[Sometimes a comma must be read like a question.]
[Sometimes a comma must be read like a question.]
Do you pretend to sit as high in school as Anthony? Did you read as correctly,articulate as distinctly, speak as loudly, or behave as well, as he?
Did he recite his lesson correctly, read audibly, and appear to understand what he read?
Was his copy written neatly, his letters made handsomely, and did no blot appear on his book?
Was his wealth stored fraudfully, the spoil of orphans wronged, and widows who had none to plead their rights?
Have not you, too, gone about the earth like an evil genius, blasting the fair fruits of peace and industry?
Is that a map which you have before you, with the leaves blotted with ink?
Will you say that your time is your own, and that you have a right to employ it in the manner you please?
[Sometimes a comma is to be read like a period, with the falling inflection of the voice.]
[Sometimes a comma is to be read like a period, with the falling inflection of the voice.]
The teacher directed him to take his seat, to study his lesson, and to pass no more time in idleness.
It is said by unbelievers that religion is dull, unsocial, uncharitable, enthusiastic, a damper of human joy, a morose intruder upon human pleasure.
Charles has brought his pen instead ofhis pencil, his paper instead of his slate, his grammar instead of his arithmetic.
Perhaps you have mistaken sobriety for dullness, equanimity for moroseness, disinclination to bad company for aversion to society, abhorrence of vice for uncharitableness, and piety for enthusiasm.
Henry was careless, thoughtless, heedless, and inattentive.
[Sometimes the comma is to be read like an exclamation.]
[Sometimes the comma is to be read like an exclamation.]
O, how can you destroy those beautiful things which your father procured for you! that beautiful top, those polished marbles, that excellent ball, and that beautiful painted kite,—oh, how can you destroy them, and expect that he will buy you new ones!
O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store of charms that Nature to her votary yields! the warbling woodland, the resounding shore, the pomp of groves, the garniture of fields, all that the genial ray of morning gilds, and all that echoes to the song of even, all that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, and all the dread magnificence of heaven, oh, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven!
[Sometimes the comma, and other marks, are to be read without any pause or inflection of the voice.]
[Sometimes the comma, and other marks, are to be read without any pause or inflection of the voice.]
You see, boys, what a fine school-room we have, in which you can pursue your studies.
You see, my son, this wide and large firmament over our heads, where the sun and moon, and all the stars, appear in their turns.
Therefore, my child, fear, and worship, and love God.
He that can read as well as you can, James, need not be ashamed to read aloud.
He that can make the multitude laugh and weep as you can, Mr. Shakspeare, need not fear scholars.
[Sometimes the pause of a comma must be made where there is no pause in your book. Spaces are left, in the following sentences, where the pause is proper.]
[Sometimes the pause of a comma must be made where there is no pause in your book. Spaces are left, in the following sentences, where the pause is proper.]
James was very much delighted with the picture which he saw.
The Europeans were hardly less amazed at the scene now before them.
The inhabitants were entirely naked. Their black hair, long and curled, floated upon their shoulders, or was bound in tresses around their head.
Persons of reflection and sensibility contemplate with interest the scenes of nature.
The succession and contrast of the seasonsgive scope to that care and foresight, diligence and industry, which are essential to the dignity and enjoyment of human beings.
[The pupil may read the following sentences; but before reading them, he may tell after what word the pause should be made. The pause is not printed in the sentences, but it must be made when reading them. And here it may be observed, that the comma is more frequently used to point out the grammatical divisions of a sentence than to indicate a rest or cessation of the voice. Good reading depends much upon skill and judgment in making those pauses which the sense of the sentence dictates, but which are not noted in the book; and the sooner the pupil is taught to make them, with proper discrimination, the surer and the more rapid will be his progress in the art of reading.]
[The pupil may read the following sentences; but before reading them, he may tell after what word the pause should be made. The pause is not printed in the sentences, but it must be made when reading them. And here it may be observed, that the comma is more frequently used to point out the grammatical divisions of a sentence than to indicate a rest or cessation of the voice. Good reading depends much upon skill and judgment in making those pauses which the sense of the sentence dictates, but which are not noted in the book; and the sooner the pupil is taught to make them, with proper discrimination, the surer and the more rapid will be his progress in the art of reading.]
While they were at their silent meal a horseman came galloping to the door, and, with a loud voice, called out that he had been sent express with a letter to Gilbert Ainslee.
The golden head that was wont to rise at that part of the table was now wanting.
For even though absent from school I shall get the lesson.
For even though dead I will control the trophies of the capitol.
It is now two hundred years since attempts have been made to civilize the North American savage.
Doing well has something more in it than the fulfilling of a duty.
You will expect me to say something ofthe lonely records of the former races that inhabited this country.
There is no virtue without a characteristic beauty to make it particularly loved by the good, and to make the bad ashamed of their neglect of it.
A sacrifice was never yet offered to a principle, that was not made up to us by self-approval, and the consideration of what our degradation would have been had we done otherwise.
The following story has been handed down by family tradition for more than a century.
The succession and contrast of the seasons give scope to that care and foresight, diligence and industry, which are essential to the dignity and enjoyment of human beings, whose happiness is connected with the exertion of their faculties.
A lion of the largest size measures from eight to nine feet from the muzzle to the origin of the tail, which last is of itself about four feet long. The height of the larger specimens is four or five feet.
The following anecdote will show with what obstinate perseverance pack-horses have been known to preserve the line of their order.
Good-morning to you, Charles! Whosebook is that which you have under your arm?
A benison upon thee, gentle huntsman! Whose towers are these that overlook the wood?
The incidents of the last few days have been such as will probably never again be witnessed by the people of America, and such as were never before witnessed by any nation under heaven.
To the memory of Andre his country has erected the most magnificent monuments, and bestowed on his family the highest honors and most liberal rewards. To the memory of Hale not a stone has been erected, and the traveler asks in vain for the place of his long sleep.
The Semicolonis made by a comma placed under a period, thus;
When you come to a semicolon, you must generally make a pause twice as long as you would make at a comma.
Sometimes you must keep the voice suspended when you come to a semicolon, as in the following:
That God whom you see me daily worship; whom I daily call upon to bless both you and me, and all mankind; whose wondrous acts are recorded in those Scriptures which you constantly read; that God who created the heaven and the earth is your Father and Friend.
My son, as you have been used to look to me in all your actions, and have been afraid to do anything unless you first knew my will; so let it now be a rule of your life to look up to God in all your actions.
[Sometimes you must use the falling inflection of the voice when you come to a semicolon, as in the following:]
[Sometimes you must use the falling inflection of the voice when you come to a semicolon, as in the following:]
Let your dress be sober, clean, and modest; not to set off the beauty of your person, but to declare the sobriety of your mind; that your outward garb may resemble the inward plainness and simplicity of your heart.
In meat and drink, observe the rules of Christian temperance and sobriety; consider your body only as the servant and minister of your soul; and only so nourish it, as it may best perform an humble and obedient service.
Condescend to all the weakness and infirmities of your fellow-creatures; cover their frailties; love their excellences; encourage their virtues; relieve their wants; rejoice in their prosperity; compassionate their distress; receive their friendship; overlook their unkindness; forgive their malice; be a servant of servants; and condescend to do the lowest offices for the lowest of mankind.
[The semicolon is sometimes used for a question, and sometimes as an exclamation.]
[The semicolon is sometimes used for a question, and sometimes as an exclamation.]
Hast thou not set at defiance my authority; violated the public peace, and passed thy life in injuring the persons and properties of thy fellow-subjects?
O, it was impious; it was unmanly; it was poor and pitiful!
Have not you too gone about the earth like an evil genius; blasting the fair fruits of peace and industry; plundering, ravaging, killing, without law, without justice, merely to gratify an insatiable lust for dominion?
What a glorious monument of human invention, that has thus triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the earth in communion; has established aninterchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile regions of the north all the luxuries of the south; diffused the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life; and has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human race, between which Nature seemed to have thrown an insurmountable barrier!
The Colonconsists of two periods placed one above the other, thus:
Sometimes the passage ending with a colon is to be read with the voice suspended; but it should generally be read with the falling inflection of the voice.
The general rule, when you come to a colon, is to stop just long enough to count three; or three times as long as you are directed to pause at a comma.
Law and order are forgotten: violence and rapine are abroad: the golden cords of society are loosed.
The temples are profaned: the soldier's curse resounds in the house of God: themarble pavement is trampled by iron hoofs: horses neigh beside the altar.
Blue wreaths of smoke ascend through the trees, and betray the half-hidden cottage: the eye contemplates well-thatched ricks, and barns bursting with plenty: the peasant laughs at the approach of winter.
[The following passages ending with a colon are to be read with the voice suspended:]
[The following passages ending with a colon are to be read with the voice suspended:]
Do not flatter yourselves with the hope of perfect happiness: there is no such thing in the world.
A boy at school is by no means at liberty to read what books he pleases: he must give attention to those which contain his lessons; so that, when he is called upon to recite, he may be ready, fluent, and accurate, in repeating the portion assigned him.
As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not perceive its moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow: so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are perceivable only by the distance gone over.
When the proud steed shall know why man restrains his fiery course, or driveshim o'er the plains; when the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, is now a victim, and now Egypt's god: then shall man's pride and dullness comprehend his actions', passions', being's use and end.
Jehovah, God of hosts, hath sworn, saying: Surely, as I have devised, so shall it be; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.
George, you must not laugh at me; I will not bear it. You forget what you are about when you ridicule me: I know more than you do about the lessons.
I never heard a word about it before, said George, yesterday: who told you about it, Charles?
I never heard one word of it before, said my uncle Toby, hastily: how came he there, Trim?
Thou shalt pronounce this parable upon the King of Babylon; and shalt say: How hath the oppressor ceased?
It is not only in the sacred fane that homage should be paid to the Most High: there is a temple, one not made with hands; the vaulted firmament: far in the woods, almost beyond the sound of city-chime, at intervals heard through the breezeless air.
Transcriber's Notes:To retain the flavor of this schoolbook, the Transcriber has left all grammar errors in tact. Any exceptions are noted below.Page vii: Opening bracket added to first sentence. [_The Poetical ExtractsDitto marks " in the Table of Contents were replaced with the actual words of the title.Page 131: Period added: generosity.Page 139: Period added: she was immovable.Page 150: Period added: 18.Page 154: Period added: The same, subject, continued.Page 165: Word "might" changed to "mighty" due to space in poem and poem's scheme.Page 202: Word "curse" is presumed. "...curse resounds in the..." Original text was not legible.
To retain the flavor of this schoolbook, the Transcriber has left all grammar errors in tact. Any exceptions are noted below.
Page vii: Opening bracket added to first sentence. [_The Poetical Extracts
Ditto marks " in the Table of Contents were replaced with the actual words of the title.
Page 131: Period added: generosity.
Page 139: Period added: she was immovable.
Page 150: Period added: 18.
Page 154: Period added: The same, subject, continued.
Page 165: Word "might" changed to "mighty" due to space in poem and poem's scheme.
Page 202: Word "curse" is presumed. "...curse resounds in the..." Original text was not legible.