CAPITAL LETTERS. 510. Whenever you take up your pen to write, always begin the first word with a capital letter, and when you come to a period, always begin the next sentence with a capital. I and O, when alone, must always be capitals. Every line in poetry must begin with a capital. The names of the Deity; the names of persons, places, ships, rivers- -; all words derived from the names of countries must, and all other words which we desire to distinguish or make remarkable, may begin with capitals. Formerly it was customary to begin every name with a capital letter, but the more refined taste of modern times rejects this practice, and leaves the disposition of capitals at the discretion of the writer. 511. Before we take leave of the use of the points, and turn our attention to their history, it may be well to remind you, that there are discretionary uses of the comma, semicolon, colon, period, and dash. Perhaps the most useful example that can be adduced is, that of a single parenthetical phrase carried out to the end of a sentence, thus: "At length, the deluded victim abandoned her former resolution, an event most fatal to her happiness, and threw herself upon the clemency of the inhuman chief." "At length, the deluded victim abandoned her former resolution, and threw herself upon the clemency of the inhuman chief-an event most fatal to her happiness." 512. In the former example, the parenthetical phrase in italic seems to be promiscuously thrown into the context, and might be introduced after almost any other word than resolution; but, in the latter example, it forms a kind of climax after the dash. Here the comma is advantageously displaced by the transposition and the dash. 513. In all discretionary cases, which will be found to be not a few, that mode of punctuation should be adopted which most forcibly sets forth our language, and best ensures its intelligibility. HISTORY OF PUNCTUATION. 514. Lipsius says, that the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote every thing, till the hundred and fourth Olympiad, in capital letters, without any distinction of words or sentences, either by marks or blank spaces. 515. With the following information on the subject, we have lately been furnished in the public prints : "Previous to 1520, there were no stops in literature, and all languages, like the Hebrew, whether printed or in manuscript, were without punctuation. The colon was introduced in 1580, and the semicolon in 1599. In leases and other documents they are never used, because a single dot, misplaced, may alter the intended sense of an instrument, and lead to litigation and trouble; and, above all, to a Chancery suit." 516. The following literal rendering of Matt. v. 1-3, according to the Codex Bezæ, or Cambridge MSS., of the four Gospels and Acts, produced in the fifth or sixth century, will convey to you some idea of the manner in which manuscripts were anciently written: ANDSEEINGTHEMULTITUDES HEWENTUPINTOAMOUNTAIN HISDISCIPLES AND OPENINGHISMOUTH BLESSEDARETHE POORINSPIRITFORTHEIRSIS THEKINGDOMOFHEAVEN 517. This may suffice as a specimen of punctuation before the invention of printing. No disjunction is intended by the dots. Our earliest printed books were sent from the press without any points; had no numbers on the pages; and words and paragraphs were all blended together without the least distinction. 518. These, and other difficulties with which the reader, in those days, had to contend, in a short time brought forth a treatise on the art of reading a printed book, which, we may infer, was itself fraught with difficulties. 519. When points were first introduced, they were appropriated in such a manner, that two editions of the same book bore but a very slight assimulation to each other. 520. The period, being a simple dot, is the original point. We have been lately favored, by Bagster, with a fac-simile of the original translation of the New Testament, by Tyndale, published in 1526, which abounds with colons. This is a work which has paved the way for all future writers on the history of punctuation. Those of our present points, which are found in it, are the period and colon. It contains also many instances of the parenthesis and of the note of interrogation. The shorter divisions of sentences are denoted by this mark' 521. The most common acceptation of the period when the semicolon appeared, is about the close of the sixteenth century. The author has in his own possession, a work of the date of 1566, which contains many instances of the semicolon, the comma, the colon, the period, the note of interrogation, and nearly all the other marks in use at the present day. In some cases the period and the semicolon, and the semicolon and the comma, accompany each other. The period is frequently in place of the comma. No regard is paid to capital letters after a period. There are several marks in this book which are not in present use. It seems most probable, as Stower observes, that the semicolon was invented by Aldus Manutius, about the close of the fifteenth century, the time when he substituted the perpendicular line by the present comma. The perpendicular line, or inverted dash, appears instead of the comma in a German Bible printed in 1616. 522. To Aldus Manutius, we are likewise indebted for the invention of italic. He established a printing office, in Venice, in 1496. 523. We owe the origin of inverted commas to Monsieur Guillemet, a Frenchman. He invented them as a supersedure of italic. His countrymen, to do honour to his memory, call them after his name. 524. The opinions of the different writers on the history of punctuation, are very contradictory. Perhaps what has been noticed, may be regarded as the best available information that can be obtained. EXERCISES. 525. To write with grammatical purity, it is necessary to have all the words employed of the same language; to have them in that construction which is assigned to them by established syntactical laws, and in that sense which is best supported by general acceptation. 526. To employ words in our language which are not English, is termed Barbarism. 527. To construe English words contrary to the established laws for their regulation, is called Solecism. 528. To use words in a sense different from that which established acceptation has assigned to them, is termed Impropriety. EXERCISES IN FALSE GRAMMAR.* 529. This women. These number of apples. These sort of persons. Those kind of men. Much people were present. I have books enough.a A pond five foot deep. Give me them pens. A army. An half. Longinus his treatise on the sublime.b For Christ his sake. The tyrant rage. Hand the ladies shawl to her. The apostle feet. Let us try it's strength.c This is your's. Our's is here. That his your hat.d St. James palace. John the Baptist head. There was indeed in our destinies such a conformity as seldom is found in that of two persons of the same age. The crown had it in their power to give such rewards as the members of the house thought proper. We expected a soon and prosperous return.e The then republic. He became the famousest man in the world.f He daily became more obstinater. Neither do I see it is any crime, farther than ill manners, and that ill manners I have often been guilty of. No man had less friends or more enemies.g I was in London some six a. Enough denotes quantity, and enow, any number more than one We say "Meat enough," and "dainties enow." b. Possession must be described by the's in possessive describers from names, but the should not be employed in describers from fornames. c. It's is a contraction for it is, and is commonly written 'tis. See Nos. 112 to 117 inclusive. d. His is an inflection of he, and refers to a male person. Is is a verb, and means exists. e. Soon is an adverb, and speedy and early are describing words of nearly the same import. The uncouthness of soon as a describer is more sensibly felt when we connect it immediately with a name: "A soon return.' Better say," An early return" or "A speedy return." Then is open to the same condemnation in " The then ministry," signifying " "The ministry of that time." f. See Nos. 97, 98, and 99. g. Less has reference to size; fewer, to number. *The letters in the exercises refer to the notes at the bottom of the pages, and the figures in the notes refer to the paragraphs in the grammar. [For some of the Exercises, the author is indebted to the excellent, but expensive grammar of Dr. Crombie.] |