Dialects of
English.

As always happens when a language is spoken over a wide extent of territory, local differences have grown up in the use of the English language. Thus the English which is spoken in England. to-day differs to some extent from that which is spoken in America. Englishmen, for example, call an elevator a "lift"; they speak of baggage as “luggage," and they call candy "sweets." In pronunciation

also there are more or less striking differences. To distinguish the various kinds of English, it is convenient to give each a name; and so we speak of British English, of American English, of Canadian English, etc., meaning the English spoken respectively in England, the United States, Canada, etc. But even in the separate countries there grow up differences of speech that are often very striking. Thus in the United States we can often distinguish a New Englander or a man from the South or from the West, each by his individual way of speaking. When these local differences are sufficiently marked, they constitute what is called a local dialect.

The fact that we speak of dialects supposes the existence of a general or universal form of the language of which the dialects are a special development. Standard English. This general form of the language is known as standard English. It is that use of the language least marked by local or other special peculiarities, which is regarded as regular and customary use wherever the language is spoken. Standard English is the English of literature and of careful speech, and it is made the basis of all systematic grammatical or rhetorical study of the language.

Formal, Colloquial, and Vulgar English.

In spoken English it should be noted that there are several different planes on which our speech may rest. We may distinguish Formal, Colloquial, and Vulgar English. By Formal English is meant a very careful and deliberate manner of speaking, such, for example, as a public speaker would use in addressing an audience. Formal English is, of course, appropriate only when some formality and dignity of expression are required. Colloquial English, on the other hand, is the English of everyday natural conversation. It differs considerably, both in vocabulary and pronunciation, from literary and formal English, and rightly so. For it is not necessary that our ordinary daily conversation should be as stately and as deliberate as our most formal expression. A person who always speaks "like a book," or tries to, rightly makes himself ridiculous. Examples of colloquial English are the contractions I'll, I sha'n't, I'm, we'll, etc. The extent to which colloquial English may be allowed to differ from formal English is a matter of opinion that must be left to the discretion of each individual speaker. The third kind of spoken English, Vulgar English, is the manner of speech which immediately marks the person who uses it as illiterate. The breaking of the ordinary rules of grammar are examples of vulgar English, such as the use of done for did in He done me a great injustice, or them for these, and ain't for aren't in Them trees ain't well planted. It is hardly necessary to warn any one against the use of vulgar English, since no one probably uses it voluntarily, but only through ignorance.

APPENDIX II.

Punctuation and Capitalization.

The purpose of punctuation in printing and writing is to mark off words into the groups which they naturally form. In speaking, this division of words into groups is indicated by pauses or by the tones of the voice, and most of the marks of punctuation are merely mechanical devices for making these characteristics of oral speech visible to the eye in printed or written speech. The common marks of punctuation are the period (.), the interrogation point (?), the exclamation point (!), the colon (:), the semicolon (;), the comma (,), the apostrophe ('), quotation marks (" "), parentheses (( ) ), brackets ([]), and the hyphen (-).

The Period. The period is used to mark the end of declarative and imperative sentences.

EXAMPLES:

(1) For nearly three months there was no rain to wet the ground. Large forest trees withered and cast their leaves. In

spots, the mountain looked as if it had been scorched by fire.

(2) Please shut the door.

The period is also used after all abbreviations.

EXAMPLE:

J. G. Whittier was born in Haverhill, Mass., on Dec. 17, 1807.

264

The Interrogation Point. The interrogation point is used at the end of the interrogative sentence.

EXAMPLE:

Who does not suffer in his spirit in a drought and feel restless and dissatisfied?

The Exclamation Point.-The exclamation point is used after interjections and at the end of exclamatory sentences.

EXAMPLES:

(1) Oh, the terrible drought!

(2) Alas! he had long since ceased to remember her.
(3) How we had longed for this day!

The Colon. The use of the colon is comparatively infrequent. Its purpose is to indicate a pause within the sentence in expectation of something which follows. The principal uses are exemplified in the following sentences:

(1) After he had called the family together, the lawyer read from a paper as follows: Whereas in due process of time it has seemed fit, etc.

(2) We had many things to tell each other: where we had been the past five years, what sights we had seen and what feats we had accomplished, and, above all, what news we had to tell of those old friends of our youth.

The Semicolon.-The semicolon is used in the body of the sentence to indicate a shorter pause than the colon. Its chief uses are as follows:

(1) to separate a group of independent sentences in a paragraph which are so closely related that periods would make too great a pause between them, as:

In advance of the storm, you may often see the clouds grow; the condensation of the moisture into vapor is a visible process; slender, spicula-like clouds expand, deepen,

and lengthen; in the rear of the low pressure, the reverse process, or the wasting of the clouds, may be witnessed. (2) to separate a group of co-ordinate clauses, as:

When the sky becomes tarnished and opaque with dust and smoke; when the shingles, on the houses curl up, the clapboards warp, the paint blisters, the joints. open; when the cattle rove disconsolate and the hive-bee comes home empty; when the earth gapes and all nature looks widowed, and deserted, and heart-broken,-in such a time, what thing that has life does not sympathize and suffer with the general distress?

The Comma.—The comma is used within the body of the sentence to indicate a still briefer pause than the semicolon. The principal occurrences are as follows:

(1) to separate a series of words having the same grammatical function, as:

1. He was a wild, troublesome, cruel sort of boy.

or

He was a wild, troublesome, and cruel sort of boy.
Some writers do not insert the comma between troublesome and and.

2. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish,
I give my hand and my heart to this vote.

(2) to separate the elements of a compound sentence, as:
1. We hunted long for him, but we found nothing.

2. We walked about a mile, or perhaps it may have been

more.

3. He stopped at the corner, dismounted, and examined the

ground carefully.

(3) to separate the elements of a complex sentence, as:

I.

1

If you have time to come, we shall be glad to see you. 2. They arrived first, although they had taken the longer

way.

3. This tree, which had long withstood the summer's storms,

was recently struck by lightning.

'For the punctuation of restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses, see 84.