Part 25

INTERROGATION-POINT.--This point is used after questions put by the writer, and after questions reported directly. "What can I do for you?" "Where are you going?" "What do you say?" cried the General. "The child still lives?" It should not be used when the question is reported indirectly. "He asked me where I was going." "The Judge asked the witness if he believed the man to be guilty."

EXCLAMATION-POINT.--This mark is placed after interjections, after sentences and clauses of sentences of passionate import, and after solemn invocations and addresses. "Zounds! the man's in earnest." "Pshaw! what can we do?" "Bah! what's that to me?" "Indeed! then I must look to it." "Look, my lord, it comes!" "Rest, rest, perturbed spirit!" "O heat, dry up my brains!" "Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!" "While in this part of the country, I once more revisited--and, alas, with what melancholy presentiments!--the home of my youth." "O rose of May!" "Oh, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!" "O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet?"

"Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty now stretches forth Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound!"--Young.

"Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven just born!"--Milton.

"But thou, O Hope! with eyes so fair, What was thy delighted measure?"--Collins.

It will be observed that the interjection O is an exception to the rule: it is often followed by a comma, but never by an exclamation-point.

An exclamation-point sometimes gives the same words quite another meaning. The difference between "What's that?" and "What's that!" is obvious.

THE DASH.--Cobbett did not favor the use of this mark, as we see from the following: "Let me caution you against the use of what, by some, is called the dash. The dash is a stroke along the line; thus, 'I am rich--I was poor--I shall be poor again.' This is wild work indeed! Who is to know what is intended by these dashes? Those who have thought proper, like Mr. Lindley Murray, to place the dash amongst the grammatical points, ought to give us some rule relative to its different longitudinal dimensions in different cases. The inch, the three-quarter-inch, the half-inch, the quarter-inch: these would be something determinate; but 'the dash,' without measure, must be a perilous thing for the young grammarian to handle. In short, 'the dash' is a cover for ignorance as to the use of points, and it can answer no other purpose."

This is one of the few instances in which Cobbett was wrong. The dash is the proper point with which to mark an unexpected or emphatic pause, or a sudden break or transition. It is very often preceded by another point. "And Huitzilopochtli--a sweet name to roll under one's tongue--for how many years has this venerable war-god blinked in the noonday sun!" "Crowds gathered about the newspaper bulletins, recalling the feverish scenes that occurred when the President's life was thought to be hanging by a thread. 'Wouldn't it be too bad,' said one, 'if, after all--no, I won't allow myself to think of it.'" "Was there ever--but I scorn to boast." "You are--no, I'll not tell you what you are."

"He suffered--but his pangs are o'er; Enjoyed--but his delights are fled; Had friends--his friends are now no more; And foes--his foes are dead."--Montgomery.

"Greece, Carthage, Rome,--where are they?" "He chastens;--but he chastens to save."

Dashes are much used where parentheses were formerly employed. "In the days of Tweed the expression to divide fair--forcible, if not grammatical--acquired much currency." "In truth, the character of the great chief was depicted two thousand five hundred years before his birth, and depicted--such is the power of genius--in colors which will be fresh as many years after his death." "To render the Constitution perpetual--which God grant it may be!--it is necessary that its benefits should be practically felt by all parts of the country."

PARENTHESIS.--This mark is comparatively little used nowadays. The dash is preferred, probably because it disfigures the page less. The office of the parenthesis is to isolate a phrase which is merely incidental, and which might be omitted without detriment to the grammatical construction.

"Know then this truth (enough for man to know), Virtue alone is happiness below."--Pope.

"The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind."

BRACKETS.--This mark is used principally to inclose words improperly omitted by the writer, or words introduced for the purpose of explanation or to correct an error. The bracket is often used in this book.

THE APOSTROPHE.--This point is used to denote the omission of letters and sometimes of figures; as, Jan'y, '81; I've for I have; you'll for you will; 'tis for it is; don't for do not; can't for can not; It was in the year '93; the spirit of '76; It was in the years 1812, '13, and '14.

Also to denote the possessive case; as, Brown's house; the king's command; Moses' staff; for conscience' sake; the boys' garden.

Also with s to denote the plural of letters, figures, and signs; as, Cross your t's, dot your i's, and mind your p's and q's; make your 5's better, and take out the x's.

CAPITALS.--A capital letter should begin every sentence, every line of verse, and every direct quotation.

All names of the Deity, of Jesus Christ, of the Trinity, and of the Virgin Mary must begin with a capital. Pronouns are usually capitalized when they refer to the Deity.

Proper names, and nouns and adjectives formed from proper names, names of streets, of the months, of the days of the week, and of the holidays, are capitalized.

Titles of nobility and of high office, when used to designate particular persons, are capitalized; as, the Earl of Dunraven, the Mayor of Boston, the Baron replied, the Cardinal presided.

THE PARAGRAPH.--In writing for the press, the division of matter into paragraphs is often quite arbitrary; in letter-writing, on the contrary, the several topics treated of should, as a rule, be isolated by paragraphic divisions. These divisions give one's letters a shapely appearance that they otherwise never have.

PURCHASE. This word is much preferred to its synonym buy, by that class of people who prefer the word reside to live, procure to get, inaugurate to begin, and so on. They are generally of those who are great in pretense, and who would be greater still if they were to pretend to all they have to pretend to.

PURPOSE. See PROPOSE.

QUANTITY. This word is often improperly used for number. Quantity should be used in speaking of what is measured or weighed; number, of what is counted. Examples: "What quantity of apples have you, and what number of pineapples?" "Delaware produces a large quantity of peaches and a large number of melons."

QUIT.--This word means, properly, to leave, to go away from, to forsake; as, "Avaunt! quit my sight." This is the only sense in which the English use it. In America, it is generally used in the sense of to leave off, to stop; as, "Quit your nonsense"; "Quit laughing"; "Quit your noise"; "He has quit smoking," and so on.