were in the woods, and in a few minutes we caught sight of the pond. (2d) Those of us who knew our Thoreau hurried forward, of course, to get a glimpse of the hut in which our author played hermit so long. No hut, however, was to be seen, as we might have known had we lived in Concord. (2e) So, at least, said the Concord girls, who were familiar with Walden. (2ƒ) In the woods that encircle the pond, they had often looked for some trace of the hut, but had never found any. Charles Williams, Helen Pride and her brother," no comma is used before "and." The third and fourth commas in (2 a) enclose a phrase that is in apposition with "Helen Pride." In (26) the commas separate phrases of the same kind, as in (2a) they separate words of the same Kind. In (2 c) the comma before "and" serves to separate two independent clauses. A comma is also often used between two dependent clauses, or between a dependent clause and the clause on which it depends. In (2d) the commas enclosing "of course" and however," and that setting off the clause beginning with "as," indicate that these expressions are parenthetical — that is, that the omission of them would not affect the structure of the sentence. In (2 e) the comma before "who" shows the meaning to be that all the Concord girls present said "so"; in the absence of the comma, the meaning would be that only those Concord girls who were familiar with Walden said "so." With a comma, a relative clause adds something to the meaning of the antecedent; without a comma, it restricts or defines the meaning of the antecedent. Examples of the restrictive relative appear in the first sentence of (2d), and in (2ƒ). In (2f) the comma indicates that the phrase "In the woods," etc., stands before rather than after "looked," the word with which it is logically connected. A phrase or a clause that is not in its natural position is usually, but not always, set off by a comma; each case has to be decided by considerations of clearness. (3a) For the next hour or two, one boy continued to moon about Thoreau; but most of us engaged in more practical business. (36) Some hunted for rare plants or for blackberries; some went out on the water and tried for perch; some gathered wood for a fire; some unpacked the baskets that we had brought with us; some set the table; some cooked what there was to cook. (4a) Our dinner, like most meals in the open air, differed from dinners indoors in three respects: in the first place, it was eaten with ravenous appetites, the best sauce in the world; in the second place, the quality of the food didn't matter to us; in the third place, our talk was free and easy, and made up in laughter for what it lacked in wit. (46) So free and easy were we at In (3a) the semicolon [; ], like the comma in (2c), serves to separate two independent clauses. In a sentence no longer than (3 a), some writers would use a comma in preference to a semicolon. On this point no positive rule can be laid down; but a semicolon is usually preferable if either clause is broken by one or more commas, or if the two clauses are not closely connected in thought. In (36) periods might have been used instead of semicolons; but semicolons (or commas) are preferable, for they serve to make one sentence out of six independent clauses. Each of the six tells us what some of the company were doing; the six together tell us that everybody was busy in one way or another. In (4a) and (4) the colons [:] indicate that the general phrases "in three respects' and "a number of visitors" are to be followed by the particulars summed up in those phrases. In such cases, the colon may be regarded as equivalent to the sign of equality [=] in mathematics. The colon may also be used between two members of a sentence, if either member is composed of clauses that are separated by semicolons: e.g. Early reformations are amicable arrangements with a friend in power; late reformations are terms imposed upon a conquered enemy: early reformations are made in cold blood; late reformations are made under a state of inflammation." table that we had a number of visitors: a pair of bobolinks, who perched on a branch overhead; a squirrel, who made off with a nut that had dropped out of the bag; and more mosquitoes and caterpillars than we had time to count. (5 a) I almost forgot to mention that Helen Pride - the girl from Beacon Hill, you remember, -and Moses Snow, the son of a Concord farmer, struck up a great friendship in the course of the morning, and that, when the time came to start for home, they could not be found. (56) At last some one spied, on the opposite side of the pond, what seemed to be a boat a boat with two in it. (5c) Could the two, we wondered, possibly be Helen and (6a) "Suppose I read while we wait," 'broke in a Concord boy, as he pulled "Walden" out of his pocket. "Thoreau's writings are always restful, and especially here, where he was on such good terms with nature. Here he was Pan come again,' as Emerson said. 'I love Henry,' said another of his friends, but I cannot like him; and as for taking his arm, I should as soon think of taking the arm of an elmtree."" (7 a) So we listened, or pretended to listen, till the boat ("the lovers' boat," as we called it) came within hail. (8 a) [Here follow several extracts from Thoreau's "Walden."] (9 a) About five o'clock the laggards got to shore. (96) Shortly after their arrival we started homeward, tired enough no doubt, but thoroughly satisfied with our day's In (9 a) the apostrophe [] in "o'clock" indicates an omission: "o"" stands for "of the." In (96) the apostrophes in "day's" and "Thoreau's" indicate the possessive Another use of the apostrophe is to mark the plural of a letter, of a figure, or of a word that is treated as a word without regard to its meaning: e.g. "Count the 'a's,' the '3's,' and the 'of's' in this book." case. outing. Thoreau's Walden we had not seen, but the Walden we had seen was worth while. (10 a) After listening to the paper from which the foregoing extracts are taken, the Patrick Henry Club passed the following resolutions: Voted, That the thanks of the Patrick Henry Club be presented to Mr. Percy Jones for his entertaining and instructive paper. Voted, That ten copies of the paper be printed at the expense of the author. (11 a) The face of Percy Jones while he listened to these resolutions was a study; but he said nothing, and the resolutions were carried. Then, with In (96) there is, it will be noticed, no comma before "no doubt," although these words, being parenthetical, would usually be set off by commas.1 The reason for departing from the ordinary practice is that the presence of a comma before "no doubt” might lead the reader to suppose that the phrase belongs with "started homeward," whereas the absence of the comma shows unmistakably that "no doubt goes with "tired enough." In such a case, the rules of punctuation may be set aside to advantage. In (10 a) the colon followed by a dash [:-] indicates that a quotation is to follow in another paragraph. Had the quotation been in the same paragraph, a colon [:] would have been enough. Some writers use colons alone in both cases. In (11a) the hyphens in "cat-calls" and "boy-like" are used to join the parts of compound words. The hyphen also serves to divide a word at the end of a line, as in "carried" and "outbursts." 1 See page 26. |