"Stops", Or How to Punctuate Part 1

"Stops"

by Paul Allardyce.

INTRODUCTION

_The Use of Punctuation._--Punctuation is a device for marking out the arrangement of a writer's ideas. Reading is thereby made easier than it otherwise would be.

A writer's ideas are expressed by a number of words arranged in groups, the words in one group being more closely connected with one another than they are with those in the next group. An example will show this grouping in its simplest form:

He never convinces the reason, or fills the imagination, ----------------------------- --------------------- or touches the heart.

To understand what is written, the reader must group the words together in the way intended by the writer; and in doing this he can receive a.s.sistance in various ways. Partly by the inflection of the words; partly by their arrangement; partly also by punctuation. As to inflection, we see in Latin an adjective and a substantive standing together, yet differing in gender, in number, or in case; and we know that the adjective does not qualify the substantive. But English has not the numerous inflections of Latin. More scrupulous care therefore is needed in the arrangement of words in order to bring together in position such as are connected in meaning. Yet this is not always enough. Except in the very simplest sentences there are generally several arrangements which are grammatically possible; and, though all save one may be absurd in meaning, the reader may waver for a moment before the absurdity strikes him. Some artificial aid is thus needed to prevent him from thinking of any arrangement but the right one.

There is no fault, for instance, to be found with the arrangement of the following words, yet, printed without points, they form a mere puzzle:

He had arrived already prepossessed with a strong feeling of the neglect which he had experienced from the Whigs his old friends however all of them appeared ravished to see him offered apologies for the mode in which they had treated him and caught at him as at a twig when they were drowning the influence of his talents they understood and were willing to see it thrown into the opposite scale.

Of course, with a little effort the meaning can be discovered; but if such a little effort had to be put forth in every page of a whole book, reading would become a serious task. By means of points, or "stops," we are spared much of this. The groups are presented ready-made to the eye; and the mind, bent on understanding the thought, is not distracted by having first to discover the connection of the words.

The reader's task is more difficult where two or more ways of grouping the words not only are grammatically possible, but lead each to a more or less intelligible meaning. As a rule he can find out from the context which way the writer meant him to take. One politician writes to another: "I ask you as the recognized leader of our party what you think of this measure;" and n.o.body accuses the writer of presumption.

We might even pa.s.s over the following startling sentence without observing the reflection which it casts on a respectable body of men:

Hence he considered marriage with a modern political economist as dangerous.

But when we read that "the State may impose restrictions on the mothers of young children employed in factories," we may well have some doubt whether it is the mothers or the children who are employed in factories. And it would not be easy to give an answer, if we were asked to state the precise meaning of Gray's line:

And all the air a solemn stillness holds.

In longer and more involved sentences the risk of ambiguity is obviously much greater. Now by the judicious use of points ambiguous language can occasionally be made clear. "The mothers-of-young-children employed in factories" is no doubt a bold form, but it leaves us in no doubt as to the meaning. So the ambiguous word "too" does not embarra.s.s us when we read: "This problem, too, easy as it may seem, remains unsolved." (See other examples under Rules XIV. and XV.) Only occasionally, however, can clearness be secured by punctuation. No pointing can help us much in Gray's line, or could have given to Pyrrhus the true reading of "Credo te aeacida Romanos vincere posse." And, even where it would make the meaning clear, it is a lazy device, the over-use of which is the sure sign of careless or unskilful composition. The true remedy for ambiguity is not punctuation, but re-writing.

Punctuation, it is sometimes said, serves to mark the pauses that would be made in speaking. This is so far true; for by the pause we arrange our spoken words into proper groups, thereby enabling our hearers readily to seize the meaning. But between the punctuation of the pen and that of the voice there is a great difference in degree.

By the voice we can express the most delicate shades of thought, while only in the roughest way can the comma, the semicolon, and the other points, imitate its effects. As to how far the attempt at imitation should be carried, every writer will have to use his own discretion; but, whether we point freely or sparingly, we must for the reader's sake point consistently. It should at the same time be borne in mind that the lavish use of points often leads to confusion.

_General Rules._--Keeping in view the use of punctuation, we can now form two general rules to guide us when we are in doubt which point we should insert, or whether we should insert a point at all.

(1) _The point that will keep the pa.s.sage most free from ambiguity, or make it easiest to read, is the right point to use._

(2) _If the pa.s.sage be perfectly free from ambiguity and be not less easy to understand without any point, let no point be used._

_The Relativity of Points._--In order to decide in any given case what point ought to be used, we begin by considering the nature of the pause in itself. But we must do more. We must consider how we have pointed the rest of the pa.s.sage. The pause that should be marked by a comma in one case, may require a semicolon in another case; the colon may take the place that the semicolon would generally fill. This will be best understood by means of the examples that will afterwards be given. (See Rules XXIII., XXV.)

_Usage._--Except within somewhat narrow limits, usage does not help us much. Different writers have different methods, and few are consistent. To some extent there is a fair degree of uniformity; for instance, in the placing of colons before quotations, and in the use of inverted commas. But in many cases there can hardly be said to be any fixed usage, and in these we can freely apply the general rules already laid down. Much might be said for a complete disregard of usage, for a thorough recasting of our system of punctuation. Sooner or later something must be done to relieve the overburdened comma of part of the work which it is expected to perform. Not only is the comma a less effective point than it might be, but the habit of using it for so many purposes is exercising a really mischievous effect on English style. In the meantime, and as a step towards a better system, there is an evident advantage in giving to the existing vague usage a more or less precise form. Nothing more than this has been aimed at in the present work.

In giving rules of punctuation we cannot hope to deal with all, or with nearly all, the cases that may arise in writing. Punctuation is intimately connected with style. As forms of thought are infinite in number, so are the modes of expression; and punctuation, adapting itself to these, is an instrument capable of manipulation in a thousand ways. We can therefore set forth only some typical cases, forming a body of examples to which a little reflection will suggest a variety both of applications and of exceptions.

It will be noticed that we do not take the points exactly in their order of strength. It seemed better to deal with the full stop before pa.s.sing to the punctuation of the parts of a sentence. Again, it may be said that, strictly speaking, italics do not form part of the subject. But they are at any rate so intimately connected with it that to have pa.s.sed them over would have been merely pedantic. Even the sections on references to notes and on the correction of proofs may not be considered altogether out of place. As few grammatical terms as possible have been made use of. Some have been found necessary in order to secure the brevity of statement proper to a little work on a little subject.

THE FULL STOP

I. A full stop is placed at the end of every sentence that is neither exclamatory nor interrogative.

A penal statute is virtually annulled if the penalties which it imposes are regularly remitted as often as they are incurred. The sovereign was undoubtedly competent to remit penalties without limit. He was, therefore, competent to annul virtually a penal statute. It might seem that there could be no serious objection to his doing formally what he might do virtually.

How much should be put into a sentence is rather a matter of style than of punctuation. The tendency of modern literature is in favour of the short sentence. In the prose of Milton and of Jeremy Taylor, the full stop does not come to release the thought till all the circ.u.mstances have been grouped around it, and the necessary qualifications made. In Macaulay the circ.u.mstances and the qualifications are set out sentence by sentence. So the steps of reasoning in the example which we have given are stated with that distinct pause between each of them which the reader would make if he thought them out for himself. They might be welded together thus:

Seeing that a penal statute is virtually annulled if the penalties which it imposes are regularly remitted as often as they are incurred, and seeing that the sovereign was undoubtedly competent to remit penalties without limit, it follows that he was competent to annul virtually a penal statute; and it might seem that there could be no serious objection to his doing formally what he might do virtually.

Both forms are correct in point of punctuation. Which is the better form is a question of style. Take another example:

The sides of the mountain were covered with trees; the banks of the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the rocks; and every mouth dropped fruits upon the ground.

There is here an advantage in putting these four statements together, instead of making four separate sentences. We can more easily combine the details, and so form a single picture--a picture of fertility.

II. As a rule the full stop is not to be inserted till the sentence be grammatically complete. But some parts of the sentence necessary to make it grammatically complete may be left for the reader to supply.

It is well said, in every sense, that a man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him. A man's or a nation of men's. By religion I do not mean here the church-creed which he professes, the articles of faith which he will sign and, in words or otherwise, a.s.sert. Not this wholly, in many cases not this at all.

III. When a sentence is purposely left unfinished, the dash takes the place of the full stop. (See Rule XL.)

"Excuse me," said I, "but I am a sort of collector." "Not Income-tax?" cried His Majesty, hastily removing his pipe from his lips.

IV. A full stop is placed after most abbreviations, after initial letters, and after ordinal numbers in Roman characters.

Gen. i. 20; two lbs.; A.D. 1883; 3 p.m.; &c., and etc.; M.D., J. S. Mill; William III., King of England; MS., LL.D.

(not M.S. and L.L.D.).

Note that the use of the full stop in these cases does not prevent another point from being used immediately after it. But if they occur at the end of a sentence, another full stop is not added; or, more correctly, it may be said that Rule IV. does not apply at the end of a sentence.

"Mr," "Messrs," "Dr"--abbreviations which retain the last letter of the whole word--are written without a point.

THE COMMA

V. The comma indicates a short pause in a sentence. It is used when we wish to separate words that stand together, and at the same time to stop as little as possible the flow of the sentence.

When the earl reached his own province, he found that preparations had been made to repel him.