Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

DIRECTION.-Punctuate, and give reasons:

1. Knavery is supple and can bend but honesty is firm and upright and yields not

2. Beware of little expenses a small leak will sink a great ship

3. An egotist always speaks of himself either in praise or censure but a modest man shuns making himself the subject of his conversation

4. If there are any here who have never known misery and never lost those that were dear to them let them come out and receive the bounty of the queen but none came forth

5. Nature is the master of talent genius is the master of nature 6. Youth is the aromatic flower upon the tree the grave life of maturer years its sober solid fruit

7. In the learned journal in the influential newspaper I discern no form only some irresponsible shadow oftener some moneyed corporation or some dangler who hopes in the mask and robes of his paragraph to pass for somebody

8. My mother is ready for me at her writing-desk but not half so ready as Mr. Murdstone in his easy-chair by the window

EXERCISE C.

DIRECTION.-Complete the following sentences by the addition of one or more independent propositions; justify your punctuation:

1. The king himself was thought to be among the slain

2. Lord Bacon was convicted of receiving bribes

3. He spent some time in wandering among the mountains ·
4. You will doubtless either squander your property by negli-

gence

5. Experience keeps a dear school

6. I was not content with my situation

7. Yonder palace was raised by single stones

8. The next morning we all set forward together

9. The wide the unbounded prospect lies before us 10. Man passes away

11. Honor comes by diligence

12. The gem has lost its sparkle

THE EXCLAMATION POINT.

RULE I.-Interjections, and all words, phrases, and sentences that express emotion, must be followed by the exclamation point; as, "Hark! hark! I hear footsteps!"; "Alas! How are the mighty fallen!"; "Rouse, ye Romans! rouse, ye slaves!"*

EXERCISE CI.

DIRECTION.- Punctuate, and give reasons:

1. Charge Chester charge

2. How sweet and soothing is this hour of calm

3. Reputation reputation reputation O I have lost my reputation I have lost the immortal part of myself

4. What a piece of work is man How noble in reason how infinite

*NOTE 1.- -The exclamation point is equivalent most commonly to a period; but it may be equivalent to a colon, a semicolon, or a comma. If the exclamation is used where in the declarative sentence a colon, a semicolon, or a comma could be used, it must be followed by a small letter; as, "O, how extensive they are! what a fair and goodly inheritance!";

"An heir of glory! a frail child of dust!

Helpless immortal! insect infinite!

A worm! a god!-I tremble at myself,
And in myself am lost."

NOTE 2.-When an interjection is repeated several times, the words are separated from each other by a comma, the exclamation being put only after the last; as, "Ha, ha, ha!"; "Fie, fie, fie!"

NOTE 3.-Formerly the difference between 0 and oh was closely observed, O being used in direct address; as, "O earth, so full of dreary noises!" while oh was used more directly to express emotion; as, "Oh, how shall I get out of this!" This difference is now often overlooked.

O is not immediately followed by an exclamation point, but oh requires the exclamation except where the emotion runs through the whole expression, in which case oh is followed by a comma, and the entire emotional expression by an exclamation point.

in faculties in form and moving how express and admirable in action how like an angel in apprehension how like a god

5. Ingratitude thou marble-hearted fiend

6. Soldiers from yonder pyramids forty generations of men look down upon you

7. What a heart our Father has

8. O holy Night from thee I learn to bear

What man has borne before

THE INTERROGATION POINT.

RULE I.-Every sentence or expression asking a direct question must be followed by the interrogation point; as, "Is this your work?"; "Why did you go so soon?"; "Shall a man obtain the favor of heaven by impiety? by murder? by falsehood? by theft?”*

[blocks in formation]

1. Do you travel for health or for pleasure

2. Greece indeed fell but how did she fall Did she fall like Babylon Did she fall like Lucifer never to rise again

3. What is the meaning of all this excitement of all this tumult of all this confusion

4. Who shall say me nay

5. Dost thou think that I am an executioner

6. Whence came we and whither do we go

7. Why do people love you

*NOTE I.- - In regard to the portion of discourse set off by it, the interrogation point, like the exclamation point, is equivalent commonly to a period; but it may be equivalent to a colon, a semicolon, or a comma. The same directions govern here that govern in the case of the exclamation.

NOTE 2.

-The mark of interrogation is sometimes inserted in a parenthesis to suggest doubt; as, 'The elegance (?) of this creature excites wonder."

[ocr errors]

Rhet.-34.

[blocks in formation]

How often dost thou with thy ease thy habit
Wrench awe from fools and tie the wiser souls
To thy false seeming

9. Can I call that home where I anchor yet
Though my good man has sailed

Can I call that home where my nest was set

Now all its hope hath failed

10. Do you hear the children weeping O my brothers
Ere the sorrow comes with years

THE DASH.

RULE I.-The dash is used to mark some sudden or abrupt change in the construction or the meaning of a sentence; as, "I take―eh! oh! as much exercise-eh! as I can, Madam Gout";

"He had no malice in his mind

No ruffles on his shirt."

RULE II.-The dash is sometimes used to indicate a pause made for rhetorical effect; as, “Upon that I kissed your hand, and called you-my queen"; "Some men are full of affection-affection for themselves.”

RULE III.—When a word or expression is repeated for rhetorical effect, a dash should be inserted before each repetition; as, "Prominent among the philosophers of antiquity is Socrates-Socrates! who looked beyond the absurd fables of his country's mythology"; "I wish," said my uncle Toby, with a deep sigh-"I wish, Trim, I were asleep."

RULE IV. The dash is sometimes used to denote a summing up of particulars; as, "Father, mother, brother, sister, —all are dead"; "She has rank, talent, wealth, beauty,— everything the world prizes."

RULE V.-A series of expressions dependent upon some concluding clause should be followed by a dash at the end of the series; as, "The great men of Rome, her beautiful legends, her history, the height to which she rose, and the depth to which she fell,-these make up one half of a student's ideal world."

RULE VI.—When words at the end of a sentence stand detached and are in apposition with preceding parts of the sentence, they are separated from the preceding portion by a dash; as, "The world's three greatest poems are epics-Paradise Lost, the Eneid, and the Iliad."

RULE VII. The dash is sometimes used to set off parenthetical expressions when the connection is not so close as to require commas; as, "It was a sight-that child in the agony of death-that would have melted any one to pity.

RULE VIII-A dash is used to denote the omission of letters or figures; as,

"Js Sh

"Matthew x.: I-4

"Session 1887-8 .

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

RULE IX. When a title or a heading, instead of standing over a paragraph, is run in so as to make a part of the paragraph, it is separated from the rest of the line by a dash; as, "Simplicity of Narration.- Much of the effect of storytelling depends," etc.

If, at the end of a paragraph, the name of the author or the book from which the paragraph has been taken is given, it is separated from the rest of the paragraph by a dash; as, 'There is no true orator who is not a hero.

Emerson."

« ZurückWeiter »