PUNCTUATION, from the Latin pundits, °a point,* is the term used to designate the use of points, or marks, for the purpose of separat ing words from each other in sentences and parts of sentences. The convenience of such separation is obvious, yet for many centuries after writing had first been used there was nothing to indicate the pauses, or divide a book into sentences. No attempt to punctuate is ap parent in the earlier manuscripts and inscrip tions of the Greeks. It was in Alexandria that punctuation originated, when that city was the centre of ancient learning. The open space to the left of a line which indicates the beginning of a paragraph made its appearance on papyri at Alexandria. The early signs intended for punctuation were at first used in poetry only, to enable readers to comprehend the meaning hid den in obsolete words and involved and difficult verses. Ages passed, however, before any form of punctuation became general, and it was not until the 9th century after Christ that the division of sentences by period, colon and semicolon marks took place. The comma was the same as to-day, a large dot or double dot indicated the full stop, and a high dot stood for a colon or semicolon.
The following rules for the use of the points are condensed from De Vinne's (Practice of The chief purpose of the comma is to define the particles and minor clauses of a sentence.
Reversed, and often in pairs, commas mark the beginning of a quotation. A reversed comma marks the abbreviation of Mac in Scotch names, as M'Carthy. Reversed commas in tables are a sign for ditto. The comma fre quently supplies the place of omitted words, as in addresses.
The semicolon keeps apart the more import ant members of the sentence, and is most used in long sentences.
The colon is used after the particles or in troductory words to another statement, as in to wit: viz : for example: Dear Sir: It is often used to separate hours from minutes, as 2:14, for 14 minutes past two.
The period marks the end of a completed sentence. It is also employed in abbreviations,
as J. Smith, i.e., 9.v., etc. It separates whole numbers from decimal fractions.
The dash has been substituted for almost all the points, being once much used to indicate suppressed words. It is employed to connect a side heading with the text that follows. It should be selected where there is an abrupt change in statement, as 'Thus the plot thickens — but I weary you.* It serves to give addi tional force to an anti-climax: °They will steal anything, and call it—purchase.* The inser tion of a comma before the dash is now re garded as unnecessary.
The parenthesis, usually shown in pairs, en closes the words added to a sentence, which would be complete without it. The bracket has similar uses, but is preferred when the words introduced are not by the author, but added as explanatory by an editor.
The interrogation marks the end of a ques tion that requires answer. It is not needed when the question does not call for an answer, as °The Cyprians asked me why I wept.* The exclamation marks a word or phrase in tended to express great surprise or emotion; and is used also at the end of an exclamatory clause. Zook, my Lord! it comes!' The apostrophe, most used to mark the pos sessive case, as in John's, is used also to show the contraction of words or omitted letters, as h'd'k' for handkerchief, I'll for I will, and the clipping of words in dialect, as nuthin' for nothing. It is also used to mark the close of a quotation, single or double. For all nouns in the plural number that end in s, the apostrophe must follow to make the possessive, as boys' games; singular nouns ending in s call for 's, as James's book.
The first function of a hyphen is to mark the division of a word that carries into the next line, but it serves also to connect com pounded words, as round-shouldered.
Consult Wilson, 'Treatise on Grammatical Punctuation) (1850) ; Teal!, (Punctuation> (1899) • Cochrane, and Capitaliza tion> (1908) ; Hart, Rules for (Oxford 1912).