0 CONCISE SYSTEM OF SELECTED FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS, FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS, BY BENJAMIN GREENLEAF, A. M. PRECEPTOR OF BRADFORD ACADEMY. PUNCTUATION. PUNCTUATION is the art of marking, in writing, the several pauses or rests between sentences, and the parts of sentences, according to their proper quantity or proportion, as they are expressed in a just and accurate pronunciation. In order the more clearly to determine the proper application of the pauses, we must distinguish between an imperfect phrase or adjunct, a simple sentence, and a compound sentence. An imperfect phrase or adjunct contains no assertions, or does not amount to a proposition or sentence; as 16 By threads innumerable, our interests are interwoven.' "Vices, like shadows, towards the evening of life, grow great and monstrous." A simple sentence has but one subject and one finite verb; as, "All finery is a sign of littleness." envy withers at another's joy." "Base A compound sentence has more than one subject, or one finite verb, either expressed or understood; or it consists of two or more simple sentences connected together; as "Good nature mends and beautifies all objects." "Virtue refines the affections, but vice debases them."? In a sentence, the subject and the verb, or either of them may be accompanied with several adjuncts; as, the object, the end, the circumstances of time, place, manner, and the like; and the subject or verb is either im mediately connected with them, or mediately; that is, by being connected with something, which is connected with some other, and so on; as, "The mind, unoccupied with useful knowledge, becomes a magazine of trifles and follies." If the several adjuncts affect the subject or the verb in a different manner, they are only so many imperfect phrases, and the sentence is simple; as, "Secret animosity is often concealed under the caresses of dissembled affection." was borne down the current of life by an into the ocean of Eternity." irresistible c If the several adjuncts affect the subject or the verb in the same manner, they may be resolved into so many simple sentences; as, "True happiness is an enemy to pomp and noise." RULE I. A simple sentence admits of no pause; as, “Honesty is the best policy." "Time is short." EXCEPTIONS. 1. When adjuncts or circumstances are of importance, and are not in their natural order, they must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "By aspiring too high, we frequently miss the happiness, which, by a less ambitious aim, we might have gained." “In youth, the habits of industry are most easily acquired." 2. The nominative case independent with its adjuncts must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "Continue, my friend, to make virtue thy principal study," "There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats." 5 3. The infinitive mood absolute with its adjuncts must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "I was, to tell the plain truth, knowing to the whole affair." 4. Nouns in apposition, if attended with adjuncts, must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "Hope, the balm of comfort, sooths us under every misfortune." But two nouns in apposition, not accompanied with adjuncts, forming as it were a proper name, are not to be divided; as, "The emperor Antoninus wrote an excellent book." 5. An adjective or participle, with an adjunct depending on it, may be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "Discontent often nourishes passions, equally malignant in the cottage and in the palace." "Can we, untouched by gratitude, view that profusion of good, which the divine hand pours around us ?" 6. A participle with an adverb, when used absolutely, must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "Craft and dissimulation in youth will, generally speaking, produce perfidy in age." 7. The nominative case absolute with its adjuncts must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas; as, "Liberty being restored, the people enjoy peace." 8. When a verb is understood, a comma may be inserted; as, "To err is human; to forgive, divine." "The aim of orators is victory; of historians, truth; of poets, admiration." 9. Any imperfect phrase, which may be resolved into a simple sentence, must, generally, be separated by commas; as, "This man, however, has some amiable qualifications." |