Chapter CLVI: Section IX: All Points

MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED.

"The principal stops are the following: the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period, or Full Stop [.], the Note of Interrogation [?], the Note of Exclamation [!], the Parenthesis [()], and the Dash [--]."--_Bullions cor._ "The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English. The _chief_ marks employed are the Comma [,], _the_ Semicolon [;], _the_ Colon [:], _the_ Period [.], _the Note of_ Interrogation [?], _the Note of_ Exclamation (!), _the Parenthesis_ [()], _and the Dash_ [--]."--_Id._

"Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game, 'You chide me,' says the youth, 'for a trifling fault.' 'Custom,' replied the philosopher, 'is no trifle.' 'And,' adds _Montaigne_, 'he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy.'"--_Home cor._

"A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died. 'My father,' says the skipper, 'my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned.' 'Well,' replies the merchant, 'and are not you afraid of being drowned too?'"--_Id._

"The use of inverted commas derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and,] as an acknowledgement for the improvement, his countrymen call them after his name, GUILLEMETS."--_Hist. cor._

"This, however, is seldom if ever done, unless the word following the possessive begins with _s_; thus, we do not say, 'the _prince_' feather;' but, 'the _prince's_ feather.'"--_Bullions cor._ "And this phrase must mean, '_the feather of the prince_;' but '_prince's-feather_,' written as one word, [and with both apostrophe and hyphen,] is the name of a plant, a species of amaranth."--_G. Brown_. "Boëthius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honours his country could bestow."--_Ingersoll cor._; also _L. Murray_.

"When an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced, it is separated from the rest of the sentence either by a _comma_ or _by_ a colon; as, 'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _God is love_.'"--_Hiley cor._ "Either the colon or _the comma_ may be used, [according to the nature of the case,] when an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced; as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim: _Know thyself_.'--'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _God is love_.'"--_Bullions cor._

"The first word of a quotation introduced after a colon, or _of any sentence quoted_ in a direct form, must begin with a capital: as, '_Always_ remember this ancient maxim: _Know_ thyself.'--'Our great lawgiver says, _Take_ up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Bullions and Lennie cor._; also _L. Murray_; also _Weld_. See _Luke_, ix, 23.

"Tell me, in whose house do you live?"--_N. Butler cor._ "He that acts wisely, deserves praise."--_Id._ "He who steals my purse, steals trash."--_Id._ "The antecedent is _sometimes_ omitted; as, 'Who steals my purse, steals trash.'--[_Shak._] That is, '_He_ who,' or, 'The _person_ who.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever steals my purse, steals trash;'--'Whoever does no good, does harm.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever sins, will suffer.' This means, that any one, without exception, who sins, will suffer."--_Id._

"Letters form syllables; syllables, words; words, sentences; and sentences, combined and connected, form discourse."--_Cooper cor._ "A letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered by itself, is called a vowel; as, _a, e, i_."--_Id._ "A proper noun is the name of an individual, [or of a particular people or place]; as, John, Boston, Hudson, America."--_Id._

"Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing; more, a cunning thing; but very few, a generous thing."--_Davis cor._ "In the place of an ellipsis of the verb, a comma must be inserted."--_Id._ "A common noun unlimited by an article, is sometimes understood in its broadest acceptation: thus, '_Fishes_ swim,' is understood to mean _all_ fishes; '_Man_ is mortal,' _all_ men."--_Id._

"Thus, those sounds formed principally by the throat, are called _gutturals_; those formed principally by the palate, _palatals_; those formed by the teeth, _dentals_; those by the lips, _labials; and_ those by the nose, _nasals_."--_Davis cor._

"Some adjectives are compared irregularly: as, _Good, letter, best; Bad, worse, worst; Little, less, least_."--_Felton cor._

"Under the fourth head of grammar, therefore, four topics will be considered; viz., PUNCTUATION, ORTHOEPY [sic--KTH], FIGURES, and VERSIFICATION."--_Hart cor._

"Direct her onward to that peaceful shore,
Where peril, pain, and death, are felt no more!"--_Falconer cor._

GOOD ENGLISH RIGHTLY POINTED.

LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"Discoveries of such a character are sometimes made in grammar also; and such, too, _are_ often their origin and their end."--_Bullions cor._

"TRAVERSE, [literally to _cross_,] To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, _or the like_, is to deny it."--_Id._

"The _Ordinal_ numerals denote the _order_, or _succession_, in which any number of persons or things _are_ mentioned; as, _first, second, third_, fourth, &c."--_Hiley cor._

"Nouns have three persons; _the_ First, _the_ Second, and _the_ Third. The First person is _that which denotes_ the speaker: the Second is _that which denotes the person or thing_ spoken to; the Third is _that which denotes_ the _person or thing merely_ spoken of."--_Hart cor._

"Nouns have three cases; _the_ Nominative, _the_ Possessive, and _the_ Objective. The _relations_ indicated by the _cases_ of a noun, _include_ three _distinct_ ideas; viz., those of subject, object, and ownership."--_Id._

"In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose sex is not known or not regarded, _we_ often _treat them_ as without sex: thus, we say of a cat, '_It_ is treacherous;' of an infant, '_It_ is beautiful;' of a deer, '_It_ was killed.'"--_Id._

"When THIS _and_ THAT, or THESE _and_ THOSE, refer to a preceding sentence; THIS or THESE _represents_ the latter member or term, _and_ THAT or THOSE, the former."--_Churchill cor._; and _Lowth_.

"The rearing of them became his first care; their fruit, his first food; and _the_ marking _of_ their kinds, his first knowledge."--_N. Butler cor._

"After the period used with abbreviations, we should employ other points, if the construction demands _them_; thus, after 'Esq.,' in the last example, there should be, besides _the_ period, a comma."--_Id._

"In the plural, the verb _has_ the same _form_ in all the persons; _but still_ the principle in _Rem._ 5, under Rule iii, that the first or second person takes precedence, is applicable to verbs, _in parsing_."--_Id._

"Rex and Tyrannus are of very different characters. The one rules his people by laws to which they consent; the other, by his absolute will and power: that _government_ is called freedom; this, tyranny."--_L. Murray cor._

"A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, _that_ can be known or mentioned: as, George, London, America, goodness, charity."--See _Brown's Institutes_, p. 31.

"Etymology treats of the classification of words, their various modifications, and _their derivation_"--_P. E. Day cor._

"To punctuate correctly, implies a thorough acquaintance with the meaning of words and phrases, as well as _with_ all their corresponding connexions."--_W. Day cor._

"All objects _that_ belong to neither the male nor _the_ female kind, are said to be of the neuter gender, _except certain things personified_."--_Weld cor twice_.

"The Analysis of the Sounds in the English language, presented in the preceding statements, _is_ sufficiently exact for the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue _the subject_ further, can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, 'The Philosophy of the Human Voice.'"--_Fowler cor._ "Nobody confounds the name of _w_ or _y_ with _the_ sound _of the letter_, or _with its_ phonetic import."--_Id._ [[Fist] This assertion is hardly true. Strange as such a blunder is, it has actually occurred. See, in Orthography, Obs. 5, on the Classes of the Letters, at p. 156.--G. B.]

"Order is Heav'n's first law; and, this _confess'd_,
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest."--_Pope_.

LESSON II--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"_From_ adjectives of one syllable, _and some of two_, the comparative is formed by adding _r_ or _er_ to the positive; and the superlative, by adding _st_ or _est_: as, _sweet, sweeter, sweetest_; _able, abler, ablest_."--_Bullions cor._

"_From_ monosyllables, _or from dissyllables ending with a vowel or the accent_, the comparative is formed by adding _er_ or _r_ to the positive; and the superlative, by adding _est_ or _st_: as, _tall, taller, tallest_; _wise, wiser, wisest_; _holy, holier, holiest_; _complete, completer, completest_."--_Id._

"By this method, the confusion and unnecessary labour occasioned by studying grammars, in these languages, constructed on different principles, _are_ avoided; the study of one is rendered a profitable introduction to the study of an other; and an opportunity is furnished to the _inquiring_ student, of comparing the languages in their grammatical structure, and _of_ seeing at once wherein they agree, and wherein they differ."--_Id._

"No larger portion should be assigned for each recitation, than the class can easily master; and, till _the previous lessons are well learned_, a new portion should not be given out."--_Id._ "The acquisitions made in every new lesson, should be _riveted_ and secured by repeated revisals."--_Id._

"The personal pronouns may be parsed briefly, thus: '_I_ is a personal pronoun, _of_ the first _person_, singular _number_, masculine _gender_, (feminine, if the speaker is a female,) _and_ nominative _case_.' '_His is_ a personal pronoun, _of_ the third _person_, singular _number_, masculine _gender, and_ possessive _case_.'"--_Id._

"When the male and _the_ female are expressed by distinct terms, as, _shepherd, shepherdess_, the masculine term has also a general meaning, expressing both male and female; and is always to be used when the office, occupation, _or_ profession, and not the sex, of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed; the feminine term being used only when the discrimination of sex is indispensably necessary. Thus, when it is said, 'The poets of this country are distinguished _for_ correctness of taste,' the term 'poets' clearly includes both male and female writers of poetry."--_Id._

"Nouns and pronouns connected by conjunctions, must be in the same _case_"--_Ingersoll cor._

"Verbs connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, must _generally_ be in the _same mood_ and _tense_; and, when _the tense has different forms_, they must be in the same form."--_Id._

"This will habituate him to reflection; exercise his _judgement_ on the meaning of the author; and, without any great effort on his part, impress indelibly on his memory the rules which he is required to give. After the exercises under _any_ rule have been gone through, _agreeably to the direction_ in the note _at the bottom of_ page _88th_, they may be read over again in a corrected state, the pupil making an emphasis on the correction made; or they may be presented in writing, at the next recitation."--_Bullions cor._

"Man, but for that, no action could attend;
And, but for this, _were active_ to no end."--_Pope_.

LESSON III.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"'Johnson, the bookseller and stationer' indicates that _bookseller_ and _stationer_ are _terms_ belonging to the same person; 'the bookseller and the stationer,' would indicate that they belong to different persons."--_Bullions cor._

"_Past_ is [commonly] an adjective; _passed_, the past tense or perfect participle of the verb: and they ought not (as _they_ frequently _are_) to be confounded with each other."--_Id._

"Not only the nature of the thoughts and sentiments, but the very selection _or_ arrangement of the words, gives English poetry a character which separates it widely from common prose."--_Id._

"Men of sound, discriminating, and philosophical minds--men prepared for the work by long study, patient investigation, and extensive acquirements--have laboured for ages to improve and perfect it; and nothing is hazarded in asserting, that, should it be unwisely abandoned, it will be long before an other, equal in beauty, stability, and usefulness, _will_ be produced in its stead."--_Id._, on the common "system of English Grammar."

"The article _the_, on the other hand, is used to restrict; and is therefore termed _Definite_. Its proper office is, to call the attention to a particular individual or class, or to any number of such; and _accordingly it_ is used with nouns _of_ either number, singular or plural."--_Id._

"Hence, also, the infinitive mood, a participle _with its adjuncts_, a member of a sentence, or a _whole_ proposition, forming the subject of discourse, or the object of a verb or preposition, and being the name of an act or circumstance, _is_, in construction, regarded as a _noun_; and _is_ usually called, 'a substantive phrase:' as, '_To play_, is pleasant.'--'_That he is an expert dancer_, is no recommendation.'--'Let your motto be, _Honesty is the best policy_.'"--_Id._

"In accordance with his definition, Murray has divided verbs into three classes: _Active, Passive_, and _Neuter_;--and _included_ in the first class transitive verbs only; and, in the last, all verbs used intransitively"--_Id._

"Moreover, as the name of the speaker or _that of_ the person spoken to is seldom expressed, (the _pronoun_ I being used _for the former_, and THOU _or_ YOU _for the latter_,) a noun is very _rarely_ in the first person; not often in the second; and _hardly ever_ in either, unless it _is_ a proper noun, or a common noun _denoting an object_ personified."--_Id._

"In using the _parsing_ exercises, it will save much time, (_and this saving_ is _all-important_,) if the pupil be taught to say _all things_ belonging to the noun, in the fewest words possible; and to say them always in the same order, _after the example_ above."--_Id._

"In any phrase or sentence, the adjectives qualifying a noun may generally be found by prefixing the phrase, 'What kind of,' to the noun, in the form of a question; as, 'What kind of horse?' 'What kind of stone?' 'What kind of way?' The word containing the answer to the question, is an adjective."--_Id._

"In the following exercise, let the pupil first point out the nouns, and then the adjectives; and tell how he knows them to be _such_."--_Id._

"In the following sentences, point out the improper _ellipses_; _show_ why _they are_ improper; and correct _them_."--_Id._

"SINGULAR. PLURAL.
1. I am smitten, 1. We are smitten,
2. Thou art smitten, 2. You are smitten,
3. He is smitten; 3. They are smitten."--_Wright cor._