Higher Lessons in English | Page 9

Grand street, Grand st., Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean sea, Kings County, Kings county, etc.
The usage of newspapers and of text-books on geography would probably favor the writing of the class names in the examples above with initial capitals; but we find in the most carefully printed books and periodicals a tendency to favor small letters in such cases.
In the superscription of letters, such words as street, city, and county begin with capitals.
Usage certainly favors small initials for the following italicized words: river Rhine, Catskill village, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If river and village, in the preceding examples, are not essential parts of the individual names, why should river, ocean, and county, in Hudson river, Pacific ocean, Queens county, be treated differently? We often say the Hudson, the Pacific, Queens, without adding the explanatory class name.
The principle we suggest may be in advance of common usage; but it is in the line of progress, and it tends to uniformity of practice and to an improved appearance of the page. About a century ago every noun began with a capital letter.
The American Cyclopedia takes a position still further in advance, as illustrated in the following: Bed river, Black sea, gulf of Mexico, Rocky mountains. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Little, Brown, & Co., 9th ed.) we find Connecticut river, Madison county, etc., quite uniformly; but we find Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, etc.]
+Direction+.--Write these words, using capital letters when needed:--
city of atlanta, isle of man, straits of dover, state of Vermont, isthmus of darien, sea of galilee, queen of england, bay of naples, empire of china.
+Remember+ that, when a compound name is made up of two or more distinguishing words, as, Henry Clay, John Stuart Mill, each word begins with a capital letter.
+Direction+.--Write these words, using capital letters when needed:--
great britain, lower california, south carolina, daniel webster, new england, oliver wendell holmes, north america, new orleans, james russell lowell, british america.
+Remember+ that, in writing the titles of books, essays, poems, plays, etc., and the names of the Deity, only the chief words begin with capital letters; as, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Supreme Being, Paradise Lost, the Holy One of Israel.
+Direction+.--Write these words, using capital letters when needed:--
declaration of independence, clarendon's history of the great rebellion, webster's reply to hayne, pilgrim's progress, johnson's lives of the poets, son of man, the most high, dombey and son, tent on the beach, bancroft's history of the united states.
+Direction+.--Write these miscellaneous names, using capital letters when needed:--
erie canal, governor tilden, napoleon bonaparte, cape of good hope, pope's essay on criticism, massachusetts bay, city of boston, continent of america, new testament, goldsmith's she stoops to conquer, milton's hymn on the nativity, indian ocean, cape cod bay, plymouth rock, anderson's history of the united states, mount washington, english channel, the holy spirit, new york central railroad, old world, long island sound, flatbush village.
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LESSON 10.
ABBREVIATIONS.
+Direction+.--Some words occur frequently, and for convenience may he abbreviated in writing. Observing Rule 2, Lesson 8, abbreviate these words by writing the first five letters:--
Thursday and lieutenant.
These by writing the first four letters:--
Connecticut, captain, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oregon, professor, president, Tennessee, and Tuesday.
These by writing the first three letters:--
Alabama, answer, Arkansas, California, colonel, Delaware, England, esquire, Friday, general, George, governor, honorable, Illinois, Indiana, major, Monday, Nevada, reverend, Saturday, secretary, Sunday, Texas, Wednesday, Wisconsin, and the names of the months except May, June, and July.
These by writing the first two letters:--
Company, county, credit, example, and idem (the same).
These by writing the first letter:--
East, north, south, and west. [Footnote: When these words refer to sections of the country, they should begin with capitals.]
These by writing the first and the last letter:--
Doctor, debtor, Georgia, junior, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Master, Mister, numero (number), Pennsylvania, saint, street, Vermont, and Virginia.
These by writing the first letter of each word of the compound with a period after each letter:--
Artium baccalaureus (bachelor of arts), anno Domini (in the year of our Lord), artium magister (master of arts), ante meridiem (before noon), before Christ, collect on delivery, District (of) Columbia, divinitatis doctor (doctor of divinity), member (of) Congress, medicinae doctor (doctor of medicine), member (of) Parliament, North America, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, postmaster, post meridiem (afternoon), post-office, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and United States.
+Direction.+--The following abbreviations and those you have made should be committed to memory:--
Acct. or acct., account. Bbl. or bbl., barrel. Chas., Charles. Fla., Florida. LL. D., legum doctor (doctor of laws).[Footnote: The doubling of the l to ll and in LL. D., and of p in pp., with no period between the letters, comes from pluralizing the nouns line, lean, and page.] Messrs., messieurs (gentlemen). Mme., madame. Mo., Missouri. Mrs., (pronounced missis) mistress. Mts., mountains. Ph.D., philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy).