THE PERIOD. RULE XXVIII. 85. Complete Sentences.-A complete statement or command, unless very strongly exclamatory, should be followed by a period. History is philosophy teaching by means of examples. I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him. 86. A sentence beginning with and, or, for, but, or a similar connective is in reality a part of the preceding sentence; yet such sentences are often separated by periods from what precedes. In this way, long and complex constructions may be avoided, with a gain in force and in ease of comprehension. The period is to be preferred to the exclamation point at the end of an exclamatory statement or command, unless the emotion to be expressed is exceptionally strong. RULE XXIX. 87. Abbreviations.-A period should be used after every abbreviated word, but not after contracted words when the missing elements are replaced by a dash or an apostrophe. MSS., p., pp., Dr., Ph. D., LL. D., and Co. are abbreviations. 88. Arabic figures when used to number paragraphs, examples, articles, etc., and letters of the alphabet when used for the same purpose, take a period after them. When, as part of a sentence structure, they become ordinal or are enclosed in marks of parenthesis a period is not required; as, (1), (a), 1st, 2d, 4th. Roman numbers are by most authorities written with a period following; as, IV., XVIII. When used in paging, Roman and Arabic numbers do not have the period after them. There is good authority for omitting the period in all cases after Roman numerals. 89. The symbols for chemical elements are written without periods; also, the letters used in geometry and other sciences to represent quantity of any kind, and certain other much used mathematical abbreviations. Water consists of two atoms of H combined with one atom of O. vers a 1-cos a = secacos a log x, tan a + cot b = x, etc. Sizes of books are indicated without periods; as, 4to, 8vo, 12mo. These are hybrid contractions of quarto, octavo, duodecimo, etc. RULE XXX. 90. Side Heads.—After a title or a side head that forms part of a paragraph, a period, or a period followed by a dash, should be used. The dash alone is preferred by some 91. Tabular Matter.-In tables and synopses, and in statistical or other matter in tabular form, the period should be used only after abbreviations, or where it will prevent ambiguity. This rule applies also to other marks of punctu ation. 92. In late books printed by the most reputable publishers, punctuation is almost entirely excluded from title pages. The same usage is well established with respect to the headings of chapters, running titles at the tops of pages, and in many similar cases. The theory is that punctuation should be used only when it accomplishes a useful purpose. The following reduced title page will illustrate: THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH BY JAMES BRYCE AUTHOR OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE" M. P. FOR ABERDEEN IN TWO VOLUMES THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT-THE STATE GOVERNMENTS THIRD EDITION COMPLETELY REVISED THROUGHOUT NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY All rights reserved THE INTERROGATION POINT. RULE XXXII. 93. Direct Questions.-Every direct question should be followed by a mark of interrogation, but not an indirect question. Direct: If a man die, shall he live again? Indirect: Tell me whether, if a man die, he will live again. 94. When several questions have a common dependence on a final element, only one mark of interrogation is required, and that should be placed at the end. Whither now are fled those dreams of greatness; those busy, bustling days; those happy, festive nights; those veering thoughts, lost between good and ill, that charmed thy youth? When several questions have no common element, each question, even though grammatically incomplete, requires a separate mark. What is education? Who are its apostles? When did they live? Where? Shall a man succeed by theft? by dishonesty? by trickery? by bribery? 95. Questions are often put in the declarative form. In such cases they are known to be questions only by their punctuation. You will come to-morrow? I may depend on that? Well, sir? Sick? Since when? Yesterday? Of late years there has come into pretty general use the practice of following the statements of a speaker with an interrogative yes. This is in very bad taste. Speaker." We then went aboard the steamer, which immediately left the harbor." Listener.-"Yes?" Speaker.- The voyage was ་་ at first very rough, and we were all seasick." Listener.-"Yes?" This is a usage similar to the "Do tell!" of the New England States. RULE XXXIII. 96. Doubt.-In order to denote doubt or incredulity or to suggest a correction, an interrogation mark may be inserted within the body of a sentence and enclosed by marks of parenthesis. Thomas Parr was born in 1483 (?) and died in 1635. The augers (augurs?) were all in the temple of Jupiter. Hypatia was murdered by the monks, instigated by Saint (?) Cyril of Alexandria. RULE XXXIV. 97. Quotations Within Questions. A quotation within a question must be punctuated so as to retain the individuality of each. Have you heard the head waiter say dinner is served"? Do you remember Tweed's "what are you going to do about it ?" Did not some one cry "murder! help!"? Has the question, "whence came we?" ever been answered? THE EXCLAMATION POINT. RULE XXXV. 98. Exclamatory Sentences.—An exclamation point should be placed at the end of a sentence expressing very strong emotion or implying loud outcry. What a burning shame! How dare you, sir! "Come back! come back!" he cried in grief. "Rouse, ye Romans! rouse, ye slaves!" Even when the feeling is strong, it is better to avoid, whenever possible, the use of the exclamation point. It is a mark found most frequently in weak writing. Mere tricks of punctuation cannot make up for lack of force; a refined and well balanced intellect avoids the show of emotion. O, sir, forgive me. O, I am utterly disgusted with him. RULE XXXVI. 99. Exclamatory Expressions.-An exclamation point should usually follow interjections and interjectional expres sions. Alas! alas! what have I spoken? Listen! O listen! Oh! how it hurts! O what a beauty! Ha, ha, ha, ho, ho! Fie, fie, fie, good sir! When an interjection is repeated the punctuation should be as in the last example above. 100. The interjections O and oh are generally discriminated thus: The former is used where the emotion colors an entire sentence; the latter as a mere ejaculation expressing sudden, strong, and explosive emotion. When O is used, the exclamation point should be written, if at all, at the end. of the emotive expression; but oh should be directly followed by the point. 101. The interjection O is sometimes used to express mere earnestness, and in such cases the exclamation point should be displaced by ordinary punctuation. |