RULE III.

MARKS USED FOR WORDS.

When marks or figures are substituted for words, the period should not be employed, unless they occur at the end of a sentence; as,

A gentleman borrows £500, and agrees to pay simple interest @5cent per annum.

REMARK 1.- -The marks and figures are considered as representative signs, not abbreviations. Hence the propriety of the rule.

REMARK 2. - In tables of figures, and lists of articles in separate lines, periods are not used at the end of the lines; but, when figures occur in regularly constructed sentences, that point which would be adopted were they written in words should be used.

RULE IV.

CAPITAL LETTERS USED AS FIGURES OR WORDS.

When numerals are written in capital letters, instead of figures or words, it is usual to insert a period after them in all situations; and, when employed as dates, to separate by dots the portions into which they are divided, when audibly read; as,

George IV. for George 4th, or George the Fourth.

M.DCCC.XLIII. for 1843; or for one thousand eight hundred and forty-three.

Write the following sentences; and, as required, punctuate them in accordance with the preceding rule, or omit the points agreeably to Rule III.:.

From the Times of the 28th ult. I have learned that the sale of books will take place on the 3d inst. which is rather too early for my convenience. Petrarch was born in the year MCCCIV and died in MCCCLXXIV. — What will £100 amount to in 34 years, at £4 per cent per annum, compound interest? -If I buy yarn

@10d. cent?

--

b, and sell it again @ 124d. b, what do I gain James I king of Scotland, was born in MCCCXCIV and was murdered on Feb. 20 MCCCCXXXVII.

RULE V.

EYE-LEADING DOTS.

Periods, or dots, are used in contents and indexes of books, and in similar matter, to lead the eye to the eud of the line, for the completion of the sense; as,

REMARK. For an obvious reason, these dotted points are termed by printers, leaders. Hyphens [---] are sometimes used; but the periods are preferable, on account of the neatness of their appearance.

RULE VI.

WORDS OR PASSAGES OMITTED.

When words or sentences are left out in extracts, the omission is indicated by several dots; as,

To corroborate our views in relation to the evidences of Christianity, we make the following extract from an eminent author :"When I read the Gospels with care; when I trace the unaffected majesty which runs through the life of Jesus, and see him never falling below his sublime claims, I have a feeling of the reality of his character, which I cannot express. I feel that," &c.

....

REMARK 1.- Where the dots are used in the example, these words are omitted:-"amidst poverty and scorn, and in his last agony."

REMARK 2. — Asterisks, or stars [ *** ], are sometimes used instead of periods; but to the eye they appear somewhat offensive.

61

THE MINOR POINTS.

Besides the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and the Period, which are properly regarded as the most essential points in bringing out the sense of a written or a printed composition, there are a few other marks, partly grammatical and partly rhetorical, which are worthy the attention of such as would become accurate scholars, and would have their writings, whether of an epistolary or of a more elaborate nature, easily understood by those for whose perusal they may be intended. These marks are as follow:

62

THE INTERROGATION AND THE

EXCLAMATION.

The NOTE OF INTERROGATION [?] shows, that a question is denoted by the words to which it is affixed.

The NOTE OF EXCLAMATION [!] indicates passion

or emotion.

REMARK 1. The notes of interrogation and exclamation do not mark the relative pauses of the voice; occupying, as they do, sometimes the place of the comma or the semicolon, and sometimes that of the colon or the period. But they are usually put at the end of sentences, and therefore, in the majority of instances, require the word that follows to be commenced with a capital letter, as is practised in relation to the full point.

REMARK 2. In some cases it is difficult to distinguish the difference between an interrogative and an exclamatory sentence. As a general rule, however, it may be observed, that, after words to which an answer is expected or implied, the note of interrogation is added; and after those, though apparently denoting inquiry, where no answer is intended by the writer to be given, the note of exclamation is the proper and distinctive mark. But, after all, if the writer of such passages has a clear conception of his own meaning, he can be at no loss which of those points he ought to use.

REMARK 3. — In treating of the interrogatory and exclamatory marks, writers on Punctuation, regarding them rather in a rhetorical than in a grammatical point of view, are wont to say, that they cause an elevation of the voice. But, though it must be acknowledged that they assist considerably in the proper delivery of the passages in which they occur, it will not be denied that this results only from a knowledge of the meaning of the writer, which is obtained to a great extent by the instrumentality of the points in question. That the notes of interrogation and exclamation, as they are termed, have much less to do with the inflections of the voice than is commonly imagined, will be fully apparent from the following sentences, some of which require a rise, and others a fall, in their pronunciation: "Shall we in your person crown' the author of the public calamities, or shall we destroy' him?"-"What is the happiness that this world can give? Can it defend us from disasters'?"-"Oh that these lips had language "-"How mysterious are the ways of Providence'!"

THE NOTE OF INTERROGATION.

RULE I.

EXPRESSIONS OF INQUIRY.

63

An interrogative mark is placed at the termination of every question, whether it requires an answer, or is in its nature assertive, but put in an interrogative form merely for the sake of strong emphasis.

EXAMPLES.

QUESTION REQUIRING AN ANSWER. Why, for so many a year, has the poet and the philosopher wandered amidst the fragments of Athens or of Rome; and paused, with strange and kindling feelings, amidst their broken columns, their mouldering temples, their deserted plains? It is because their day of glory is passed.

QUESTION ASSERTIVE IN ITS NATURE, BUT INTERROGATIVE IN ITS FORM. How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great or noble, who only believes, that, after a short term on the stage of existence, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever?

Exception. The interrogative mark should not be used, when the expression denoting inquiry is put in any other form than that of a direct question; as,

The Cyprians asked me, why I wept.

REMARK 1. When put in the interrogative form, the sentence would read thus: "The Cyprians said to me,' Why dost thou weep?""

REMARK 2. It is a common error, both with writers and printers, to make one interrogative mark represent several successive questions, which, though connected in sense, form, in construction and in reality, distinct and separate questions; and also to substitute semicolons or dashes where notes of interrogation should be used. According, however, to such a mode of punctuation, it would just be as correct to employ one colon or semicolon to stand for two or more. In the following passage, therefore, each question should be distinguished by its appropriate mark, and not merely by dashes, which are used in the original : "What is civilisation? Where is it? What does it consist in? By what is it excluded? Where does it commence? Where does it end? By what sign is it known? How is it defined? In short, what does it mean?" When, however, a verb is understood in the interrogatory clauses, - or, in other words, when the expressions denoting inquiry cannot be separated, and read alone, without materially injuring the sense, one mark of interrogation at the end of all the questions will be sufficient; as, "Ah! whither now are fled those dreams of greatness-those busy, bustling days—those gay-spent, festive nights-those veering thoughts, lost between good and ill, that shared thy life?"