Chapter 4

Con-fidently; investi-gated; some-thing; institu-tion; diffi-culty; at-tractions; exclu-sively; kins-man; self-organized; en-tangled; col-lective; intermis-sion; ma-terials; chan-cellor; col-lege; indus-trious; sub-ject; his-tory; con-dition; Low-landers; or-ganization; re-cognized; in-famous.

Some selected examples may be also given:

Resem-blance; hum-ble; se-cond; trans-lator; justifi-able; east-ern; endea-vour.

THE APOSTROPHE

LXXIV. The apostrophe is used to indicate that some letter or letters of a word are left out.

"E'er" for "ever," "can't" for "cannot," "don't" for "do not," "'gin" for "begin."

The apostrophe is not used when the word, though contracted in the middle, retains its original pronunciation; as "Dr." or "Mr." But it is used where the contraction is at the end of the word: "tho'," "Peterboro'."

LXXV. The apostrophe marks the possessive case of nouns. The following rules determine where it is to be placed:

_Nouns in the singular number--_

(1) The letter "s" is added, and the apostrophe is placed before it.

The king's abode. A patriot's reward.

(2) If the nominative singular of the noun ends in "s," another "s" is not added if the repetition of hissing sounds would be displeasing to the ear. The apostrophe is then placed at the end of the word.

Hercules' club. Augustus' dignity.

Words of one syllable follow the first rule: "James's share." Some words of two syllables follow the first rule, some the second: "the princess's birthday"; "Francis' style."

This distinction is sanctioned by usage. But it may judiciously be disregarded. In speaking we almost entirely ignore it. Why should we trouble ourselves with it in writing?

_Nouns in the plural number--_

(1) The apostrophe is placed after the "s" of the plural.

Boys' clothing. Our friends' troubles.

(2) If the plural do not end in "s," an "s" is added, and the apostrophe is placed before it.

Men's opinions. The children's pleasure.

LXXVI. The apostrophe is used before the "s" of the plural when single letters are used as words.

Mind your p's and q's.

He does not dot his i's nor cross his t's.

MARKS OF ELLIPSIS

LXXVII. When, in the middle of a quotation, a part is omitted, several asterisks or several full stops are placed in a line to mark the omission.

Clarendon makes the following remark about Lord Falkland: "Yet two things he could never bring himself to whilst he continued in that office, that was to his death; for which he was contented to be reproached as for omissions in a most necessary part of his place. The one, employing of spies, or giving any countenance or entertainment to them. * * * The other, the liberty of opening letters, upon a suspicion that they might contain matter of a dangerous consequence." (One sentence omitted.)

"The French and Spanish nations," said Louis XIV., "are so united that they will henceforth be only one.... My grandson, at the head of the Spaniards, will defend the French. I, at the head of the French, will defend the Spaniards."

"He who in former years," wrote Horace Walpole of his father, "was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow ... now never sleeps above an hour without waking."

If the passage omitted be of very considerable length, for instance if it be a complete paragraph, or if a line of poetry be omitted, the asterisks are placed in a line by themselves. There is a tendency to confine the asterisk to such cases, and to use the full stop for shorter ellipses. If a complete sentence be omitted, the number of additional full stops is generally four; if a passage be omitted in the middle of a sentence, the number is generally three.

When some of the letters of a name are omitted, their place is supplied by a line or dash, whose length depends on the number of letters omitted.

The scene of our story is laid in the town of B----. There was one H----, who, I learned in after days, was seen expiating some maturer offence in the hulks.

Blakesmoor in H----shire.

REFERENCES TO NOTES

Notes are generally placed at the foot of a page; though sometimes they are collected at the end of a chapter, or even at the end of a book. Various devices are in use for indicating the passage in the text to which a note refers.

(1) The six reference signs: the "asterisk" (*), the "dagger" ([dagger character]) (also called the "obelisk"), the "double dagger" ([double dagger character]), the "section" (§), the "parallels" (||), the "paragraph" (¶). They are suitable only where the notes are placed at the foot of a page, and are invariably used in the order in which we have mentioned them.

If the number of notes in one page exceeds six, the signs are doubled. The seventh note is marked thus: **; the eighth, [dagger character][dagger character]; the ninth, [double dagger character][double dagger character]; and so on. But it is better, in cases where the notes are so numerous, to use other means of reference.

(2) Figures: either within parentheses, as (1), (2), (3), &c.; or, more usually, printed in the raised or "superior" form, as ¹²³, &c. Sometimes the first note in each page is marked;¹ but it is now common, in books divided into chapters, to mark the first note in each chapter with ¹ and then go on with continuous numbers to the end of the chapter.

"Superior" figures are now the most usual marks of reference in English books.

(3) Letters; which also may either be placed within parentheses or be printed in "superior" form: (a), (b), (c), &c., or ^{a} ^{b} ^{c}, &c. Italic letters are sometimes used. As a rule the first note in each page is marked (a) or ^{a}. If in one page there are more notes than there are letters in the alphabet (which sometimes happens), we go to (aa), (bb), (cc), &c., ^{aa} ^{bb} ^{cc}. The letter "j" is often omitted.

It is less common to make the letters continuous from page to page.

The sign, whatever it may be, is placed at the beginning of the note, and also in the text immediately after the part to which the note refers. The note may refer to a whole sentence, to a part of a sentence, even to a single word; the sign is placed as the case may be, at the end of the sentence, at the end of the part referred to, or after the single word.

HOW TO CORRECT A PRINTER'S PROOF

EXPLANATION

1. Where a word is to be changed from small letters to capitals, draw three lines under it, and write _caps._ in the margin.

2. Where there is a wrong letter, draw the pen through it, and make the right letter opposite in the margin.

3. A letter turned upside down.

4. The substitution of a comma for another point, or for a letter put in by mistake.

5. The insertion of a hyphen.

6. To draw close together the letters of a word that stand apart.

7. To take away a superfluous letter or word, the pen is struck through it and a round top _d_ made opposite, being the contraction of _deleatur_='expunge.'

8. Where a word has to be changed to Italic, draw a line under it, and write _Ital._ in the margin; and where a word has to be changed from Italic to Roman, write _Rom._ opposite.

9. When words are to be transposed, three ways of marking them are shown; but they are not usually numbered unless more than three words have their order changed.

10. The transposition of letters in a word.

11. To change one word for another.

12. The substitution of a period or a colon for any other point. It is customary to encircle these two points with a line.

13. The substitution of a capital for a small letter.

14. The insertion of a word or of a letter.

15. When a paragraph commences where it is not intended, connect the matter by a line, and write in the margin opposite _run on_.

16. Where a space or a quadrat stands up and appears, draw a line under it, and make a strong perpendicular line in the margin.

17. When a letter of a different size from that used, or of a different face, appears in a word, draw a line either through it or under it, and write opposite _w.f._, for 'wrong fount.'

18. The marks for a paragraph, when its commencement has been omitted.

19. When a word or words have been struck out, and it is subsequently decided that they shall remain, make dots under them, and write the word _stet_ in the margin.

20. The mark for a space where it has been omitted between two words.

21. To change a word from small letters to small capitals, make two lines under the word, and write _sm. caps._ opposite. To change a word from small capitals to small letters, make one line under the word, and write in the margin _lo. ca._, for 'lower case.'

22. The mark for the apostrophe; and also the marks for inverted commas.

23. The manner of marking an omitted passage when it is too long to be written in the side margin. When this occurs, it may be written either at the top or the bottom of the page.

24. Marks when lines or words are not straight.

When corrected, the passage given above would read as follows--

ANTIQUITY, like every other quality that attracts the notice of mankind, has undoubtedly votaries that _reverence_ it, not from reason, but from prejudice. Some seem to admire indiscriminately whatever has been long preserved, without considering that time has sometimes co-operated with chance: all perhaps are more willing to honour past than present excellence; and the mind contemplates genius through the shades of age, as the eye surveys the sun through artificial opacity. The great contention of criticism is to find the faults of the moderns and the beauties of the ancients. While an author is yet living, we estimate his powers by his worst performances; and when he is dead, we rate them by his best.

To works, however, of which the excellence is not absolute and definite, but gradual and comparative; to works, not raised upon principles demonstrative and scientific, but appealing wholly to observation and experience, no other test can be applied than LENGTH of duration and continuance of esteem.