Punctuation; its principles and practice
From the book's introduction:
It is difficult for us who live under modern conditions to realize the feelings and aims of the man who first tried to express himself in a form more permanent and far-reaching than speech, but of one thing we may feel tolerably certain. His effort presupposes a degree of self-consciousness and power of constructing conditions other than those immediately present which markedly separate him from his predecessors.
At the same time, however, his powers of abstraction were but weakly alive: he was still unable adequately to put himself in the position of his reader, and, as a result, the 2 Introductory correct understanding of the rude pictures in which he recorded his experiences involved some antecedent knowledge of the circumstances described. The form of his expression was simple and direct, yet it was not altogether clear and complete.
We, on the other hand, are in possession of a highly complex instrument of expression, an instrument that has been developed and refined to meet the needs as well of the reader as of the writer. During the long process of growth which has brought our written language to its present wide range of power, certain conventional signs have slowly come into general use in order to indicate the grouping and sequence of ideas, and at the same time to simplify and safeguard the correct interpretation of a writer's meaning. We may best judge how far we are dependent on these artificial devices by reading the following piece of nineteenth-century prose, which is printed in what may be called primitive simplicity.
the book details :Author: T. F. Husband
Publication date:1906
Company: London, G. Routledge and Sons,
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We, on the other hand, are in possession of a highly complex instrument of expression, an instrument that has been developed and refined to meet the needs as well of the reader as of the writer. During the long process of growth which has brought our written language to its present wide range of power, certain conventional signs have slowly come into general use in order to indicate the grouping and sequence of ideas, and at the same time to simplify and safeguard the correct interpretation of a writer's meaning. We may best judge how far we are dependent on these artificial devices by reading the following piece of nineteenth-century prose, which is printed in what may be called primitive simplicity.
Contents:
PART I HISTORICAL
I. INTRODUCTORY ..... I
II. SOME GREEK AND LATIN MANUSCRIPTS 8
III. SOME ENGLISH MANUSCRIPTS . . 17
IV. SOME BOOKS ON PUNCTUATION. 32
PART II MODERN
V. THE FULL STOP ..... 54
VI. THE MARK OF INTERROGATION AND THE
VI. THE MARK OF INTERROGATION AND THE
MARK OF EXCLAMATION . . 67
VII. THE COMMA ..... 75
VIII THE COMMA continued ... 89
IX. THE SEMICOLON AND THE COLON. 105
X. THE DASH, THE MARKS OF PARENTHESIS,
X. THE DASH, THE MARKS OF PARENTHESIS,
AND THE INVERTED COMMAS. 113
XI. CONCLUSION ..... 124.
APPENDIX A . . . . . 129
APPENDIX B ..... 130
INDEX ...... 137
the book details :
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