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CHAPTER V..

MISCELLANEOUS MARKS AND CHARACTERS.

In addition to the sentential points and marks treated of in the preceding pages, there are other characters, sometimes occurring in English composition, which will now be explained.

I. BRACKETS, or CROTCHETS [], are employed for the same purpose nearly as the marks of parenthesis ; but they are usually confined to words, phrases, or sentences, inserted in or appended to a quotation, and not belonging to it; as, "The captain had several men died [who died] in the ship."

Brackets are chiefly intended to give an explanation, to rectify a mistake, or to supply an omission. But they are also sometimes used in dictionaries and in poetry to separate such words as are put, for the saving of room, into lines to which they do not belong; and in psalms and hymns to include verses that may be omitted by a congregation. They are used, besides, in a single form, in printed dramas, to note the entrance or the departure of certain characters; as, "[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa."

Marks of parenthesis and the brackets are often employed indiscriminately; but the following rule, from Parker's "Exercises in Rhetorical Reading," will aid the pupil in distinguishing the difference as to their application: "Crotchets [the writer means marks of parenthesis] are used to enclose a sentence, or part of a sentence,

which is inserted between the parts of another sentence: brackets are generally used to separate two subjects, or to enclose an explanation, note, or observation, standing by itself."

The grammatical punctuation of the words or sentences enclosed by brackets, and of the context, when they require such pointing, should be the same as that adopted in respect to the parenthesis, and to the clauses between which it is inserted. - See pp. 168-70.

Dashes are sometimes used, one before the first bracket, and another after the second, to lead the eye from the preceding portion of the main sentence to the latter. They may with propriety be introduced in such passages as the following: "I know the banker I deal with, or the physician I usually call in,-['There is no need,' cried Dr. Slop (waking), 'to call in any physician in this case.'] to be neither of them men of much religion."

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II. A COMMA INVERTED [] is sometimes used instead of a very small c, in many proper names beginning with Mac; as, M'Donald, the abbreviation of Macdonald.

This mark seems to be getting out of use; authors and printers now generally preferring the c, either on or above the line, as in McKenzie, McFarlane.

The same mark is sometimes annexed to the letter O in proper names; as, O'Neil: but an apostrophe is more frequently used, and is more correct; as, O'Neil.

III. TWO COMMAS [,,] are occasionally employed to indicate that something is understood which was expressed in the line and word immediately above; as,

By many printers the commas are inverted [thus, "]; but the mode of using them here presented, which was once very common, is a more exact imitation of handwriting.

Names of different persons, though spelled in the same way, -as the word "John " in the preceding lines, - are commonly repeated.

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IV. The INDEX, or HAND, points out a passage to which special attention is directed; as, All orders will be promptly and carefully attended to."

V. THREE STARS, placed in this form [***], or N.B., the initials of nota bene, "mark well," are sometimes used for the same purposes as the index.

The characters explained in the two preceding paragraphs are employed chiefly in cards, handbills, advertisements, and catalogues; seldom in books.

VI. The CARET [A] is used, only in manuscript, to show where a letter or a word was accidentally omitted, but which has afterwards been placed over the line; as,

Disapointments and trials often blessings in disguise.

A

are

Λ

VII. The BRACE [] is used to connect a number of words with one common term; as,

This character is often found serviceable in lists of articles and in tabular matter, where the object is to save room, or to avoid repetition. The inside of a brace should, as in the example, be turned to that part of the matter which contains most lines.

The brace was once generally used to bind together a triplet, or three lines of poetry having the same rhyme; but this practice is becoming obsolete.

A brace is sometimes put in the side-margin of a page to separate dates, when placed there, from the text.

VIII. MARKS OF ELLIPSIS are formed by means of a long dash, or of a succession of points or stars * * * * ], of various lengths; and are

used to indicate the omission of letters in a word, of words in a sentence, or of sentences in a paragraph;

1. Cs is not uniformly distinguished for dignity, wisdom, patriotism, or philanthropy.

2. If the great have no other glory than that of their ancestors; if their titles are their only virtues, their birth dishonors them, even in the estimation of the world.

*

3. Some persons believe that there are no longer any duties to be fulfilled beyond the tomb; and there are but few who know how to be friends to the dead. The name of our friends, their glory, their family, have still claims on our affection, which it would be guilt not to feel. They should live still in our heart by the emotions which subsist there; in our memory, by our frequent remembrance of them; in our voice, by our eulogiums; in our conduct, by our imitation of their virtues.

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In the first example, “ C—

-S

" is substituted for Congress; in the second, a single clause is omitted; and, in the third, several sentences are left out by the transcriber. Periods are considered much less offensive to the eye than asterisks.

To avoid repetitions in catalogues, a dash is sometimes used instead of the word or words iminediately above; as,

Pope's Works, with Notes and Illustrations, 6 vols. calf.

Rape of the Lock, and other Poems.

For other elliptical uses of the dash, see pp. 175, 191, and 195.

IX. LEADERS are dots or periods, used in contents and indexes of books, and in similar matter, to lead the eye to the end of a line, for the completion of the

X. ACCENTS. There are three marks, termed Accents, placed over the vowels; namely, the Acute ['], as in fáncy; the Grave [`], as in fàvor; and the Circumflex [ ], as in fall. The acute accent commonly represents a sharp, the grave a depressed,

and the circumflex a broad sound.

The grave accent is sometimes placed in verse over the vowel e, to show that it must be fully pronounced; as, cankerèd, Dircè. See p. 199, Remark g.

These characters are also used to denote the inflections of the voice, according to the system invented by Walker; and for various purposes in the Latin, French, and other languages.

XI. MARKS OF QUANTITY. There are other three marks, indicating the pronunciation, which are sometimes classed among the accents; namely, the Long [], as in rosy; the Breve, or Short [], as in fölly; and the Diæresis [ ̈], as in aërial.

The diæresis is usually placed over the latter of two vowels, and denotes that they are to be pronounced separately.

XII. The CEDILLA is a mark resembling a comma, placed under the letter f, when it has the sound of s before a or o, in words taken from the French; as, façade.

XIII. THE TILDE [] is an accentual mark, placed over n in Spanish to give that letter a liquid sound; as, señor, sir.

If great accuracy is required, all such words should be thus printed when occurring in English composition.