Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
    "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
    "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students

    By Paul Allardyce

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students

    Related to "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Under the Microscope

      May 7, 2020

      Under the Microscope
      6 min read

    • Article

      STYLE: Dig Out Your Prose

      Apr 4, 2024

      STYLE: Dig Out Your Prose
      5 min read

    • Article

      Better writing NOW

      May 6, 2021

      Better writing NOW
      5 min read

    • Article

      Your Writing Critiqued

      Feb 3, 2022

      Your Writing Critiqued
      5 min read

    • Article

      How to, Like, Speak Better

      May 2, 2023

      How to, Like, Speak Better
      8 min read

    • Article

      NEW YEAR, New Approach

      Dec 7, 2023

      The New Year is always a time for us to reflect on where we are, where we are going and of course a chance to start with a clean slate each January.As you read this, 2023 will very nearly be in the rear-view mirror, and you may already be giving some

      6 min read

    • Article

      Eight Final Revisions To Try Before You Hit Submit

      Apr 13, 2022

      OVER the past decade I’ve had the pleasure of judging dozens of fiction contests for both individual stories and book-length manuscripts. Sometimes that means reading every entry submitted; other times it means only looking at the ten finalists selec

      4 min read

    • Article

      Editing For Grammar

      Mar 20, 2019

      Although most writers and editors have received extensive training in written English, we still make mistakes—all the time. The Careful Writer, Words into Type, The Elements of Style and other sources offer voluminous instruction and examples for wr

      9 min read

    • Article

      Grammar Bootcamp

      May 27, 2023

      Grammar Bootcamp
      6 min read

    • Article

      Call Them What They Wants

      Sep 4, 2018

      Call Them What They Wants
      8 min read

    • Article

      In Summary

      Jan 7, 2021

      There’s some very good writing here. It’s difficult to capture the natural rhythms of thought or speech, but that effect is achieved in the juxtaposition of short and longer sentences. It feels like the character is talking directly to us, which make

      2 min read

    • Article

      Women, Commas and Clauses

      May 12, 2019

      Women, Commas and Clauses
      2 min read

    • Article

      COMMA Chameleon

      Sep 1, 2022

      COMMA Chameleon
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Complete Sentence

      Oct 26, 2017

      The Complete Sentence
      4 min read

    • Article

      Go For It!

      Oct 1, 2020

      Go For It!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Gigi Will Know

      Jun 19, 2021

      What is the best way to go about writing a synopsis, and how long should it be? I’ve heard one page (single-spaced) is the norm today, but how do you go about condensing 300 or so manuscript pages into one page that still makes sense to someone who d

      2 min read

    • Article

      On A Grand Scale

      Mar 5, 2020

      On A Grand Scale
      6 min read

    Reviews for "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students - Paul Allardyce

      The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stops, by Paul Allardyce

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Stops

      Or How to Punctuate. A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students

      Author: Paul Allardyce

      Release Date: March 29, 2007 [eBook #20938]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

      ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STOPS***

      E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Sankar Viswanathan,

      and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

      (http://www.pgdp.net)

      STOPS

      OR, HOW TO PUNCTUATE

      A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK

      FOR WRITERS AND STUDENTS

      By PAUL ALLARDYCE

      "For a reader that pointeth ill,

      A good sentence oft may spill."

      —Chaucer—Romaunt of the Rose

      LONDON

      T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.

      ADELPHI TERRACE

      Eighteenth Impression

      1895

      CONTENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      The Use of Punctuation.—Punctuation is a device for marking out the arrangement of a writer's ideas. Reading is thereby made easier than it otherwise would be.

      A writer's ideas are expressed by a number of words arranged in groups, the words in one group being more closely connected with one another than they are with those in the next group. An example will show this grouping in its simplest form:

      He never convinces the reason, or fills the imagination, or touches the heart.

      To understand what is written, the reader must group the words together in the way intended by the writer; and in doing this he can receive assistance in various ways. Partly by the inflection of the words; partly by their arrangement; partly also by punctuation. As to inflection, we see in Latin an adjective and a substantive standing together, yet differing in gender, in number, or in case; and we know that the adjective does not qualify the substantive. But English has not the numerous inflections of Latin. More scrupulous care therefore is needed in the arrangement of words in order to bring together in position such as are connected in meaning. Yet this is not always enough. Except in the very simplest sentences there are generally several arrangements which are grammatically possible; and, though all save one may be absurd in meaning, the reader may waver for a moment before the absurdity strikes him. Some artificial aid is thus needed to prevent him from thinking of any arrangement but the right one. There is no fault, for instance, to be found with the arrangement of the following words, yet, printed without points, they form a mere puzzle:

      He had arrived already prepossessed with a strong feeling of the neglect which he had experienced from the Whigs his old friends however all of them appeared ravished to see him offered apologies for the mode in which they had treated him and caught at him as at a twig when they were drowning the influence of his talents they understood and were willing to see it thrown into the opposite scale.

      Of course, with a little effort the meaning can be discovered; but if such a little effort had to be put forth in every page of a whole book, reading would become a serious task. By means of points, or stops, we are spared much of this. The groups are presented ready-made to the eye; and the mind, bent on understanding the thought, is not distracted by having first to discover the connection of the words.

      The reader's task is more difficult where two or more ways of grouping the words not only are grammatically possible, but lead each to a more or less intelligible meaning. As a rule he can find out from the context which way the writer meant him to take. One politician writes to another: I ask you as the recognized leader of our party what you think of this measure; and nobody accuses the writer of presumption. We might even pass over the following startling sentence without observing the reflection which it casts on a respectable body of men:

      Hence he considered marriage with a modern political economist as dangerous.

      But when we read that the State may impose restrictions on the mothers of young children employed in factories, we may well have some doubt whether it is the mothers or the children who are employed in factories. And it would not be easy to give an answer, if we were asked to state the precise meaning of Gray's line:

      And all the air a solemn stillness holds.

      In longer and more involved sentences the risk of ambiguity is obviously much greater. Now by the judicious use of points ambiguous language can occasionally be made clear. The mothers-of-young-children employed in factories is no doubt a

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1