The Century Handbook of Writing Part 45

universally =until= =using= =usually=

vacancy vengeance vigilance village =villain=

weak =wear= weather =Wednesday= week =weird= welfare where wherever =whether= which whole =wholly= =who's= whose wintry wiry within without =women= world =writing= written

your =you're=

Note 1.--The following words have more than one correct form, the one given here being preferred.

abridgement acknowledgment a.n.a.lyze ax boulder caliber catalog center check criticize develop development dulness endorse envelop esthetic gaiety gild gipsy glamor goodby gray inquire medieval meter mold mustache odor program prolog skilful theater

Note 2.--In a few groups of words American spelling and English spelling differ. American spelling gives preference to _favor_, _honor_, _labor_, _rumor_; English spelling gives preference to _favour_, _honour_, _labour_, _rumour_. American spelling gives preference to _civilize_, _apprize_; _defense_, _pretense_; _traveler_, _woolen_; etc. English spelling gives preference to _civilise_, _apprise_; _defence_, _pretence_; _traveller_, _woollen_; etc.

MISCELLANEOUS

=Ma.n.u.script=

=80a. t.i.tles.= Center a t.i.tle on the page. Capitalize important words. It is unnecessary to place a period after a t.i.tle, but a question mark or exclamation point should be used when one is appropriate. Do not underscore the t.i.tle, or unnecessarily place it in quotation marks.

Leave a blank line under the t.i.tle, before beginning the body of the writing.

=b. s.p.a.cing.= Careful s.p.a.cing is as necessary as punctuation. Place writing on a page as you would frame a picture, crowding it toward neither the top nor the bottom. Leave liberal margins. Write verse as verse; do not give it equal indention or length of line with prose.

Connect all the letters of a word. Leave a s.p.a.ce after a word, and a double s.p.a.ce after a sentence. Leave room between successive lines, and do not let the loops of letters run into the lines above or below.

=c. Handwriting.= Write a clear, legible hand. Form _a_, _o_, _u_, _n_, _e_, _i_, properly. Write out _and_ horizontally. Avoid unnecessary flourishes in capitals, and curlicues at the end of words. Dot your _i's_ and cross your _t's_; not with circles or long eccentric strokes, but simply and accurately. Let your originality express itself not in ornate penmans.h.i.+p, or unusual stationery, or literary affectations, but in the force and keenness of your ideas.

=Capitals=

=81a. Begin with a capital a sentence, a line of poetry, or a quoted sentence. But if only a fragment of a sentence is quoted, the capital should be omitted.=

Right: He said, "The time has come."

Right: The question is, Shall the bill pa.s.s?

Right: They said they would "not take no for an answer."

Right:

"The good die first, And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust Burn to the socket."--Wordsworth.

=b. Begin proper names, and all important words used as or in proper names, with capitals.= Words not so used should not begin with capitals.

Right: Mr. George K. Rogers, the Princ.i.p.al of the Urbana High School, a college president, the President of the Senior Cla.s.s, a senior, the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, three battalions of infantry, the Fourth of July, on the tenth of June, the House of Representatives, an a.s.sembly of delegates, a Presbyterian church, the separation of church and state, the Baptist Church, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a creek known as Black Oak Creek, the Republican Party, a party that advocates high tariff, Rocky Mountains, The Bible, G.o.d, The Christian Era, Wednesday, in the summer, living in the South, turning south after taking a few steps to the east, one morning, O dark-haired Evening! italic type, watt, pasteurize, herculean effort.

=c. Begin an adjective which designates a language or a race with a capital.=

Right: A Norwegian peasant, Indian arrowheads, English literature, the study of French.

=d. In the t.i.tles of books or themes capitalize the first word and all other important words.= Prepositions, conjunctions, and articles are usually not important.

Right: _The English Novel in the Time of Scott_, _War and Peace_, _Travels with a Donkey_, _When I Slept under the Stars_.

=e. Miscellaneous uses. Capitalize the p.r.o.noun _I_, the interjection _O_, t.i.tles that accompany a name, and abbreviations of proper names.=

Right: Battery F, 150 F. A.; Mobile, Ala.; Dr. Stebbins.

Exercise:

1. the teacher said, "let me read you a famous soliloquy." he began: "to be, or not to be: that is the question."

2. the chinese laundry man does not write out his lists in english.

3. the _la fayette tribune_ says that a Princ.i.p.al of a School has been elected to congress.

4. mr. woodson, the lecturer, said that "the t.i.tle of a book may be a poem." he mentioned _christmas eve on lonesome_ by john fox, jr.

5. i like architecture. as i approached the british museum, i noticed the ionic colonnade that runs along the front. the first room i visited was the one filled with marbles which lord elgin brought from the parthenon at athens.

=Italics=

In ma.n.u.script, a horizontal line drawn under a letter or word is a sign for the printer to use italic type.

=82a. Quoted t.i.tles of books, periodicals, and ma.n.u.scripts are usually italicized.=

Right: I admire Shakespeare's _Hamlet_. [The italics make the reader know that the writer means, _Hamlet_ the play, not Hamlet the man.]

Right: John Galsworthy's novel, _The Patrician_, appeared in serial form in the _Atlantic Monthly_.

Note 1.--When the t.i.tle of a book begins with an article (_a_, _an_, or _the_), the article is italicized. But _the_ before the t.i.tle of a periodical is usually not italicized.

Note 2.--It is correct, but not the best practice, to indicate the t.i.tles of books by quotation marks. The best method is to use italics for the t.i.tle of a book, and quotation marks for chapters or subdivisions of the same book. Example: See _Encyclopedia Britannica_, Vol. II, p. 427, "Modern Architecture".

=b. Words from a foreign language, unless they have been anglicized by frequent use, are italicized.=

Right: A great noise announced the coming of the _enfant terrible_.

Right: A play always begins _in medias res_.

=c. The names of s.h.i.+ps are usually italicized.=

Right: The _Saxonia_ will sail at four o'clock.