Punctuation by Frederick W. Hamilton (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📕
Always remember that the real business of the comma is just that of helping the meaning of the words and of preventing ambiguity by showing clearly the separation and connection of words and phrases. If there is possibility of misunderstanding without a comma, put one in. If the words tell their story beyond possibility of misunderstanding without a comma, there is no reason for its use. This rule will serve as a fairly dependable guide in the absence of any well recognized rule for a particular case, or where doubt exists as to the application of a rule.
Reversed, and usually in pairs, commas mark the beginning of a quotation.
In numerical statements the comma separates Arabic figures by triplets in classes of hundreds: $5,276,492.72.
In tabular work reversed commas are used as a sign for ditto.
SCHOOLS TEACHING PRINTING
Boston: Boston Typothetæ School of Printing.
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5. In writing about plays or books, the name of the work may be quoted and the name of a character italicized. This is done to avoid confusion between the play, the character, and the real person portrayed. “William Tell” is a play. William Tell is a character in fiction. William Tell is a national hero of Switzerland.
This usage is by no means uniform; here again, we are on the ground of office style.
6. Names of vessels are sometimes quoted, sometimes italicized, and sometimes printed without distinguishing marks. Here we are once more on the ground of office style.
7. Sentences from a foreign language are usually enclosed in quotation marks. Single words or phrases are usually printed in italics. Both italics and quotation marks should not be used except under certain unusual conditions or when positively ordered by the author.
8. Quotation marks may be used with a word to which the writer desires to attract particular attention or to which he desires to give an unusual, technical, or ironical meaning.
This “gentleman” needs a shave.
9. When a quotation is long or when it is introduced in a formal manner, it is usually preceded by a colon. Isolated words or phrases call for no point after the introductory clause. This is true when the phrases so quoted run to considerable length, provided there is no break in the flow of thought and expression.
10. When a quotation ends a sentence the quotation marks are placed after the period.
The comma is always placed inside the quotation marks.
The position of the other marks (semicolon, colon, exclamation, and interrogation) is determined by the sense. If they form a part of the matter quoted, they go inside the quote marks; if not, they go outside them.
11. When quotation marks occur at the beginning of a line of poetry, they should go back into the indention space.
“Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
‘This is my own, my native land’?”
This illustration is also a good example of the use of marks in combinations. We have first the single quotation marking the end of the included quotation, then the interrogation which ends the sentence, then the double quotation marks in their proper position.
Quotation marks should not be used needlessly. Very familiar expressions from the best known authors, such as to the manor born, a conscience void of offence, with malice toward none and charity for all, have become part of the current coin of speech and need not be quoted. Lists of words considered as words merely, lists of books or plays, and other such copy should be printed without quotation marks. Sprinkling a page thickly with quotation marks not only spoils its appearance but makes it hard to read, without adding to its clearness of meaning.
GENERAL REMARKSBook titles are now set without points. This fashion was introduced by Pickering of London about 1850. This method is generally to the advantage of the title page thus treated. It is possible, however, to carry it too far and so to obscure the sense. Commas should not be omitted from firm names, such as Longmans, Green & Co., as in case of such omission there is no way of knowing whether one or more persons are indicated. Punctuation should not be omitted from the titles which may accompany an author’s name, nor from the date if day and month are given as well as year.
Avoid the doubling of points wherever possible. When an abbreviation precedes a colon, omit the period. When an abbreviation precedes a comma, the period is often inserted, but in many cases one or the other can be dropped to advantage. The dash is not generally preceded by a comma, semicolon, or colon in current printing usage. A comma should rarely go before the first parenthesis. If used at all with the parentheses, it should follow the closing parenthesis. When a complete sentence is enclosed in parentheses, the period falls within the parentheses. When the enclosure is a brief passage at the end of a sentence, the period falls outside the parentheses.
Do not put a period before the apostrophe and the possessive s as in Co.’s. The word Company may be abbreviated to Co. although it is not desirable to do so if it can be avoided. The possessive of Co. is Co’s.
SUMMARY1. A comma separates clauses, phrases, and particles.
2. A semicolon separates different statements.
3. A colon is the transition point of the sentence.
4. A period marks the end of a sentence.
5. A dash marks abruptness or irregularity.
6. Parentheses enclose interpolations in the sentence.
7. Brackets enclose irregularities in the sentence.
8. An interrogation asks a question for an answer.
9. An exclamation marks surprise.
10. An apostrophe marks elisions and the possessive case.
11. Quotation marks define quoted words.
SUPPLEMENTARY READINGCorrect Composition. By DeVinne. Oswald Publishing Company, New York.
The Writer’s Desk Book. By William Dana Orcutt. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York.
A Manual for Writers. By Manly and Powell. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Composition and Rhetoric. By Lockwood and Emerson. Ginn & Co., Boston.
The Art of Writing and Speaking the English Language. By Sherwin Cody. The Old Greek Press, Chicago.
Handbook of Composition. By Edwin D. Woolley. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.
English Composition, Book One, Enlarged. By Stratton D. Brooks. Ginn & Co., Boston.
REVIEW QUESTIONS SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORSThe following questions, based on the contents of this pamphlet, are intended to serve (1) as a guide to the study of the text, (2) as an aid to the student in putting the information contained into definite statements without actually memorizing the text, (3) as a means of securing from the student a reproduction of the information in his own words.
A careful following of the questions by the reader will insure full acquaintance with every part of the text, avoiding the accidental omission of what might be of value. These primers are so condensed that nothing should be omitted.
In teaching from these books it is very important that these questions and such others as may occur to the teacher should be made the basis of frequent written work, and of final examinations.
The importance of written work cannot be overstated. It not only assures knowledge of material, but the power to express that knowledge correctly and in good form.
If this written work can be submitted to the teacher in printed form it will be doubly useful.
QUESTIONS1. What is punctuation?
2. How were ancient manuscripts written?
3. What were the first punctuation marks, and how were they used?
4. What can you tell about punctuation marks in the manuscript period?
5. What can you tell about the punctuation of the early printers?
6. Who may be said to have systematized punctuation?
7. Give the names of the principal punctuation marks and the meaning of the names.
8. Give a list of the punctuation marks now in use and show how they are made.
9. Name and describe the two systems of punctuation.
10. What is the tendency in the use of punctuation?
11. Why is it necessary for a compositor to understand punctuation?
12. When should the compositor follow copy and when not?
13. What five general directions should always be remembered?
14. What is the comma used for?
15. What is the tendency in the use of commas?
16. What are reversed commas used for?
17. How are commas used with numerals?
18. How are commas used in table work?
19. How are commas placed in relation to the words whose meaning they help?
20. Give the rules for the use of the comma.
21. What are the four general principles for the use of the comma?
22. What is the semicolon used for?
23. Give the rules for the use of the semicolon.
24. What is the colon used for?
25. Give the rules for the use of the colon.
26. What is the period used for?
27. Where are periods used?
28. Where are periods omitted?
29. How do we use the period in connection with parentheses?
30. How do we use the period in connection with quotation marks?
31. What is the reason for this rule?
32. What other uses has the period?
33. What is the dash used for?
34. What special use of the dash is found in French books?
35. Give the rules for the use of the dash.
36. Are other punctuation marks used with the dash?
37. What is the parenthesis used for?
38. Give the rules for the use of the parenthesis.
39. When would you use letter spacing with the parenthesis, and why?
40. What use is made of the italic parenthesis?
41. Give the rules for the use of the brackets.
42. What is the distinction in use between the bracket and the parenthesis?
43. What is the interrogation point used for?
44. Give the rules for the use of the interrogation.
45. What is the exclamation point used for?
46. Give the rules for the use of the exclamation.
47. What is the apostrophe used for?
48. Give the rules for the use of the apostrophe.
49. What is the use of the apostrophe in past participles?
50. What is said of the use of the apostrophe in such abbreviations as Dep’t?
51. What is the hyphen used for?
52. What are quotation marks used for?
53. Give the rules for the use of quotation marks.
54. When are quotation marks omitted?
55. How are book titles now punctuated?
56. Should punctuation marks be doubled?
57. How is the comma used with parentheses?
58. How would you punctuate the possessive of an abbreviation, for example, the Doctor’s house, using the abbreviation Dr.?
59. Give a brief summarized statement of the use of the twelve punctuation marks.
GLOSSARYAbsolute—Free from the usual grammatical relations.
Antecedent—That to which a relative pronoun or a relative clause refers.
Apposition—When the meaning of a noun or pronoun is made clear or emphatic by the use of another noun or pronoun, the two are said to be in apposition.
Clause—A group of words consisting of a subject and predicate with their modifiers and forming a part of a sentence; a sentence within a sentence.
Compound Sentence—A sentence consisting of several clauses.
Coördinate Clauses—Clauses of equal rank.
Declarative Sentence—A sentence which states a fact.
Exclamatory Sentence—A sentence which utters an exclamation.
Independent Adverbs—Adverbs not in grammatical relations with other words in the sentence.
Interrogative Sentence—A sentence which asks a question.
Minor Clauses—Clauses other than the principal clause or main statement of a sentence.
Parenthetical—Incidental; not an essential part of a sentence or statement.
Particle—One of the minor parts of speech not inflected, that is, not undergoing changes in form.
Phrase—An expression consisting usually of but a few words, denoting a single idea, or forming a separate part of a sentence.
Relative Clause—A clause joined to the rest of the sentence by a relative pronoun.
Salutation—A form of greeting, especially at the beginning or end of a letter.
Salutatory Phrase—The words forming a salutation, or greeting.
TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIESFOR APPRENTICES
The following list of publications, comprising the Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices, has been prepared under the supervision of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America for use in trade classes, in course of printing instruction, and by individuals.
Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study.
The publications of the series are of uniform size, 5×8 inches. Their general make-up, in typography, illustrations, etc., has been, as far as practicable, kept in harmony throughout. A brief synopsis of the particular contents and other chief features of each volume will be found under each title in the following list.
Each topic is treated in a concise manner, the aim being to embody in each
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