construction (a), or to connect two expressions which are in the same construction and are used as if they belonged to the same part of speech (b).

(2) A comma should, however, be inserted before the conjunction when the preceding word is qualified by an expression that is not intended to qualify the word after the conjunction (c); or when the word after the conjunction is followed by an expression which qualifies that word alone (d).

(3) A comma is required between such words or expressions, when they are not connected by a conjunction (e); or when there are more than two such words or expressions (ƒ), even though a conjunction is put before the last one in the series (g). If, however, the word or expression following the conjunction is more closely connected with the word or expression immediately preceding it than with the other words in the series, the comma is omitted (h).

(4) If the conjunction is repeated before each word or expression in the series, the comma is usually omitted where the words between which the conjunction stands are closely united in meaning (i), and is sometimes inserted where they are not so united (j).

(5) If the series is composed of several words unconnected by conjunctions, a comma is put after the last word, in order to indicate that all the words in the series bear the same relation to the succeeding part of the sentence (k); but sometimes, as where the sentence is so short as to present no difficulty, this rule is disregarded (7). If the succeeding part of the sentence is connected with the last word in the series, but not with the preceding words, the comma is omitted (m).

(a) Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote.

(a) A just but melancholy reflection embittered, however, the noblest of human enjoyments.

(b) The new order of things was inducing laxity of manners and a departure from the ancient strictness.

(c) He suddenly plunged, and sank.

(c) His mind was profoundly thoughtful, and vigorous.

(All day he kept on walking, or thinking about his misfortunes. (d) 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.

(e) His trees extended their cool, umbrageous branches.

(e) Kinglake has given Aleck a great, handsome1 chestnut mare.

(f) These are no mediæval personages; they belong to an older, pagan, mythological world.

(g) This is the best way to strengthen, refine, and enrich the intellectual powers.

(g) He had a hard, gray, and sullen face, piercing black eyes under bushy gray eyebrows, thin lips, and square jaw.

(g) It is the centre of trade, the supreme court of fashion, the umpire of rival talents, and the standard of things rare and precious.

(h) I have had to bear heavy rains, to wrestle with great storms, to fight my way and hold my own as well as I could.

(i) There speech and thought and nature failed a little.

(i) We bumped and scraped and rolled very unpleasantly.

(1) For his sake, empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed.

(i), (j) And feeling all along the garden wall,

Lest he should swoon and tumble and be found,

Crept to the gate, and open'd it, and closed.

(i), (d) I sat and looked and listened, and thought how many thousand years ago the same thing was going on in honor of Bubastis.

(k) The colleges, the clergy, the lawyers, the wealthy merchants, were against me.

(1) All great works of genius come from deep, lonely thought. (1) Punish, guide, instruct the boy.

(m) Lydgate's conceit was of the arrogant sort, never simpering, never impertinent, never petty in its claims, but benevolently contemptuous.

commas.

In the example under (j), some writers would omit the Their omission would be more usual in a colloquial than in an oratorical style, such as that of the passage in Macaulay from which the sentence is taken.

II.

WORDS IN APPOSITION

A comma is put between two words or phrases which are in apposition with each other (a), unless they are used as a com

There is no comma here, because the writer is speaking, not of a mare that is handsome and chestnut. but of a chestnut mare that is handsome.

pound name or a single phrase (b). Instead of a comma, the dash [-] alone (c), or combined with the comma (d), is sometimes used.

(a) Above all, I should speak of Washington, the youthful Virginian colonel. (a) Next to the capital stood Bristol, then the first English seaport, and Norwich, then the first English manufacturing town.

(b) On the seventeenth of November, 1558, after a brief but most disastrous reign, Queen Mary died.

(b) Ward Room, Franklin Schoolhouse, Washington Street, Boston.

(c) This point represents a second thought—an emendation.

(c) Do I want an arm, when I have three right arms-this (putting for ward his left one), and Ball, and Troubridge?

(d) The two principles of which we have hitherto spoken,-Sacrifice and Truth.

(d) He considered fine writing to be an addition from without to the matter treated of,— —a sort of ornament superinduced.

In a sentence constructed like the first one under (c), the dash is preferable to the comma; for the dash indicates unmistakably that the two expressions between which it stands are in apposition, whereas the comma might leave room for a momentary doubt whether " an emendation was the second term in a series, of which "a second thought" was the first term. A similar remark can be made about the second sentence under (c).

Where, as in the sentences under (d), the words in apposition are separated from each other by several other words, the dash indicates the construction more clearly than the comma would do.

III.

VOCATIVE WORDS

Vocative words or expressions are separated from the con text by one comma, when they occur at the beginning (a) or at the end (b) of a sentence; by two commas, when they occur in the body of a sentence (c).

(a) Mark Antony, here, take you Cæsar's body?

(b) What would you, Desdemona?

(c) Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, fellow-citizens, were successfully Presidents of the United States.

(c) I remain, Sir, your obedient servant.

(c) No, sir,1 I thank you.

IV.

ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS

Adverbial (a), participial (b), adjectival (c), or absolute (d) expressions are separated from the context by a comma or commas. So are many adverbs and conjunctions when they modify a clause or a sentence, or connect it with another sentence (e).

(a) By the law of nations, citizens of other countries are allowed to sue and to be sued.

(a) The book, greatly to my disappointment, was not to be found.

(b) Without attempting a formal definition of the word, I am inclined to consider rhetoric, when reduced to a system in books, as a body of rules derived from experience and observation, extending to all communication by language and designed to make it efficient.

(6) Returning to the question, let me add a single word.

(c) Violent as was the storm, it soon blew over.

(d) To make a long story short, the company broke up, and returned to

the more important concerns of the election.

(d) To state my views fully, I will begin at the beginning.

(e) The pursuers, too, were close behind.

(e) Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin.

(e) Here, indeed, is the answer to many criticisms.

(e) Therefore, however great the changes to be accomplished, and however dense the array against us, we will neither despair2 on the one hand, nor on the other2 threaten violence.

66

Many words ranked as adverbs are sometimes employed conjunctively, and require a different treatment in their punct

1 See "Capital Letters," III. p. 352.

2 Commas omitted aere for reasons of taste. See p. 328.

uation. When used as conjunctions, however, now, then, too, indeed, are divided by commas from the context; but when as adverbs, qualifying the words with which they are associated, the separation should not be made. This distinction will be seen from the following examples:

"1. HOWEVER.—We must, however, pay some deference to the opinions of the wise, however much they are contrary to our own.

"2. Now. I have now shown the consistency of my principles; and, now, what is the fair and obvious conclusion?

"3. THEN. On these facts, then, I then rested my argument, and afterwards made a few general observations on the subject.

"4. Too. I found, too, a theatre at Alexandria, and another at Cairo; but he who would enjoy the representations must not be too particular.

"5. INDEED.—The young man was indeed culpable in that act, though, indeed, he conducted himself very well in other respects.

"When placed at the end of a sentence or clause, the conjunction too must not be separated from the context by a comma; as, 'I would that they had changed voices too."

V.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses which are merely explanatory of the antecedent, or which present an additional thought, are separated from the context by a comma or commas (a); but relative clauses which are restrictive, that is, which limit or determine the meaning of the antecedent, are not so separated (b).2

(a) His stories, which made everybody laugh, were often made to order. (a) At five in the morning of the seventh, Gray, who had wandered from his friends, was seized by two of the Sussex scouts.

(a) His voice, which was so pleasing in private, was too weak for a public

occasion.

(a) In times like these, when the passions are stimulated, iruth is forgotten.

1 Wilson: Punctuation, p. 73.

2 See Principles of Rhetoric, p. 105.