half the pauses which a just pronunciation seems to require; and those pauses it does give are seldom such as precisely mark the sense of a sentence; but still it directs the eye to intervals. proper for some pauses, and serves to keep members from running into each other, and confounding the sense of the sentence and if a few simple rules*, founded on the nature of a sentence, were adopted by writers and printers, there is not the least doubt but the art of reading might be greatly facilitated and improved. But the business of this essay is not so much to construct a new system of punctuation, as to endeavour to make the best use of that which is already established; an attempt to reduce the whole doctrine of rhetorical punctuation to a few plain simple principles, which may enable the reader, in some measure, to point for himself: for this purpose, it will, in the first place, be necessary to exhibit a general idea of the punctuation in use, that we may be better enabled to see how far it will assist us in the practice of pronunciation, and where we must have recourse to principles more permanent and systematical. General Idea of the common Doctrine of Punctuation. Dr. Lowтn defines punctuation to be, "the "art of marking in writing the several pauses, "or rests, between sentences, and the parts of "sentences, according to their proper quan 66 66 tity or proportion, as they are expressed in a just and accurate pronunciation." Others, as Sir James Burrow and Dr. Bowles, beside con *For these Rules, see Elements of Elocution, p. 98. sidering the points as marks of rest and pauses, suppose them to be hints for a different accent of voice, or rules for regulating the modulation of the voice, in reading; but whether this modulation of voice relates to all the points, or to the interrogation, exclamation, and parenthesis only, we are not informed. Grammarians are pretty generally agreed in distinguishing the pauses into and those pauses which are accompanied with an alteration in the tone of voice into The interrogation marked thus The period is supposed to be a pause double the time of the colon; the colon, double that of the semicolon; and the semicolon, double that of the comma, or smallest pause; the interrogation and exclamation points are said to be indefinite as to their quantity of time, and to mark an elevation of voice; and the parenthesis to mark a moderate depression of the voice, with a pause greater than the comma. The Use of the Comma. A SIMPLE sentence, that is, a sentence having but one subject, or nominative, and one finite verb, admits of no pause. Thus in the following sentence: The passion for praise produces excellent effects in women of sense. The passion for praise is the subject, or nominative case, to the verb produces, and excellent effects in women of sense is the object or accusative case, with its concomitant circumstances or adjuncts of specification, as Dr. Lowth very properly terms them; and this sentence, says the learned bishop, admits of no pause between any of its parts, but when a new verb is added to the sentence, as in the following: The passion for praise, which is so very vehement in the fair sex, produces excellent effects in women of sense. Here a new verb is introduced, accompanied with adjuncts of its own, and the subject is repeated by the relative pronoun which: it now becomes a compounded sentence, made up of two simple sentences, one of which is inserted in the middle of the other; it must, therefore, be distinguished into its component parts by a point, placed on each side of the additional sentence. In every sentence, therefore, as many subjects, or as many finite verbs, as there are, either expressed or implied, so many distinctions there may be as, My hopes, fears, joys, pains, all centre in you. The case is the same, when several adjuncts affect the subject of the verbs: as, A good, wise, learned man is an ornament to the commonwealth; or, when several adverbs, or adverbial circumstances, affect the verb: as, He behaved himself prudently, modestly, virtuously. For as many such adjuncts as there are, so many several members does the sentence contain; and these are to be distinguished from each other as much as several subjects or finite verbs. The reason of this is, that as many subjects, finite verbs, or adjuncts, as there are in a sentence, so many distinct sentences are actually implied; as the first example is equivalent to-My hopes all centre in you, my fears all centre in you, &c.— The second example is equivalent to-A good man is an ornament to the commonwealth, a wise man is an ornament to the commonwealth, &c. The third example is equivalent to-He behaved himself modestly, he behaved himself prudently, &c.; and these implied sentences are all to be distinguished by a comma. The exception to this rule is, where these subjects or adjuncts are united by a conjunction: as, The imagination and the judgment do not always agree; and A man never becomes learned without studying constantly and methodically. In these cases the comma between the subjects and adjuncts is omitted. There are some other kinds of sentences, which, though seemingly simple, are nevertheless of the compound kind, and really contain several subjects, verbs, or adjuncts. Thus in the sentences containing what is called the ablative absolute: as, Physicians, the disease once discovered, think the cure half wrought; where the words, the disease once discovered, are equivalent to, when the cause of the disease is discovered. So in those sentences, where the nouns are added by apposition: as, The Scots, a hardy people, endure it all. So also in those, where vocative cases occur: as, This, my friend, you must allow me. The first of these examples is equivalent to-The Scots endured it all, and The Scots, who are a hardy people, endured it all; and the last toThis you must allow me, and this my friend must allow me. The Use of the Semicolon, Colon, and Period. WHEN a sentence can be divided into two or more members, which members are again divisible into members more simple, the former are to be separated by a semicolon, EXAMPLE. But as this passion for admiration, when it works according to reason, improves the beautiful part of our species in every thing that is laudable; so nothing is more destructive to them, when it is governed by vanity and folly. When a sentence can be divided into two parts, each of which parts are again divisible by semicolons, the former are to be separated by a colon. EXAMPLES. As we cannot discern the shadow moving along the dialplate, so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceived by the distance gone over. Here the two members, being both simple, are only separated by a comma. As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive it moving; so our advances in learning, as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the distance gone over. Here the sentence being divided into two equal parts, and those compounded, since they include others, we separate the former by a semicolon, and the latter by commas, As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not perceive it moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow: so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the distance gone over. Here the advancement in knowledge is compared to the motion of a shadow, and the growth of grass; which comparison divides the sentence into two principal parts: but since what is said of the movement of the shadow, and of the growth of grass, likewise contains two simple members, they are to be separated by a semicolon; consequently, a higher pointing is required, to separate them from the other part of |