MISCELLANEOUS SKETCH BOOK. 'Our needful knowledge, like our needful food, THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGES. THE Hebrew may be considered as the first great source whence the other tongues of the D earth have been derived. The immediate deCscendants of the Hebrew were the Samaritan, the Chaldaic, the Arabic, the Syriac, the Egyptian, the Ethiopian, and the Syro-Galilean; and its collateral issue were the Phoenician, and the Palmyrenian. From the Phoenicians the Greeks acknowledged to have received their letters; and from them the discovery was communicated to the Romans. Thence it spread to all the European nations. The Types, or Letters, most generally used are termed Roman, Italic, and Old English, or Black Letter. Double Dagger | Parallel. || Dagger † Section Paragraph ¶ References are all such marks and signs as are used to direct the reader to the observations which are made upon such passages of the text as are distinguished by them, and demand a reference of the same likeness to be put to the notes, by which the matter is illustrated, or otherwise taken notice of. They C are also used in Bibles, particularly the paragraph, which shews the parts into which a chapter is divided, and where its contents change. PUNCTUATION Is the art of dividing composition, by points, or stops, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense and relation of the words, Cand of noting the different pauses and inflections required in reading. ,;: !?, The comma, having the first place in every sentence, though, strictly speaking, it may be considered a junior stop, governs the order of all the others; therefore, the ready way to uniform pointing, is to acquire a perfect knowledge of this key to punctuation. Its pause is while the reader can pronounce one. The semicolon is allowed double the space of time for its pause to the comma. The colon, whose allowed time is till the reader can count three, has been superseded in almost every instance, either by the semicolon or ellipsis line. The full point is used to terminate a sentence, and its pause is double the time allowed to the semicolon. The sign of admiration, or exclamation,. claims a place where surprise, astonishment, rapture, and the like sudden emotions of the mind are expressed. The sign of interrogation needs not to be explained; for the very appellation tells us, that it is a mark which is used to shew where a question is proposed, that gives room for, or demands, an answer. An apostrophe denotes the possessive case; or shows that a letter or syllable is omitted. A hyphen is used to separate syllables, and the members of compound words. An uniform and correct mode of pointing should be acquired by every person, even in the ordinary concerns of life; for instances have occurred where a single point has completely perverted the meaning of a sentence; as, for example "The Duke of Wellington was in Northamptonshire shooting the American Minister; and the Earl of Aberdeen had transacted public business." If the reader will place the semicolon directly after the word 'shooting' instead of 'minister' he will find the reading to be correct. () The use of the parenthesis is to enclose such words or sentences of a period as make no part of the subject, yet at the same time strengthen the argument; which, however, would read smoothly on were the enclosed matter taken away. |