but as synonyms, a comma is inserted.
England or France might be asked to join the alliance.
Here "or" is used as a real alternative conjecture, and therefore without any point. In the following examples, the "or" joins equivalent expressions:
England, or the nation of shopkeepers, would never be asked to join such an alliance.
We perceive, or are conscious of, nothing but changes, or events.
As a reason for the insertion of the comma in these two examples, it may be said that the repetition of an idea already expressed does for a moment stop the flow of the sentence. A real alternative, on the other hand, forms an essential part of it, and is within its current.
XVII. In cases where no point would be used before a conjunction, a comma is inserted if the conjunction be omitted.
I pay this tribute to the memory of that noble, reverend, learned, excellent person.
In the following examples no point occurs; for it cannot be said that a conjunction is omitted. To insert the conjunction would be to express a slightly different shade of meaning:
A grand old man.
Three tall young soldiers.
"Old man" is virtually a single word and in fact many languages use only a single word to express the idea.
XVIII. Where a comma would be used if the conjunction were expressed, some stronger point may be used if it be omitted.
Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American Empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges alone will make it all that it can be.
XIX. A comma is placed after a noun or a pronoun in the vocative case, if a mark of exclamation be not used, or be reserved till the first distinct pause in the sentence.
Yet I own, my lord, that yours is not an uncommon character.
I am, Sir, yours truly, John Smith.
O Italy, gather thy blood into thy heart!
O Thou, who in the heavens dost dwell!
Whether a comma or a mark of exclamation ought to be used after the vocative case, depends entirely on the degree of emphasis with which the words would be spoken. If, in speaking, a slight pause would be made, the comma, not the mark of exclamation, is the proper point.
XX. If a word be repeated in order to give it intensive force, a comma follows it each time that it occurs; but, in the case of an adjective repeated before a noun, not after the last expression of it.
It was work, work, work, from morning till night.
He travelled a long, long way.
Dean Alford, in "The Queen's English," says that this mode of pointing such expressions as "the wide wide world," "the deep deep sea," makes them absolute nonsense. The suggestion of a pause seems to us to bring out more effectively the intensive force of the repetition. And we doubt whether Dean Alford himself would have omitted the comma in our first example.
THE SEMICOLON
XXI. The semicolon is the point usually employed to separate parts of a sentence between which there is a very distinct break, but which are too intimately connected to be made separate sentences.
The patient dates his pleasure from the day when he feels that his cure has begun; and, perhaps, the day of his perfect re-establishment does not yield him pleasure so great.
The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; no one has so deeply meditated on the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the event.
Not one word is said, nor one suggestion made, of a general right to choose our own governors; to cashier them for misconduct; and to form a government for ourselves.
The semicolon is used in enumerations, as in the last example, in order to keep the parts more distinctly separate.
XXII. When a sentence consists of two or more independent clauses not joined by conjunctions, the clauses are separated by semicolons.
To command a crime is to commit one; he who commands an assassination, is by every one regarded as an assassin.
His knowledge was too multifarious to be always exact; his pursuits were too eager to be always cautious.
If the conjunction "and" were inserted in the last sentence, the comma would be used instead of the semicolon. A conjunction forms a bridge over the gap between two statements, and, where they are neither long nor complicated, we pass from one to the other without noticing any distinct break. But there is such a break when the conjunction is omitted, and therefore we use a stronger point. The two parts of an antithesis are generally separated in this way.
XXIII. A pause generally indicated by a comma may be indicated by a semicolon when commas are used in the sentence for other purposes. (See Introduction: Relativity of Points.)
I got several things of less value, but not all less useful to me, which I
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the
Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.