fourth example, the comma after "within" is necessary, to stamp that word at once as an adverb, not a preposition governing "the peace." It was noteworthy that he tooh from the lowest or- ders of creation, the examples upon which he based his demonstration . It enables him to carry even into his observation of nature, a delicate penetration, etc. no PUNCTUATION In saying that the Encyclopaedists began a political work, what is meant is that they drew into the light of new ideas, groups of institutions, usages, etc. Art is no better able than nature permanently to reestablish within, the peace that has been destroyed without. When the object is placed before the verb, for any purpose (generally for emphasis), a comma between the two is often necessary, to avoid ambiguity. This, man alone can accomplish. . . . the buttons are lost, but the garments remain ; the garment is lost, but the sitter remains; the sitter is lost, but the shadow remains; and that, night cannot efface from the printer's inspiration. — WfflSTLER. The evil diplomacy had wrought, publicity was to cure. What secret diplomacy had made possible, pub- licity was to make impossible. — Strunsky. Shakespeare adhered to the rule (if he ever heard of it) of no comma between object and verb, when a modern Avriter would probably have disre- garded it. Thy own wish wish I thee. — Love's Labor's Lost. 14. One rule which, we believe, admits of no exception is this: that parenthetical, or quasi- parenthetical, or modifying clauses or phrases of any sort should be set off by commas both before and after (assuming, of course, that dashes or pa- THE COMMA in rentheses are not substituted for commas). As we have seen, illogical separation of subject and predicate can often be avoided by invoking this rule, which is, however, of much more extensive application. Sometimes the sentence was never announced, but now and then, annoyed at his over-indulgent char- ity he allowed her impeitience the privilege of speech. — S. Weir Mitchell. The debate, which had commenced on the 13th of January, was protracted to the 3rd of February, when the question being taken on the first resolution, it was carried, etc. — Irving. Immediately after the appointment . . . despatches were sent to Mr. Monroe, communicating complaints which had been addressed to him, against the Amer- ican government by Mr. De la Croix, etc. — Irving . In these examples, the sense absolutely requires commas after "charity," "when," and "govern- ment," respectively. Sometimes commas are used by the best writers to set off parenthetical clauses for which dashes or parentheses would seem, for one reason or an- other, more appropriate. In these examples, the commas after "said" and "it" in the first, and after "purpose" and "future" in the second, might well be replaced by dashes. Two or three Irish members came in much excite- ment to my table to know if the story of the letter was 1 12 PUNCTUATION true, and, above all, if Mr. Gladstone had really said, and really meant it, that he would withdraw from the leadership. — Morley. It is of the last importance that English criticism should clearly discern what rules for its purpose, in order to avail itself of the field now opening to it, and to produce fruit for the future, it ought to take. — Arnold. This rule is violated most commonly — notably by "that dignified class of writers which is sup- posed to, and in most respects does, insist on full logical stopping" ^ — where the conjunction that is followed by a parenthetical or modifying clause. The usual mistake consists, either in omitting the comma after that, while one is placed at the end of the interpolated clause ; as in At a meeting of the Kent Chess Association he [Archbishop Davidson] remarked that though he was not a brilliant player, he could claim to represent all the pieces except the pawn. — A. G. Gardiner. I told him that from the Irish point of view, anything was better than Irish Nationalists divided. — Morley. or in placing the comma before, instead of after, that. The chief criticism was, that having been the first to suggest the scheme, he had taken no steps to follow up his suggestion. 1 The King's English, p. 249. The members of this class of writers who are there brought to book are Professor Huxley, John Richard Green, Mr. Balfour, and George Borrow. THE COMMA 113 In some cases the conjunction that is omitted and its place taken by a comma, as in A learned physician tells us, the fact is invariable with the Neapolitans, etc. — Emerson.^ 15. The use or omission of a comma before a relative clause depends, generally speaking, upon the question whether the clause is non-defining or defining. "The function of the 'defining' relative clause is to limit the application of the antece- dent." ^ The sense in such cases is best conveyed by making no pause after the antecedent ; conse- quently no comma is required. It must be understood that the word "defining" as here used has no reference to what we ordinar- ily understand by "definition"; as in the follow- ing sentence from Professor Huxley, the clause in which he defines "protoplasm" is a non-defining clause from our present standpoint. In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I have translated the term "protoplasm," which is the scientific name of the substance of which I am speaking, by the words the physical basis of life. "A non-defining clause gives independent com- ment, description, explanation, anything but limi- tation of the antecedent ; it can always be rewritten, ' See p. 259 infra, for a further reference to this subject. * The King's English, pp. 75, 76. Mr. Suramey uses the terms "restrictive" and "non-restrictive" in much the same sense. See Modern Punctuation, p. 86. 114 PUNCTUATION either as a parenthesis or as a separate sentence ; and this is true, however essential the clause may be to the point of the main statement." With non-defining clauses, a comma is required both before and after. To determine to which category any particular clause belongs, a sure test in almost all cases is to remove it bodily and see if the sentence makes sense without it ; if it does, the clause is non-defin- ing; if not, it is defining. This simple and easily applied test is really of immense value. We shall see later that the same distinction furnishes, in many cases, a useful guide in choosing between that and which as relatives.^ In the four examples that follow, the relative clauses are defining. In the first three the comma is rightly omitted before the relative pronoun ; and for that reason it should be omitted in the second and third at the end of the relative clause, to avoid the separation of verb and subject. In the example from Ruskin some complication arises from the single dash, which should have a mate after "rightness"; as it stands, the comma before this second defining clause is necessary to show that "rightness" is not the antecedent. I have never seen a man who looked less harassed, less tired and apathetic, more at ease with himself and the world. — A. G. Gardiner. ' See pp. 216-25 infra. THE COMMA 115 And. . . I have found that every detail K'/jic/s exactly matches my previous illusion of what Chiswick must and would be like, is either a spurious imitation, etc. And this wide separation of those who died in one place and by one death, was constant, and a pitiable feature of the tragedy. — C. Reade. There are two passages of that poet who is distin- guished, it seems to me, from all others — not by power, but by exquisite rightness, which point you to the source ... of womanly beauty. — Ruskin. The following passage has two defining clauses, therefore no commas; but the same relative should be used in both places. This is the attitude that has called forth an honest payment of federal income taxes by a nation which is justly notorious for its evasion of state and municipal taxation. The first of the next examples has one defining and one non-defining clause. In the other two the relative clauses are both non-defining. It is a spirit that contrasts strikingly with the spirit of France, which, now as ever, bears the banner of civilization. — A. G. Gardiner. Aline, who had no will but that of the Churchills, had been induced by them to notify under her own hand to William, a week before, her approbation of the enter- prise. — Macaulay. There is an indescribable fascination and triumph in sharing a secret with the wild-folk, which can be under- stood only by the initiate. ii6 PUNCTUATION There are many varieties of modifying clause other than relative, which fall readily into the same categories of defining and non-defining. Of these, however, a very large proportion can easily be changed into the relative form. The same rule as to the use or non-use of commas applies with equal force to all. The incident revealed the true workings of a type of mind so remote from the thought of our day as to be well-nigh incredible. — A. G. Gardiner. The clause beginning "so remote" is a defining clause; hence no comma; equivalent to, "which is so remote," etc. If Mr. Chaplin ever reads Carlyle, how his heart must be stirred by that moving passage [just quoted], probably the only one in all that turgid torrent that would be quite clear to his simple faith. — A. G. Gardiner. The clause beginning "probably" is non-defin- ing — equivalent to "which is probably." The clause beginning "that would " is a defining clause in relative form. The most important reason for consistency in omitting the comma before a defining clause and inserting it before a non-defining one is that the meaning is often made clear thereby. To take a simple example : — At the first meeting of the committee, which was held yesterday, the chairman announced, etc. THE COMMA 117 At the first meeting of the committee that was held yesterday, the chairman announced, etc. In the first sentence the meeting referred to is the first of all the meetings of the society, the rela- tive clause being simply explanatory, that is, non- defining. In the second sentence, by the omission of the comma the relative clause is made to deHne the meeting as the first of several that were held yesterday, without regard to whether others had been held before yesterday.' One Charles Erhart . . . had beaten his wife . . . and was entrenched in the house with the black flag flying. Without a comma after "house," the conclud- ing words define the house as the one where the black flag was flying. If a comma is inserted, as it should be, the meaning is that he had entrenched himself in the house (presumably that in which he lived), and had (figuratively) hoisted the black flag; for there was, in fact, no such flag. 16. A comma is often used to indicate the omission of a word or words occurring earlier in the sentence. ' This distinction is recognized inferentially, but not in terms, in the Manual of Style issued by the University of Chicago Press, where the following is given as one of many illustrations of this rule, taken from the Century Dictionary: " The comma is 'used to indicate the smallest interruptions in continuity of thought or grammatical construction, the marking of which contributes to clearness.' 'The books which I have read I herewith return' (i.e., I return those only which I have read); but: 'The books, which I have read, I herewith return' (i.e., having read them all, I now return them)." ii8 PUNCTUATION He had done something disgraceful, my dear. What, was not precisely known. — R. L. Stevenson. Ben Jonson was born about 1575 — where, is not known with certainty.* To Anoano and No Food we gave a silk handker- chief each; to Amani, a pair of white canvas shoes; to Tamarua, an assortment of fishing tackle. — C. B. NORDHOFF. 17. There is a class of cases in which the final word or phrase of a sentence has, standing in the same grammatical relation to it, two or more words or phrases only one of which is in direct connection with it. There are so many possible variations of this sort of thing that several examples are given, in which the commas concerned are either printed in heavy type, or — when they do not occur in the original — set in brackets. (a) We English, had we loved Switzerland, should have striven to elevate, but not to disturb, the sim- plicity of her people. — Ruskin. (b) Let us turn to one other, and, for this purpose, final, matter for post-mortem consideration. (c) His mother was of gentle blood : Scots-Jacobite Keith on her father's, Randolph of Turkey Island on her mother's, side. (d) All the great lawyers of the Revolutionary, and most of those of the Federalist, period, were trained, etc. 1 It is interesting to note the different punctuation of the two main sentences here, the construction being apparently the same in both. The period after " my dear " seems less suited to the occasion than the dash in the second example. THE COMMA 119 (e) Many states are in alliance with, and under the protection of, France. (/) To dazzle people more, he learned, or pretended to learn, the Spanish language. (g) Apart from philosophical and sometimes from theological, studies. (h) John Marshall inherited a taste for good litera- ture, but was never in any sense a bookish, or even, in the usual sense [,] a cultured man. (i) That indeed gave new life to the reverence which was becoming, or was closely allied with all that was becoming, a living principle in my character. (7) It must have seemed to him that the examina- tion of processes in the living body . . . was closely related, or at any rate that it might be related [,] in an enlightening way, to the philosophic pursuits that were beginning to invite him. (k) . . . using the latter word to signify one whose philosophy authenticates, by guaranteeing the objec- tive significance of, his most pleasurable feelings. (Z) I have at last "struck it rich" here in North Carolina, and am in the most peculiar, and one of the most poetic [,] places I have ever been in.' (m) I am more different kinds of an ass, or rather I am (without ceasing to be different kinds) the same kind more often, than any living man.^ 1 As to the grammar in example (/), see page 232 infra, under the heading " Common Parts." 2 In sections 152 and 153 of the University of Chicago Manual of Style are two rules which include a certain proportion of the cases under consideration, but do not, to the writer, seem exhaustive. 120 PUNCTUATION The question is as to the use or non-use of com- mas between the last of these "coordinate" words or phrases and the final word or phrase to which they are related. The authors of "The King's English " say that the comma should never be used if it is omitted after the earlier word or phrase; that it may often be dispensed with, even when the first one is necessary; and that both may be necessary if the phrases are long. "Learners will be inclined to say: all this is very indefinite ; do give us a clear rule that will apply to all cases. Such was the view with which, on a matter of even greater importance than punctua- tion, Procrustes identified himself; but it brought him to a bad end. The clear rule, Use all logical connectives, would give us : — "He was born, in, or near, London, on December 24th, 1900. " No one would write this who was not suffering from bad hypertrophy of the grammatical con- science. The clear rule. Use no commas in this sort of enumeration, would give: — " If I have the queer ways you accuse me of, that is because but I should have thought a man of your per- spicacity might have been expected to see that it was also why I live in a hermitage all by myself. " No one would write this without both commas (after 'because' and 'why') who was not deeply THE COMMA 121 committed to an anti-comma crusade. Between the two extremes lie cases calling for various treatment ; the ruling principle should be freedom within certain limits." Whereupon, perhaps, the learner may repeat, with greater reason : "all this is very indefinite." Applying the principles quoted from Messrs. Fowler so far as it is possible, we should say that in (b), (c), (e), (l), the second comma is not needed (it is found in some of them and omitted in some) ; that in (o) and (/) both commas are necessary, if either is used (else the first verb is separated from its object); that in (d), the com- mas after ' ' Revolutionary " and " Federalist " both "belong," but the one after "period" is clearly wrong; that in (g), no commas are necessary — certainly not the single one, in its present position ; that in (h), (i), (j), (k), (m), both commas are required. 18. The comma is never used with a single dash.' In parenthetical clauses set off by dashes, it is used before each dash if it would be required at the break if the parenthetical clause were omitted — otherwise, with neither.^* The second carries us from 1625 to 17 14, — less than a century, — yet the walls of the big hall, etc. — J. R. Lowell. 1 See p. 131 infra. " See pp. 135, 136 infra. 122 PUNCTUATION I know Adam Bede well, — I know what he is as a workman, and what he has been as a son and brother, ■ — -and I am saying the simplest truth. — George Eliot. Garnet cites the case of a girl near Amiens possessed by three demons [,] — Mimi, Zozo, and Carapoulet, — in 1876. — J. R. Lowell. The fathers and founders of the Commonwealth — the statesman, the priest, and the soldier — deemed it a duty then to assume, etc. — Hawthorne. Among his many idiosyncrasies of punctuation, Dickens had a way of using a dash where almost anybody else would have used a comma. " Nay," said the eloquent Pickwickian — "I know it but too well." 19. The comma is never used before parenthe- ses, and follows the closing parenthesis only when it would be required if the parenthetical clause were omitted. The annual expenditure for public purposes (a third of it for military purposes), is at least 50 millions. — RUSKIN. Probably Ruskin's fellow countrymen would be willing to forgive the superfluous comma, if the figures from which he recoiled two generations ago — "Sesame and Lilies" was published in 1864 — accurately represented the national outgo to-day. THE COMMA 123 The almost universal style of punctuation with parentheses until comparatively recent times was to put a comma before the first parenthesis and another at the end of the clause, inside the second. There was certainly no logic behind the custom, and it has been generally, though not altogether, abandoned. 20. A comma must always be used between two sets of figures. Of the total casualties of 5283, 1472 are reported as killed, etc., June 27, 1920. When he was no more than 25, 150 more men were put in his charge. Also between the names of different persons, when its omission would mislead or cause am- biguity. In his relations with Mary, Smith had never got be- yond a certain stage. 21. A few formal uses of this point may be no- ticed, in addition to those mentioned at the begin- ning of the section. In the "Atlantic," before direct quotations in- troduced by said, replied, asked, and similar words, whether or not the quoted matter begins a new paragraph. In the latter case, it is followed by a dash. In Atlantic books the comma is used only before short quotations that do not begin a new paragraph. 124 PUNCTUATION Of a study we are to ask, "Does it contribute to the doing of these things?" rather than, "Does the study make the child's mind more alert or sound or sane?" Again, in the "Atlantic," the salutation of a let- ter is followed by comma and dash, on a separate line. This tedious and protracted discussion, felt to be inadequate, of this vexed subject, may be closed by quoting some sentences which seem to show the futility of attempting to make rules to fit, even theoretically, all cases. The first two have been "put up" to the writer in recent "Atlantic" papers. On some occasions we can best deal with ourselves from within out, on others from without in. Through an unconscious application of Cook Comma's formula,' the sentence was punctuated thus: "from within, out; on others, from without, in." Or must the horrid struggle of those who have not, to get, and of those who have, to keep, go on forever? The following is printed just as it stands in the second edition of "Sesame and Lilies": — . . . but how few kings have ever laid up treasures that needed no guarding — treasures of which, the more thieves there were, the better." '■ See p. 59 supra. THE DASH 125 The Dash There are three forms of the dash in common use — the "en," the "em," and the "2-em," in the order of length. The em-dash alone is to be considered as a true punctuation mark. It is here- after called the dash. The others can be dismissed in a very few words. THE EN-DASH The en-dash, which is half the length of the em- dash, may stand for the word "and" or "to" in such phrases as " the Radical-Unionist Coalition," "the Boston-Hartford Air Line" ;i "the period of Republican supremacy, 1860-84"; "PP- 224-30." It is necessary to be on one's guard against the use of the en-dash instead of "to," in connection with "from" — a surprisingly common error. The Civil War lasted from i86i-'65. This dash is used also instead of a hyphen in lines consisting of capital letters. THE 2-EM DASH The 2-em dash, sufficiently described by its name, has no other use in ordinary book-printing 1 When one of the names in such a combination consists of two words, the use of the en-dash creates an awkwardness which it is better to avoid by using "and" or "to" instead. For instance, "the New York-Boston express" suggests a close connection be- tween "York and Boston," but leaves "New" out in the cold. The " New York to (and) Boston express" is preferable. 126 PUNCTUATION than to represent a name not given, or the omitted letters of a name of which only the first letter, or the first and last letters, are given. I met Mrs. S , on her way to B . It is possible that I may see R n to-day; if so, I will tell him that you are expecting him and J F to see him soon, to try to settle that old matter. I must tell you that J writes me that he is sure that he has discovered the culprit, which is all you need to know, so that I will say simply that it is no less a person than — — •. It is so necessary to preserve en- tire secrecy for the moment that I dare not write even the initial — even in a private letter. This long dash is sometimes encountered where one would expect to find the ordinary dash ; but the writer has never been able to discover any principle upon which such use is based, or any reason to refer the practice — in modern works, at least — to anything but indifference. "Next to my wife, Diana Warwick's She'd send, never fear." — Meredith. "Now, Charley dear," Peggy says, very seriously, "listen to what I have to say " " I'm listening." "Very well then. What I have to say is this — Yes. Sit still like that, and I'll ruffle your hair. That's right. Now about Miss Straker " "Fire away!" "If you can look me straight in the face, and say, really and truly I need n't be uneasy about you and her " THE DASH 127 "Of course I can say that. Really and truly you need n't be uneasy . — De Morgan. One would be inclined to say, perhaps, that Mr. DeMorgan, in this passage, reveals a purpose to use the long dash at the end of a sentence in con- versation if it is in form or in thought incomplete. But on the preceding page of "Alice-for-Short," we find : — "Because if this dear goose of a boy is going to sit listening to her by the hour together . . . "; and two or three pages beyond — "I know, Father," said he, "that what you wanted to know about was — " The distinction is too subtle for the ordinary reader, who would, it seems to us, be quite as well enlightened as to the author's meaning, and quite as full of admiration for his genius, if the single dash had been consistently used in these and all similar cases. THE DASH PROPER, OR EM-DASH I. The dash has these formal uses: (a) With a comma or colon introducing quoted matter, when such matter begins a new paragraph, (b) With a colon, before any other matter properly introduced by that mark, when it begins a new paragraph. (In Atlantic usage, it is not used, in this connec- tion, in the middle of a paragraph.) (c) In the 128 PUNCTUATION "Atlantic" with a comma, and in Atlantic books with a colon, after the salutation of a letter. (d) Before words (whether the name of a person, or the title of a book, or both) indicating the source of a quotation. II. The other than formal uses of the single dash are: — I. To mark an abrupt change of construction, or of thought, especially when a sentence is left unfinished.' I declined to apply for it. I thought — But, Mr. Redworth, another thing concerning us all: I want, etc. — Meredith. The white lock, whether he came by it by inherit- ance or by accident • — ■ what an ensign it was to blaze out the coming of the master! — • G. Bradford. Philammon, my son! and art thou too in league against — no, not against me; against thyself, poor misguided boy? — C. Kingsley. There was n't another like her in the world, and it would never do if — But the if's were too hideous to contemplate, and Charles brushed them aside, etc. — De Morgan. A succession of dashes may indicate a broken or disjointed line of thought, or a speech broken by emotion of one sort or another. It was a suggestion — not definite — nothing stip- ulated. — Meredith. 1 This would seem to be broad enough to include Messrs. Fow- lers' "confessing an anacoluthon, or substituting a new construc- tion for the one started with." See The King's English, p. 268. THE DASH 129 Thanks be to God! But Philajnmon, if thou hadst had a sister — hush! And if — I only say if — . C. KiNGSLEY. But to his astonishment, instead of the burst of big- oted indignation, which he had expected, Miriam an- swered in a low, confused, abstracted voice, — "And did he send you hither? Well — that was more like what I used to fancy him. — A grand thought it is after all — a Jew the king of heaven and earth! — Well — I shall know soon — ■ I loved him once — and perhaps — perhaps — ." — C. Kingsley. A somewhat similar use is to indicate hesitation. "Are they laughing because people do dance that way, or because they don't?" " Because they don't — I think," my companion re- plied. " I had — I had not a suspicion of doing harm, Percy." — Meredith.^ 2. To introduce a summing up or explana- tion of, or a "preferable substitute" for, what has gone before; or to mark arrival at the principal sentence after a long or confused subordinate clause. What does a man whose licentiousness controls his thoughts, and who knows it to be most odious in the 1 It should be said that in these quotations from Meredith (Diana of the Crossways) and Charles Kingsley (Hypatia), the dashes in the text represent a confusing mixture, in the original, of dashes and ellipsis points (of the latter sometimes three and sometimes four) to which it is difficult to attribute any distinctive meaning. 10 130 PUNCTUATION divine sight — what does he say to God when he speaks of it to him? To have faith in creation as it expresses itself in the instinctive demand of youth for education ; to sit at the feet of childhood and to learn its ways; to use to the utmost, and to direct wisely, its resources of interest and desire — this is educational wisdom. My poor girl writes of the hatefulness of having to act the complacent — put on her accustomed self. — Meredith. Never to have come into contact with realities, never to have felt the pulse of things — that is what is wrong with Rosebery. — A. G. Gardiner. The habit of snake and spider, the snap of the tiger and other leapers and bloody jumpers, the crackle of the bones of his prey in the coil of the anaconda — these are in the system, and our habits are like theirs. — Emerson. Is it just to construe the few world-view sentences of Jesus, not written by himself, written a generation after his death by those to whom these views were the colored medium through which they read all serious words upon man's destiny — is it just to put a meaning upon these sentences, etc. — G. A. Gordon. 3. For emphasis.' The boys in the back are reduced immediately to graven images, with straining eyes and ears, all en- ' " Inviting the reader to pause and collect his forces against the shock of an unexpected word that is to close the sentence. It is generally, but not always, better to abstain from this device; the unexpected, if not drawn attention to, is often more effective be- cause less theatrical." — The King's English, p. 267. THE DASH 131 meshed in that finely woven fabric called — Litera- ture. — E. Yeomans. He differs from the Heathen poet chiefly in this — • that he recognizes, for deliverance, no gods nigh at hand ; and that, by petty chance — by momentary folly — by broken messages — by fool's tyranny — or traitor's snare, the strongest and most righteous are brought to their ruin. — Ruskin. 4. To introduce a list, or enumeration (here almost interchangeable with the colon). Everything, naturally, is made to depend upon the action of the five leading powers — [on] Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Well, there is no accounting for the different roads that men take in their search after happiness — some keep the high road; some take short cuts; others strike out new paths for themselves; and others, again, per- mit themselves to be led on without asking the road. — Adventures of Hajji Baba, Morier's translation. Some writers always use a comma with a single dash; some use it sometimes and omit it some- times, alleging fine-drawn shades of difference be- tween the two cases. So far as the writer has had experience with those of the latter class, it is al- most just to say quot homines, tot sententice. As it is impossible to supply the reader with an ex- planation of the author's purpose in using the "reinforced dash" (or "reinforced comma"; the terms seem to be practically interchangeable), 132 PUNCTUATION the "Atlantic" always omits the comma with the single dash. Note. — "Use the dash . . . after a comma, to increase the separation slightly," says Mr. WooUey in his very valu- able " Handbook of Composition." Can anything be imagined more vague and illusory than such a suggestion, which seems to call for extending Cook Comma's "periodic rule" to infin- ity? "There may be arbitrary distinctions between the dash and the reinforced dash, but no such distinction is generally valid or clearly understood, except for a supposed difference in strength," says Mr. Summey ("Modern Punctuation," page 233). But is not the characterization of the difference in strength as "supposed" at odds with a clear understanding of the distinction? "Is the dash to supersede stops at the place where it is inserted, or to be added to them? . . . Beadnell's answer ... is: 'The dash does not dispense with the use of the ordinary points at the same time, when the grammatical construc- tion of the sentence requires them.' But inasmuch as a dash implies some sort of break, irregular pause, or change of intention, it seems quite need- less to insert the stop that would have been used if it had not been decided that a stop was inade- quate. The dash is a confession that the stop will not do; then let the stop go." ' The following passage from "Sesame and Lil- ies" illustrates Ruskin's occasional use of semi- colon and dash in conjunction, where the first would ordinarily be thought sufficient. ' The King's English, p. 269. THE DASH 133 . . . shall abide for us Faith, no more to be assailed by temptation, no more to be defended by wrath and by fear; — shall abide with us Hope, no mors to be quenched by the years that overwhelm, or made ashamed by the shadows that betray; — shall abide for us and with us the greatest of these; [:] the abiding will, the abiding name of our Father. III. Dashes in pairs. Dashes in pairs are being used with increasing frequency to set off parenthetical clauses, and the choice between dashes and parentheses in any particular case, with the exception noted below, is almost wholly a matter of individual taste. The dashes "furnish a medium between the light comma parentheses and the heavy bracket parentheses."* Mr. Summey is able to suggest no better guide for making a choice than: "These [curves] are less frequently useful than commas or dashes for clause groups, but sometimes are useful. . . . Neither curves nor the other points are restricted to any particular type of parenthetical clause. Subordinate clauses or independent parenthetical clauses with or without conjunctions may be set off by commas, dashes, or curves. The more 1 The King's English, p. 269. Messrs. Fowler use the term "bracket" to avoid the confusion between the common name of the curved symbols enclosing a parenthetical clause and the clause itself; and Mr. Summey uses "curves" to the same end. But "bracket" is the name ordinarily applied to the square sym- bols [ ], which have a wholly distinct use. See p. 145 infra. 134 PUNCTUATION nearly a part of the main structure, the less likely is a parenthesis to be set off with commas ; the more distinctly apart from the main structure, the more likely to be set off with commas. But a general rule would be a delusion." ^ As has been said already, in the "Atlantic" the choice between these alternatives is influenced more or less by the exigencies of spacing and syl- labification ; and these authorities seem to afford abundant justification of such eclecticism. Care must be taken, however, to guard against the ten- dency of some authors to use dashes where the connection in thought between the parenthetical clause and the main clause is so close that it would be annoyingly broken by any points stronger than commas; as in the first of these arrangements of virtually the same sentence. The fog, which had been so dense as to shut off all view of the land for three days, finally cleared. But The fog — it had been so dense as to shut off . . . for three days — finally cleared. And so The preacher announced — no, sang — his text. In the second and third examples, parentheses might as properly have been used as dashes. ' Modern Punctuation, p. 112. THE DASH 135 Their peculiar glory — and it is very great — is that they demonstrated, in the face of apparent demonstra- tion to the contrary, that a free church in a free state, etc. The last example well illustrates the distinction pointed out above between clauses which should be set off by commas only, and those which, as Mr. Summey expresses it, are "more distinctly apart from the main structure." The first paren- thesis belongs to the latter category, the second to the other. He ascribed his scrupulous care in omitting any hint of Miss Straker — the good trying-on figure passed away down the street in his brain, but he said nothing about it — entirely to the fact that the bill before the House related entirely to Peggy, not to himself. — De Morgan. As was said above, in connection with the use of the comma, that point is not used with either of the pair of dashes, if a comma would not be re- quired in the absence of the parenthetical clause, as in all the preceding examples. On the other hand, a comma should be placed before each dash, if it would be required were the parenthetical clause omitted, as in the examples that follow. I think, my dear Charles, — but I know I shall be set aside, — I should have a right to be told when Miss Straker is to be asked. — De Morgan. 136 PUNCTUATION Her murmur of welcome, her questions about his journey, her mild directions as she led him up to his room, — "Be careful at this landing, the level of the floor goes up and the beam comes down low," — were rather those of a shy and entirely unprofessional host- ess. — A. D. Sedgwick. All the same, he was thankful when she rescued him from the woman who would talk to him idiotically about his poetry, — she evidently had n't understood a word of it, — and took him into the quiet nook near the piano. — A. D. Sedgwick. (This clause was set off between parentheses, not dashes, by the author, and affords another excellent example of their interchangeability.) * The distinction is well illustrated by these examples, from Mr. P. E. More ; in the first, the commas should have been used in conjunction with the dashes; in the second, they are rightly omitted. Again, if you hear a man talking overmuch of brotherly love and that sort of thing — I do not mean the hypocrite, but the sincere humanitarian whom you and 1 have met and had dealings with and could name — if you hear such a man talking overmuch of serving his fellows, you are pretty sure that here is a man who will be slippery or dishonorable in his personal trans- actions. ' See the section on " Parentheses" (p. 143 infra) for the reason for the practice, long since adopted in the Atlantic, of choosing those marks in preference to dashes when the parenthetical pas- sage is very long or when it includes a full stop. THE DASH 137 But we have a sure monitor of the will to act right- eously in the present feeling of happiness or misery, and we have a hope — a divine illusion it may be, for it has never among men been verified by experience — that in some way and at some time happiness and pleasure shall be completely reconciled by Nature. It sometimes happens that the occurrence of other dashes in the same sentence may make it advisable to use parentheses to enclose a paren- thetical clause. In the following passage from Arnold's "Function of Criticism," perhaps they might advantageously be substituted for the first two dashes. But it is a close question, and it seems that each case must be passed upon as it arises. But surely the one thing wanting to make Words- worth an even greater poet than he is, — his thought richer, and his influence of wider application, — was that he should have read more books — among them, no doubt, those of that Goethe whom he disparaged without reading him. In "The King's English" there is an interesting discussion of the question how far the ' ' authority ' ' of the dash extends. It is far outside the scope of this book, and we can allow ourselves room for only a brief quotation from it. ' ' There is no reason in the nature of things why we should not on the one hand be relieved of [authority] at the next stop, or on the other be subject to it till the para- 138 PUNCTUATION graph ends. The three following examples seem to go on the first hypothesis." The first of the three examples, with the au- thors' comment on it, is: — The Moral Nature, that Law of laws, whose reve- lations introduce greatness — yea, God himself, unto the open soul, is not explored. — Emerson. (Substi- tute a dash for the comma after "himself." Here, how- ever, Emerson expects us to terminate the authority at the right comma, rather than at the first that comes, making things worse.) This discussion of the dash may perhaps be fit- tingly closed by quoting four passages — one of a clear misuse of dashes, with commas, for semi- colons; the second and third are specimens of Ruskin's eccentric punctuation as exemplified in his use of dashes; and the last, a deliverance of Mr. Cobbett, which shows the development of the dash since his day. But if there be a community which cannot stand any one of these tests, — a country where knowledge can- not be diffused without perils of mob law and stat- ute-law, — where speech is not free, — where the post-office is violated, mail-boxes opened, and letters tampered with, — where public debts and private debts outside of the State are repudiated, — where liberty is attacked in the primary institution of social life, — where the position of the white woman is in- juriously affected by the outlawry of the black woman, — where the arts, such as they have, are all imported, having no indigenous life, — where the laborer is not THE DASH 139 secured in the earnings of his own hands, — where suf- frage is not free and equal, — that country is, in all these respects, not civil, but barbarous. — Emerson. Only the first dash and the last are appropri- ately used : under numbers 4 and 2 respectively of the rules for the use of the single dash. Then after agriculture, the art of kings, take the next head of human arts — Weaving ; the art of queens, honored of all noble Heathen women, in the person of their virgin goddess — honored of all Hebrew women by the word of their wisest king — "She layeth her hands to the spindle." — Ruskin. Broidered robe, only to be rent — helm and sword, only to be dimmed; jewel and gold, only to be scat- tered — there have been three kinds of kings who have scattered these. — Ruskin. In concluding this letter, let me caution you against the use of what, by some, is called the dash. The dash is a stroke along the line; thus, "I am rich — I was poor — I shall be poor again." This is wild work in- deed ! Who is to know what is intended by the use of these dashes? Those who have thought proper, like Mr. Lindley Murray, to place the dash among the grammatical points, ought to give us some rule relative to its different longitudinal dimensions in different cases. The inch, the three-quarter-inch, the half-inch, the quarter-inch; these would be something determin- ate; but "the dash" without measure must be a most perilous thing for a young grammarian to handle. In short, "the dash" is a cover for ignorance as to the use of points, and it can serve no other purpose.^ ' Cobbett, English Grammar, edition of 1906, p. 85. I40 PUNCTUATION The Hyphen The hyphen is used between the component parts of a compound word, properly so-called;' also between the various elements of a compound word manufactured for the occasion. The letters of Professor James are rich in manufactured com- pounds. The well-known and how-often-fondly-contem- plated features tell the whole story in the photograph. For some time past I have thought with longing . . . of the extraordinary, and in ordinary moments lit- tle appreciated, but sometimes-coming-across-you-and- striking-you-with-an-unexpected-sense-of-rich-privi- lege blessing of a mother's love (excuse my ancient German style). If two or more compound words of which the second element is the same are connected by ' ' and " or " or, " that element is frequently omitted from the first compound; in which case the hy- phen should be allowed to stand, to indicate the omission. I left Keene this a.m., where I had three life-[giving] and health-giving weeks in the forest. — W. James. Mr. Summey is well advised when he says: "The hyphen is usually a nuisance in suspended expressions like ten- or twenty-dollar notes. It is ' This use of the hyphen is discussed in a separate section on "Compound Words," pp. 197-206. PARENTHESES 141 clearly a nuisance when unnecessary to meaning or consistency."! It can almost always be avoided; even repetition of the second element is frequently less unpleasant. But there are times when its em- ployment seems to be obligatory; as in, — As " period furniture " these pieces are not a success, for they are not purely of any recognized type, not even early- or mid-Victorian. But it is particularly obnoxious here, as "early Victorian" by itself would require no hyphen. The only remaining use of the hyphen is to indi- cate that an incomplete word stands at the end of a line. Parentheses Parentheses (sometimes called curves, to avoid a possible confusion due to the fact that the same name is often given to parenthetical clauses, which may or may not be set off by the curved marks) have certain special uses. 1. To enclose letters or numerals marking the divisions and subdivisions of a subject. There is no universal practice in this regard, but the pa- rentheses are much more frequently omitted with numerals, especially Roman numerals, than with letters. 2. To enclose the references for quotations or statements, if such references are embodied in the ' Modern Punctuation, p. 177. 142 PUNCTUATION text. But, except where they are merely inci- dental, it is much better to set them as footnotes. In the "Atlantic," where footnotes are used spar- ingly, if the source of a quotation is important, it is the more usual practice to say, for instance, "In the Atlantic for November last, Mr. describes in enthusiastic terms," than "In are- cent number of the Atlantic (November, 1920), a contributor (Mr. ^ ) describes," or, "In a recent number ... a contributor describes," sending the reader to a footnote for the reference. But sometimes, in this, as in other matters, we do violence to our own preferences. 3. To enclose an interpolated exclamation mark or question mark, inserted to express incredulity, doubt, irony, etc' So much for the special uses of the parentheses. They are used also to enclose parenthetical, or interpolated matter; but this function is shared with, if, indeed, it is not being monopolized by, dashes used in pairs. "The most frequent paren- thetical points," says Mr. Summey, "are com- mas, with dashes second, and curves a distant third." ^ While this may be an accurate state- ment if we give the broadest possible signification to the term "parenthetical," — that it covers * See in the sections treating of those marks, on pp. 148 and 151 respectively. ' Modern Punctuation, p. 107. PARENTHESES 143 "everything that is adverbial," — it is, at all events, a much simpler matter to decide when commas are sufficient than, when commas are manifestly too weak, to choose between paren- theses and dashes, if there is, in fact, any real choice. It may seem sometimes as if, in a certain case, parentheses were more appropriate — as, for example, in the following sentence; but we cannot derive from it a rule that a parenthetical clause in the form of a question should be set off by parentheses rather than by dashes. His range of intellectual experience, his profound cultivation in literature, in science and in art (has there been in our generation a more cultivated man?), his absolutely unfettered and untrammeled mind, etc. It may be said, however, that when the paren- thetical clause is a long one, the parentheses are of more assistance to the reader than dashes, be- cause the appearance of a single dash does not always indicate that another is coming, and its function in the particular case may be misunder- stood; whereas, when one encounters the opening curve, one knows that the parenthesis must last until the closing one makes its appearance. The same argument may hold good even in a shorter parenthetical clause, if it includes a period and the beginning of a new sentence.^ In the following ' See The King's English, p. 272. 144 PUNCTUATION sentence, from the works of Henry James, the interval between the dashes is so great that one may well feel uncertain as to the meaning of the first one. Incidentally, Mr. James's manipulation of the comma is well exemplified here. I remember on one occasion arriving very late of a summer night, after an almost unbroken run from Lon- don, and the note of that approval — I was the only person alighting at the station below the hill of the little fortress city, under whose at once frowning and gaping gate I must have passed, in the warm darkness and the absolute stillness, very much after the felt fashion of a person of importance about to be enor- mously incarcerated — gives one, for preservation, thus belated, the pitch, as I may call it, at various times, though always at one season, of an almost sys- tematised aesthetic use of the place. Again, where, of two parenthetical clauses, both of which require to be set off by stronger marks than commas, one comes within the other, it is necessary, in order to avoid confusion, to use pa- rentheses for one and dashes for the other, as in the following example : — Of a hundred, nay, of a thousand or a million babies, — and though I cannot speak as a woman, it seems to me (except, perhaps, for a livelier interest and pleasure among them in their infant appearance) that every- thing I am saying applies equally to babies of that fas- cinating sex, — the trivial details observed by those who are nearest them are practically identical. feRAcJKEtS i45 As parentheses are used, for better or worse, in this advertisement of a well-known financial insti- tution of Boston, we offer it here as a riddle : can this sentence be punctuated; and if so, how? I. Office hours from 9A.M. to 4 P.M. Saturdays 9 a.m. to I P.M. The vaults will not be open for business Sun- days, Holidays or Bunker Hill Day (the seventeenth of June, excepting when it comes on Sunday, when it will be the eighteenth). Brackets Brackets, sometimes called "square brackets," are used almost exclusively to surround something that is interpolated in quoted matter — some- thing, that is, which is not a part of the quota- tion. For example, in the heading of a letter, if it is desirable to fix definitely the place, or date, at which it was written. Paris, Sept. 15 [1919]. [Vienna] May 27, 1890. They are often resorted to, to identify the per- son referred to by a pronoun, or to explain any- thing that is, presumably, explained in what pre- cedes the passage quoted. In the " Congressional Record " they are used to identify a Senator or Representative referred to by a speaker, but not named. As the Senator from California [Mr. Johnson] said in his elaborate speech yesterday. 11 146 PUNCTUATION The Exclamation Mark The exclamation mark is used after an inter- jection standing alone, also after interjaculatory phrases, including words of invocation, prayer, or entreaty. "Ah! you've not seen her?" Alas! alas! it was too late for repentance. How long, O Lord ! God bless my soul! "My poor dear countryman! and he thought me worthy, did he?" Also after clauses or sentences expressing sur- prise, passion, admiration, or any strong emotion, or contempt, or irony. When such passages begin with "Oh," the better practice is to reserve the mark until the end. "Habit be hanged!" cried Sir Luken. "But not the last day — the last hour!" he pleaded. As if he could be helped effectively by a shadow, or worthily by a slave ! Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Entomb'd within this vault a lawyer lies Who, Fame assureth us, was just and wise!' ' This couplet is given in The King's English (p. 258), as an example of the single exception to the rule referred to below that this mark should be used only after "real exclamations": to express the writer's "incredulity or other feeling about what is not his own statement." In the epitaph quoted, "the exclamation mark is a neat and concise sneer at the legal profession." THE EXCLAMATION MARK 147 The authors of "The King's English" seem to the writer to restrict the availability of this mark too much when they confine it to what they call "real exclamations"; and, on the other hand, to give it too great an extension when they include in that category "complete statements that contain an exclamatory word."' Although, in the example given by them ("What a piece of work is Man!"), the mark is properly used, such "exclamatory words" as what, how, and the like, frequently in- troduce such everyday expressions as "What a lovely day it is," and "How well Mr. So-and-So spoke," " How pretty Miss S- looks to-night," all of which are "complete sentences"; and it seems to us that the use of the exclamation mark in such cases (very common in the works of some authors) tends to cheapen it and to weaken its force as an indication of genuine feeling of some sort. " I read warily; and whenever I find the writing of a lady, the first thing I do is to cast my eye along her pages to see whether I am likely to be annoyed by the traps and spring-guns of interjec- tions; and if I happen to espy them, I do not leap the paling." 2 Although it seldom happens that any "sudden emotion of the mind" is expressed without some ' The King's English, p. 258. 2 Walter Savage Landor, quoted, ibid. 148 PUNCTUATION "exclamatory word," the mark in question may, for rhetorical purposes, properly be used in the absence of any such word ; unless, that is, we in- clude in that category the numberless words that give emphasis to a statement. He said it — yes, he actually said it! Don't, I entreat you, take the risk! Often, too, the exclamation point may be de- manded by the use of italics. His wife told him that it was hopeless, and still, still, he did it! Generally speaking, the author is the best judge of the meaning to be given to passages not exclam- atory in form, although apparently so in sense; and if the copy bears any evidence of careful pre- paration, the use or non-use of the mark in such cases should be left to him. "The exclamation point . . . has a peculiar function in apostrophizing, and the poets avail themselves of it freely. "O Lady! we receive but what we give." ' An interpolated exclamation mark, set between parentheses, — or between brackets in a direct quotation, — calls special attention, usually with a suggestion of dissent or sarcasm, to the word or words immediately preceding. ^Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 235. In this paper Mr. Garrison gives other examples showing the lack of uniformity among poets in the use of this point. THE EXCLAMATION MARK 149 The honorable (!) gentleman has forgotten to state the terms upon which he accepted the office. This use of the mark is probably too firmly es- tablished to be prohibited; but, although it does not deserve the sweeping condemnation of "The King's English," as "a confession of weakness and infallible sign of the prentice hand" (page 261), and as "a device of those pessimists who, regard- ing the reader's case as desperate, assist him with punctuation, italics, and the like" (page 216), it should be practised with restraint. This mark is never used in immediate connec- tion with the comma, semicolon, or colon; it may be used before the dash ; and after the dash in an unfinished exclamatory sentence. It is set inside quotation marks if it is a part of the quotation; otherwise, outside. Gentlemen may cry, ' ' Peace ! Peace ! ' ' but there is no peace. Think of it! the only words that this man could find to say when he was confronted with the consequences of the flagrant recklessness of his conduct were that he was "sorry"! Sorry! God save the mark! It is set inside the closing parenthesis only when the parenthetical passage alone is exclamatory. And it was on the fourth day of July (behold the irony of Fate!) that this blow was struck at the very foundation of our liberties. 150 PUNCTUATION The Question Mark The question mark, or interrogation point, has but three strictly proper uses : — I. To mark a direct question. Direct questions may, or may not, be interroga- tive in form. The first category scarcely needs exemplification. The following are examples of questions not interrogative in form, to which the mark adds the necessary interrogative force.' Even if she did offer you her hand, — as she did to me, — it was as if across a broad river. Trick of man- ner, or a bit of truth peeping out? — Conrad. And then he said, — or asked, for there was always a question in his voice, — "I shall go back? Back to my home? I shall buy the picture? And hang it on the wall of the room where I was born? — Claudia Cranston. Then said the Pearl Empress: "Possibly the har- mony of her voice solaced the Son of Heaven?" But he replied, "She spoke not." — L. Adams Beck. "Then I suppose they '11 soon bring the white bread and the brown?" Alice ventured to remark. — Lewis Carroll. And the spirit-lamp is in case you should wake in the night — you could make yourself a cup of cocoa? — A. D. Sedgwick. But, at least, if the Greeks do not give character, they give ideal beauty? — Ruskin. ' See, for other examples, W. P. Garrison's paper, heretofore cited: Atlantic, August, 1906, p. 234. THE QUESTION MARK 151 Now whether, seeing these two things, fate and power, we are permitted to believe in unity? — Emer- son. 2. Interpolated between parentheses — or, in quoted matter, between brackets — to suggest a doubt as to the accuracy of a statement, the proper form of a name, or the like.^ We are told that the gentleman who has been carry- ing on this game, a member of the English peerage (?), is the heir to large estates. The novels of Turgenev (?) are still popular in cer- tain circles, especially in France. 3. To take the place of an uncertain or unknown fact or date. The Venerable Bede lived in the twelfth century, (?) to (?) This mark is frequently, but always incorrectly, used with an indirect question. He asked me where I was going? Ask Spurgheim, ask the doctors, ask Quetelet, if temperaments decide nothing? or if there be anything they do not decide? — Emerson. Two question marks, with quotation marks be- tween, may be used in an interrogative sentence which ends with a quoted question ; as, — 1 The strictures of The King's English, quoted above (p. 149), on the use of "a bracketed stop," apply with equal force to such use of a question mark and an exclamation mark. Mr. Woolley {Handbook of Composition, p. 98) says that the use of the question mark "as a notice of humor or irony is a puerility." 152 PUNCTUATION "Lemuel," she said, "what was it you meant when you said, 'Where d'you s'pose I've been?'?" But the better, although perhaps the less log- ical, practice is to let one question mark suffice — thus: . . . been'?" Note. — Certain words, especially "how" and "what," often seem to give an interrogative form to what is really an exclamatory sentence. This is a subject as to which no final rule can be laid down: the author is the best judge of his own meaning. In a compound interrogative sentence, that is, one containing a series of questions, it is generally the better practice to reserve the question mark for the end, separating the earlier questions with commas, or semicolons, as the circumstances de- mand. But the question mark may be repeated after each question, to give added emphasis to each. This mark is set inside quotation marks if the quoted passage forms a question; otherwise, outside. In this sentence from Matthew Arnold's essay on Marcus Aurelius, the question mark should be outside; but it is fair to say that it is taken here from a reprint in a collection of essays by various hands, and it is not at all certain that Arnold was guilty of the error. What would have become of his notion of the exiti- abilis superstitio, of the " obstinacy of the Christians? " QUOTATION MARKS 153 Quotation Marks The use of single quotation marks ("quotes") in the "Atlantic" was adopted some years ago, on expert advice, for typographical reasons alone, although there is an abundance of precedents for it in the practice of some of the best British printing-offices and publishers.' In the narrow (14-pica) measure of the columns of the magazine the double quotes take up an unconscionable amount of room, where they occur at all fre- quently, thereby interfering seriously with good spacing, and at the same time give an unpleas- antly "spotty" appearance to the page. The pub- lishers have not had occasion to regret their long- meditated decision to make this change, which involved, of course, using the double mark for interior quotations. If there is, as sometimes hap- pens, a third quotation within the second, we re- cur to the single mark, and so on.'' In Atlantic books, the customary use of double quotes, with single quotes inside, is followed. The ordinary use of quotes, to enclose a direct 1 For example, the single quotes are used in The King's English, so often drawn upon in this book; and in Mr. Hart's work, cited in the next note. 'Mr. Hart, in his Rules for Compositors and Readers, etc., quotes from Mr. De Vinne this example of quotation marks packed five deep: 'In the New Testament we have the following words: "Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, "I said, 'Ye are gods'"?"" 154 PUNCTUATION quotation, needs no elaboration. Their position with reference to other punctuation marks is dis- cussed with reference to those marks respectively. We may recapitulate thus: they are always set outside the comma and the period ; always inside the colon and semicolon; outside or inside the marks of exclamation and interrogation according as those marks do or do not belong to the quoted matter ; outside the dash when it stands for some- thing left unsaid, and inside when it is used as an ordinary punctuation mark; inside parentheses when the parenthetical clause alone is quoted, otherwise outside.^ Quotes are properly used to set off words ac- companied by definitions, unless such words are set in a different type, as italic or bold-face. Mighty of heart, mighty of mind, — "magnani- mous," — to be this, is indeed to be great in life. — RUSKIN. They are properly used with words to which special attention is called, or which have a special meaning in the text. Such a newspaper paragraph would be as impossible in a Christian country as a deliberate assassination permitted on its public street. " Christian," did I say? — RUSKIN. ' For a discussion of this whole question of the right order as be- tween quotation marks and other "stops" from the English point of view, — which, however logical, is at variance with the common American practice, — see The King's English, pp. 282 ff. QUOTATION MARKS 155 Observe how persistently your German sympathizer harps upon the words " hundred-per-cent American." I said "minuteness" and "selfishness" of sensation, but, in a word, I ought to have said "injustice" or "unrighteousness" of sensation. — Ruskin. Perhaps "a young Minister of State" held the fore- most rank in that respect. — Meredith. "Free" was a word that checked her throbs as at a question of life or death. — Meredith. Observe that word "State"; we have got into a loose way of using it. It means literally the standing and stability of a thing; and you have the full force of it in the derived word "statue" — the immovable thing. — Ruskin. With such sentences as, "Said I to myself, " " I thought," "He might well have said," — that is to say, where the quasi-quotation, although in di- rect form, is not of words actually spoken, — the practice is not uniform ; but, as one can see by con- sulting books written half a century ago, the use of quotes in such cases is becoming more and more general, and it is customary to use them in the "Atlantic." 1789 asked of a thing, Is it rational? 1642 asked of a thing, Is it legal? or, when it went further. Is it accord- ing to conscience? — Sir M. Foster. He (the elephant) looked betune his feet at the dhrain, an' he looked at me, and I sez to myself: "Terence, my son, you've been watchin' this Noah's ark too long. Run for the life!" — Kipling. 156 PUNCTUATION Then he wagged his ear, sayin', "Do my sinses de- ceive me?" as plain as print. — Kipling. "What can it be?" said I to myself: "it must be one of my old friends the dervishes of Meshed." — Adventures of Hajji Baba, Morier's translation. I therefore began to take myself to task upon what I did know. Let me see, said I, I know. First, That all those who do not believe in Mahomet, and in Ali his lieutenant, etc. — Adventures of Hajji Baba} I recollect a nurse called Ann, Who followed me about the grass ; And one fine day a fine young man Came up and kissed the pretty lass. She never made the least objection. Thinks I, "Aha! When I can talk, I'll tell mamma." And that's my earliest recollection. — Locker. The following examples show Meredith's incon- sistencies in his treatment of quotations. The first is a direct quotation (repetition) of words previously spoken by one of the characters; the others are instances of passages in the form of direct quotations, but not actually spoken. All are taken from "Diana of the Crossways." Her words rang through him. At every meeting she said things to confound his estimate of the wits of ' It is difficult to understand the use of quotes in the one case and their omission in a precisely similar case in the same book. Presumably the translator, or his copyist, was responsible in the first place, and the proof-reader failed to notice the difference. In the same volume are instances of direct quotations without quotes: " He mumbled Allah, Allah," etc. QtrOtATlON MAkKS 15? Woman, or [to] be remembered for some spirited ring they had : — A light wind will make a dead leaf fly like a bird. Diana saw herself through the haze she conjured up. "Am I worse than other women?" was a piercing twi- thought. With a complacent, What now, Dacier [he was alone], he fixed his indifferent eyes on the first column of the leaders. He reviewed dozens of speculations until the impos- sibility of seizing one determined him to go to Mrs. Fryar-Gunnett at the end of the half-hour — "Just to see what these women have to say for themselves." "For I am not one of the lecturing Mammonites," she could say. Professor Tyndall sometimes used italics for a quasi-quotation. A man, for example, can say, / think, I feel, I love. In the next example his contemporary uses quotes in an exactly parallel case : — The hypothesis of evolution supposes that, in all this vast progression, there would be no breach of the continuity, no point at which we could say, "This is a natural process," and, "This is not a natural process." — Huxley. Occasionally one finds a distinction made, or attempted to be made, between direct quotations and the quasi-quotations illustrated in the fore- going examples, by using double quotes with the 158 PUNCTUATION first and single quotes with the others. But it is hard to maintain the distinction consistently, and it is disregarded in Atlantic books unless the author insists upon it. The not infrequent practice, especially with certain authors, of using quotes with indirect quo- tations is not justifiable. He used a certain penetrative mildness of tone in saying that "he hoped the book would succeed." — Meredith. The quotes should be omitted, or the sentence changed, to read : He used ... in saying, " I hope the book will succeed." He then followed my example, declared he never felt more refreshed in his life, and . . . said, "he would go and look after the horses." — Borrow.* Quotes should not be used with foreign words or phrases except under the same conditions as with English ones; such words or phrases should be set in italics, if it is necessary to give them extra prominence. In the "Atlantic" and in Atlantic books, verse extracts are always set in smaller type, and no quotes are used unless the verses are put in some- body's mouth. There is in our modern world conflict of a sort, but without battle-cries and without leaders, like the ' Quoted in The King's English, p. 289. QUOTATION MARKS 159 battle of embryo atoms in Milton's Chaos, mixed confusedly : — To whom these most adhere, he rules a moment. But the words were laughable or pathetic. I was adjured to "Blow de mon down with a bottle of rum, Oh, de mon — mon — blow de mon down ! " For one thing, there is the impulse to cry out, "Stop! Stop! don't cut it all off! "O barber, spare that hair! Leave some upon my brow! For months it 's sheltered me, And I '11 protect it now! " So with prose extracts : if they are at all numer- ous, — that is, in an article in the magazine, if there are more than two or three, — they are set in smaller type, without quotes unless they are put in somebody's mouth. If there are but two or three, even though they are of considerable length, the type is not reduced, and quotes are used. If a letter Is printed with date-line and saluta- tion (or either), or with signature, it is set off by blank lines above and below, without quotes and, except in fiction, is set in smaller type. But if there is neither date-line, nor salutation, nor sig- nature, the letter is ordinarily set in the text type, with quotes. If there are many letters, they are all set in smaller type, without quotes.' ' In the magazine, considerations of space, and the necessity of expanding or contracting articles, are sometimes the decisive fac- tors in arranging the matter of the setting of prose extracts. i6o PtJNCTUAtlON If a quoted passage contains more than one paragraph, the quotes are repeated at the begin- ning of each paragraph, but are placed at the end of the last one only. The old practice of repeating them at the beginning of each line is not now in vogue in the United States, although it persists to some extent, especially in newspapers, in Great Britain. If a quoted passage consists of a complete sen- tence, with subject and predicate, it is the better practice to begin it with a capital ; otherwise, if it is only a phrase, or a part of a sentence that is completed by the unquoted text. Having, as Stevenson says, "thrown her soul and body down for God to plough them under," she has grown up out of that furrow with a certain fierceness of joy in life. — E. Yeomans. The tendency to use unnecessary quotation marks should be guarded against. It may be said that this is true of every punctuation mark, as well as of a good many other things, and that it may well be assumed to be the function of such books as this to point out when they are unneces- sary. But the special point here in mind is the frequent use of these marks with phrases that are, from long acquaintance, familiar in our minds as household words. The last seven words, for in- stance, would often, but, we believe, unnecessar- ily, be surrounded by quotes. "To an educated THE APOSTROPHE i6i man it is an annoyance to find his author warning him that something written long ago, and quoted every day almost ever since, is not an original remark now first struck out." ' The Apostrophe 1 . The apostrophe is used chiefly as the sign of the possessive case. It precedes the 5 in the pos- sessive of singular nouns and of plurals not ending in 5.- the man's coat; men's coats. It follows the s in the plural of nouns ending in s: the boys' coats. Note. — In forming the possessive case of singular nouns ending in s, the apostrophe should be followed by a second s, as with other nouns, except in a few cases in which traditional usage demands that it be omitted: Jesus', conscience' (for con- science' sake), Moses'; and classical proper names ending in es: Xerxes', Alcihiades', and the like. If the pronunciation of the second s is harsh to the ear, it can be disregarded in read- ing; but it should always be printed, except as noted above. 2. The omission of figures in dates is indicated by an apostrophe : the men of '76; the 17th oj June, '75; also, the omission of a letter or letters in con- tracted forms: 'Tis, he'll, isn't, wa'n't, etc. Note. — Mr. G. Bernard Shaw has adopted the practice of writing dont, shant, etc., instead of don't, sha'n't, etc.; but it may be doubted whether this idiosyncrasy will ever receive the sanction of good usage. '■ The King's English, p. 280. The authors comment thus upon this address of a letter: "John Smith, Esq., 'Chatsworth,' i64Mel- ton Road, Leamington": "The implication seems to be: living in the house that sensible people call 164 Melton Road, but one fool likes to call Chatsworth." 12 i62 PUNCTUATION 3. The plural form of single letters, of words, and sometimes of phrases, is indicated by an apostrophe. Mind your ^'s and g's. There were not a few "if's" and "may he's" in his remarks. Note. — In the poem " Caliban upon Setebos," in which the pronoun referring to Caliban is omitted at the beginning of nearly every sentence, Browning indicated the missing word by an apostrophe, set as modern practice would set the same mark to indicate the omission of a letter — as in 't is. 'Will sprawl, now that the heat of day is best. Flat on his belly in the pit's much mire. So far as the writer's experience goes, this is a unique case of the use of this device ; and it seems so illogical, and so likely to mislead (if it is not taken for a misprint), that in prepar- ing the copy for a recent reprint of the poem, he took out the apostrophe in every such instance. But the editor of the vol- ume in which the reprint appeared preferred to leave them "as Browning wrote them"; and his preference was followed — under protest. Although in modern usage the apostrophe in the possessive case of the pronoun it has been dis- carded, the old form, it's, still persists to some extent. The chief objection to it, aside from the fact that it has been generally discarded, is that it not infrequently may, so far as the context goes, be mistaken for a contraction of it is. Like many other errors, it has been known to "get by" in the "Atlantic." ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations are rarely tolerated in the text, except in the case of letters, or quoted passages, when the habit of abbreviating certain words may be an essential part of the author's characteristic style. ^ "I know of hardly any words," says Cobbett, "that ought to be abbreviated; and if these were not, it would be all the better. People may in- dulge themselves in this practice, until at last they come to write the greater part of their words in single letters. The frequent use of abbreviations is always a mark of slovenliness and vulgarity. I have known Lords abbreviate almost the half of their words; it was, very likely, because they did not know how to spell them to the end."^ As is likely to be the case with the observations of this erratic genius, there is a certain amount of good sense beneath the outer surface of exaggera- tion. But having yielded to the temptation to quote this passage, to show how almost invariably he pointed his admonitions with a "dig" at some one of his pet aversions, — in this case, the ' When tabulated matter, or lists of names, or the like, are em- bodied in the text, shortened forms may be used much more freely; but, except in frankly statistical or quasi-statistical articles and books, it is generally better to consign such matter to footnotes. ' English Grammar, edition of 1906, p. 83. i64 ABBREVIATIONS "Lords," — we may add that we are not here concerned with the class of abbreviations which he had in mind. There is more timeliness in the re- cent protest of a professor of English against the '' Plague of Abbreviation." If "that blessed word Mesopotamia" were in practi- cal use to-day, it would doubtless suffer the horror of becoming Meso. , or Ma. ; * for witness the fate of Penn- sylvania and that blessed word California, over the sonority of which commerce does not permit us to linger. Oh, for a little leisure in an age of short cuts! We are wedded to abbreviation — and have been pre- viously divorced from courtesy. The present writer has determined to take an occasional holiday from this orgy of shortening, and to permit himself, on envelopes and elsewhere, the luxury of polysyllables. North shall not become a negation, or east a mere initial. The post-office clerk shall not dim his sight in profane en- deavors to distinguish Missouri from Maine, and New York from New Jersey. Esquire shall flaunt its full en- sign, though Mr. must remain dwarfed for lack of a fair fullness. One cannot permit Mister; it should be used only in humorous stories. The following common abbreviations are used in all cases, when accompanied by proper names. Sr. Dr. Esq. 'This author seems to have overlooked the quite familiar Mespot. ' It is a curious fact that "Mister" always connotes vulgarity, or, perhaps, humor. On the other hand, "Mistress," except in the Mr. Mme., Mile, Mrs.!* Messrs. M. Jr. ABBREVIATIONS 165 Reverend (Very Reverend, Right Reverend, Most Reverend), Honorable (Right Honorable), should not be abbreviated, except in quoted mat- ter, nor should Superintendent and Professor. Military and Naval titles should be spelled in full, but U.S.A., U.S.N., R.A., R.N., and the like, are usual forms, even in the text ; as are the sym- bols of university degrees and honorary titles, as A.B., A.M., Ph.D., Litt.D., M.D., F.R.S., R.A., and the like. The abbreviations B.C. and a.d., and a.m. and P.M., are seldom spelled out, and are always printed in small capitals, without spaces. The special formula SOS — the wireless signal for assistance — is not an abbreviation, and there- fore should be set without periods and without spaces, and not, as is so frequently seen, S. O. S. It is better always, in the text, to avoid the use of i.e. ("that is"), e.g. ("for example"), viz. ("namely"), inst., prox., ult. ("instant, proximo, ultimo") ; but vide and circa, which are, of course, not abbreviations, though sometimes classed as such, may properly be used. The character & (called "ampersand" or "short Southern part of the United States, has an old-fashioned, almost archaic, sound; indeed, there is rather a widely diffused ignorance of the fact that Mrs. is an abbreviation of " Mistress," which, in its strict signification, is properly applied to any woman, mar- ried or single, who is at the head of a household. In its more familiar modern sense, the word is never used as a title, and never abbreviated. i66 ABBREVIATIONS and") is used — again except in quoted matter — only in the established names of firms or cor- porations.^ As to the forms &c. and etc. — the former is never used in the text. The latter is avoided wherever possible, being replaced by "and so forth," "and so on," "and the like," or some simi- lar phrase. On this subject Mr. Cobbett reaches the right conclusion, although his logic is not beyond re- proach. " Instead of the word and, you often see people put 6f. For what reason I should like to know. But to this &° is sometimes added a c: thus, fife. And is, in Latin, el, and c is the first letter of the Latin word catera, which means the like, or so on. ^ Therefore this &'c. means and the like or and so on. This abbreviation of a foreign word is a most convenient thing for such writers as have too much indolence or too little sense to say fully and clearly what they ought to say. If you mean to say and the like, or, and so on, why not say it? This abbreviation is very frequently made use of without the writer having any idea of its import. A writer on grammar says: 'When these words are joined to if, since, &°c., they are adverbs!' But where is the like of if, or of since ? The best ' In printing such names, care should be taken to obtain the correct form. It is especially annoying to publishers to be "called out of their names." ' His definition of c