CHAPTER XV

CLOSE AND OPEN PUNCTUATION

We shall deal with this subject somewhat as we dealt with compound words, endeavoring simply to point out the relative values of the “open” and “close” styles of punctuation.

Almost all writers on punctuation refer to a close open styles of punctuation, but they make no attempt clearly to define or to differentiate these terms. In general, the _close_ style of today is characterized by a free use of marks where they determine the meaning of the language, or assist the reader in determining it easily and quickly; the _open_ style omits most marks not actually needed to determine the meaning of the language. The close style may call for too many marks, and the open style for too few, each causing confusion to the reader.

It is mainly the comma whose use or omission determines the style of punctuation; but the use of a semicolon instead of a comma, may also differentiate the open from the close style. For instance, the need of a mark before “and” in Sentence 1 is so unmistakable that the use of a comma in such sentence cannot be called close punctuation; but the use of a semicolon in that sentence, as suggested in Chapter 7, may properly be called close punctuation. The use of a comma in the sentence (see Sentence 1-1) may be considered open punctuation; its omission would be poor punctuation, but many open punctuators would omit it.

While we must recognize the fact that for some years there has been a tendency among good writers to use fewer marks, we should disregard any such tendency based upon a lack of appreciation of the value of marks or, more specifically, upon ignorance of the fine sense relations of language so easily overlooked when not indicated by marks with meanings.

When two groups of words which, standing alone, take, at least conventionally, a comma, or even a semicolon, stand together in some relation to another group or to a single word, this relation may appear more readily if no mark is used between the two groups. We have already discussed such omission between intermediate groups, which are very numerous in both complex and simple language. The principle is illustrated in our next sentence:

133. The Lord my Shepard is; I shall be well supplied: Since He is mine and I am His What can I want beside?

In the third line of the stanza “and” so manifestly groups the two clauses between which it stands that a comma is not needed to avoid a wrong grouping by the reader; and, as each clause is connected in sense with “since,” the omission of a comma between the clauses more readily ties them as a single group to “since.” Of course, the use of a comma before “and,” which would be good punctuation, would require one at the end of the line.

A good close punctuator omits commas from all such groups of words; and a poor open punctuator does the same, but also improperly omits commas and semicolons in many other places.

One doing serious composition, or studying punctuation, may well punctuate closely as he writes, and afterwards remove all marks whose omission will improve the grouping and not violate good convention. The close punctuator who studiously omits a mark only when he has a reason to do so will rarely fail to use marks helpfully; the open punctuator who omits marks too freely will write much obscure language and much more whose meaning is not readily obtainable by the reader.

With this general principle established, the punctuator can readily determine what marks may be omitted; and, far more important, he can adapt to his own language the style of punctuation he prefers to follow.

The punctuation of our next sentence, taken from an editorial in a recent issue of the _New York Times_, has interest for both the close and the open punctuator. It contains _seven_ commas, only one of which can safely be omitted, while two more are needed. The comma after “divisions” may be omitted, but its use is good punctuation. One is needed after “music,” in order to show that “and” is followed by the closing word of a series; and one is imperative after “exhibition,” to show that what follows is an _explanatory_, and not a _restrictive_, adjective modifier:

134. There are in this issue eight separate sections, including, besides the twelve pages of timely pictures, beautifully executed in roto-gravure and half-tone, and the ample news and editorial divisions, and those devoted to sports, social affairs, music and the stage, a twenty-page section given up entirely to the development of the motor car in view of the yearly automobile exhibition which receives so large a share of public attention.

The punctuator who follows the fundamental principles we have endeavored to set forth, will be neither a _close_ nor an _open_ punctuator: he will be a judicious punctuator.

EXAMPLES

The following selections, copied from the first edition of this book, show the value of good punctuation, which, in this instance, is fairly close punctuation.

The first selection is an extract from Macaulay, picturing Burke’s knowledge of India; the second is from an article by Mr. Rowland E. Robinson, in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for December, 1895. The punctuation of the first is our own; the punctuation of the second is either the author’s or the editor’s.

A careful study of these selections, with a view to comparing at what points the punctuation is open and at what points close, cannot fail to be of interest. For instance, what is the meaning of the language in the first paragraph of the second extract (A New England Woodpile) with a comma after “certainty,” and what would be the meaning without the comma? Wherein does the punctuation of this extract depart from the principles we have been discussing?

BURKE’S INDIA

India and its inhabitants were not to him, as to most Englishmen, mere names and abstractions, but a real country and a real people. The burning sun; the strange vegetation of the palm and the cocoa-tree; the rice-field and the tank; the huge trees, older than the Mogul Empire, under which the village crowds assemble; the thatched roof of the peasant’s hut, and the rich tracery of the mosque, where the imaum prayed with his face to Mecca; the drums, and banners, and gaudy idols; the devotee swinging in the air; the graceful maiden, with the pitcher on her head, descending the steps to the river-side; the black faces, the long beards, the yellow streaks of sect; the turbans and the flowing robes; the spears and the silver maces; the elephants with their canopies of state; the gorgeous palanquin of the prince, and the close litter of the noble lady—all those things were to him as the objects amidst which his own life had been passed—as the objects which lay on the road between Beaconsfield and St. James’s Street.

The value of punctuation will appear in comparing this passage, as above printed, with the same passage as it appears in a work on composition edited by a university professor:

... the rice-field; the tank; ... the thatched roof of the peasant’s hut; the rich tracery of the mosque where the imaum prays with his face to Mecca; ... the graceful maiden, with the pitcher on her head descending the steps to the riverside; the black faces; the long beards; the yellow streaks of sect; the turbans and the flowing robes, the spears and the silver maces; ...

By such punctuation the _tank_ is taken out of the _rice-field_; the contrast between _hut_ and _mosque_ is lost; the absence of the comma before “where” makes the imaum pray at a particular mosque; not the maiden, but her head, is descending the steps; beards are separated from faces, and yellow streaks of sect may be on fence posts for aught the reader knows; and turbans and flowing robes, emblems of rank, are put on spear-and mace-bearers.

And by such punctuation the beauty of the picture is entirely lost in a mere catalogue of things seen in India—and this is not literature.

A NEW ENGLAND WOODPILE

When the charitable mantle of the snow has covered the ugliness of the earth, as one looks towards the woodlands he may see a distant dark speck emerge from the blue shadow of the woods and crawl slowly houseward. If born to the customs of this wintry land, he may guess at once what it is; if not, speculation, after a little, gives way to certainty, when the indistinct atom grows into a team of quick-stepping horses or deliberate oxen hauling a sled-load of wood to the farm-house.

It is more than that. It is a part of the woods themselves, with much of their wildness clinging to it, and with records, slight and fragmentary, yet legible, of the lives of trees and birds and beasts and men, coming to our door.

Before the sounds of the creaking sled and the answering creak of the snow are heard, one sees the regular puffs of the team’s breath jetting out and climbing the cold air. The head and shoulders of the muffled driver then appear, as he sticks by narrow foothold to the hinder part of his sled, or trots behind it beating his breast with his numb hands. Prone like a crawling band of scouts, endwise like battering-rams, not upright, with green banners waving, Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane to fight King Frost.

As the woodpile grows at the farm-house door in a huge windrow of sled-length wood or an even wall of cord wood, so in the woods there widens a patch of uninterrupted daylight. Deep shade and barred and netted shadow turn to almost even whiteness, as the axe saps the foundation of summer homes of birds and the winter fastnesses of the squirrels and raccoons. Here are the tracks of sled and team, where they wound among rocks and stumps and over cradle knolls to make up a load; and there are those of the chopper by the stump where he stood to fell the tree, and along the great trough made by its fall. The snow is flecked with chips, dark or pale according to their kind, just as they alighted from their short flight, bark up or down or barkless or edgewise, and with dry twigs and torn scraps of scattered moss.

When the chopper comes to his work in the morning, he finds traces of nightly visitors to his white island that have drifted to its shores out of the gray sea of woods. Here is the print of the hare’s furry foot where he came to nibble the twigs of poplar and birch that yesterday were switching the clouds, but have fallen, manna-like, from skyward to feed him. A fox has skirted its shadowy margin, then ventured to explore it, and in a thawy night a raccoon has waddled across it.

The woodman is apt to kindle a fire more for company than warmth, though he sits by it to eat his cold dinner, casting the crumbs to the chickadees, that come fearlessly about him at all times. Blazing or smouldering by turns, as it is fed or starved, the fire humanizes the woods more than the man does. Now and then it draws to it a visitor, oftenest a fox-hunter who has lost his hound, and stops for a moment to light his pipe at the embers and to ask if his dog has been seen or heard. Then he wades off through the snow, and is presently swallowed out of sight by gray trees and blue shadows. Or the hound comes in search of his master or a lost trail. He halts for an instant, with a wistful look on his sorrowful face, then disappears, nosing his way into the maw of the woods.

If the wood is cut “sled length,” which is a saving of time and also of chips, that will now be made at the door and will serve to boil the tea-kettle in summer, instead of rotting to slow fertilization of the woodlot, the chopper is one of the regular farm hands or a “day man,” and helps load the sled when it comes. If the wood is four foot, he is a professional, chopping by the cord, and not likely to pile his cords too high or long, nor so closely that the squirrels have much more trouble in making their way through them than over them; and the man comes and goes according to his ambition to earn money.

In whichever capacity the chopper plies his axe, he is pretty sure to bring no sentimentalism to his task. He inherits the feeling that was held by the old pioneers toward trees, who looked upon the noblest of them as only giant weeds, encumbering the ground, and best got rid of by the shortest means. To him the tree is a foe worthy of no respect or mercy, and he feels the triumph of a savage conqueror when it comes crashing down and he mounts the prostrate trunk to dismember it; the more year-marks encircling its heart, the greater his victory. To his ears, its many tongues tell nothing, or preach only heresy. Away with the old tree to the flames! To give him his due, he is a skillful executioner, and will compel a tree to fall across any selected stump within its length. If one could forget the tree, it is a pretty sight to watch the easy swing of the axe, and see how unerringly every blow goes to its mark, knocking out chips of a span’s breadth. It does not look difficult nor like work; but could you strike “twice in a place,” or in half a day bring down a tree twice as thick as your body? The wise farmer cuts, for fuel, only the dead and decaying trees in his woodlot, leaving saplings and thrifty old trees to “stand up and grow better,” as the Yankee saying is.

There is a prosperous and hospitable look in a great woodpile at a farmhouse door. Logs with the moss of a hundred years on them, breathing the odors of the woods, have come to warm the inmates and all in-comers. The white smoke of these chimneys is spicy with the smell of seasoned hard wood, and has a savor of roasts and stews that makes one hungry. If you take the back track on a trail of pitchy smoke, it is sure to lead you to a squalid threshold with its starved heap of pine roots and half-decayed wood. Thrown down carelessly beside it is a dull axe, wielded as need requires with spiteful awkwardness by a slatternly woman, or laboriously upheaved and let fall with uncertain stroke by a small boy.

INDEX

No effort is made in this index to refer to the complete details of treatment of the principal marks, for the treatment of such marks is almost continuous throughout the book. The table of contents will make up, in some measure, for this deficiency.

References are to pages.

Abbreviations and miscellany, 194.

Accordingly, 96.

Address, abbreviations in forms of, 169; forms of, in a letter, 194.

Adjective in natural position, 10; two or more before a noun, 147.

Adverb out of natural position takes a comma or commas, 10.

Afterthought, 42.

Again, 102.

Alford, Dean, 152.

Although, 96.

A. M., P. M., how written, 196.

And, in a series, 21; between two quoted groups of words, 62; between like-formed coördinate groups, 103; preceded by a comma, a semicolon, a colon, or a period, 107.

Apparent and real relations, 10.

Appositives, 44.

Apostrophe, the, 201.

As, 171, 172.

Atlantic Monthly, vi.

Avenue, street and, how written in an address, 198.

Because, 94, 96, 97.

Bible, examples of punctuation in the Common and Revised Versions, 59, 70; punctuation of Bible references, 199.

Bigelow, Marshall T., vii, 75.

Brackets and parentheses, 185.

Bro., Bros., and Co., 195.

But, a colon before; the extent of the _but_ relation, 18, 60.

Capital letters mark main divisions, 164.

Century Dictionary, its use of a colon, 173.

Co., Company, 195.

Colon, meaning of word, 16; follows formal introduction of matter, 63; indicates an amplification, expansion, or contrast, 67; its differentiation from other marks, 107; follows closing marks of quotation, 183; conventional uses of, 169; improperly used after a verb, 170; in Bible references, 199.

Comma, meaning of word, 16; a _disjunctive_, 7; after adverb out of natural position, 10; before “and” in a series, 21; differentiation from other marks shown diagrammatically, 107; differentiation from semicolon, 121; differentiation of commas from dashes and parentheses, 131; differentiation from parentheses, 136; precedes closing marks of quotation, 183.

Compound words, 203.

Conventional uses of marks, 163.

D, preferable to “nd” or “rd” with the day of the month, 197.

Dash, meaning of, 74; some uses of, 74; with comma, 80; a rule for its use, 85; a paragraph-mark, 87; differentiation of dashes from commas and parentheses, 131; differentiation from parentheses, 137; indicates an ellipsis, 175.

De Vinne, Theodore L., vii, 74, 75, 153, 167, 172, 194.

Double object takes no mark, 147.

Doubtful modifiers, 150.

Dr., 194.

E. g., 201.

Either—or, 104.

Ellipsis, 175.

End-marks characterize sentences, 2.

Esq., 194.

Etc., proper mark before, 20; preferable to &c., 201.

Exclamation-point, 174.

Explanatory and restrictive terms, 30.

Ex-officio, 207.

Figures, how punctuated, 14; use of Arabic in enumerations, 164; conventional uses of, 196; not to begin a sentence, 199.

Firm or corporation names, 195.

First, second, when, now, because, etc., 94.

Foot-notes, 199.

For and _but_ relations, 57.

Format of books, 201.

For relation, the, 56.

Fortunately, 100.

Garrison, Phillips, vi, 131.

Gray’s Elegy, a sentence from, 83.

Grouping by commas, semicolons, and colons, 17.

Grouping the fundamental purpose of punctuation, 14.

Held, followed by a comma or a dash, 93.

Hence, 96.

Hon., 194.

However, 96.

I.e., punctuation of, 171; sometimes in italics, 201; generally written out, 201.

In conclusion, 101, 102.

Intermediate restrictive groups, 152.

Interrogation-point, 174.

Italics, a conventional use of, 141.

Jr. and Sr., 194.

Legal phraseology, 150.

Letters, capital, place in enumerations of, 164.

Letter, the salutatory phrase of, 169.

Like, 10.

“Manual for Writers,” a, 145.

Marks, conventional uses of, 163.

Mark of punctuation, a disjunctive, a sign-brand, 4.

Marks, the function of, and how performed, 1; the names of the principal, 15; the relative values of, 16; miscellaneous uses of, 147.

M., Mme., Mlle., 194.

Mr., Mrs., Messrs., 194.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, 24.

Myself, I myself, 148.

Namely, 171, 172, 173.

Neither—nor, 104.

No, 102, 106.

Not—but, 157.

Now, an adverb or an expletive, 12, 13, 94, 100.

Number, a, beginning a sentence, should be expressed in words, 199.

Numbers, how punctuated, 14.

O and oh, 159.

Only, improperly used, 98.

Open and close punctuation, 208.

Or, and, their relations, 44.

Or, comma before, 41; between groups not coördinate, 110.

Parentheses, meaning of, 30, 132; a modified parenthesis, 30; how used by some writers, 41; differentiated from commas and dashes, 131; how differentiated from commas, 136; when used to enclose enumerating letters and figures, 166; brackets and parentheses, 185; punctuation within, 183.

Per cent, how written, 201.

Period, meaning and relative value of, 16; differentiation from other marks, 107; conventional uses of, 164; precedes the closing marks of quotation, 183.

Perhaps, 95.

Punctuation, grouping the fundamental purpose of, 14; by reason and convention, 15, 91.

Quotation-marks, 177.

Resolved, how printed and punctuated, 202.

Restrictive and non-restrictive groups, 38.

Restrictive groups, intermediate, 152.

Restrictive terms, explanatory and, 30.

Rev., 194.

Riverside Press, The, viii, 168, 194.

Roman capital numerals, use of in enumerations, 164.

Salutatory phrase, the, 169.

Semicolon, meaning of the word, 16; grouping by, 19; grouping by semicolon and colon, 50; differentiation from other marks, 107; three conventional uses of, 171; follows the closing marks of quotation, 183.

Sentences, declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory, how punctuated, 2.

Series, comma before the final “and” in a, 21.

Sic, in brackets, its meaning, 187.

Sr., 194.

St., 194.

Stage directions, 187.

Stars, 175, 176, 201.

St., its position when used with the day of the month, 197.

Street and avenue, how written in an address, 198.

Street numbers, how punctuated, 14.

Subject, a “long,” followed by a comma, 148; ending in verb, 149.

Syllabus, a, treatment of headings in, 165.

Teall, F. Horace, vii, 40, 98, 135, 136, 148, 170.

Temperature, 196.

That is, 171, 172.

That, preceded by a comma, 93.

Thence, 96.

Therefore, 96.

Th, its position when used with the day of the month, 197.

Th, st, and d, position when used with the day of the month, 197.

Time of day, how expressed, 168, 169, 196.

Title-page, how punctuated. 164, 169.

Tomorrow, 100.

To wit, 171, 172.

University of Chicago Press, Manuals of, viii, 25, 145, 194.

Viz., 171, 172, 201.

Vocatives, 45.

Vs., often in italics; generally printed in full, 201.

Wendell, Professor, 82.

When, 94, 99, 100.

Where, 99.

Whereas—resolved, 202.

Wherefore, 96.

Wilson, John, vii, 40, 56, 75, 94, 98, 135, 145, 155, 157, 171.

Yes, 102, 106.

Yet, 96.

&, “short and,” 195.

&c., sometimes used for etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For the sake of brevity, we shall frequently use herein the term _printed_ language to include _written_ language.

[2] In order to avoid the too frequent use of a formal word (thus, as follows, etc.), to introduce our illustrative examples, we use the colon, thus indicating that the _colon_ relation exists between what precedes and what follows the mark. This somewhat uncommon use of the colon is explained on another page.

[3] Sentences herein numbered by hyphenated figures are modifications, with some exceptions, of preceding sentences designated by the first figures of the hyphenated numbers,—for example, Sentence 1-1 is a modification of Sentence 1 in its punctuation.

[4] A comma at this point does not appear in the original. We insert it because what follows is clearly explanatory.

[5] As Sentence 22 is a quotation, we retain its two-word form of “for-ever,” which is the English style; but in No 22-2. which is our own language, we use the one-word form, which is the American style.

[6] No mark is used here before “and” because it connects two groups of words, each used as a whole, as indicated by marks of quotation.

[7] See page vi.

[8] The use of this comma is wrong, for what follows “sentence” is clearly restrictive.

The following pages contain extracts from a few press notices of the first edition of this book.

WHY WE PUNCTUATE

OR

REASON VS. RULE IN THE USE OF MARKS

(Published anonymously in 1896)

EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION

The well considered contents of “Why We Punctuate” should work a reform in the manner of using points. The author proposes no startling innovations, but approaches his subject from the plane of pure reason, substituting carefully-thought-out principles for the empirical rules, which have too long governed American printing offices, and giving us for the first time a rationale as foundation for the entire system.

The work itself shows that practically nothing has been done to advance the science of punctuation for many years, the entire subject having apparently crystallized after the publication of Wilson’s book and the compendium of it prepared by Bigelow. How much these last lacked has not been apparent until this author took up the cudgels for less arbitrary rule and more distinctions based on good judgment. He throws light into dark places and makes it possible at last for a student to acquire a number of broad principles in place of the interminable rules and exceptions of the earlier writers.

The book is to be welcomed as a much needed contribution to a much neglected topic of universal interest.—_Chicago Tribune._

No student of English should be without this book.—_The Globe_ (Boston).

The work is valuable, not only to the learner, but also to the scholar.—_Baltimore American._

The author has undoubtedly gone to the root of the matter in his fundamental theory.—_The Beacon_ (Boston).

Though I have read proof twenty-five years or more, I find I can learn some valuable things from this book.—_Henry R. Boss_, _Editor of the Proofsheet_ (Chicago).

With journalistic instinct the author has sought the reasons for the use of all marks; and instead of copying what previous authors have said, he has simply told _why_ marks are used.—_Philadelphia Press._

This book unquestionably has a mission, and it seems to us that the author has performed his task with exceptional intelligence. The book may be said to represent the best American usage of our day.—_Review of Reviews._

The author is a painstaking and intelligent writer, and the line of reasoning followed by him is original and convincing, while his explanations and illustrations make the subject of punctuation both interesting and easy to learn.—_Philadelphia Telegraph._

It is philosophical, clear, simple, and teaches the intimate relation between punctuation and the meaning of language. It shows plainly that we must punctuate to suit our meaning. An excellent text-book for the schools and for practical reference.—_The Union-Signal_ (Chicago).

The subject of punctuation seldom receives sufficient attention in our schools and colleges, and its importance is so great that such an intelligent discussion of it as that contained in these pages deserves commendation. It is surprising how much even educated persons, and even those accustomed to composition, may gain from such a treatise.—_The Congregationalist_ (Boston).

The whole problem is reduced to the fundamental principles which control it. They are easily grasped, and the numerous examples and illustrations collected and arranged by the author, instead of scattering the impression of the book, only concentrate the reader’s attention on the few principles which control the subject. The book is one to be commended.—_The Independent_ (New York).

The author takes the ground that the use of a mark of punctuation is determined by its meaning, and the meaning of the language it governs. He elucidates these meanings clearly, concisely, and logically. The book may be said to be the only one available which gives an exhaustive treatment of the reasons and rules of proper punctuation, plainly and intelligently set forth.—_The Free Press_ (Detroit).

It is one of the most rational works ever issued on the subject, and will be of incalculable value as a guide to proper punctuation. The author departs from the usual set rules commonly taught in text-books, and simplifies the process by classifying the marks according to the necessity, or relative length of pause, required to give our language its proper meaning, not only as appears to the writer, but also as will appear to the reader.—_The Bee_ (Omaha).

The author knows how to punctuate himself, and he knows how to make the principles that guide him clear to others.

“Why We Punctuate” is a valuable addition to the literature of punctuation. Its examples are, as a rule, particularly happy. Some of them make plain at a glance the reasons for rules which have been disputed by many authorities, but which are based on common sense.... It is a practical guide to punctuation, and any one who masters it thoroughly ought to be able afterward always to punctuate correctly.—_The Writer_ (Boston).

The distinctive feature of the book is that it is not a mere collection of cut-and-dried rules. It goes into the reasons for the use of the several marks, and deals with the logical relations of language. It is a book that helps to clear thinking on the part of the writer who employs it.—_The Buffalo Express._

Punctuation is treated as based upon the science of language and not altogether upon grammatical construction. The author’s examples are all good and new and his ideas original. Some latitude is allowed, according to construction of sentences, and common sense is permitted to depart, if clearness of meaning is desired, from arbitrary rules.—_Baltimore Sun._

The author of this work has not copied from previous authors, but has drawn largely upon current literature for illustrative examples, and has brought together several hundred short quotations of great interest, beyond the use of examples of correct punctuation. His reasoning is original. His theories, as explained and illustrated, make the subject both interesting and easy to understand.

The book is valuable to the learner, and the scholar, as well, and it cannot fail to attract the attention of students of the English language, and it merits the commendation of all competent judges.—_Journal of Education_ (Boston).

If the author’s name were on the title-page of his book we would know whom to thank for the best and most sensible work on this subject that has yet been published.

The student of this book, if he masters its teachings, will not fall into the absurdities and obscurities of mechanical punctuation on the one hand, or of slovenly punctuation on the other, but will punctuate in such a way as to make his meaning clear—which is one essential art in good writing.

“Why We Punctuate” should be in the hands of every newspaper man and author, and it ought to become a text-book in advanced schools.—_Democrat and Chronicle_ (Rochester, N. Y.).

End of Project Gutenberg's Why We Punctuate, by William Livingston Klein