be termed letter, syllabic, quotation, and miscellaneous points.

Before, however, commencing the study of the laws which regulate the use of these marks, the learner should know at least as much of grammar as will enable him to distinguish, with tolerable accuracy, the different parts of speech into which language is resolvable. Besides this, it is essential that he be in some measure acquainted with the various kinds of sentences, their usual constructions, and the mode in which they may be analyzed into their component parts. Taking, therefore, for granted that he is not entirely ignorant of the principles of the English language, we will intrude into the province of the grammarian, only so far as may be necessary for the student to form correct notions of the meaning of a few terms, relating to sentences, which will frequently occur in the rules and remarks, and without a due knowledge of which he would be unable fully to comprehend the laws of Punctuation. The terms alluded to, then, are defined and illustrated as follow:

DEFINITIONS.

I. A SENTENCE is an assemblage of words, so arranged as to form a proposition, or two or more related propositions; making, directly or indirectly, complete sense.

II. A SIMPLE SENTENCE expresses only a simple proposition. It consists of one nominative, subject, or thing spoken of, and of a single predicate, or affirmation concerning the subject; as,

1. Calumny destroys reputation. 2. The Creator | is good.
3. Kings reign.

In these propositions, the words that precede the perpendicular lines are the subjects or nominatives, and those that follow are the predicates.

A logician would define a proposition by stating it to be a sentence consisting of a subject; of the copula, or sign of predication; and of the predicate. But the explanation given will be found sufficiently correct for grammatical purposes.

III. A COMPOUND SENTENCE consists of two or more simple sentences in combination, and therefore contains more than one nominative and finite verb, either expressed or understood; as,

1. Virtue refines the affections; but vice debases them.

2. To err is human; to forgive, divine.

3. Age, though it lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living.

That these sentences are compound will be seen at once by resolving each into two simple sentences: "Virtue refines the affections. Vice, on the other hand, debases the affections."-"To err is human. To forgive is divine."-"Age lessens the enjoyment of life. It, however, increases our desire of living."

IV. MEMBERS. When a sentence consists of several clauses, admitting of a union of some and a separation of others, those which are combined may together be called members; as,—

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know; | my people do not consider.

In this example there are four clauses: the first two forming one member; the latter two, another member.

In many books, however, the word member is used in its primary and more extensive sense, as denoting any portion of a sentence, whether a single clause, a phrase, or a word.

V. A CLAUSE is a simple sentence, or part of a sentence, united to another, and contains a nominative and a finite verb, either expressed or understood; as,

1. That high moral excellence is true greatness | cannot be denied

2. Candor is a quality | which all admire.

3. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

4. The smile of gayety may be assumed, while the heart aches within. 5. Gentleness often disarms the fierce, and melts the stubborn.

When the subject of a proposition is itself a sentence, or contains a finite verb, as in No. 1, above, it is called a nominative clause; when a clause begins with a relative pronoun, as the last in No. 2, it is termed a relative clause; when clauses are introduced by correspond

ing words, as "though" and "yet" in No. 3, they are named correlative; when one clause is subject to another for completeness of sense, as those in No. 4, they are called dependent; and when one is simply added to another, co-ordinate or consecutive clauses, as exemplified in No. 5.

VI. A PHRASE consists of at least two words, being a form of expression, or part of a sentence, which has no finite verb, expressed or understood; and which therefore does not of itself make any assertion, or form complete sense; as,

1. In haste.

2. Of all our senses.
3. By infinite wisdom.

In works on grammar, these and similar expressions are usually called imperfect phrases; but the definition just given will preclude the necessity of using the epithet. An article or any unemphatic word and a noun, or the simple infinitive, — as, a book, the man, to love, – will, to avoid circumlocution, be treated in the following pages, not as a phrase, but as a word.

A nominative phrase consists of several words, standing as the subject of a proposition. An adjectival, a participial, a prepositional phrase, are phrases severally beginning with an adjective, a participle, or a preposition. Those phrases, however, which, though commencing with a preposition, are used instead of single adverbs, are commonly spoken of as adverbial phrases; as, "In haste," for hastily.

VII. TERMS and EXPRESSIONS. - To avoid repetition, a word or a phrase is sometimes called a term; and a phrase or a clause, an expression.

VIII. PARENTHETICAL WORDS or EXPRESSIONS are intermediate words, phrases, or clauses, which, though required by the sense of the passage in which they occur, are not essential to the construction. Of these a fuller description, with illustrations, will be given under the rule which treats of the mode of punctuating them.

IX. CORRELATIVES.

When two words express reciprocal relations, or correspond one to another, they are termed correlative words; as, "Pompey was not so brave a general as Cæsar." -"Though the man was intellectually rich, yet he was morally poor."

Correlatives may be nouns, adjectives, or adverbs; but those to which reference will be made in this work are chiefly of a conjunctive nature, denoting relations of various kinds, sometimes that of connection, dependence, or consequence; and sometimes of comparison, similitude, or equality.

X. APPOSITION. -Nouns, pronouns, or phrases, or a noun or pronoun and a phrase, are said to be in apposition, when put in the same case, and signifying the same thing, or when one is used as explanatory of the other; as, "The river Thames."

XI. A SERIES denotes a succession of three or more words, phrases, or clauses, joined in construction; as,

1. The hermit's life is private, calm, devotional, and contemplative.

2. Fire of imagination, strength of mind, and firmness of soul, are rare gifts. 3. God's love watcheth over all, provideth for all, maketh wise adaptations

for all.

The first example exhibits a series of words; the second, of phrases; the third, of clauses. What are termed by elocutionists the members of a series will in this work be called particulars.

XII. A COMPOUND WORD consists of two or more simple or primitive words; as,

The simple words in compounds may, in general, be known from their being separately current in the language. For the sake of brevity, they are sometimes called simples or primitives.

The term DERIVATIVE is restricted to a compound word, the portions of which are not each separately used in English; as, manly, excitement, consciousness, generalization: prospectus, circumstance, philosopher, theology.

XIII. The CONSTRUCTION of a sentence is the mode in which its materials—its words, phrases, and clauses are combined and arranged. When two or more phrases or expressions qualify others, or are qualified by them; when they act as nominatives to the same verb; when they govern the same words or phrases, or are governed by the same verbs, participles, or prepositions, they are said to be in the same construction.

After the pupil has acquired a knowledge of the meaning of the terms just explained, or revived the impressions which he had previously received from his study of syntactical principles, he should state, in his own words, the nature and object of Punctuation, and then analyze the following extracts, or any other piece of composition, into sentences, and their various parts:

EXERCISE.

ATHENS.-If we consider merely the subtlety of disquisition, the force of imagination, the perfect energy and elegance of expression, which characterize the great works of Athenian genius, we must pronounce them intrinsically most valuable. But what shall we say when we reflect that from hence have sprung, directly or indirectly, all the noblest creations of the human intellect; that from hence were the vast accomplishments and the brilliant fancy of Cicero, the withering fire of Juvenal, the plastic imagination of Dante, the humor of Cervantes, the comprehension of Bacon, the wit of Butler, the supreme and universal excellence of Shakspeare? All the triumphs of truth and genius over prejudice and power, in every country and in every age, have been the triumphs of Athens. Wherever a few great minds have made a stand against violence and fraud, in the cause of liberty and reason, there has been her spirit in the midst of them; inspiring, encouraging, consoling;- by the lonely lamp of Erasmus, by the restless bed of Pascal, in the tribune of Mirabeau, in the cell of Galileo, on the scaffold of Sidney. But who shall estimate her influence on private happiness? Who shall say how many thousands have been made wiser, happier, and better, by those pursuits in which she has taught mankind to engage; to how many the studies which took their rise from her have been wealth in poverty, liberty in bondage, health in sickness, society in solitude? Her power is, indeed, manifested at the bar, in the senate, in the field of battle, in the schools of philosophy. But these are not her glory. Wherever literature consoles sorrow, or assuages pain; wherever it brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache for the dark house and the long sleep, there is exhibited, in its noblest form, the immortal influence of Athens.