Note
.—The tendency of all good elocutionists is to pronounce as nearly in accordance with the spelling as possible.
Pronounce:
Publication of Banns of Marriage Commenced A.D.1210.
198. Punctuation
Punctuation teaches the method of placing
Points
, in written or printed matter, in such a manner as to indicate the pauses which would be made by the author if he were communicating his thoughts orally instead of by written signs.
Silk First Brought From India A.D. 274.
199. Writing and Printing
are substitutes for oral communication; and correct punctuation is essential to convey the meaning intended, and to give due force to such passages as the author may wish to impress upon the mind of the person to whom they are being communicated.
Wines were First Made in Britain A.D. 276.
200. The Points are as follows:
As these are all the points required in simple epistolary composition, we will confine our explanations to the rules which should govern the use of them.
201. The Other Points
however, are:
and some others.
These, however, are quite unnecessary, except for elaborate works, in which they are chiefly used for notes or marginal references. The rule — is sometimes used as a substitute for the bracket or parenthesis.
202. Pauses
203. The Relative Duration
of these pauses is described as:
This, however, is not an infallible rule, because the duration of the pauses should be regulated by the degree of rapidity with which the matter is being read. In slow reading the duration of the pauses should be increased.
204. The Other Points
are rather indications of expression, and of meaning and connection, than of pauses, and therefore we will notice them separately.
205. Misplacing
of even so slight a point, or pause, as the comma, will often alter the meaning of a sentence. The contract made for lighting the town of Liverpool, during the year 1819, was thrown void by the misplacing of a comma in the advertisements, thus:
"The lamps at present are about 4,050, and have in general two spouts each, composed of not less than twenty threads of cotton."
The contractor would have proceeded to furnish each lamp with the said twenty threads, but this being but half the usual quantity, the commissioners discovered that the difference arose from the comma following instead of preceding the word
each.
The parties agreed to annul the contract, and a new one was ordered.
206. Without Punctuation
The Following Sentence shows how difficult it is to read without the aid of the points used as pauses:
Death waits not for storm nor sunshine within a dwelling in one of the upper streets respectable in appearance and furnished with such conveniences as distinguish the habitations of those who rank among the higher clashes of society a man of middle age lay on his last bed momently awaiting the final summons all that the most skillful medical attendance all that love warm as the glow that even an angel's bosom could do had been done by day and night for many long weeks had ministering spirits such as a devoted wife and loving children are done all within their power to ward off the blow but there he lay his raven hair smoothed off from his noble brow his dark eyes lighted with unnatural brightness and contrasting strongly with the pallid hue which marked him as an expectant of the dread messenger.
Coals First Brought to London A.D. 1357.
207. With Punctuation
The same sentence, properly pointed, and with capital letters placed; after full-points, according to the adopted rule, may be easily read and understood:
Death waits not for storm nor sunshine. Within a dwelling in one of the upper streets, respectable in appearance, and furnished with such conveniences as distinguish the habitations of those who rank among the higher classes of society, a man of middle age lay on his last bed, momently awaiting the final summons. All that the most skilful medical attendance—all that love, warm as the glow that fires an angel's bosom, could do, had been done; by day and night, for many long weeks, had ministering spirits, such as a devoted wife; and loving children are, done all within their power to ward off the blow. But there he lay, his raven hair smoothed off from his noble brow, his dark eyes lighted with unnatural brightness, and contrasting strongly with the pallid hue which marked him as an expectant of the dread messenger.
208. The Apostrophe'
is used to indicate the combining of two words in one,—as John's book, instead of John, his book; or to show the omission of parts of words, as Glo'ster, for Gloucester—tho' for though. These abbreviations should be avoided as much as possible. Cobbett says the apostrophe "ought to be called the mark of
laziness
and vulgarity." The first use, however, of which we gave an example, is a necessary and proper one.
209. The Hyphen-
or conjoiner, is used to unite words which, though they are separate and distinct, have so close a connection as almost to become one word, as water-rat, wind-mill, &c. It is also used in writing and printing, at the end of a line, to show where a word is divided and continued in the next line. Look down the ends of the lines in this column [in the original printed text], and you will notice the hyphen in several places.
210. The Note of Interrogation?
indicates that the sentence to which it is put asks a question; as, "What is the meaning of that assertion? What am I to do?"
211. The Note of Exclamation!
or of admiration, indicates surprise, pleasure, or sorrow; as "Oh! Ah! Goodness! Beautiful! I am astonished! Woe is me!"
Sometimes, when an expression of strong surprise or pleasure is intended, two notes of this character are employed, thus!!
212. The Parenthesis( )
is used to prevent confusion by the introduction to a sentence of a passage not necessary to the sense thereof. "I am going to meet Mr. Smith (though I am not an admirer of him) on Wednesday next." It is better, however, as a rule, not to employ parenthetical sentences.
213. The Asterisk*
or star, may be employed to refer from the text to a note of explanation at the foot of a column, or at the end of a letter. [***] Three stars are sometimes used to call particular attention to a paragraph.
Paper Made of Cotton Rags A.D. 1000.
214. Hints upon Spelling
The following rules will be found of great assistance in writing, because they relate to a class of words about the spelling of which doubt and hesitation are frequently felt:
215. H or no H? That is the Question.
Few things point so directly to the want of
cultivation
as the misuse of the letter H by persons in conversation. We hesitate to assert that this common defect in speaking indicates the absence of
education
—for, to our surprise, we have heard even educated persons frequently commit this common, and vulgar error. Now, for the purpose of assisting those who desire to improve their mode of speaking, we intend to tell a little story about our next door neighbour, Mrs. Alexander Hitching,—or, as she frequently styled herself, with an air of conscious dignity, Mrs.
Halexander 'Itching
. Her husband was a post-captain of some distinction, seldom at home, and therefore Mrs. A. H. (or, as she rendered it, Mrs. H. I.) felt it incumbent upon herself to represent her own dignity, and the dignity of her husband also. Well, this Mrs. Hitching was a next-door neighbour of ours—a most agreeable lady in many respects, middle aged, good looking, uncommonly fond of talking, of active, almost of fussy habits, very good tempered and good natured, but with a most unpleasant habit of misusing the letter H to such a degree that our sensitive nerves have often been shocked when in her society. But we must beg the reader, if Mrs. H. should be an acquaintance of his, not to breathe a word of our having written this account of her—or there would be no limit to her "
h
indignation." And, as her family is very numerous, it will be necessary to keep the matter as quiet as can be, for it will scarcely be possible to mention the subject anywhere, without "'orrifying" some of her relations, and instigating them to make Mrs. H. become our "
h
enemy," instead of remaining, as we wish her to do, our intimate friend.
One morning, Mrs. H. called upon me, and asked me to take a walk, saying that it was her
h
object to look out for an 'ouse, as her lease had nearly terminated; and as she had often heard her dear 'Itching say that he would like to settle in the neighbourhood of 'Ampstead 'Eath, she should like me to assist her by my judgment in the choice of a residence. "I shall he most happy to accompany you," I said.
"I knew you would," said she; "and I am sure a
h
our or two in your society will give me pleasure. It's so long since we've 'ad a gossip. Besides which, I want a change of
h
air."
I glanced at her peruke, and for a moment laboured under the idea that she intended to call at her hairdresser's; but I soon recollected.
"I suppose we had better take the
h
omnibus," she remarked, "and we can get out at the foot of the 'ill."
I assented, and in a few minutes we were in the street, in the line of the omnibus, and one of those vehicles soon appearing—
"Will you 'ail it?" inquired she.
So I hailed it at once, and we got in. Now Mrs. H. was so fond of talking that the presence of strangers never restrained her—a fact which I have often had occasion to regret. She was no sooner within the omnibus than she began remarking upon
h
inconveaience of such vehicles, because of their smallness, and the
h
insolence of many of the conductors. She thought that the proprietors ought only to 'ire men upon whose civility they could depend. Then she launched out into larger topics—said she thought that the
H
emperor of
H
austria—(here I endeavoured to interrupt her by asking whether she had any idea of the part of Hampstead she would like; but she would complete her remarks by saying) —must be as 'appy as the days are long, now that the
H
empress had presented him with a
hare
to the throne! (Some of the passengers smiled, and turning round, looked out of the windows.)
I much wished for our arrival at the spot where we should alight, for she commenced a story about an 'andsome young nephew of hers, who was a distinguished
h
officer of the
h
army. This was suggested to her, no doubt, by the presence in the omnibus of a fine-looking young fellow with a moustache. She said that at present her nephew was stationed in
h
ireland; but he expected soon to be
h
ordered to South
H
africa.
The gentleman with the moustache seemed much amused, and smilingly asked her whether her nephew was at all
h
ambitious? I saw that he (the gentleman with the moustache) was jesting, and I would have given anything to have been released from the unpleasant predicament I was in. But what was more annoyance when Mrs. H. proceeded to say to this youth, whose face was radiant with humour, that it was the 'ight of her nephew's
h
ambition to serve his country in the
h
our of need; and then she proceeded to ask her fellow-traveller his opinion, of the
h
upshot of the war—remarking that she 'oped it would soon be
h
over!
At this moment I felt so nervous that I pulled out my handkerchief, and endeavoured to create a diversion by making a loud nasal noise, and remarking that I thought the wind very cold, when an accident happened which took us all by surprise: one of the large wheels of the minibus dropped off, and all the passeigers were jostled down into a corner but, fortunately without serious injury. Mrs. H., however, happening to be under three or four persons, raised a loud cry for "'elp! 'elp!" She was speedily got out, when she assured us that she was not 'urt; but she was in such a state of
h
agitation that she wished to be taken to a chemist's shop, to get some
h
aromatic vinegar, or some
Hoe
de Cologne! The chemist was exceedingly polite to her, for which she said she could never express her
h
obligations—an assertion which seemed to me to be literally true. It was some time before she resumed her accustomed freedom of conversation; but as we ascended the hill she explained to me that she should like to take the house as tenant from '
ear
to
'ear!
—but she thought landlords would
h
object to such an agreement, as when they got a good tenant they liked to 'old 'im as long as they could. She expressed an opinion that 'Amstead must be very 'ealthy, because it was so 'igh
h
up.
We soon reached the summit of the hill, and turned through a lane which led towards the Heath, and in which villas and cottages were smiling on each side. "Now, there's a
h
elegant little place!" she exclaimed, "just suited to my
h
ideas—about
h
eight rooms and a
h
oriel
h
over the
h
entrance." But it was not to let—so we passed on.
Presently, she saw something likely to suit her, and as there was a bill in the window, "To be let—Enquire Within," she gave a loud rat-a-tat-tat at the door.
The servant opened it.
"I see this 'ouse is to let."
"Yes, ma'am, it is; will you walk in?"
"'Ow many rooms are there?"
"Eleven, ma'am; but if you will step in, mistress will speak to you."
A very graceful lady made her appearance at the parlour door, and invited us to step in. I felt exceedingly nervous, for I at once perceived that the lady of the house spoke with that accuracy and taste which is one of the best indications of refinement.
"The house
is
to let—and a very pleasant residence we have found it."