VIII. VARIOUS MARKS USED IN WRITING AND PRINTING.

The Hyphen is used to denote the division of a
word into syllables; as, in-ter-dict: it is placed at the
end of a line (usually at the close of a syllable),
when a word is not finished: and it connects the
parts of a compound word; as, “At Cambridge,
Cecil was present at the terrible and never-to-be-for-
gotten battle between Cheke and Gardiner on the
pronunciation of the Greek epsilon, which convulsed
the academic world.” (See p. 84, et seq.)

The Apostrophe is used to abbreviate a word; as, ’tis for it is, tho’ for though, don’t for do not. It denotes the possessive case; as, “John’s hat,” “three years’ service,” “one hour’s work,” “two days’ notice,” “Smith & Co.’s shops,” “Brook’s book,” “Brooks’s book.” It appears in names; as, O’Brien; M’[Mac]Mahon. {p119}

In French, no space is put after an apostrophe denoting elision; as, “d’or”: in Italian, a space is inserted, as, “n’ arrivi.”

A turned comma sometimes denotes the ac in Mac; as, MʻDonough.

Two commas (usually turned) are often used instead of do. (ditto).

Quotation marks [“ ” or ‟ ”] are used to include a copied passage. If the copied passage itself contains a quotation, the latter is denoted by single marks [‘ ’ or ‛ ’]; as, “My father said in banter, ‘James, the notes are not correct.’ The farmer dryly answered, ‘I dinna ken what they may be noo; but they were a’ richt afore ye had your fingers in amang ’em.’”

In some publications a little labor is saved by using single marks for the principal quotations, and double if there happen to be inserted ones; as in a recent novel by Mrs. Humphrey Ward:

The same neat style is used in Max Müller’s Translation of Kant:

Brackets are used to inclose words omitted by a writer or copyist; as, “Were you [on the] deck of the steamer at the [time] of the collision?” (In the Holy Scriptures, supplied words are put in italics: “Because they sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law.”) Explanations inserted in text are usually inclosed in brackets; as in the following instance, from “The Life of Dr. Goldsmith”: “You see, my dear Dan, how long I have been talking about myself. [Some mention of private family affairs is here omitted.] My dear sir, these things give me real uneasiness,” etc.

Marks of Parenthesis are used to inclose a sentence, or part of a sentence, which is inserted in another sentence: “One Sunday morning, when her daughter (afterwards Lady Elton) went into the kitchen, she was surprised to find a new jack (recently ordered, and which was constructed on the principle of going constantly without winding up) wholly paralyzed and useless.”

The Index [☞] is used to draw attention to some particular passage. Sometimes an Asterism [⁂] is used for the same purpose. Where there are many footnotes on a page, the Index is a proper reference mark. {p121}

The Caret [‸] is used in writing, to denote the point where an interlineation is to be inserted. It is sometimes used in printing when the exact character of a manuscript is to be represented,—as in “exhibits” in law work.

The Brace [curly bracket, horizontal] is used to connect a number of words with one common term; and sometimes in poetry, to connect three lines which rhyme together:

Marks of Ellipsis or Omission are the dash; as, “Col. Sm—h”: or asterisks; as, “Col. Sm**h”: or, neatest of all, points; as, “Col. Sm . . h.”

Leaders are dots which lead the eye from something on the left of the page, to some connected matter on the right:

Accents are the Grave [`], the Acute [´], and the Circumflex [^{^}]: è is read by the copy-holder grave e; é, acute e; ê, circumflex e.

Marks of Quantity are the Long, as over o in “shōw”; the Short, or Breve, as over o in “nŏt”; and the Diæresis, which denotes that the latter of {p122} two vowels is not in the same syllable as the former; as, “zoölogy,” “Antinoüs.”

The Cedilla is a curve line under the letter c, to denote that it has the sound of s; as in “garçon,” “façade.” It appears in words from the French language. Worcester uses it also to denote the soft sounds of g, s, and x; as in “mişle,” “ex̧aģģerate.” Webster uses it only to denote the soft sound of c, as in “min-çing-ly.” We remark here, by the way, that in dividing such words as “bra-cing,” “min-cing,” “convin-cing,” etc., the c should be carried over, thereby preserving its proper sound. For a similar reason divide “enga-ging,” “ra-ging,” etc., on the a. Whether “ma-gis-trate” should follow this rule is a matter of style. There are offices which so divide it, while others divide on the g. We prefer to syllable the word as we have written it,—on the a.

The Spanish ñ has the sound of n in onion; as, “Señor,” “cañon.”

Umlaut (pron. ōōmlowt), as defined by Webster, is the change or modification of a vowel sound, peculiar to the Germanic languages; as in German, Mann, man, Männer or Maenner, men. The name Roelker may also be written Rölker.

¶ denotes the beginning of a paragraph, as may be noticed in the Sacred Scriptures. In proof-reading and in manuscript, it is used to denote where a paragraph or break should be made. {p123}

§ denotes a section; §§, sections; as, Gen. Stat., Chap. IX., § 19, and Chap. X., §§ 20 and 21.

Reference to notes at the bottom of the page (commonly termed footnotes) is usually made by the asterisk, *, the obelisk, or dagger, †; the double obelisk, or double dagger, ‡; the section, §; the parallels, ‖; the paragraph, ¶; and the index, ☞;—but a neater mode is to use superiors; as, ^{1, 2, 3,} or ^{a, b, c,} commencing with ¹ or ^a on each page where notes occur.

In concluding our chapter on punctuation, we venture to say to our friends at the case, that, in our opinion, no system of pointing can be of uniform and universal application. Men differ as much in style of writing as in personal appearance, and we might as well expect the same robe to fit all forms, as that one set of rules shall nicely apply to the endless diversities of diction.

Other things being equal however, he who has paid most attention to rule will punctuate with the nearest approximation to correctness. With a clear understanding of an author’s meaning, the compositor seldom need go far astray; and if, having done his best, he finds any passage hopelessly involved, or the meaning too subtile to be grasped, he has one safe resource,—and that is, to FOLLOW THE COPY closely and mechanically. Could he have for reference a few pages preceding a doubtful passage, the whole matter might become perfectly clear; but, as that is out of the question, those pages being scattered as {p124} “takes” in other hands, let the compositor adopt the safe course,—FOLLOW COPY,—resting assured that no person whose opinion he need value, could possibly think of finding fault with him for leaving responsibility where it properly belongs.