Take the following rules and mark them well:
Put a comma wherever you would make a trifling pause, were you speaking; as, "He came, he saw, he conquered."
A semicolon makes a longer pause, and an incomplete sentence; as, "Julia is handsome; Agnes is beautiful." The semicolon separates the sentence more distinctly than the comma.
The colon marks a sentence which is complete in itself, but is followed by some additional remark; as, "Shun vice: it will lead to ruin." The colon is also used to precede a quotation, and point it off from the rest of the sentence; as, Shakespeare says: "Assume a virtue, if you have it not."
A period is used to denote that a sentence is complete; as, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
The dash is used to denote a sudden pause, or abrupt change of sense; as, "I have loved her madly, wildly—but why speak of her?"
The interrogation point is used only after a question; as, "Why did you say so?"
The interjection point is used only to denote an exclamation; as, "Alas! all my joys have flown!"
The parenthesis is used to enclose a portion of a sentence which if left out would not destroy the sense; as, "I value this flower (a faded flower) very highly."
The apostrophe is used to mark the possessive case, and also the omission of a letter or letters in a word; as, "Frederick's hair is black," or, "Gen'l Grant is getting old."
The caret is used to mark an omitted word, which word must be written immediately above it; as
| wet | ||
| "What a | ^ | day!" |
The hyphen is used to connect compound words, and at the end of a line shows that more syllables are carried over to the next line.
Quotation marks are used before and after every quotation, to separate and define it; as, "Many are called, but few are chosen."
CAPITAL LETTERS.
The capital letters only set apart the sentences and paragraphs, but while their proper use adds greatly to the beauty of an epistle, their omission or improper use will make the pages present a perfectly absurd appearance.
Begin every paragraph with a capital letter.
Begin every sentence following a period with a capital letter.
Begin all proper names with a capital letter.
Begin all titles, as President, Vice-President, General, Doctor or Captain, with a capital letter.
Begin all names of places, as Chicago, Long Branch, Niagara, with a capital letter.
Begin the words, North, South, East, West, and their compounds and abbreviations, as North-east, S. W., with a capital letter.
Begin the names of the Deity and Heaven, or the pronoun used for the former, as, in His mercy—Thou, Father, with a capital letter.
Begin all adjectives formed from the names of places or points of the compass, as English, Northern, with a capital letter.
Begin every: line of poetry with a capital letter.
Begin all quotations with a capital letter.
Begin all titles of books, and usually each important word of the title, as, Bancroft's History of the United States.
Begin the name of any historical event, as the Civil War, with a capital letter.
The pronoun I and the interjection O must invariably be written with a capital letter.
Begin all the names of the months, as June, April, with a capital letter.
Begin all addresses, as, Dear Sir—Dear Madam, with a capital letter.
Capital letters: must never be placed in the middle of a word; never, except in accordance with the foregoing aloo in the middle of a sentence.
STYLE.
You cannot blindly follow any rules as regards style, as your style will ever be your own. Quote as little as possible, and be niggardly with your adjectives. Avoid long sentences, and florid language Parenthesis should be carefully punctuated; as, "John (who is, as you are aware, a confirmed toper) is considerably better.":
Be very careful not to repeat the same word. Tautology is a crime in writing. Read this and see how you like it:
"Willie has come. Johnny will come to-morrow. Will you come and spend a day with us? Make Susie come. Summer has come at last."
