The Writer's Desk Book. William Dana Orcutt

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PUNCTUATION

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      IN early manuscripts the words followed one another without punctuation points, thus making it difficult for readers to separate the ideas into the same parts as originally intended by the authors. Later they were separated by dots or other marks, which method obtained in the earliest printed volumes. Aldus Manutius (Venice, 1490–1515) and his family were the pioneers in establishing a basis for systematic punctuation. From this chaotic condition definite rules have gradually been evolved for general guidance, but judgment and taste must always be the final guides to correct punctuation. Assistance may be obtained by observing a few simple rules which are based upon the idea that the purpose of every punctuation mark is to indicate to the eye the construction of the sentence in which it occurs.

      No one of the various punctuation marks should ever be used exclusively or to excess, for each one has some specific duty which it can perform better than any other. It is always wise to question why, in a given case, a punctuation mark should be put in rather than why it should be left out, for of the two evils an over-punctuated book is the more objectionable. “Close punctuation,” {4} characterized by the use of many commas, prevailed in the English of the eighteenth century and is today the best French usage, but “open punctuation,” which avoids the use of any point not clearly required by the construction, is now favored by the best English writers.

      THE COMMA

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      Dean Alford once wrote, in disgust, “The great enemies to understanding anything in our language are the commas,” and prided himself that in the course of editing the Greek text of the New Testament, he destroyed more than a thousand of these “enemies.” The chief use of this, the smallest degree of separation, is to define the particles and minor clauses of a sentence. It should always be placed inside the quotation-marks when used in connection with them.

      The comma is required:

      1. Before a conjunction when the preceding word is qualified by an expression which is not intended to qualify the word following the conjunction: e.g., He suddenly started, and fell.

      2. Between adjectives and adverbs when not connected by a conjunction: He possessed a calm, exasperating manner; but the comma may be omitted between two adjectives when the idea is close: e.g., A clear cold day. {5}

      3. After adjectives and adverbs where three or more are used in succession: e.g., The man possessed a calm, cynical, exasperating manner.

      4. In a succession of three or more words where the conjunctive and is used before the last one: e.g., He was tall, thin, and pale.

      5. When the word after the conjunction is followed by an expression which qualifies that word alone: e.g.,

       ’Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.

      6. After inverted