ADDENDA.

The following Rules for the Use of Capitals and Marks of Punctuation, together with the Abbreviations most commonly used, are placed here for convenient reference.

RULES FOR THE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS.

The first word of every sentence should begin with a capital letter.

A sentence preceded by an introductory word or clause such as Resolved, Be it enacted, etc., begins with a capital notwithstanding the introductory word.

The first word of a direct quotation, of an important statement, and of a direct question, should begin with a capital.

The principle underlying this rule is that the subject-matter of a subordinate clause may be important enough to overrule its position and cause it to be treated as an independent sentence.

Ex. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. - Bible.

One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right. - Pope.
Ask yourselves this question: Are you doing right?

The first word of every line of poetry should begin with a capital.

Proper nouns should begin with capital letters.

The words street, road, lake, river, mountain, etc., should begin with capitals when used in connection with proper names.

Ex. Crawford Road, Prospect Street, Lake Erie, Cuyahoga River, Little Mountain.

North, South, East, and West should begin with capitals when they mean sections of the country and not points of the compass. Ex. Chicago, the largest city of the West, is south of Lake Michigan.

The names of the days of the year are considered proper nouns. of the seasons is variable.

week and of the months of the Usage with regard to the names

Words of family relations, such as father, aunt, cousin, are considered proper nouns when they are used with the name of a person, or without a possessive pronoun.

Ex. I had a letter from Father to-day, and one from Cousin Mary yesterday.

When did you hear from your mother?

Common nouns become proper when they denote something of special importance.

Great latitude of

usage is now allowed in this respect.

Ex. Every Poet, be his outward lot what it may, finds himself born in the midst of Prose..

- Carlyle.

Names of objects personified become proper nouns.

Ex.

The wary, gray strategist Time,
With the armies of Life, lay encamped, — Grief and Crime,
Love and Faith, — in the darkness unheeded.

Owen Meredith.

Words derived from proper names should begin with capital letters.

Ex. American, Danish, Bostonian, Roman.

When such words by long usage have lost their association with the nouns from which they are derived, they do not begin with capitals.

Ex. China-ware.

All names of God, all words that may be regarded as titles of the Deity, should begin with capitals.

Ex. Thou Great First Cause, least understood,
Who all my sense confined

To know but this, that Thou art good,

And that myself am blind. — Pope.

The usage with regard to pronouns referring to the Deity is variable. The rule usually given is that they should begin with a capital when necessary to make clear their antecedent, otherwise not. Ex. O Lord and Master of us all!

Titles of honor or office used alone or accompanied by nouns should begin with capital letters.

Ex. The royal barge, manned with Queen Elizabeth's watermen, lay at the great stairs. Scott.

However, when the title is used informally, the capital is omitted. Ex. "I pray you, my dear Walter, let us take the boat and return." "Not till I see the queen come forth," returned the youth, composedly. - Scott.

All words in the written titles of books, essays, etc., should begin with capitals except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. The first word, of course, has a capital, whatever it may be.

There are two ways of printing titles of books and essays. The entire title may be put into capitals, which is the usual form of book titles. The titles of essays on the title page of magazines and the titles of books in Publishers' advertisements are frequently printed as they would be written.

Ex. The title page of the North American Review and the inner page of Harper's Magazine.

The words I and O should always be capitals.

RULES FOR THE MARKS OF PUNCTUATION.

THE COMMA.

Words or phrases in the same construction, forming a series, are separated from each other by commas.

Ex. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. - Dickens.

The use of the comma with a conjunction in the series requires attention. The best usage seems to be the following:

If all the terms of the series are connected by conjunctions, no commas are required.

If only the last two words are connected by a conjunction, a comma separates each term of the series just as if there were no conjunction.

Sometimes adjectives apparently form a series when really they do not.

Ex. The kind old man.

Observe that old limits man and kind limits the phrase old man; consequently the words are not in the same construction, and no comma is required.

Co-ordinate clauses if simple in construction will often form a series and should be separated by commas.

A word or phrase in apposition should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

Ex. Alcyone, the brightest star of the Pleiades, is the centre of gravity of our vast solar system.

If one of the terms in apposition is a general title, the comma should be omitted.

Ex. Thompson the poet was indolent.

A title or degree, following the name of a person, should be separated from the name by a comma.

Ex. James G. Blaine, Secretary of State.

Words and phrases in the absolute case by direct address should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

Ex. Cold is thy brow, my son, and I am chill. — Willis.

Frequently as a mark of strong emotion the exclamation point is used in place of the comma.

Ex. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept; and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! - Bible.

When the absolute case occurs with the participle, the entire phrase should be separated from the rest of the sentence.

Ex. The appointed day having come, the Declaration was taken up and debated article by article. — Headley.

Words or phrases in pairs, and words or phrases contrasted, should be separated from each other by commas. Ex. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. Webster.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. Bailey.

Any word, phrase, or clause which is introduced into the body of a sentence is set off from the rest by commas. Ex. There was, as usual, a crowd of folk about the door, but none that Rip recollected.

"My very dog," sighed poor Rip, "has forgotten me.”

Irving.

If the interrupting matter is placed at the beginning of the main sentence, it is followed by a comma.

Ex. In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm. Irving.