nd we'll send for a doctor to see what's the matter,—and we'll have an apothecary,—and the corporal shall be your nurse;—and I'll be your servant, Le Fevre."—STERNE: Enfield's Speaker, p. 306.
[Formule.—Not proper, because all the dashes here quoted, except perhaps the last, are useless, or obviously substituted for more definite marks. But, according to Rule 3d, "Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more definite, are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation." Therefore, the first of these should be simply expunged; the second, third, and fourth, with their commas, should be changed to semicolons; and the last, with its semicolon, may well be made a colon.]
"He continued—Inferior artists may be at a stand, because they want materials."—HARRIS: Enfield's Speaker, p. 191. "Thus, then, continued he—The end in other arts is ever distant and removed."—Id., ib.
"The nouns must be coupled with and, and when a pronoun is used it must be plural, as in the example—When the nouns are disjoined the pronoun must be singular."—Lennie's Gram., 5th Ed., p. 57.
"Opinion is a noun or substantive common,—of the singular number,—neuter gender,—nominative case,—and third person."—Wright's Philos. Gram., p. 228.
"The mountain—thy pall and thy prison—may keep thee;
I shall see thee no more; but till death I will weep thee."
—Felton's Gram., p. 146.
MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR
"If to accommodate man and beast, heaven and earth; if this be beyond me, 'tis not possible.—What consequence then follows? or can there be any other than this—if I seek an interest of my own, detached from that of others; I seek an interest which is chimerical, and can never have existence."—HARRIS: Enfield's Speaker, p. 139.
"Again—I must have food and clothing—Without a proper genial warmth, I instantly perish—Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itself? To the distant sun, from whose beams I derive vigour?"—Id., ib., p. 140.
"Nature instantly ebb'd again—the film returned to its place—the pulse flutter'd—stopp'd—went on—throbb'd—stopp'd again—mov'd—stopp'd—shall I go on?—No."—STERNE: ib., p. 307.
"Write ten nouns of the masculine gender. Ten of the feminine. Ten of the neuter. Ten indefinite in gender."—Pardon Davis's Gram., p. 9.
"The Infinitive Mode has two tenses—the Indicative, six—the Potential, two—the Subjunctive, six, and the Imperative, one."—Frazee's Gram., Ster. Ed., p. 39; 1st Ed., 37. "Now notice the following sentences. John runs,—boys run—thou runnest."—Ib., Ster. Ed., p. 50; 1st Ed., p. 48.
"The Pronoun sometimes stands for a name—sometimes for an adjective—a sentence—a part of a sentence—and, sometimes for a whole series of propositions."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., 1st Ed., 12mo, p. 321.
"The self-applauding bird, the peacock, see—
Mark what a sumptuous pharisee is he!"—Cowper, i, 49.
SECTION VI.—THE EROTEME.
The Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation, is used to designate a question.
RULE I.—QUESTIONS DIRECT.
Questions expressed directly as such, if finished, should always be followed by the note of interrogation; as, "Was it possible that virtue so exalted should be erected upon injustice? that the proudest and the most ambitious of mankind should be the great master and accomplished pattern of humility? that a doctrine so pure as the Gospel should be the work of an uncommissioned pretender? that so perfect a system of morals should be established on blasphemy?"—Jerningham's Essay, p. 81.
"In life, can love be bought with gold?
Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?"—Johnson.
RULE II.—QUESTIONS UNITED.
When two or more questions are united in one compound sentence, the comma, semicolon, or dash, is sometimes used to separate them, and the eroteme occurs after the last only; as,
- "When—under what administration—under what exigencies of war or peace—did the Senate ever before deal with such a measure in such a manner? Never, sir, never."—D. Webster, in Congress, 1846.
- "Canst thou, and honour'd with a Christian name,
Buy what is woman-born, and feel no shame;
Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead
Expedience as a warrant for the deed?"—Cowper. - "Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land?
All fear, none aid you, and few understand."—Pope.
