"Afterthought" Groups 115 The vital part of the sentence is put where it may be seen at first glance. Modifiers and other expressions at the end of a sentence may be pointed or open according to circumstances, pointed groups being as a rule more distinct than open groups. If a dash precedes, the afterthought is emphasized; if a comma precedes, as in the first two sentences below, the greater weight of emphasis is likely to be on the group preceding the afterthought. In either case the punctuation makes the afterthought more distinct. A man who takes great pains with his style is likely in the long run to have a devoted following, and to get a hearing, even for his indiscretions and ineptitudes.-Stuart P. Sherman, On Contemporary Literature, p. 158. I have been accused of being a besotted "Victorian”—a kind of creature which ought to be extinct, very obnoxious to the younger critics, yet still so numerous as to constitute a not negligible element in the procession of our days.-Ib., Preface. It is not the fact, my dear sir. Thrice has he ended a sentence with the careless words "and so on," and on one page he has referred coarsely to "the business in hand" and on another he has said he "pitched upon a word,"”— as if a gentleman would ever pitch on anything; it is the act of a drunkard or a ship.-F. M. Colby, Constrained Attitudes, p. 142. In the third sentence, the terminal expression is an ordinary vocative. In the sentence from Mr. Colby the long group set off with colon and dash is technically a subordinate clause with a main-clause tag. Like most afterthoughts set off by the dash, it is emphatic. An appositive group following a colon is not likely to be felt as an afterthought, but rather as an essential part of the structure. The use of curves to enclose matter at the end of a sentence is anomalous. There is a contradiction between the emphatic position and the obviously parenthetical pointing. Ko-Ko is at various times the statesman, the poet, the lover, the man of the world (as when he is tripped up by the Mikado's umbrella-carrier).-Simeon Strunsky, Post-Impressions, p. 207. This pointing should be used with caution. CHAPTER VI SERIES, SPECIAL GROUPING, AND THIS chapter is concerned with the pointing of coordinate elements in series, except main clauses; with special cases of interruption or suspension, as in shifts of structure and so-called rhetorical pauses; and with what is supposed to be the indication of ellipsis. The traditional rule for acknowledgment of ellipsis with the comma involves a large assumption. I. THE POINTING OF SERIES A series exists when successive expressions are grammatically coordinate. Even conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections may be in series; but for the present purpose the important sentence elements are groups functioning as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or verbs. Main clauses in series belong to the section on Main Clauses in Chapter IV. The whole or a part of a series may constitute an appositive or parenthesis, in which case series pointing will blend into the pointing of subordinate or parenthetical matter. It is only when one realizes that Erewhon is more than an England in satiric guize, is in fact an Arcadia, that one fully appreciates Samuel Butler's spirit. Francis B. Hackett, Introduction to an edition of Samuel Butler's Erewhon. While lashing himself into a lunacy against the French Revolution, which only very incidentally destroyed the property of the rich, he never criticised (to do him justice, perhaps never saw) the English Revolution, which began with the sack of convents, and ended with the fencing in of enclosures; a revolution which sweepingly and systematically destroyed the property of the poor.-G. K. Chesterton, The Crimes of England, p. 86. The group is in fact an Arcadia in the sentence from Mr. Hackett is a parenthetical appositive in series with is more than an England in satiric guize. In the sentence from Mr. Chesterton the latter part of the group in curves is in series with never criticised. In the following sentence the series between dashes is in apposition: For all these reasons-because he has given a too truthful and unpleasant picture of himself, because he is full of the most amazing paradoxes, and because it is quite impossible to say that all his messages are truly inspired-Rousseau is one of the most tantalizing forces in all literature.-P. M. Buck, Jr., Social Forces in Modern Literature, p. 59. Series may take the form of emphatic repetition, which may be climactic. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.-President Wilson, Message to the Congress, April 2, 1917. Force, force to the utmost; force without stint or limit; the righteous, triumphant force which shall make right the law of the world and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.President Wilson, Baltimore Speech, as cited in the North American Review, May, 1918. [Differently pointed in other periodicals.] Punctuation of Series FALSE APPEARANCE OF SERIES 119 Distinctive pointing is sometimes required in order to prevent a group from appearing to be in series with adjacent groups. In the sentence "The committee consists of Dr. Smith, President Lowell (Harvard), and Major Briggs," the curves make it clear that Harvard is not coordinate with the other names. The pointing of the expression "Putnam, Little, Brown & Co." conceals the fact that the groups are (1) Putnam, (2) Little, Brown & Co. A hotel once advertised its golf course in this manner: "The 120-acre, 18-hole, golf course is the finest in America." A theoretical case could be made for the second comma, but practically this pointing is awkward because it makes golf course appear to be in series with 120-acre and 18-hole. THE SERIES POINTS The points most often used between elements in series, or at either boundary of a series, are the comma and the semicolon. Less frequent series points are the dash, sometimes with comma; the hyphen, for rapid series amounting to word-coinage; very seldom the colon, interrogation, or exclamation mark. Sometimes elements are not pointed at all, especially when all conjunctions are present. But points may be used for distinctness even with a full quota of conjunctions. SERIES WITH AND WITHOUT POINTING From series it is necessary to distinguish successive expressions not logically coordinate. No comma is needed in 6 feet 3 inches in height or in 3 years 4 months old. |