The principal use of brackets is to show that a bracketed word or group of words in a quotation is inserted by the writer using the quoted language, and not by the author of such language. Parentheses, on the other hand, are used by a writer, as we have already seen, to enclose a parenthetical word or group of words in his own language.
Some examples that furnish apparent exceptions to these general statements considered as rules, may serve to emphasize the principle of this punctuation.
The following examples (Nos. 112-115) are taken from the “Style Book” of the Government Printing-Office.
Note.—We follow in the examples the capitalization and punctuation of the original. For this reason we do not use a hyphen in writing the quoted title (Style Book), above.
These examples are given in this style-book for the guidance of type-setters in their work in the Government Printing-Office. They appear to be extracts from the Congressional Record:
112. Mr. SPEAKER. Is there any objection to the consideration of this bill at this time? [After a pause.] There is no objection.
113. Mr. SPEAKER (after a pause). If no gentleman claims the floor, the Clerk will proceed with the reading of the bill.
114. Mr. HEALD. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Sherley] stated that he would support the measure.
115. Mr. HEALD. The gentleman from Kentucky, Col. Sherley, stated that he would support the measure.
In these examples the names of the persons speaking are so manifestly inserted by the reporter that they need no identification marks.
In No. 112 three words are inserted within the text by the reporter, and take brackets for identification as matter inserted in the language of another.
In No. 113 the same three words, manifestly inserted by the reporter, take parentheses. They do so because they clearly belong to what precedes, which is not a part of the text, but is the reporter’s language. The use of brackets here would be bad punctuation. The parentheses are used because the words enclosed are purely parenthetical in their relation to the preceding word, which is the reporter’s language.
In No. 114 the words “Mr. Sherley” are inserted by the reporter, and therefore take brackets. In No. 115 the words “Col. Sherley” are the language of Mr. Heald, and therefore take the usual punctuation (commas).
Another apparent exception to the above rule is found in the various modes of printing stage directions in dramatic composition. As such directions have no reference to the meaning of the language of the text, it is desirable, in printing them, to show this fact by their form. In the main, such directions are either centered lines shorter than the text, or are indented more than the usual space of the paragraph. They may be enclosed in brackets or parentheses, and be printed in either italic or Roman type, or in italics without the brackets or parentheses.
If a direction precedes, as it does sometimes, the speech to which it belongs, and is in the opening line of such speech, it necessarily is enclosed in brackets. If it follows and ends the last line of the speech, it takes a single bracket at the beginning of the direction. If it follows, and is put below, the last line, it takes a single bracket, or is printed in the style of the direction preceding the speech.
Thus we see that the variety of style in printing stage directions grows out of the fact that they are sometimes identified as stage directions by their location and the style of type (italic), and therefore do not necessarily require brackets for further identification.
We shall not take space to illustrate the above varieties of punctuation. Examples can readily be found in almost any library.
We have dwelt perhaps more at length upon this varied punctuation than its importance may seem to justify; but, it seems to us, we may see in it a principle underlying even conventional punctuation.
Our next sentence illustrates a very common use of brackets. In this sentence we make the first enclosure (sic), the second being that of the writer who made the quotation:
116. In one of John Smith’s quaint letters to the Royal Council of Virginia, sitting in London, he says: “And I humbly entreat you hereafter, [sic] let us know what we [are to] receive, and not stand to the sailors’ courtesy to leave us what they please.”
When inserted in a quotation, the Latin word “sic,” meaning thus, signifies that what immediately precedes it is found in the original. By thus calling attention to it, the writer who makes the quotation implies that an error exists at this point. Our own insertion of “sic” is meant to say that the comma preceding it is in the original, and to question its correctness. The position of the comma makes “hereafter” qualify what precedes, as if it read, “I hereafter entreat you.” The evident meaning is, “hereafter let us know.”
The words “are to,” enclosed in the next brackets, were inserted by the writer who quoted from John Smith’s letter.
“Sic” is put in italics because this is the conventional way of writing most words from a foreign language. The words “are to,” being a suggested part of the text, are put in the text letter. Words thus supplied by the translators of the Bible are put in italics, simply to show their character, as is explained in the preface or elsewhere. Brackets are not used in the Bible text.
Sometimes a line of poetry is too long for the type-measure in which the poem is set. If one or more words of such line are carried forward to make a new and very short line, the space between the full line above and the full line below such short line may be as wide as the space between two verses, and thus present a bad effect to the eye. To avoid this the extra word or words may be put in the line above, if the space permits, and at its end, with a single bracket at the left to cut it off from the preceding words in the same line.
It is a common practice in legal and commercial work to enclose in parentheses Arabic figures corresponding to the preceding number expressed in words. This practice often gives rise to a mistake that, when pointed out, is plain enough to anyone:
117. Pay to John Smith or order twenty-five ($25.00) dollars.
The matter in the parentheses should be simply “25,” to correspond with what precedes; or the sentence should be written thus:
117-1. Pay to John Smith or order twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
When a woman signs her name to a letter, especially a letter to a stranger, and wishes to give other information than the name conveys, or to indicate how she should be addressed in a reply to her letter, parentheses are used for the purpose:
118. Mary Louise Brown.
118. (Mrs. George H. Brown.)
If she wishes simply to convey information as to whether she is a married or an unmarried woman, she uses the proper title, enclosed in parentheses, before her name:
119. (Miss) Mary Louise Brown.
119-1. (Mrs.) Mary Louise Brown.
In Sentences 99, 100, and 102 we saw a purely conventional use of parentheses and brackets for enclosing interrogation-and exclamation-points to express doubt and surprise, respectively.
PUNCTUATION WITHIN PARENTHESES OR BRACKETS
Matter within parentheses or brackets refers to what precedes these marks, which may be a mark of punctuation, a single word, a group of words forming part of a sentence, an entire sentence, or two or more sentences.
We cannot show by the punctuation how much of the preceding matter is referred to; but a conventional treatment of the punctuation for this purpose is helpful, even though such treatment is not uniform.
The enclosed matter either falls between the parts of a sentence or follows a sentence. When within a sentence the enclosed matter does not begin with a capital letter, even though a full sentence, unless the first word is a proper noun; nor does it take a period at its end. If, however, the language is either interrogative or exclamatory, it takes the proper mark to show this; and such mark is placed within the parentheses or brackets.
When the enclosed matter follows a sentence, it may refer to a word or to a small group of words within such sentence, to all of the sentence, or to two or more preceding sentences. It is at this point that a conventional treatment of the subject may be helpful, the object of such treatment being to show, at a glance, how far the reference extends. If the enclosed matter refers to the last word of the sentence, or to a short group of words near the end, it receives the same treatment given it when wholly within the sentence. If such enclosed matter refers to a larger part of the sentence than above described, to the entire sentence, or to two or more preceding sentences, it is regarded as an independent sentence. As such it is separated from the preceding sentence by the space usually put between sentences; it begins with a capital letter; and the proper end-mark is put within the parentheses, with no mark following outside.
We believe there is only one mark used within parentheses with reference to a mark outside. The English practice, which is followed by a number of high-class periodicals in this country, is as follows: if a comma is required where a parenthesis is to be inserted, a comma is placed before the first enclosing mark, and is repeated at the end of the language within the parentheses.
We prefer to use only one mark when required by the text without reference to the parenthesis, and to put it after the parentheses, thus more clearly confining the parenthesis to what precedes.
Our illustrative examples will show these points more clearly.
EXAMPLES
1. The Senator [Davis] may strongly condemn the measure, but I shall vote for it. [Applause.]
As the above example is quoted matter, the two interpolated words take brackets.
2. [a—b—(c—d)].
In the above algebraic expression brackets and parentheses are used conventionally to group the letters (algebraic symbols) which they respectively enclose.
3. Indeed an exceedingly giftPeer
[To himself]
Indeed an exceedingly gifted man;
Almost all he says is beyond comprehension.
[Looks around.]
4. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.—Romans xv, 2.
5. “Yours of the 14th has just arrived, and I hasten to reply to it.
“Here is a list of the six best novels in the English language:
“Tom Jones. (Fielding.)
“Tristam Shandy. (Sterne.)
“David Copperfield. (Dickens.)
“Henry Esmond. (Thackeray.)
“The Cloister and the Hearth. (Reade.)
“The Egoist. (Meredith.)
“I don’t know whether ‘Tristam Shandy’ can strictly be called a novel. If the rules of your game cut it out, then I would replace it by
“Kenilworth, (Scott,)
to my mind the most perfect of Scott’s novels.”
While we have not used quotation-marks with our illustrative sentences and examples, practically all of which are quoted, we do so with the above examples, in order to exhibit their use.
The punctuation of this example illustrates the following points:
1. The use of marks of quotation at the beginning of every paragraph, or group of words put in paragraph form, with like closing marks after the last line, informs the reader that the paragraphs quoted appear consecutively in the original.
2. The titles of the books named, with one exception, are not enclosed in marks of quotation in the original. If they were so enclosed, each title in our example would be enclosed in single marks of quotation, in addition to the double marks at the beginning.
3. The name of each novel (Tom Jones, etc.) is treated as a complete sentence, and so takes a period after it. The matter following each sentence (name of a novel) refers to the entire sentence, thus requiring a period within the marks of parenthesis enclosing the name of the author.
4. The treatment of the last-named title (Kenilworth) is somewhat unusual. It is put in paragraph form, probably to conform to the paragraph form above; but it lacks the usual introduction of particulars that calls for the paragraph form.
The commas before and within the parentheses follow the English style. As a comma is required between “Kenilworth” 193and the explanatory group of words following the parenthesis, we should use only one, putting it after the marks of parenthesis.
Those who adopt the English style apparently always use the commas when the matter within parentheses or brackets falls within the sentence, even though the relation between what follows and what precedes the parentheses or brackets does not require a comma. We consider such punctuation bad, for it appears to treat the matter so enclosed as both slightly and wholly parenthetical. Our next example (No. 6), a quotation, illustrates this point.
5. We do not know why “Tristam Shandy” takes marks of quotation (single marks in the example), while the names of the other books take none.
6. I permitted myself, [he said,] the prophecy that their prejudices were destined to vanish.
While we use a comma, as in the paragraph (No. 5) preceding Example 6, after parentheses or brackets when required by the language outside of the parentheses or brackets, and use no comma unless so required, we think the English practice poor punctuation. This conventional use of two commas ignores the sense relation between the groups of words preceding and following the parentheses or brackets, which sense relation may be determined by the presence or the absence of a comma.
We shall not attempt to treat the subject of abbreviations exhaustively or even fully, for it goes beyond the subject of punctuation; but its importance seems to justify its consideration at some length.
In the best printing-offices, if their expert copy-readers prepare the manuscript, few abbreviations are permitted in book-work; and it is well to follow their rules in all formal, if not in all business, correspondence.
The abbreviations in forms of address accepted by the printing-offices issuing three works on punctuation and style, especially mentioned in our preface, are the following:
By the De Vinne Press, Mr., Mrs., Messrs., Jr., and Sr.
By the University of Chicago Press, Mr., Messrs., Mrs. (French, M., MM., Mme, Mlle), Dr., Rev., Hon., St. [Saint], and Esq.
By The Riverside Press, Mr., Mrs., Messrs., M., Mme., Mlle., Jr., Sr., Dr., Esq., Rev., Hon.
These lists are somewhat misleading. Although not uniform, it is probable that the practice of the three offices from which they come, is uniform, with one exception. In the list from the “Manual for Writers” (University of Chicago Press), Mme and Mlle are not written with periods, as, we think, they should be.
It is a matter of course that the plural form MM., given in only one list, and the plural forms Mmes. and Mlles., not given at all, are treated the same as the abbreviations of the singular forms of the same.
Note.—We are unable to interpret the parenthesis in the above list from the University of Chicago Press. The terms within the parentheses are only remotely, if at all, explanatory of the preceding terms; and, although they belong in the list of abbreviations, they are taken out of the list by being put in parentheses. Moreover, “Mlle,” which is within the parentheses, has no reference to any term outside of the marks.
While the above and other points in abbreviations discussed herein, are closely to be observed in the text of a book and in formal correspondence, abbreviations of technical terms, in tabulated work, in foot-notes, indexes, etc., are used freely.
In business correspondence courtesy requires that abbreviations adopted in a firm or a corporation name be carefully observed by others, regardless of the in elegance of such forms.
Bro., Bros., and Co. are used in firm names following &, but not otherwise. They should always be spelled out when preceded by a proper adjective.
John Smith & Bro.; Brown, Smith & Co., and like forms are used.
In Smith Brothers, Smith Company, and like forms the final word is not abbreviated.
While the “short and” (&) is commonly used in firm names, “and” is frequently seen:
Armour and Company.
It is very rare that a comma is used before the final “and” or “&” in firm names of three or more words constituting a series. If a firm prefers so to punctuate its name, others who write the name should not insert a comma.
As there are few fixed conventional uses for figures, we shall give simply our preferences.
In ordinary reading matter, spell out all round numbers, and numbers of one or two digits, unless of a technical character. When several numbers occur close together, and are to be compared, they may be expressed in figures:
120. Admission, one dollar.
120-1. Admission, fifty cents.
120-2. Admission: Men, $2; women, $1.50; children, 50 cents.
In No. 120-2 we use “50,” instead of “fifty,” because figures are used to express other numbers in the sentence.
The time of day is generally spelled out in ordinary reading matter:
121. We shall start at four o’clock this afternoon.
But with A. M. and P. M. (these abbreviations are best set in small capitals) figures are always used:
121-1. We shall start at 4 P. M.
Figures are used to express temperature, specific gravity, and like technical matter.
122. The specific gravity of gold is 19.27. Its melting-point is 1947° F. (1064° C.)
The letters “th,” “st,” and “d” (“d” is preferable to “nd” or “rd”) should not be used with the number expressing the day of the month, except when preceding the name of the month:
123. We left on July 9, 1915.
123-1. We left on July 9.
123-2. We left on the 9th of July.
Many good writers would use “th” in No. 123-1, probably because it expresses the usual oral form of the date.
In printing consecutive numbers, like dates, numbers of pages, etc., certain omissions may be indicated by the dash; but the exact meaning of this and another mode of writing these numbers should be understood. Examples will illustrate this:
124. He was in England in 1914-15.
124-1. He spent the winter of 1914-15 in England.
125. Further information will be found on pages 25-27.
125-1. Further information will be found on pages 25, 26, 27.
125-2. Further information will be found elsewhere (pp. 25, 26) in this work.
125-3. Further information will be found on pages 25 to 40.
No. 124, strictly interpreted, means all of the two years indicated; but it may be an indefinite portion of the last of 1914 and a like portion of the first of 1915. In No. 124-1 the latter meaning is specifically given by the word winter.
No. 125 means that the subject is treated continuously on the pages mentioned; but it may not occupy all of pages 25 and 27.
No. 125-1 means that the subject is referred to on each of the pages numbered, but not to the exclusion of other matter.
In No. 125-2, in order to save space, the comma takes the place of “and” between two numbers, just as the dash takes the place of “to” between “25” and “27” in No. 125. Such omission of “and” is found in the text only when the figures are enclosed in parentheses; but it is common without the parentheses in foot-notes, tables, and indexes.
In No. 125-3 we use “to” instead of a dash. “To” is generally used when a considerable number of pages is named. No definite rule can be given for such usage.
An apparent exception to the interpretation of the numbers in No. 125 is not infrequently found in the manner of writing the street numbers of a building, especially as found on letter-heads:
126. John Smith & Co.
25-27 Water Street
Chicago
As buildings on one side of a street take the odd numbers, and on the other side the even numbers, we know that John Smith & Co. are located at 25 and 27 Water Street.
An accepted form of shortening an address which contains the words street and avenue is to write “avenue” first with its number expressed in words, followed by the street with its number in figures:
127. He resides at the corner of Tenth Avenue and 52d Street.
If a house number precedes the spelled-out name of the street, the former takes figures, in order readily to distinguish it from the name of the street:
127-1. He resides at 34 Tenth Avenue South.
If it is desirable to begin a sentence with a number, such number should be spelled out, and not expressed in figures:
128. Two thousand people met in the park.
As the forms of Bible references are very numerous we shall give only two, which, we think, represent the best modern usage:
129. Matt, iv, 4; 1 Cor. i, 29.
130. Gen. 2:3-6, 9; 3:17.
As the Roman numerals were formerly, and still are to some extent, followed by a period, this usage would give the following in the place of No. 129:
129-1. Matt. iv. 4; 1 Cor. i. 29
We think No. 129 the better style.
The style in foot-notes is so varied that we shall consider only one or two points involved.
Superior figures in the text have taken the place almost altogether of the star, dagger, etc., both because they are less conspicuous and because they can be extended in number.
The lower-case superior italic letters are sometimes used instead of, or together with, superior figures, as in the Bible.
In ordinary work, the superior figures or letters follow the word or group of words concerning which the reference is made. In the Bible the figures and letters precede such word or words.
The figures before the notes corresponding to the figures in the text are generally superior figures; but the ordinary figures are sometimes used, because, as each number begins a paragraph, the superior figures are too small to look well.
The punctuation of foot-notes, and other details of their composition, are treated differently by different writers. A single illustration will serve to show a well-recognized style of composing such notes:
130. 5 Morris Schaff, “The Battle of the Wilderness,” Atlantic Monthly, June, 1909.
130-1. 5 Morris Schaff, The Battle of the Wilderness, Vol. ii, p. 204.
No. 130 specifies foot-note No. 5, and refers to an article in a magazine, which is named.
No. 130-1 refers to a book, the volume and page being indicated.
These foot-notes often appear in the following form:
130-2. 5. Schaff, Morris: The Battle of the Wilderness.
Foot-notes are often extensively used in scientific periodicals and books; and the larger establishments that print such matter usually have their style-cards, which should be followed by authors submitting manuscripts to such establishments.
The lower-case italic letters, “a,” “b,” and “c,” and sometimes the superior letters, are used to indicate the first, second, and third parts of a verse, paragraph, or page referred to by an accompanying figure. For instance, Romans vi, 5a means the first part of verse 5 of Romans vi.
Because of the clumsy appearance of these marks, and because of the inconvenience they cause in the mechanical make-up of printed matter, they are used sparingly; but they are quite indispensable in tabulated matter, scientific works, etc.
If several of these marks are required on a page, they follow the following order: star, dagger, double dagger, section, parallel lines, paragraph.
The word cent in per cent is now generally written without a period.
Etc. is preferable to &c. when used for “and others” or “and so on”; but not a few good writers use the latter for this purpose.
The terms 4to, 8vo, 12mo, etc., used to denote the sizes of books, are not abbreviations, and so do not take periods after them. Each number stands for a suppressed part of the word in which it appears.
The abbreviations i. e., e. g., vs., viz., etc., are often printed in italics. The words for which they stand are generally preferred to the abbreviations.
There are but few uses of the apostrophe, and they are well settled, as follows:
1. To indicate the omission of letters or figures in contractions: ne’er, don’t, it’s (it is), ’t will, class of ’83, the gold-seekers of ’49, etc.
2. To indicate the possessive case of nouns, but not of pronouns: Henry’s, man’s, Jones’s, a boy’s task, the boys’ play-ground, for conscience’ sake, etc.
3. To indicate, with s, the plurals of letters, figures, symbols, and certain unusual or peculiar names: i’s and t’s, 6’s and 7’s, four t’s, several D.D’s, the stay-at-home’s, etc.
In the absence of a better place to note the conventional form of printing and punctuating the above words and what follows them, we consider the subject here. Two illustrations are sufficient to show the best usage. We prefer the first style. The second is that of the Century Dictionary, and is good style:
130A. Whereas, Our neighbors have suffered great loss ...
Resolved, That we give them immediate financial assistance ...
130B. Whereas, Our neighbors have suffered great loss ...
Resolved, that we give them immediate financial assistance ...
If the words “therefore be it” are used, they are put at the end of the line preceding “Resolved,” and set in Roman, with or without a dash following:
130C. Whereas, Our neighbors have suffered great loss; therefore be it
Resolved, That ...
We add this chapter on compound words to a work on punctuation simply to record our high estimate of the value of the subject, and our protest against its complete neglect by high schools and colleges, as well as by very many good writers.
As in spelling, a few rules may be helpful; but, also as in spelling, only continuous reference to a dictionary or to a good list of compound words, will enable a writer to attain any degree of perfection in their use.
We believe there is only one fairly complete work on the subject, and that is by Mr. F. Horace Teall, who was a department editor of the Standard Dictionary, having in charge especially the matter of compound words. His work is entitled “English Compound Words and Phrases.”
We shall discuss only two illustrative examples; and they are selected for the purpose of emphasizing the importance of the subject, and the value of common sense in the application of principles governing the determination of the form words take to express different meanings.
Our first example may seem to be a somewhat commonplace one, but it may be a helpful illustration. It has been submitted to a large number of suitable persons as a test of the general knowledge extant on the subject among printers, proof-readers, teachers, and writers. The result revealed almost complete ignorance of the subject.
Which of the following forms is correct, and why?
131. (1) back bone, (2) back-bone, (3) backbone.
The three forms are correct, but each has a special meaning:
1. In the form “back bone,” the word “back” stands in the position of an adjective, and is to be interpreted as we interpret any adjective standing before a noun. If we know the meaning of a word thus used, and the meaning of the word it precedes, we know the meaning of the two words. “Back” here designates one of two or more bones in a row, say, lying on a table.
2. In “back-bone” we have an illustration of a process of the growth of language. Professor W. D. Whitney, the distinguished philologist, says that the composition of words out of independent elements, is more important than any other process in the development of language. The stage of development may determine the word’s form.
“Back-bone” means the bone of the back, or the spinal column. It is a type of a large class of hyphenated compounds which are merely elliptical inversions; in this case, the word is such an inversion of bone of the back.
3. “Backbone” is an example of words whose meanings are traceable, sometimes readily and sometimes with difficulty, to their parts. It is easy to understand that a man with a real “back-bone” has grit, which is one meaning of “backbone” written as a solid word.
Note.—Webster’s New International Dictionary does not give the hyphenated form of these two words; notwithstanding this, we believe this form has the sanction of reason and of convention.
The principles involved in determining the above forms are very simple, and seem self-evident.
The process of language-development is rapidly going on; and, as every corrector of manuscript knows, incorrect forms of words are exceedingly numerous. Often they are made in attempts at short cuts in language. When they may not be changed by the corrector, the hyphen is often useful in revealing their meaning. The use of the hyphen must be based upon reason. Usually, the purpose is to tie together two words to form one adjective or one noun.
The words in our next two illustrative sentences were frequently seen some time ago when almost the entire press of the country was discussing a subject calling for the use of these words. The words were invariably printed improperly; and we shall print them so in the illustrative sentences:
132. Dr. Keene is the medical school inspector of Minneapolis.
133. Mr. Flexner is the medical school inspector of the Carnegie Foundation.
What is the meaning of the language of these sentences? To the careful reader “Dr.” and “Mr.” connote quite different things, and thus suggest different relations between the words “medical school inspector.”
Let the hyphen answer the question:
132-1. Dr. Keene is the medical school-inspector of Minneapolis.
133-1. Mr. Flexner is the medical-school inspector of the Carnegie Foundation.
In other words, the sentences say that Dr. Keene does medical inspection of schools, and that Mr. Flexner simply inspects medical schools. As a matter of fact, Mr. Flexner investigated the adequacy of their methods and means of teaching.
Whether one uses a hyphen in “to-day” or “to-morrow,” or writes “cannot” as one word or as two words (can not), is a matter of little importance; but no educated person should be ignorant of the meanings of words conveyed by the forms in which they are written.
The fundamental principles of compounding words, especially when the meaning of such words is involved, should be understood by pupils in our grade schools. This knowledge is easily acquired; and, once acquired, the pupil will soon form the habit of consulting the dictionary or a list of words to ascertain the present-day usage in compounding. The fundamental principles will tell him that all such combinations as “present-day” when used as adjectives take the hyphen.
A few examples will serve to show the beauty and value of compounding words upon the principles illustrated above.
EXAMPLES
1. More than once he was on the verge of breaking down; but he held, duty-true, to his task until he had spent his last ounce of strength in the service.
2.... Some take from the shelves
Of the volumes a-row
Those legends of goblins and elves.
That we loved long ago.
3. Between flood-and ebb-tide there is a period of rest called slack-water.
4. The speeches were generally reported in Handels- und Machtpolitick (politics of trade and power).
In No. 3 “tide” is omitted from the first of two compound hyphenated words connected by a conjunction. In No. 4 the common ending (politick) is omitted from the first of two compound solid words, a hyphen taking its place.
We know of no author who deals with the somewhat inconsistent use of the hyphen in No. 4; but we believe such usage is to be recommended.
5. Truffles grow in calcareous soils, usually under birch-or oak-trees.
6. Mr. So-and-so asserted that the present-day practices are wrong.
7. The president of the society is a member of several committees ex officio; but the secretary is not an ex-officio member of any committee.
In No. 7 the first “ex officio” is formed of a preposition and a noun, and means by virtue of office. The second “ex-officio” is a compound adjective, as is “present-day” in No. 6.
Many writers prefer to put in italics all foreign expressions, such as “ex-officio.”
We shall deal with this subject somewhat as we dealt with compound words, endeavoring simply to point out the relative values of the “open” and “close” styles of punctuation.
Almost all writers on punctuation refer to a close open styles of punctuation, but they make no attempt clearly to define or to differentiate these terms. In general, the close style of today is characterized by a free use of marks where they determine the meaning of the language, or assist the reader in determining it easily and quickly; the open style omits most marks not actually needed to determine the meaning of the language. The close style may call for too many marks, and the open style for too few, each causing confusion to the reader.
It is mainly the comma whose use or omission determines the style of punctuation; but the use of a semicolon instead of a comma, may also differentiate the open from the close style. For instance, the need of a mark before “and” in Sentence 1 is so unmistakable that the use of a comma in such sentence cannot be called close punctuation; but the use of a semicolon in that sentence, as suggested in Chapter 7, may properly be called close punctuation. The use of a comma in the sentence (see Sentence 1-1) may be considered open punctuation; its omission would be poor punctuation, but many open punctuators would omit it.
While we must recognize the fact that for some years there has been a tendency among good writers to use fewer marks, we should disregard any such tendency based upon a lack of appreciation of the value of marks or, more specifically, upon ignorance of the fine sense relations of language so easily overlooked when not indicated by marks with meanings.
When two groups of words which, standing alone, take, at least conventionally, a comma, or even a semicolon, stand together in some relation to another group or to a single word, this relation may appear more readily if no mark is used between the two groups. We have already discussed such omission between intermediate groups, which are very numerous in both complex and simple language. The principle is illustrated in our next sentence:
133. The Lord my Shepard is; I shall be well supplied: Since He is mine and I am His What can I want beside?
In the third line of the stanza “and” so manifestly groups the two clauses between which it stands that a comma is not needed to avoid a wrong grouping by the reader; and, as each clause is connected in sense with “since,” the omission of a comma between the clauses more readily ties them as a single group to “since.” Of course, the use of a comma before “and,” which would be good punctuation, would require one at the end of the line.
A good close punctuator omits commas from all such groups of words; and a poor open punctuator does the same, but also improperly omits commas and semicolons in many other places.
One doing serious composition, or studying punctuation, may well punctuate closely as he writes, and afterwards remove all marks whose omission will improve the grouping and not violate good convention. The close punctuator who studiously omits a mark only when he has a reason to do so will rarely fail to use marks helpfully; the open punctuator who omits marks too freely will write much obscure language and much more whose meaning is not readily obtainable by the reader.
With this general principle established, the punctuator can readily determine what marks may be omitted; and, far more important, he can adapt to his own language the style of punctuation he prefers to follow.
The punctuation of our next sentence, taken from an editorial in a recent issue of the New York Times, has interest for both the close and the open punctuator. It contains seven commas, only one of which can safely be omitted, while two more are needed. The comma after “divisions” may be omitted, but its use is good punctuation. One is needed after “music,” in order to show that “and” is followed by the closing word of a series; and one is imperative after “exhibition,” to show that what follows is an explanatory, and not a restrictive, adjective modifier:
134. There are in this issue eight separate sections, including, besides the twelve pages of timely pictures, beautifully executed in roto-gravure and half-tone, and the ample news and editorial divisions, and those devoted to sports, social affairs, music and the stage, a twenty-page section given up entirely to the development of the motor car in view of the yearly automobile exhibition which receives so large a share of public attention.
The punctuator who follows the fundamental principles we have endeavored to set forth, will be neither a close nor an open punctuator: he will be a judicious punctuator.
EXAMPLES
The following selections, copied from the first edition of this book, show the value of good punctuation, which, in this instance, is fairly close punctuation.
The first selection is an extract from Macaulay, picturing Burke’s knowledge of India; the second is from an article by Mr. Rowland E. Robinson, in the Atlantic Monthly for December, 1895. The punctuation of the first is our own; the punctuation of the second is either the author’s or the editor’s.
A careful study of these selections, with a view to comparing at what points the punctuation is open and at what points close, cannot fail to be of interest. For instance, what is the meaning of the language in the first paragraph of the second extract (A New England Woodpile) with a comma after “certainty,” and what would be the meaning without the comma? Wherein does the punctuation of this extract depart from the principles we have been discussing?
BURKE’S INDIA
India and its inhabitants were not to him, as to most Englishmen, mere names and abstractions, but a real country and a real people. The burning sun; the strange vegetation of the palm and the cocoa-tree; the rice-field and the tank; the huge trees, older than the Mogul Empire, under which the village crowds assemble; the thatched roof of the peasant’s hut, and the rich tracery of the mosque, where the imaum prayed with his face to Mecca; the drums, and banners, and gaudy idols; the devotee swinging in the air; the graceful maiden, with the pitcher on her head, descending the steps to the river-side; the black faces, the long beards, the yellow streaks of sect; the turbans and the flowing robes; the spears and the silver maces; the elephants with their canopies of state; the gorgeous palanquin of the prince, and the close litter of the noble lady—all those things were to him as the objects amidst which his own life had been passed—as the objects which lay on the road between Beaconsfield and St. James’s Street.
The value of punctuation will appear in comparing this passage, as above printed, with the same passage as it appears in a work on composition edited by a university professor:
...the rice-field; the tank; ... the thatched roof of the peasant’s hut; the rich tracery of the mosque where the imaum prays with his face to Mecca; ... the graceful maiden, with the pitcher on her head descending the steps to the riverside; the black faces; the long beards; the yellow streaks of sect; the turbans and the flowing robes, the spears and the silver maces; ...
By such punctuation the tank is taken out of the rice-field; the contrast between hut and mosque is lost; the absence of the comma before “where” makes the imaum pray at a particular mosque; not the maiden, but her head, is descending the steps; beards are separated from faces, and yellow streaks of sect may be on fence posts for aught the reader knows; and turbans and flowing robes, emblems of rank, are put on spear-and mace-bearers.
And by such punctuation the beauty of the picture is entirely lost in a mere catalogue of things seen in India—and this is not literature.
A NEW ENGLAND WOODPILE
When the charitable mantle of the snow has covered the ugliness of the earth, as one looks towards the woodlands he may see a distant dark speck emerge from the blue shadow of the woods and crawl slowly houseward. If born to the customs of this wintry land, he may guess at once what it is; if not, speculation, after a little, gives way to certainty, when the indistinct atom grows into a team of quick-stepping horses or deliberate oxen hauling a sled-load of wood to the farm-house.
It is more than that. It is a part of the woods themselves, with much of their wildness clinging to it, and with records, slight and fragmentary, yet legible, of the lives of trees and birds and beasts and men, coming to our door.
Before the sounds of the creaking sled and the answering creak of the snow are heard, one sees the regular puffs of the team’s breath jetting out and climbing the cold air. The head and shoulders of the muffled driver then appear, as he sticks by narrow foothold to the hinder part of his sled, or trots behind it beating his breast with his numb hands. Prone like a crawling band of scouts, endwise like battering-rams, not upright, with green banners waving, Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane to fight King Frost.
As the woodpile grows at the farm-house door in a huge windrow of sled-length wood or an even wall of cord wood, so in the woods there widens a patch of uninterrupted daylight. Deep shade and barred and netted shadow turn to almost even whiteness, as the axe saps the foundation of summer homes of birds and the winter fastnesses of the squirrels and raccoons. Here are the tracks of sled and team, where they wound among rocks and stumps and over cradle knolls to make up a load; and there are those of the chopper by the stump where he stood to fell the tree, and along the great trough made by its fall. The snow is flecked with chips, dark or pale according to their kind, just as they alighted from their short flight, bark up or down or barkless or edgewise, and with dry twigs and torn scraps of scattered moss.
When the chopper comes to his work in the morning, he finds traces of nightly visitors to his white island that have drifted to its shores out of the gray sea of woods. Here is the print of the hare’s furry foot where he came to nibble the twigs of poplar and birch that yesterday were switching the clouds, but have fallen, manna-like, from skyward to feed him. A fox has skirted its shadowy margin, then ventured to explore it, and in a thawy night a raccoon has waddled across it.
The woodman is apt to kindle a fire more for company than warmth, though he sits by it to eat his cold dinner, casting the crumbs to the chickadees, that come fearlessly about him at all times. Blazing or smouldering by turns, as it is fed or starved, the fire humanizes the woods more than the man does. Now and then it draws to it a visitor, oftenest a fox-hunter who has lost his hound, and stops for a moment to light his pipe at the embers and to ask if his dog has been seen or heard. Then he wades off through the snow, and is presently swallowed out of sight by gray trees and blue shadows. Or the hound comes in search of his master or a lost trail. He halts for an instant, with a wistful look on his sorrowful face, then disappears, nosing his way into the maw of the woods.
If the wood is cut “sled length,” which is a saving of time and also of chips, that will now be made at the door and will serve to boil the tea-kettle in summer, instead of rotting to slow fertilization of the woodlot, the chopper is one of the regular farm hands or a “day man,” and helps load the sled when it comes. If the wood is four foot, he is a professional, chopping by the cord, and not likely to pile his cords too high or long, nor so closely that the squirrels have much more trouble in making their way through them than over them; and the man comes and goes according to his ambition to earn money.
In whichever capacity the chopper plies his axe, he is pretty sure to bring no sentimentalism to his task. He inherits the feeling that was held by the old pioneers toward trees, who looked upon the noblest of them as only giant weeds, encumbering the ground, and best got rid of by the shortest means. To him the tree is a foe worthy of no respect or mercy, and he feels the triumph of a savage conqueror when it comes crashing down and he mounts the prostrate trunk to dismember it; the more year-marks encircling its heart, the greater his victory. To his ears, its many tongues tell nothing, or preach only heresy. Away with the old tree to the flames! To give him his due, he is a skillful executioner, and will compel a tree to fall across any selected stump within its length. If one could forget the tree, it is a pretty sight to watch the easy swing of the axe, and see how unerringly every blow goes to its mark, knocking out chips of a span’s breadth. It does not look difficult nor like work; but could you strike “twice in a place,” or in half a day bring down a tree twice as thick as your body? The wise farmer cuts, for fuel, only the dead and decaying trees in his woodlot, leaving saplings and thrifty old trees to “stand up and grow better,” as the Yankee saying is.
There is a prosperous and hospitable look in a great woodpile at a farmhouse door. Logs with the moss of a hundred years on them, breathing the odors of the woods, have come to warm the inmates and all in-comers. The white smoke of these chimneys is spicy with the smell of seasoned hard wood, and has a savor of roasts and stews that makes one hungry. If you take the back track on a trail of pitchy smoke, it is sure to lead you to a squalid threshold with its starved heap of pine roots and half-decayed wood. Thrown down carelessly beside it is a dull axe, wielded as need requires with spiteful awkwardness by a slatternly woman, or laboriously upheaved and let fall with uncertain stroke by a small boy.
No effort is made in this index to refer to the complete details of treatment of the principal marks, for the treatment of such marks is almost continuous throughout the book. The table of contents will make up, in some measure, for this deficiency.
References are to pages.