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note of interjection and the dash, will enable a writer, consistently, and correctly, to point his own work.

From the opinion of the ancient anonymous author, "if points be well used they make the sentence very light and easy to be understood, both to the reader and the hearer," not an iota ought to be abstracted;-but yet it may confidently be said, that if a sentence requires one point to make plain the author's meaning,— -or if by pointing, it can be made to bear more meanings than one, it is a faulty sentence; any attempt to mend it can only be cobbling, and the only remedy is wholly to recast it :-"it was not," said Augustus Matthæi, "until the great influx of strangers to Alexandria impaired the purity of the Greek Language, that the art of pointing became an object with the learned." A sentence which absolutely requires points, in order to be understood, or by the use of different points, or by the use of the same points in different places, can be made to bear more than one meaning, is deserving of little more consideration than a common puzzle.46 Lord Kames remarks, "that if it shall be thought that a defect in perspicuity is easily supplied by accurate punctuation, the answer is, that punctuation may remove a difficulty, but will never produce that peculiar beauty, which is perceived, when the sense comes out clearly and distinctly, by means of a happy arrangement."47 Punctuation may make, but can never, altogether remove, an ambiguity it is often not only a question what point ought to be used, but where it ought to be used, and if such a question can be raised upon any sentence, it cannot but be an ambiguous one; a happier arrangement of the words, not an alteration in the pointing, can in such a case, be the only effectual remedy.48 The language of Blair

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on this head is,-" Having mentioned pointing, I shall here take notice, that it is in vain to propose, by arbitrary punctuation, to amend the defects of a sentence, to correct its ambiguity, or to prevent its confusion."49 A consideration of the following example, will go far to prove that it is in vain to try by punctuation, to amend the defects of a sentence, to correct its ambiguity, or to prevent its confusion; example,

Although Lindley Murray allows the use of the dash in some cases he makes an observation upon it.

As this sentence stands, it is doubtful whether the writer means to say, that Lindley Murray allows the use of the dash in some cases, or that in some cases he makes an observation upon it; one man may say that a point should be made at the word dash, another at the word cases ; it is more likely to be this way says one, it is most likely to be that way says another: in good composition more likely and most likely won't do, there must be no ambiguity; whenever a doubt arises the sentence must be recast, and not pointed or repointed:-the use of pointing is to facilitate the reading of a correct composition; it is a perversion to attempt by its means, to render ambiguous sentences plain. The above example of an ambiguous sentence, can be recast in two ways;-if the writer means, that Murray allowed the use of the dash in some cases, it should stand thus ;

Although Lindley Murray in some cases, allows the use of the dash, he makes an observation upon it.

If the writer means, that Murray in some cases makes an observation on the dash, it should stand thus :

:

Although Lindley Murray allows the use of the dash, he makes, in some cases, an observation upon it.

But perhaps after all some determined Punctuist will maintain that the meaning of the writer may be rendered clear by punctuation: for the sake of argument, let it be allowed to be so; but our Punctuist must admit that still a question may arise, whether the point is rightly or wrongly placed; a question which has repeatedly arisen in literary and forensic controversies, and one, which only a recasting of a sentence can obviate.

In the examples just given, it has been shewn, that a sentence may be recast by changing the place of one of the commas; the next example will also be an ambiguous sentence, which punctuation cannot correct, and the proposition of which cannot be stated with precision, without recasting it, by substituting a noun for its pronoun;

as,

None of the other modern languages of Europe are so strongly marked by accents as our own; their peculiar advantage is evident in poetry.

The peculiar advantage of what? Of the modern languages of Europe, or of accents? The writer, no doubt, intended accents; if so, he might have given precision to the expressions of his meaning in the following way;—

None of the other modern languages of Europe are so strongly marked by accents as our own; the peculiar advantage of accents is evident in poetry.

The happy genius of the Grecian and Roman tongues, with their prepositions, and terminations, and inflections, afforded ample scope for the arrangement of their words in varied forms, and consequently enabled their writers to form periods, approaching to perfection in harmony and sense nevertheless may not some part of the acknowledged excellence of the Greeks and Romans (particularly of the Greeks), in the composition of their

periods, be attributed to their comparative ignorance of the use of points; this ignorance compelling them, in order that their meaning might not be liable to be misunderstood, to be careful in the arrangement of their words. The excellence of the ancients in the composition of a period, is no reason for the disuse of points: it is an authority against the abuse of words; but it would be absurd (as Matthæi observes) not to avail ourselves of the use of points, because they were unknown to the ancients.

In drawing to a conclusion I will add that hitherto, English Grammarians have obscurely treated of Punctuation some of them because they have used the same words to express different meanings; Bishop Lowth for instance, uses the words colons and commas, as well to convey the idea of members and fragments of sentences, as of their points: others because they only used the words in a secondary meaning; Lindley Murray, for instance, uses the words colon and comma only to signify points. Punctuation is to the generality of men a matter of obscurity, and many attempt to conceal their ignorance under the phrase, Punctuation is merely a matter of taste whether a writer shall compile his work in longer or shorter sentences, whether he shall illustrate the principal proposition of a sentence, by one or by many illustrative clauses, may be a matter of taste; but he cannot change their nature by pointing: the great use of pointing is to facilitate the reading of a composition.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

In any thing relating to English Grammar, the authority of Bishop Lowth cannot pass unnoticed: should any one think too little notice has been taken of this author in the body of this work, it will perhaps be thought that the defect is remedied by giving all that he says upon the subject.

The Edition which has been used is a corrected one, published by Dodsley and Cadell in 1775; to a point and a letter has the work been followed:

PUNCTUATION.

PUNCTUATION is the art of marking in writing the several pauses, or rests, between sentences, and the parts of sent

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