CHAPTER VII.

PUNCTUATION OF SENTENCES.

Note. These rules are condensed and arranged for use in grammar-school grades.

I. THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.

Rule I-Declarative and imperative sentences must end with a period; interrogative sentences with an interrogation point; and exclamatory sentences with an exclamation point.

EXAMPLES.

1. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

2. How does a verb differ from a noun ?

3. How beautiful the clouds are!

4. Earn your own living.

Rule II.-Adverbial phrases, when introductory, inverted, or very emphatic, are cut off by a comma.

EXAMPLES.

1. In July, 1588, the Great Armada entered the English Channel. 2. Out in the country, close by the road, under two tall elms, there stands a white cottage.

3. Four centuries B.C., Greece was fast outgrowing her ancient faith.

Teachers will require pupils to point out other examples in some assigned reading-lesson.

Rule III.-Participial phrases are, in general, marked off by commas.

EXAMPLES.

1. The birds, singing in the trees, welcomed the rising sun.

2. Disheartened by defeat, the enemy slowly retreated.

3. The British, twice driven back, carried the redoubt on the third charge.

4. The invention of movable metal types, made in 1436, was, next to that of the alphabet, the greatest of inventions.

For other examples study an assigned reading-lesson.

Rule IV.-More than two similar parts of speech, in the same construction, are separated by commas.

EXAMPLES.

1. The four fine arts are architecture, sculpture, painting, and music.

2. Verbs are divided into transitive, intransitive, and neuter. 3. Oranges, lemons, figs, olives, and grapes grow in California.

For other examples study some assigned lesson.

Rule V.-Minor rules for the comma.

1. The words as, namely, or to wit, introducing examples or illustrations, are followed by a comma.

2. The words "Yes, sir," or "No, sir," take a comma between them. 3. The introductory words Resolved, Ordered, Voted, must be followed by a comma.

4. Nouns in apposition, when limited by phrases, or by any adjective except the, are marked off by two commas.

5. An explanatory word, following or, must be cut off by commas.

EXAMPLES.

1. A noun is the name of anything; as, London.

2. Yes, sir, I will do my duty.

3. Resolved, That the schools be closed on Washington's birthday.

4. Washington, the father of his country, died in 1799.

5. The atmosphere, or air, surrounds the globe.

"ers.

Rule VI.-Minor rules for the period.
The period must be used-

1. After abbreviated words.

2. After initial letters.

3. After a signature.

4. After the title of a book.

5. After the title of a composition.

6. After the numerals 1, 2, 3, etc., when they mark paragraphs or examples.

Teachers will illustrate by examples found in the read

Rule VII.-Rules for capitals.
A capital letter should begin-

1. Every sentence, and every line of poetry.
2. Proper nouns and proper adjectives.

3. Names of the Deity.

4. The names of days and months.

5. The first word of direct quotations.

6. Sentences following Resolved, Ordered, etc.

7. The pronoun I and the interjection O must be written in capitals.

Rule VIII-Other marks.

1. The curves (), or marks of parenthesis, are sometimes used to enclose an explanatory word or statement.

2. The brackets [ ] are used to enclose the correction of an error, or an implied or understood word.

3. The dash

marks a broken or parenthetical sentence. 4. The caret is used in manuscript when an omitted letter or word is interlined.

Teachers will call the attention of pupils to the use of brackets, to the use of the dash in the readers, and to the use of the caret in compositions.

II. PUNCTUATION OF THE COMPLEX SENTENCE.

Rule I.—Introductory adverbial clauses are, in general, cut off from the principal statement by a comma.

Teachers will require pupils to copy the examples, point out the clauses, explain the punctuation, and give additional illustrations.

1. Before the storm began, we had built a camp-fire.

2. If this be treason, make the most of it.

3. When a nation wishes to make war, the opportunity is usually found.

Rule II-Explanatory adjective clauses, introduced by who or which [=" and he," "and it," etc.], are cut off by commas; restrictive clauses [="that"] require no commas.

1. Explanatory Clauses.

1. The king, who [= and he] was a merciful ruler, forgave the of fence.

2. The Missouri, which rises in the Rocky Mountains, is the chief tributary of the Mississippi.

3. Plutarch, whose [= and his] Lives has been called the "Bible of Heroisms," lived A.D. 100.

2. Restrictive Clauses.

1. That is the man who aided me.
2. It is the tallest tree that I ever saw.
3. This is the book which you want.
4. He is the man whom we saw yesterday.
5. This is the flower that you spoke of.

Rule III. A noun-clause introduced by a relative pronoun and used as the object of a transitive verb requires no comma.

1. I have told you who he is.

METHODS OF TEACHING.

2. I know which he will buy.

3. I know who will go.

Rule IV.-A noun-clause used as the subject of a verb must be cut off from the verb by a comma.

1. That the earth rotates on its axis, was denied by the ancients. 2. That illiterate electors should be intelligent voters, is not to be expected.

3. That a piece of amber will attract light bodies, was a fact well known 600 B.C.

Rule V.-When the sentence is introduced by the pronoun it, and the noun-clause is put after the verb, no comma is required.

Change each of the sentences under Rule IV. into a sentence introduced by it.

Rule VI.-Commas must be used to mark off a parenthetical expression when it comes between the divided parts of a sentence.

1. He expected, it seems, to surprise the enemy.

2. The man was murdered, it is believed, by a band of Apaches. 3. “Beautiful creature," said the cunning fox, "you sing like a nightingale."

III. PUNCTUATION OF THE COMPOUND SENTENCE.

Rule I-Unless highly contracted, the principal statements, when closely connected, are, in general, cut off by a comma, and are always so cut off when there are more than two principal statements.

EXAMPLES TO BE COPIED.

1. Napoleon Bonaparte was of Italian blood, and was a native of

Corsica.

2. "Scrooge signed it, and Scrooge's name was good on 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to."-Dickens.