Higher Lessons in English | Page 9

York city, Harper's Ferry, Cape May, Bunker Hill, Red
River, Lake Erie, General Jackson, White Mountains, river Thames,
Astor House, steamer Drew, North Pole.
+Direction+.--Write these words, using capital letters when needed:--
ohio river, professor huxley, president adams, doctor brown, clinton
county, westchester county, colonel burr, secretary stanton, lake george,
green mountains, white sea, cape cod, delaware bay, atlantic ocean,
united states, rhode island.
+Remember+ that, when an individual name is made up of a class
name, the word of, and a distinguishing word, the class name and the
distinguishing word should each begin with a capital letter; as, Gulf of
Mexico. But, when the distinguishing word can by itself be regarded as
a complete name, the class name should begin with a small letter; as,
city of London. [Footnote: The need of some definite instruction to save
the young writer from hesitation and confusion in the use of capitals is
evident from the following variety of forms now in use: City of New
York, city of New York, New York City, New York city, New York
State, New York state, Fourth Avenue, Fourth avenue, Grand Street,
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.
* * * * *
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