Names of countries and places, and adjectives derived from them.
Examples:—a German dictionary. The best Spanish wines.
But such words used in some other common way are not capitalized.
Examples:—morocco leather, russia leather, india rubber, plaster of paris, etc.
Rule IX.—Names of families and larger groups in natural history, and of genera, are written with capitals; also botanical specific names derived from proper names, and those that have formerly been genus-names, though zoölogical usage gives a small initial to every specific name.
Examples:—Asplenium Trichomanes(a fern).Menticirrhus americanus(a fish).Carya alba(a hickory tree).
Rule X.—In headings the important words only should be capitalized.
Titles of books, newspapers, plays, and the like, are written with capitals beginning the important words, most commonly nouns, principal verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The wordtheis capitalized as part of the title if the title is quoted exactly.
Examples:—A History of the Rebellion.
Examples:—Free Trade and Protection.
Examples:—Put Yourself in his Place.
Examples:—Milton’s Select Poems.
Examples:—The Beginnings of Poetry.
Rule XI.—The pronounIand the interjectionOare capitalized.
Rule XII.—All names of God, all words that may be regarded as titles of the Deity, should begin with capitals.
Rule XIII.—In compound words, as vice-president, ex-president, etc., the prefix (vice) should not be capitalized.
Rule XIV.—In personification it is usual to capitalize the personified words.
Examples:—Vice is a monster; smiling Spring.The Voice of Nature; but: true to nature.
Military or naval and some professional titles preceding names are nearly always abbreviated; asCapt. Jones,Dr. Brown,Rev. Dr. Smith.
Titles of collegiate degree are abbreviated; as,William Lee, Ph. D., LL. D.
In general writing, it is better to avoid abbreviation as far as possible.
Punctuation is the indication, by means of stops, of the different pauses necessary to show the meaning of a sentence.
Stops, therefore, are used to elucidate the meaning of words in their relation to other words.
The Period [.].—Declarative and imperative sentences, when not connected in construction with what follows, are closed by periods.
Examples:—The child is father of the man.
Examples:—The king is dead, long live the king.
A period should be placed after every abbreviation. The period thus used is part of the abbreviation.
Examples:—Wash., Washington;Gen., General;Pro tem., pro tempore, for the time being;Esq., Esquire;Gov., Governor.
Such expressions as 3d, 18th, 8mo, are not abbreviations and do not require a period after them.
A period should always be placed after the Roman numerals.
Examples:—I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., etc.
Interrogation Point [?].—The interrogation point is used for marking all questions. When the question consists of several parts, or when several questions are contained in one sentence, there is some difficulty in deciding whether there should be one or more interrogation points. The principle is that if one answer is sufficient for all, one point is enough; if different answers are required, a point should be placed after each question.
Examples:—What can I do for you?
Examples:—Now, you understand?
Exclamation Point [!].—The exclamation point is placed at the end of every sentence, clause, phrase, or word intended to convey strong emotion.
Examples:—Praise be thine, O God!
Examples:—Lost! Lost! O that I were home!
Colon [:].—Two clauses, one or both of which are subdivided by the semicolon, should be separated from each other by the colon.
Example:—This chapter is divided into two sections: the first, which was written many years since, being a history of the institution; the second, a prophecy as to its future.
The colon is used before all direct quotations, if formally introduced, and after all words which formally introduce a sentence to follow. If the quoted matter begins a new paragraph, the colon should be followed by a dash.
Examples:—Cæsar spoke as follows: (His speech to follow.)
He replied in these words: “I shall always be prepared in future.”
My dear Friend: (A letter following.)
The colon is sometimes used between complete sentences where the period would indicate too long a pause, and the semicolon too short a pause.
Examples:—It was a dark and dreary night: the wind was blowing in fitful gusts.
It is over: let us go.
Semicolon [;].—When two clauses are united by either of the conjunctionsfor,but,and, or an equivalent word—the one clause perfect in itself, and the other added as a matter of inference, contrast or explanation—they are separated by a semicolon.
Example:—Economy is no disgrace; for it is better to live on a little than to outlive a great deal.
A semicolon is placed between two or more parts of a sentence when these, or any of them, are divisible by a comma into smaller portions.
Example:—Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances; they should be judged by the character of their lives and conversations, and by their works.
When in a series of expressions the particulars depend on a commencing or concluding portion of the sentence, they should be separated from each other by a semicolon if laid down as distinct propositions or of a compound nature.
Example:—Philosophers assert that Nature is unlimited in her operations; that she has inexhaustible treasures in reserve; that knowledge will always be progressive; and that all future generations will continue to make discoveries of which we have not the slightest idea.
When several short sentences follow one another, slightly connected in sense or in construction, they should be separated by a semicolon.
Example:—Stones grow; vegetables grow and live; animals grow, live, and feel.
A semicolon is put beforeas,viz.,to-wit,namely,i. e., orthat is, when they precede an example or a specification of particulars, or subjects enumerated; and also between these particulars when they consist each of a disjunct pair of words, or of a single word or phrase but slightly connected with the others.
Example:—Many words are differently spelled in English; as, “Inquire, enquire; jail, gaol; skeptic, sceptic.”
Comma [,].—Two words belonging to the same part of speech, or used as such, when closely connected by one of the conjunctionsand,or,nor, are not separated by a comma from each other.
Example:—Pay supreme and undivided homage to goodness and truth.
Two words of the same part of speech and in the same construction, if used without a conjunction between them, are separated from each other by a comma.
Example:—We are fearfully, wonderfully made.
Two nouns or pronouns in apposition, or a noun and a pronoun, should not be separated by a comma if they may be regarded as a proper name or as a single phrase.
Example:—The poet Milton wrote excellent prose and better poetry.
But a noun or pronoun and a phrase, or two or more phrases, if put in apposition so that they may not be so regarded, are separated by a comma from each other, and from what follows in the same sentence.
Example:—Homer, the greatest poet of antiquity, is said to have been blind.
Words or phrases contrasted with each other, or having a mutual relation to others that follow them in the same clause, are separated by commas.
Example:—False delicacy is affectation, not politeness.
A comma is put before a relative clause when it is explanatory of the antecedent or presents an additional thought.
Example:—Behold the emblem of thy state in flowers, which bloom and die.
But the point is omitted before a relative that restricts the general notion of the antecedent to a particular sense.
Example:—Every teacher must love a boy who is attentive and docile.
Expressions of a parenthetical or intermediate nature are separated from the context by commas.
Example:—The sun, with all its attendant planets, is but a very little part of the grand machine of the universe.
A word or an expression used independently in addressing a person or an object is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:—Antonio, light my lamp within my chamber.
Adjectival, participial, and absolute phrases are each separated by a comma from the remainder of the sentence.
Example:—Awkward in his person, James was ill qualified to command respect.
Adverbs or adverbial phrases, when used as connectives, or when they modify not single words, but clauses or sentences, are each followed by a comma; and if used intermediately they admit a comma before as well as after them.
Example:—The most vigorous thinkers and writers are, in fact, self-taught.
When a phrase beginning with a preposition, an adverb, or a conjunction relates to or modifies a preceding portion of the sentence, a comma is unnecessary if the parts are closely connected in sense.
Example:—For that agency he applied without a recommendation.
Many phrases which, in their natural or usual order, do not require to be punctuated, are, when placed in some other or unnatural position, set off by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Example:—By Cowley, the philosopher Hobbes is compared to Columbus.
When one of two clauses depends on the other, they are separated by a comma.
Example:—If you would be revenged on your enemies, let your life be blameless.
Two correlative expressions united by the conjunctionasorthanare written without a point between them.
Example:—Men are never so easily deceived as when they plot to deceive others.
But when united by any other word than one of these conjunctions, the correlative expressions are separated by a comma.
Example:—Though learned and methodical, yet the teacher was not a pedant.
Words or phrases in the same construction, forming a series, are separated from each other by commas.
Example:—Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner.—Dickens.
But when the members of the series are closely connected in sense, the commas should be omitted.
Example:—Government of the people by the people for the people.
When in a compound sentence the clauses have each a different nominative, but have only one verb, expressed in the first clause and understood in the others, the ellipsis, or place of the verb, should be supplied by a comma.
Example:—A wise man seeks to shine in himself, a fool to outshine others.
A short quotation, or any expression that resembles a quotation, is separated by a comma from an introductory clause.
Example:—Dr. Thomas Brown truly says, “The benevolent spirit is as universal in its efforts as the miseries which are capable of being relieved.”
Dash —.—The dash denotes an abrupt break in a sentence.
Example:—Here lies the great—false marble, where?
Example:—Nothing but sordid dust lies here.
The dash is used to indicate that something is left unfinished.
Example:—We cannot hope to succeed unless—
Example:—But we must succeed.
The dash is sometimes used instead of brackets before and after a parenthesis.
Example:—The man actually—this is in the strictest confidence—filled his pocket with my cigars when he thought I was not looking.
The dash is used instead of the colon where the word “namely” is implied but not expressed.
Example:—The sentence should be amended to read “—whenever and wherever the president shall determine.”
Parentheses[()].—Parentheses are used to inclose an explanation, authority, definition, reference, translation, or any matter not belonging to the grammatical construction of the sentence.
Example:—He gained from heaven (’twas all he wished) a friend.
Brackets ([]).—The use of brackets is about the same as that of the marks of parenthesis, but is generally confined to words inserted in quotations for the sake of explanation.
Example:—Dickens has given a very lively account of this place [the Academy] in his paper entitled “Our School,” but it is very mythical in many respects.
Quotation Marks [“”].—Quotation marks are used before and after a passage quoted in the exact words of another.
Example:—“My very dog,” sighed poor Rip, “has forgotten me.”
Matter quoted indirectly, or given only in substance, is not placed within quotation marks.
A quotation within a quotation is inclosed in single marks.
Example:—“His staff and knapsack, her little bonnet and basket, etc., lie beside him. ‘She’ll come to-morrow,’ he says, when it gets dark, and goes sorrowfully home.”
Where a quotation consists of several paragraphs, quotation marks should be used at the beginning of each paragraph, but at the close of the last paragraph only.
Titles of books, essays, newspapers, etc., should be placed within quotation marks, unless in italics or capitals.
Hyphen [-].—The hyphen is used between the parts of certain compound words, and to mark the division of syllables in showing the spelling of words. It is sometimes used in place of the diæresis after a prefix ending in a vowel before a word beginning with a vowel.
Example:—Horse-chestnut, Franco-Prussian, re-edit, de-vi-ate, truth-telling, text-book.
Compound Words.—Rule I.—Compounds made by omitting particles, and used literally, are generally written with a hyphen.
Many such words that coalesce in pronunciation, and have become very familiar, are written continuously.
after-events
almond-oil
arrow-head
battle-ax
broomstick
eyeball
milkman
outlook
Rule II.—Two or more normally separate words are joined with hyphens if used in an adjective sense before a noun.
A sight never to be forgotten.
A never-to-be-forgotten sight.
Rule III.—A full phrase used as the name of something not literally indicated by the phrase is written with a hyphen or hyphens.
Those here given are names of plants:
Aaron’s-beard
forget-me-not
Rule IV.—Compound words showing arbitrary application of the literal idea expressed by their separated elements take no hyphen.
blackberry
bluefish
everybody
however
cottonwood (a tree)
pronghorn (antelope)
marrowfat (a pea)
arrowhead (a plant)
matchlock (a gun)
(Care should be taken not to apply this rule in cases where it does not really fit. Thus,any one,one’s self, etc., are often wrongly printed asanyone,oneself, etc.)
Apostrophe[’].—The apostrophe is used in the possessive case of nouns, to denote the plural of figures and letters, and to mark the elision of letters at the beginning or middle of a word, and the omission of figures in a number or date.
Example:—John’s, men’s, 2’s, 7’s, p’s and q’s, I’ve, I’ll, don’t, won’t, Po’keepsie, tho’, ’92, ’76.
Ellipsis [* * * *]signifies a leaving out, defect, omission.
Leaders [...]serve to carry the eye across the pages of indexes, tables, contents, etc.; thus:
Needle-gun invented...................1856
Brace [{].—It is the vertical curved line used to signify that two or more words or lines are to be taken together—thus:
Asterisk [*].—It is used in printing or writing as a reference to a passage or note in the margin or at the bottom of a page, and also to supply the omission of letters or words.
Dagger, or Obelisk [†]is so called from its resemblance to a dagger, or inverted obelisk. It is also a mark of reference to a note in the margin or at the bottom of the page.
Double Dagger [‡]is the third reference mark used when there are more than two used on a page.
Parallels [‖].—This character is used in writing and printing to call attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of the page.
Section Mark [§]is the character often used to denote a division of a writing or subdivision of a chapter; a paragraph.
Paragraph [¶]is the sign which notes the division of a writing into distinct parts, sections or subdivisions.
Index, or Pointer [☞]is used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph. It is sometimes called afist.
Asterism [⁂or⁂], or cluster of stars, is used as a sign to direct attention to a passage, or paragraph, especially when such attention is deemed very important.
Figures of speech, or tropes, are used to make language more effective by adding special strength and beauty. They are words used in meanings not their own designed to secure a peculiarly happy effect. Thus when the poet writes: