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قراءة كتاب "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
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"Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
Dependent clauses are generally separated from the rest of the sentence in which they occur. The usual point is the comma.
Be his motives what they may, he must soon disperse his followers.
This relation of your army to the crown will, if I am not greatly mistaken, become a serious dilemma in your politics.
Of course, this rule must be qualified by the rules for the stronger points, especially by those for the semicolon and the colon. It is often necessary to separate the clause from the rest of the sentence by a strong point.
Exceptions.—(I) No point is needed if either the dependent clause or the principal clause be short.
He would be shocked if he were to know the truth.
But if the dependent clause be inserted parenthetically, it is marked off by commas or the other marks of parenthesis, however short it may be. (See Rule X.)
If the sentence last quoted were inverted, a comma would be placed after the dependent clause.
If he were to know the truth, he would be shocked.
In the first form of this example, "he would be shocked" is a definite, finished statement, the necessary qualification to which should follow with as little pause as possible. But in the inverted form, the first part of the sentence—"if he were to know the truth"—is not a finished statement, and the mind may pause for a moment before going on to the consequence, knowing that the consequence must follow.
(2) No point is needed if there be a very close grammatical connection between the dependent clause and some word or words preceding it.
They had so long brooded over their own distresses that they knew nothing of how the world was changing around them.
Note that by the word "so" the clause "that they knew nothing" is joined very closely to the previous part of the sentence; and that the two clauses "that they knew nothing" and "how the world was changing around them," are even more closely joined to one another by the preposition "of." For the same reason, where the object is a clause, there is no point before it.
He confessed to us that he had not thought over the matter.
A useful distinction will afterwards be drawn between the different kinds of relative clauses. (Rule XIV.)
X. Words thrown in so as to interrupt slightly the flow of a sentence are marked off by commas.
He resolved, therefore, to visit the prisoner early in the morning.
This, I think, is the right view of the case.
The first ideas of beauty formed by the mind are, in all probability, derived from colours.
The following are some of the words and phrases that come under this rule: therefore, too, indeed, however, moreover, then, accordingly, consequently; in short, in fine, in truth, in fact, to a certain extent, all things considered.
This rule of high pointing should be applied very sparingly, and might really be restricted to cases like the "I think" of the second example. Nowadays the tendency is against the pointing of such words as "therefore" and "indeed."
Where the words thrown in make a very distinct break in the sentence, they should be pointed off by means of the dash or of brackets.
XI. Where two parts of a sentence have some words in common, which are not expressed for each of them, but are given only when the words in which they differ have been separately stated, the second part is marked off by commas.
His classification is different from, and more comprehensive than, any other which we have met.
This foundation is a nursing-mother of lay, as distinguished from religious, oratorios.
These examples come within the principle of Rule X.
XII. When words are common to two or more parts of a sentence, and are expressed only in one part, a comma is often used to show that they are omitted in the other parts.
London is the capital of England; Paris, of France; Berlin, of Germany.
In the worst volume of elder date, the historian may find something to assist or direct his enquiries; the antiquarian, something to elucidate what requires illustration; the philologist, something to insert in the margin of his dictionary.
Though many writers constantly punctuate contracted sentences in this way, it is well not to insert the comma when the meaning is equally clear without it. It is unnecessary in the following sentence:
Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
XIII. Words placed out of their natural position in the sentence are often followed by a comma.
(1) The object is usually placed after the verb; when placed at the beginning of the sentence, it should be separated from the subject by a comma, unless the meaning would otherwise be perfectly clear and be readily seized.
The proportions of belief and of unbelief in the human mind in such cases, no human judgment can determine.
There is the same reason for inserting the comma in such cases as there is for inserting it after a long subject. Moreover, there is often need of some device to remove the ambiguities that are caused by inversion. In English, the meaning of words is so greatly determined by their position that, in altering the usual arrangement of a sentence, there is risk of being misunderstood. The danger of inserting the point in this case is that the object may be read with the words going before, and not with its own verb. If there is a possibility of this, the point should not be used.
Of course no point should be placed after the object in such a sentence as the following:—"One I love, and the other I hate."
(2) An adverbial phrase, that is a phrase used as an adverb, is usually placed after the verb; when it begins the sentence, a comma follows it unless it is very short.
From the ridge a little way to the east, one can easily trace the windings of the river.
In order to gain his point, he did not hesitate to use deception.
In ordinary circumstances I should have acted differently.
No point would be used in the above sentences, if the adverbial phrases occurred in their usual position.
He did not hesitate to use deception in order to gain his point.
Nor is any point used when, as often happens in such sentences, the verb precedes the subject.
Not very far from the foot of the mountain lies the village we hope to reach.
(3) An adjective phrase, that is a phrase used as an adjective, is usually placed immediately after the word which it qualifies; when it appears in any other place, a comma is often usefully placed before it.
A question was