Punctuation | Page 2

no effort to subdue his evil passions he strives hard to build up
satans kingdom he lends no aid to the support of the gospel among the
heathen he contributes largely to the devil he will never go to heaven he
must go where he will receive the just recompense of reward.
Punctuation being intended for the sole purpose of making the text

intelligible and removing as many of the causes of possible
misunderstanding as may be, must depend in the last resort on a correct
understanding of the text. This understanding may be obtained from the
text itself, from the context, that is, the writing as a whole, or from
outside knowledge about the matter under consideration.
The prisoner said the witness was a sneak thief. The prisoner, said the
witness, was a sneak thief.
The meaning of this sentence depends entirely on the presence or
absence of the two commas.
Manuscript comes in to the printer hastily written by the customer,
author, or a reporter, or ticked over the telegraph wire, and there is little
or no punctuation. Probably the context will supply the needed
information and the line may be set up correctly. If there is no way of
finding out what the sentence means, follow copy. Insert no
punctuation marks which you are not sure are needed.
Punctuation as we know it is of recent invention. The practice of the art
of printing brought the necessity for a defined and systematized use of
the points which had, most of them, long been in existence, but which
had been used largely according to the personal preferences of the
scribes or copyists. With the coming of the new methods of book
reproduction came the recognized need for standardization and
systematization.
The most ancient inscriptions and manuscripts are merely strings of
letters, without spacing between words or sentences and without any
points of any sort, like the example on page 1.
The first mark to be used was the dot, or period. Its original purpose
was simply to furnish a resting place for the eye and the mind and so
help a little in the grouping of the letters into words, clauses, and
sentences, which the mind had hitherto been compelled to do unaided.
It was used at the end of a sentence, at the end of a clause, to indicate
abbreviations, to separate crowded words, especially where the sense
was ambiguous (ANICEMAN might be either AN ICE MAN or A

NICE MAN), or even as an æsthetic ornament between the letters of an
inscription. In early manuscripts the period is usually placed high
([Symbol: High Dot]) instead of low (.).
Sometimes a slanting mark (/) or a double dot (: or ..) was used to
indicate the end of an important section of the writing or even of a
sentence.
After a time spaces were introduced to show the grouping of the letters
and the words. At first the sentences were separated by spaces, then the
long words, and finally all words. In some languages, as in Italian,
there are still combinations of long and short words, such as the
combination of the pronoun with the verb, as in datemi, give me.
During the manuscript period different schools of copyists and even
different individuals used different marks and different systems of
pointing. For a considerable time the location of the dot indicated its
force. Placed high ([Symbol: High Dot]) it had the force of a period.
Placed in a middle position (·) it had the force of a comma. Placed low
(.) it had the force of a semicolon. The rule, however, was not
universally observed. A Latin manuscript of the seventh century has a
high dot ([Symbol: High Dot]) equivalent to a comma, a semicolon
used as at present, and a dot accompanied by another dot or a dash to
indicate the end of a sentence. A Latin manuscript of the ninth century
shows the comma and an inverted semicolon ([Symbol: Comma above
Period]) having a value between the semicolon and colon. Mediæval
manuscript pointing, therefore, approximates modern forms in places,
but lacks standardization into recognized systems.
The spread of printing brought new needs into prominence. The early
printers used the period at the end of the sentence, the colon, and
sometimes the slanting line (/). A reversed semicolon was used as a
question mark. Wynkyn de Worde, Caxton's successor in the printing
business in London, used five points in 1509. They were the period, the
semicolon, the comma, the "interrogative," and the parenthesis.
The systematization of punctuation is due mainly to the careful and
scholarly Aldus Manutius, who had opened a printing office in Venice

in 1494. The great printers of the early day were great scholars as well.
For a very long time the chief concern of the