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96. Which structure is best, the loose or the periodic?

97. Mazzini did more for the unity of Italy than any living man.

98. He once said to his mother, "I believe I will die young."

99. In Europe no one marries without they have a certain amount of property.

100. Beelzebub, than who, Satan except, none higher sat.

PART TWO

Punctuation

PUNCTUATION is an indispensable help in making clear, and therefore easy to read, what one writes. It is the art of dividing written discourse into sentences and shorter sections in such a manner as to make clear to the eye their grammatical relations. Punctuation is just as essential to the structure and meaning of sentences as is the choosing and arranging of words. "Every mark of punctuation, if rightly used," says Professor Genung, "has its definite office to fulfill, and depends on some determinate principle of connection and relation."

Though no two writers punctuate precisely alike, yet the important rules for using the period, the comma, the colon, and so on, are fully established in the practice of reputable writers. Rules and directions can only facilitate the process of mastering the art. One is not a master of the art until one punctuates correctly from sheer habit automatically. A master punctuates without thinking of the rules, for he is himself the rules and vastly more incarnate. Here, as elsewhere, patient observation and persistent practice are the ladder by which we rise to the plane of mastery.

The purpose of using capital and italic letters is practically the same as that of punctuating. Hence

the rules for the use of capitals are here included under punctuation.

CAPITAL LETTERS

The following are the essential rules governing the use of capital letters:

Begin with a capital letter

1. The first word of every sentence.

2. The first word of every line of poetry.

3. The first word of every phrase or clause separately numbered.

4. The first word of every example, question, precept, or direct quotation, which, in effect, is a sentence within a sentence.

5. A proper noun.

6. A word derived from a proper noun, and an. abbreviation of a proper noun.

NOTE. Some words derived from proper nouns have, by long usage, lost all reference to their origin, and hence are written with small initial letters; as, simony, currant, laconic, milliner, solecism, etc.

7. A common noun when joined to a proper noun to form a compound name.

NOTE. By some authorities geographical names are made an exception to this rule; as, the Hudson river.

8. A title of honor or of office when used with a proper name or when referring to a particular person.

9. Names of the Deity, and, usually, personal pronouns referring to the Deity.

10. Names of the Bible and of its books.

11. Names of religious denominations, of political parties, and of all other organized bodies.

12. Names of the months, and of the days of the week.

13. Names of important historical events and epochs.

14. The first word and all important words in the titles of books and of all other forms of discourse.

15. Each of the words north, east, south, west, when it denotes a part of a country, but not when it denotes direction.

16. A noun "so strongly personified as to produce in the mind a distinct image of a person."

17. Words denoting family relations, such as father, mother, uncle, and so on, when used with the proper names of the persons, or when used without a possessive noun or pronoun.

18. The word fathers when it denotes sages or ancient Christian writers.

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19. The words I and O are always written as capitals.

20. "Common nouns and adjectives often begin with capital letters when they designate the topics or main points of definitions or similar statements. Such capitals are called emphatic (or topical) capitals."

OFTEN A MATTER OF TASTE.- All who have had considerable experience in writing know that there are many constructions where the use or nonuse of capitals is solely a matter of taste.

The tendency to use italics sparingly is becoming more and more marked. Inexperienced writers are prone to capitalize and italicize too much.

EXERCISE I

Justify the use of the capitals in the following sentences:

1. Cæsar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink." 2. The prince of Wales will succeed King Edward upon the throne of England.

3. He was the author of "The Reformation in France."

4. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.

5. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.

6. St. Edmund of Canterbury was right when he said to some one, "Work as though you would live forever; live as though you would die to-day."

7. Leonardo da Vinci would walk across Milan to change a single tint or the slightest detail in his famous picture of "The Last Supper."

8. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson request the pleasure of Mr. Wheeler's company at dinner on Wednesday,

7-ESSENTIALS

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