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English Grammar

English:Punctuation
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Punctuation is the art of dividing literary composition, by points, or stops, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense and relation of the words; and of noting the different pauses and inflections required in reading.

The following are the principal points, or marks; namely:

the Comma [,]
the Semicolon [;],
the Colon [:],
the Period [.],
the Dash [--],
the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation [?]
the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation [!]
and the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis [( )].
The Comma denotes the shortest pause; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the comma; the Colon, a pause double that of the semicolon; and the Period, or Full Stop, a pause double that of the colon. The pauses required by the other four, vary according to the structure of the sentence, and their place in it. They may be equal to any of the foregoing.

The comma
The Comma is used to separate those parts of a sentence, which are so nearly connected in sense, as to be only one degree removed from that close connection which admits no point.

Simple sentences.
A simple sentence does not, in general, admit the comma; as,

"The weakest reasoners are the most positive."--W. Allen's Gram., p. 202.

"Theology has not hesitated to make or support a doctrine by the position of a comma."--Tract on Tone, p. 4.

"Then pain compels the impatient soul to seize On promis'd hopes of instantaneous ease."--Crabbe.

Exception.--The nominative is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts.
When the nominative in a long simple sentence is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts, or when several words together are used in stead of a nominative, a comma should be placed immediately before the verb; as,

"Confession of sin without amendment, obtains no pardon."--Dillwyn's Reflections, p. 6.

"To be totally indifferent to praise or censure, is a real defect in character."--Murray's Gram., p. 268.

"O that the tenor of my just complaint, Were sculpt with steel in rocks of adamant!"--Sandys.

Simple members.
The simple members of a compound sentence, whether successive or involved, elliptical or complete, are generally divided by the comma; as,

"Here stand we both, and aim we at the best."--Shak.

"I, that did never weep, now melt in woe."--Id.

"Tide life, tide death, I come without delay."--Id.

"I am their mother, who shall bar me from them?"--Id.

"How wretched, were I mortal, were my state!"--Pope.

"Go; while thou mayst, avoid the dreadful fate."--Id.

"Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings, And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings."--Johnson.

Exception.--A relative immediately follows its antecedent.
When a relative immediately follows its antecedent, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be introduced before it; as,

"For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal."--2 Cor., iv, 18.

"A letter is a character that expresses a sound without any meaning."--St. Quentin's General Gram., p. 3.

Exception.--The simple members are short, and closely connected.
When the simple members are short, and closely connected by a conjunction or a conjunctive adverb, the comma is generally omitted; as,

"Honest poverty is better than wealthy fraud."--Dillwyn's Ref., p. 11.

"Let him tell me whether the number of the stars be even or odd."--TAYLOR: Joh. Dict., w.

"It is impossible that our knowledge of words should outstrip our knowledge of things."--CAMPBELL: Murray's Gram., p 359.

Exception.--Two simple members are immediately united.
When two simple members are immediately united, through ellipsis of the relative, the antecedent, or the conjunction that, the comma is not inserted; as,

"Make an experiment on the first man you meet."--Berkley's Alciphron, p. 125.

"Our philosophers do infinitely despise and pity whoever shall propose or accept any other motive to virtue."--Ib., p. 126.

"It is certain we imagine before we reflect."--Ib., p. 359.

"The same good sense that makes a man excel, Still makes him doubt he ne'er has written well."--Young.

More than two words.
When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also: as,

"Who, to the enraptur'd heart, and ear, and eye, Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody."--Beattie.

"Ah! what avails * * * * * * * * * All that art, fortune, enterprise, can bring, If envy, scorn, remorse, or pride, the bosom wring?"--Id..

"Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible; Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless."--Shak.

"She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there."--Young.

"So eagerly the Fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies."--Milton.

Only two words.
When only two words or terms are connected by a conjunction, they should not be separated by the comma; as,

"It is a stupid and barbarous way to extend dominion by arms; for true power is to be got by arts and industry"--Spectator, No. 2.

"Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul."--Goldsmith.

Exception.--The two words connected have several adjuncts.
When the two words connected have several adjuncts, or when one of them has an adjunct that relates not to both, the comma is inserted; as,

"I shall spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful."--Spectator, No. 10.

"Who is applied to persons, or things personified."--Bullions.

"With listless eyes the dotard views the store, He views, and wonders that they please no more."--Johnson.

Exception.--Two connected words or phrases are contrasted.
When two connected words or phrases are contrasted, or emphatically distinguished, the comma is inserted; as,

"The vain are easily obliged, and easily disobliged."--Kames.

"Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand."--Beattie.

"'Tis certain he could write, and cipher too."--Goldsmith.

Exception.--There is merely an alternative of names.
When there is merely an alternative of names, or an explanatory change of terms, the comma is usually inserted; as,

"We saw a large opening, or inlet."--W. Allen.

"Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles?"--Cor., ix, 5.

Exception.--The conjunction is understood.
When the conjunction is understood, the comma is inserted; and, if two separated words or terms refer alike to a third term, the second requires a second comma: as,

"Reason, virtue, answer one great aim."--L. Murray, Gram., p. 269.

"To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs consign."--Johnson.

"She thought the isle that gave her birth. The sweetest, wildest land on earth."--Hogg.

Words in pairs.
When successive words are joined in pairs by conjunctions, they should be separated in pairs by the comma; as,

"Interest and ambition, honour and shame, friendship and enmity, gratitude and revenge, are the prime movers in public transactions."--W. Allen.

"But, whether ingenious or dull, learned or ignorant, clownish or polite, every innocent man, without exception, has as good a right to liberty as to life."--Beattie's Moral Science, p. 313.

"Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate, O'erspread with snares the crowded maze of fate."--Dr. Johnson.

Words put absolute.
Nouns or pronouns put absolute, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as,

"The prince, his father being dead, succeeded."

"This done, we parted."

"Zaccheus, make haste and come down."

"His proctorship in Sicily, what did it produce?"--Cicero.

"Wing'd with his fears, on foot he strove to fly, His steeds too distant, and the foe too nigh" --Pope, Iliad, xi, 440.

Words in apposition.
Words in apposition, (especially if they have adjuncts,) are generally set off by the comma; as,

"He that now calls upon thee, is Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe."--Johnson.

"LOWTH, Dr. Robert, bishop of London, born in 1710, died in 1787."--Biog. Dict.

"HOME, Henry, lord Kames."--Ib.

"What next I bring shall please thee, be assur'd, Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self, Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire."--Milton, P. L., viii, 450.

"And he, their prince, shall rank among my peers."--Byron.

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Exception.--Several words are used as one compound name.
When several words, in their common order, are used as one compound name, the comma is not inserted; as,

"Dr. S