Stops | Page 3

that we do not take the points exactly in their order of
strength. It seemed better to deal with the full stop before passing to the
punctuation of the parts of a sentence. Again, it may be said that,
strictly speaking, italics do not form part of the subject. But they are at
any rate so intimately connected with it that to have passed them over
would have been merely pedantic. Even the sections on references to
notes and on the correction of proofs may not be considered altogether
out of place. As few grammatical terms as possible have been made use
of. Some have been found necessary in order to secure the brevity of
statement proper to a little work on a little subject.

THE FULL STOP
I. A full stop is placed at the end of every sentence that is neither
exclamatory nor interrogative.
A penal statute is virtually annulled if the penalties which it imposes
are regularly remitted as often as they are incurred. The sovereign was
undoubtedly competent to remit penalties without limit. He was,
therefore, competent to annul virtually a penal statute. It might seem
that there could be no serious objection to his doing formally what he
might do virtually.

How much should be put into a sentence is rather a matter of style than
of punctuation. The tendency of modern literature is in favour of the
short sentence. In the prose of Milton and of Jeremy Taylor, the full
stop does not come to release the thought till all the circumstances have
been grouped around it, and the necessary qualifications made. In
Macaulay the circumstances and the qualifications are set out sentence
by sentence. So the steps of reasoning in the example which we have
given are stated with that distinct pause between each of them which
the reader would make if he thought them out for himself. They might
be welded together thus:
Seeing that a penal statute is virtually annulled if the penalties which it
imposes are regularly remitted as often as they are incurred, and seeing
that the sovereign was undoubtedly competent to remit penalties
without limit, it follows that he was competent to annul virtually a
penal statute; and it might seem that there could be no serious objection
to his doing formally what he might do virtually.
Both forms are correct in point of punctuation. Which is the better form
is a question of style. Take another example:
The sides of the mountain were covered with trees; the banks of the
brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the
rocks; and every mouth dropped fruits upon the ground.
There is here an advantage in putting these four statements together,
instead of making four separate sentences. We can more easily combine
the details, and so form a single picture--a picture of fertility.
II. As a rule the full stop is not to be inserted till the sentence be
grammatically complete. But some parts of the sentence necessary to
make it grammatically complete may be left for the reader to supply.
It is well said, in every sense, that a man's religion is the chief fact with
regard to him. A man's or a nation of men's. By religion I do not mean
here the church-creed which he professes, the articles of faith which he
will sign and, in words or otherwise, assert. Not this wholly, in many
cases not this at all.

III. When a sentence is purposely left unfinished, the dash takes the
place of the full stop. (See Rule XL.)
"Excuse me," said I, "but I am a sort of collector." "Not Income-tax?"
cried His Majesty, hastily removing his pipe from his lips.
IV. A full stop is placed after most abbreviations, after initial letters,
and after ordinal numbers in Roman characters.
Gen. i. 20; two lbs.; A.D. 1883; 3 p.m.; &c., and etc.; M.D., J. S. Mill;
William III., King of England; MS., LL.D. (not M.S. and L.L.D.).
Note that the use of the full stop in these cases does not prevent another
point from being used immediately after it. But if they occur at the end
of a sentence, another full stop is not added; or, more correctly, it may
be said that Rule IV. does not apply at the end of a sentence.
"Mr," "Messrs," "Dr"--abbreviations which retain the last letter of the
whole word--are written without a point.

THE COMMA
V. The comma indicates a short pause in a sentence. It is used when we
wish to separate words that stand together, and at the same time to stop
as little as possible the flow of the sentence.
When the earl reached his own province, he found that preparations had
been made to repel him.
Though it is difficult, or