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duty pointed out." (Restrictive relative clauses.), "I will sell you whatever you wish to buy." "It is probable that you are very nearly right." "Go when it suits you."

8. When the entire subject is a clause, or a long participial or infinitive phrase; when it has a clause, a long adjunct or other similar phrase, or parts requiring the comma; when it ends with a verb, or with a noun that might improperly be read as the nominative; or when a word precedes the verb, that would otherwise be of doubtful character or reference,-it seems best to separate the subject from its predicate.

Ex. That one bad example spoils many good precepts, is well known." "He that has much nose, thinks every one speaks of it." "Whatever improves him, delights him." "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure, is a real defect in character.' "For me to furnish him so large and expensive an outfit, is utterly impossible." "His having been seen in the neighborhood, was the ground of suspicion." "Honor, wealth, and pleasure, seduce the heart." "6 Necessity, that great excuse for human frailty, breaks through all law." There is a strong tendency to omit the comma from before the predicate of such sentences as the first seven of the foregoing.

9. When the predicate-nominative is a long clause or infinitive phrase, and immediately follows the verb be, it is usually set off by the comma, especially when it has the air of importance, and might be made the subject.

Ex.-"One of the greatest secrets in composition is, to know when to be simple." "The consequence is, that most animals have acquired a fear of man." "The question that is to be discussed to-night, is, 'Would the Extension of our Territory endanger the Perpetuity of our Government?" "

The interrogation-point is placed after every direct question. Ex. "What books do you like best?" But, "He asked me what books I like best."

The exclamation-point is placed after what expresses some sudden or strong feeling; as, surprise, wonder, joy, grief, anger, or horror. Ex.-"Left his bed and board! He never had any !"

It is also placed after unusually earnest or solemn addresses, and generally after interjections.

Ex.-" Spare me, O merciful God!" "Ah! few shall part where many

meet."

The dash generally denotes emphasis or unusual structure.

1. It is placed after what is left unfinished, generally from interruption. Ex.-"HERE LIES THE GREAT-False marble! where?"-Young.

2. It is generally used in sentences that are fragmentary and emotional.

Ex. "The pulse fluttered-stopped-went on-throbbed-stopped again— moved-stopped.—Shall I go on ?—No."-Sterne.

3. It is used to show an unexpected turn in the sentence; and, in dialogue without names or breaks, it marks the transition from one speaker to another. See last example.

Ex.-"If thou art he, so much respected once-but, oh! how fallen! how degraded!"-Milton.

4. It is now generally used to set off a parenthesis, especially when emphatic, or when there are other points within it.

Ex." He was dressed—and, indeed, so were they nearly all-in coarse homespun."

5. It is often used before echoes, or where that is or namely is understood; and also after a loose series of particulars, leading to an important conclusion.

Ex.-" Angry thoughts canker the mind to the worst temper in the world,→ that of fixed malice and revenge." See 8th rule, under comma.

6. It is placed after side-heads, and generally before authorities when in the same line with the end of the paragraph.

Ex. "THE ABUSE OF THE IMAGINATION.-He who can not command his thoughts, must not hope to control his actions."-June Taylor.

The curves enclose something thrown in hastily or incidentally, and so little related to the chief matter that it may be omitted.

Ex.-" Pride, in some disguise or other (often a secret to the proud man himself), is the most ordinary spring of action among men."-John Wilson.

The brackets [the writer means the hooks used in printing] enclose what is inserted by another person; but authors sometimes enclose with them their own explanations, especially when these stand detached, or by themselves. [Brachium, in Latin, denotes an arm.]

The hyphen is placed at the end of a syllable of a word so long that a part of it must be put into the next line. It is also used to separate the parts of compound words that do not coalesce, in pronunciation, like mere syllables of the same word; as, tender-hearted, electro-magnetism.

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The quotation-marks enclose what is formally presented as the language of another person. Single quotation-marks enclose a 'quotation within a quotation'."

The underscore is a line used only in writing. It is drawn under words once, to denote slanting or Italic letters; twice, to denote SMALL CAPITALS; three times, to denote CAPITALS; and four times, to denote ITALIC

CAPITALS. Words are thus printed for the sake of emphasis or distinction.

Capital Letters.

[This subject does not properly belong to either Punctuation or Prosody. It is inserted here, merely because this seems the best place for it.]

A capital letter should begin―

1. The first word of every distinct sentence or phrase.

2. The first word of every direct quotation or saying. See p. 103.

3. The first word of every line of poetry. See p. 131.

4. Every name of the Deity; as, the Almighty, the Supreme Being. Also personal pronouns when applied to the Deity, except when used in connection with their antecedents; as, "I turn to Thee." "God provides for all his creatures."

5. Every proper name, and the titles that may be used with it; each chief word of a phrase used like a proper name; and most words derived from proper names.

6. Titles of office, honor, or distinction; also any very important word, especially when it denotes the principal subject of discourse.

7. The name of an object personified, when it is used like a proper

noun; as, "O Grave! where is thy victory?"

8. The words I and O should always be capitals.

Figures.

A metaphor is the name of one object given to another, on ac◄ count of some resemblance between the objects.

Ex.-"The ear of a pot" looks like an ear on a head; but the "key of an arithmetic" does not look like a key, yet it serves to unlock the mysteries of the arithmetic. "Life is an isthmus between two eternities."

A meton'ymy is the name of one object given to another, on account of some relation between the objects. The chief of these relations

are those of cause and effect, container and thing contained, sign and thing signified.

Ex.-"I have read Shakespeare," i. e., his works. "We drank but one bottle," i. e., what was in one bottle. "My son, give me thy heart;" i. e., thy affections. "Here the sword and sceptre rust;

Earth to earth, and dust to dust!"-Croly.

Synec'doche is the figure by which we give the name of a part to the whole, or that of the whole to a part.

Ex.-"We bought a hundred head of sheep." "Give us, this day, our daily bread;" i. e., our food. "They paid my price in paltry gold;" i. e., in money. Nearly one half of all the meanings of words are but faded figures,— faded metaphors, faded metonymies, faded synecdoches.

Versification.

Versification is the act or the art of making verse.
Verse is beautiful language keeping time like music.

Verse consists of measured lines, each having seldom less than two syllables or more than twenty-two.

Each measure consists of two or three syllables, has a stress, or accent, on the first or the last syllable, and is called a foot.

The principal feet are four; the iambus, the anapest, the trochee, and the dactyl.

Iambic verse is divisible into little portions of two syllables each, accented on the second syllable; anapestic verse, of three syllables each, accented on the last syllable; trochaic verse, of two syllables each, accented on the first syllable; and dactylic verse, of three syllables each, accented on the first syllable.

Iambic Verse.-1. Afár. 2. The stárs shone bright. 3. Thou moón that rúl'st the night. 4. The woods are húshed, the waters rést. 5. How sweet, at éve, the village murmur róse! 6. The déw was falling fast, the stars began to blink. 7. The flames that lit the battle's wréck, shone round him o'er the dead.

Anapestic Verse.-1. From afar. 2. Like a róse pearled in déw. 3. I am mónarch of all I survey. 4. At the close of the day when the hamlet is still.

Trochaic Verse.-1. Túrning. 2. Géntly flowing. 3. Gó where glóry waits thée. 4. Do not say that life is fleéting. 5. Cóme, O, cóme with mé; the moón is béaming. 6. On a mountain stretched beneath a hoary willow. 7. Lét us seek the grássy bánk by lófty maples shaded. 8. Béams of noón, like búrning lánces, through the tree-tops flásh and glisten.

Dactylic Verse.-1. Féarfully. 2. Bird of the wilderness. 3. Pléasures in éndless variety. 4. Could he but have a glimpse into futúrity.

To each of the foregoing species of lines, we sometimes find a part of another foot added.

Ex.-"Réstless mortals toil for naught."

"Far adówn the long aísle sacred músic is stréam-ing."

Most verse is still further divided into agreeable portions, by making some of the feet, or parts of feet, answer to each other by similarity of sound. These corresponding sounds are called rhymes, and they occur usually at the ends of the lines. Verse that has no rhyme, is called blank verse.

What can you say of Punctuation? The points in general? The period? The colon? The semicolon? The comma? The interrogation-point? The exclamation-point? The dash? The curves? The brackets? The hyphen? The underscore? Capital letters? Metaphor? Metonymy? Synecdoche? The meanings of words? Versification? Verse? Feet? Iambic verse? Anapestic? Trochaic? Dactylic? Examples. Of syllables that overrun the line? Rhyme? Blank verse?

The subject of capital letters and that of punctuation, when taught merely by rules, and a few examples to illustrate them, are not sufficiently tangible to be comprehended by pupils; I have therefore annexed a series of exercises, that, I trust, will teach the pupil more about these things than is generally learned from grammars.

Capital Letters.-Exercises.

Copy the following examples, and apply the rules given on p.138 for the use of capital letters; also correct the examples which are incorrect, or the paragraphs which fol

low the stars:

1. No, my son; a life of independence is generally a life of virtue. It is that which fits the soul for every generous flight of humanity, freedom, and friendship. Do not serenity, health, and plenty attend the desire of rising by labor? Lovely, far more lovely, is the sturdy gloom of laborious poverty than the fawning smile of flattery; and the man who can thank himself alone for the happiness he enjoys, is truly blest.

*this terrible chasm must be filled up. but how? here is a list of proprietors. choose from the wealthiest, in order that the smallest number of citizens may be sacrificed.

"The gunpowder overboard! Out with the boat. Here." *for Rent or Sale. total, $25. balance, $9.25.

Exercises.

2. Solomon said, "Pride goeth before destruction." They shouted, "Victory!" He answered, No. Christianity does not spread a feast before us, and then come with a "Touch not, taste not, handle not." One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right.

Resolved, That we endorse the course pursued by our delegates, etc.

*Remember this ancient maxim: "know thyself." And, "this to me !" he said. Every tongue shall exclaim with heart-felt joy, welcome, welcome ! La Fayette. The question, then, will naturally arise, how is the desired improvement to be effected? Ah! that maternal smile, it answers-yes.

Be it enacted, that, after the 1st of August, 1862, a tax, etc.

3.

Exercises.

Now bright the sunbeam on St. Lawrence smiles,

Her million lilies, and her thousand isles.

*Believe not each aspersing tongue,
as most weak people do;

but still conclude that story wrong
which ought not to be true.

Exercises.

4. The Most High; the Infinite One; Providence; the All-wise; the Son of God; our Lord Jesus Christ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; God and his angels. To Him be the honor and the glory. Oh, give relief, and Heaven will bless your store. The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father.

*The holy spirit; the eternal; the omnipotent; the king of kings, and lord of lords; the judge of the world; our creator; our savior; great parent of good. O thou all-seeing searcher of our hearts! To him who is the friend

of the widow and the orphan.

When the words heaven and hell are used in their most ordinary sense, they begin with small letters; but when used in a specific sense, or when Heaven denotes God, they begin with capitals. The Indian always says, "Great Spirit,' or uses both words to denote God; but when Pope wrote, "Thou great First

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CAPITAL LETTERS.EXERCISES.

141

Cause," he used great in its ordinary descriptive sense. The King of kings shows preeminently God's relation to worldly kings; but the Angel of Death does not show the relation of any angel to death. The Devil denotes Satan; but a devil may be simply a bad person or spirit. When the words god, goddess, deity, divinity, etc., are applied to the heathen deities, they do not begin with capitals. When Muses, Graces, Naiads, etc., are regarded in the splendor of ancient imagination, they are generally favored with capitals; but our own fairies, sylphs, ghosts, hobgoblins, etc., are rather too puny and undignified in idea to be thus distinguished.

Exercises.

5. Thomas, Susan, Dr. Jno. B. Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Browning, Mon day, Tuesday, January, February, New York, Pennsylvania, United States, Sandwich Islands, Isle of Man, Long Island, American, Americanism, Roman, Italics, Christian, Jesuits. This out-Herods Herod himself. A Southern man

is from the South.

* george, mary, sunday, friday, kentucky, tennessee, august, sept. 10th, rev. henry 1. gaylor, mr. jones, north America, cape fear, christmas, frenchified, irishman, columbia, maj. holt; jas. m. marlow, esq.

When words derived from proper names have assumed ordinary meanings of the language, and lost their reference to the proper names, they are not usually capitalized; as, turkey, guinea, damask, colossal, daguerreotype, galvanize, champagne, china-ware.

Proper names consist chiefly of the names of persons, places, and time. They are therefore very numerous, amounting to millions. And since it is not always easy to make a new and acceptable proper name, a common word or phrase of the language, whose meaning is supposed to suit, is often taken and made a sort of proper name.

A new proper name is often made from an old one, by the addition of some common word; and the common word then generally begins with a capital letter.

Orleans, New Orleans; Cambridge, East Cambridge; Clinton, Governor Clinton; Jefferson, Jefferson City; Madison, Madison Square; Astor, Astor House; Vernon, Mount Vernon; Pike, Pike's Peak; Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico; Magellan, the Strait of Magellan; Britain, the British Channel.

Rhode island, Miller's landing, lower California, new Hampshire, Japan sea, Harper's ferry, mount Mitchel, Apollo garden, Lafayette place, Hudson's bay, the bay of Honduras, William and Mary's college, the Indian ocean, lake Ontario, point Burrow, Cook's inlet, Behring's strait, Queen Charlotte's sound.

When a common word or phrase of the language is raised to the dignity of a proper name for a particular object, the word or chief words begin with capital letters.

The Park, Salt River, Great Bear Lake, Lake Superior, the Black Sea, Big Sandy, Land's End, the Cape of Good Hope, the United States, the Western States, the Mountains of the Moon, the Old South Church, the City Hall, a book called-The Temple of Truth.

* The laurel hills, the dead sea, white river, sandy hook, a hill called cedar crest, the lake of the woods, point lookout, the five points, pea ridge, the white sulphur springs, the rocky mountains, union square, central park; on fifth avenue, near spruce street.

The two principles just given, express what seems to be the best usage according to anal ogy and custom; many writers, however, use not more capital letters than seem absolutely necessary to distinguish the designated objects from others of the same kind.

When objects are very common and comparatively insignificant, we often find that only the specific words, and not the general words-especially when the latter are plural-begin with capital letters; as, "in Cass and Butler counties." The words county, township, hill, creek, river, when used in connection with spe

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