A Practical and Critical Grammar of the English Language

4. Names of the Deity; as, "God, Jehovah, Most High, Divine Providence, Almighty, Supreme Being, Great Spirit."

Remark. A pronoun referring to the Deity should begin with a capital only when it is equivalent to a name of the Deity; as, "Our trust is in Him who guides the storm."

But some in modern times begin with capitals all pronouns referring to the Deity, even relative pronouns; as, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou That leadest Joseph like a flock." This is a kind of typographical cant which does not show itself in the English Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the Roman Catholic prayer-books.

5. Words derived from proper names; as, Roman, English, American, Americanism. But when the derived word reases to point to its origin it no longer begins with a capital. Thus, stentorian is derived from Stentor, the loud-voiced herald in Homer; but as we do not now think of Stentor when we use this word we do not begin it with a capital. The word italic denoting a kind of type should, according to this principal, begin with a small letter.

6. Every line of poetry.

7. The first word of a direct quotation when the quotation would form a complete sentence by itself; as, "Chaucer beautifully says, 'Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emelie.""

Remark. -The word that introducing a statement of something resolved or enacted should begin with a capital; as, Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting," etc.; "Be it enacted, That after this date," etc.

8. The letters I and O forming the pronoun I and the interjection O are always capital letters.

Remark. Some writers begin with a capital any word which they consider of special importance. Carlyle makes constant use of capitals, sometimes where others would use italics; as, "Labour's thousand hammers ring on her anvils: also a more miraculous Labour works noiselessly, not with the Hand but with the Thought."

EXERCISES.

Write the following with capitals in their proper places:

thou shalt not kill. thou shalt not steal. honesty is the best policy. the soldiers of general washington loved him. socrates, plato, aristotle, and pythagoras were grecian philosophers.

he has read a great many german and french works. solomon says, a wise man feareth and departeth from evil. remember the ancient maxim, know thyself. he has read milton's paradise lost and paradise regained. if i can find the work, i will send it to you. hear, o man. o excellent scipio!

here rests his head upon the lap of earth
a youth to fortune and to fame unknown.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW.

What is punctuation? Chief use of the points? The principal points? What does the period mark? The principal use of the comma? When should a nounproposition not be cut off? An adjective-proposition? An adjunct-proposition? By what is the punctuation of adverb-propositions governed? Mention some expres. sions which are equivalent to propositions and are cut off by the comma. What of the punctuation of the nominative independent? Of another name for an object introduced by or? Of nouns in apposition? Of words arranged in pairs? Give an instance of a comma employed to prevent misconception of the meaning. What punctuation when there is an ellipsis of the verb? What punctuation when conjunctions are omitted? In a compound subject should a comma be placed between the last of the nouns and the verb? What of the punctuation when an adverb or other expression is out of its natural place? Should the subject be cut off from its predicate? What is the office of the semicolon? What is the character of the portion set off by the semicolon? Why are propositions which would otherwise be separated by the period sometimes separated by the semicolon? What punctuation when parts of sentences consist of portions separated from each other by the comma? What punctuation when particulars are introduced in such a way as to cause the mind to dwell on each particular? What punctuation when a general term has several particulars in apposition with it? What of as introducing a sentence as an illustration? What of the punctuation of yes and no? What is the office of the colon? Explain the punctuation of the sentence, "But Goldsmith had no secrets," etc. Of the sentence, "He disposed of his time with great regularity," etc. When is the colon used before a quotation? What punctuation with such expressions as the following? After a formal address at the beginning of a speech or letter? What is the office of the interrogation point? With what kind of letter is this point followed? What punctuation in a series of connected questions? What is the office of the exclamation-point? Explain the punctuation of "All hail, Macbeth!" How are interjections punctuated? Where should this point be placed? What is the first case in which the dash is used? The second? The third? The fourth? The fifth? The sixth? The seventh? The eighth? The ninth? The tenth? What is the office of the curves? What is said of the punctuation of the passage in which the parenthesis occurs? Of the parts of the parenthesis itself? What is the office of the hyphen? When words are first compounded how are the component parts united? What is the office of the quotation-points? What if the substance only is given? What of a quotation within a quotation? Where are the quotation-points placed when a question or exclamation is quoted? What is the office of the brackets? Of the apostrophe? Of the diæresis? Of the ellipsis? Of the section? Of the paragraph? Of the index? Of the brace? Of the caret? Of the macron? Of the breve? Of the asterisk, etc.? What is the first class of words that should begin with capital letters? The second? The third? The fourth? The fifth? The sixth? The seventh? The eighth?

PROSODY.

PROSODY treats of the laws of versification, or versemaking.

A verse is a certain number of accented and unaccented syllables arranged in order and forming a line of poetry.

Remark.-The word verse is from the Latin versus, a turning; and a verse is so called because at the end of one line there is a turning to the beginning of another line. The word verse is sometimes applied to a collection of verses properly called a stanza.

A foot is a portion of a verse, consisting of two or more syllables combined according to accent.

Scanning is the dividing of a verse into the feet of which it is composed.

The macron [-] over a syllable shows that it is accented; the breve [] shows that the syllable is unaccented.

Remark. In the poetry of some languages syllables are long or short instead of accented and unaccented, a long syllable occupying twice the time of a short syllable.

KINDS OF FEET.

The principal feet are the iambus, the trochee, the anapest, and the dactyl.

The iambus and the trochee consist each of two syllables, and the anapest and the dactyl each of three syllables.

The iambus has the second syllable accented and the first unaccented; as, děvõte, crěāte.

The trochee has the first syllable accented and the second unaccented; as, older, running.

The anapest has the last syllable accented and the two first unaccented; as, understand, mĭsběhāve.

The dactyl has the first syllable accented and the two last unaccented; as, laborěr, positive.

Remark.-Part of a foot may be in one word and part in another or others; as, "Sweet rural scene."

Here the accented syllable ru of rural is joined with the unaccented sweet to form an iambus, and the unaccented ral of the same word is joined with the accented

scene to form another iambus. Two or more monosyllables may be taken together in such a way that one of them, from its relative importance or its position in the verse, receives the accent, just as if the monosyllables were syllables of one word; as,

"All crimes | shall cease, | ănd an | cient fråud | shall fail."

It will also be seen from this verse that a monosyllable may, to form a foot, be taken with the unaccented syllable of another word, as in -cient fraud.

The spondee and the pyrrhic are two feet which occasionally occur. The spondee consists of two accented syllables; as,

The pyrrhic consists of two unaccented syllables; as,

"Brought death into the world and all our woe."-Milton.

A word of one syllable is sometimes placed so as to be dwelt on and made equivalent to a foot; as,

"Break, break, break

On thy cold gray stones, O sea!"-Tennyson.

Remark. A word used in this way is sometimes called a cæsura.*

EXERCISES.

What foot does each of the following words form?

Console, compose, confine, derange, divide, unite, erect, distinct, mother, other, singer, going, feeling, ever, never, wither, hydrant, distant, overtake, overcome, absentee, insincere, introduce, entertain, recommend, incomplete, supervise, prosody, singular, masculine, fuel, syllable, happiness, bigotry, artifice, sacred, efface, dissent, gather, elegant, disconnect, complete, simple, deserve, finish.

RHYME.

Poetry is either with or without rhyme.

Rhyme is a correspondence of sound between the endings of two

or more verses; as,

"Favors to none, to all she smiles extends;

Oft she rejects, but never once offends."-Pope.

The term rhyme is also applied to a word that rhymes with another. A syllable that rhymes with another must be at no great distance from it, so that the sound of the first syllable may remain in the memory till that of the second is heard.

Casura, which literally means cutting off, is properly applied to the separation of the parts of a foot by the sense; as,

"A steed comes at morning: no rider is there."-Campbell. Here the syllables in italics make one foot; but the sense makes a pause or separation between ing and the rest of the foot.

In perfect rhymes the vowel-sound is the same, and what follows the vowel-sound is the same. Thus, -tends and -fends have the same vowel-sound, e short, and the same sounds following e, nds. What precedes the vowel-sounds must be different; as, -tends and -fends. Extends and intends would not furnish proper rhymes, both words ending in the same accented syllable tends.

Sometimes an unaccented syllable is added after the accented syllable; as, dying, flÿing. This kind of rhyme is called double rhyme. When two unaccented syllables are added the rhyme is called triple rhyme; as, finìcăl, cynicăl.

Sometimes a syllable in the middle portion of a verse rhymes with one at the end; as, "The splendor falls on castle walls." This is called middle rhyme.

Remark.-Poets often use what are called "allowable rhymes," in which the vowel-sounds are somewhat different; as,

"Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort

To taste a while the pleasures of a court."-Pope.

What follows the vowel-sounds must be the same in "allowable" as well as in perfect rhyme.

KINDS OF VERSE.

Iambic verse is composed chiefly of iambuses; trochaic verse of trochees; anapestic verse of anapests; and dactylic verse of dactyls.

4. The ice | wǎs hēre, | thě īce | wăs there.

5. The lotus blooms | bělów | thě bar | rěn peak.

7. Ă thōu sănd knights are pressing close běhind the snow|-white crest.

Each of these kinds of iambic verse may take an additional unaccented syllable; as,

1. Disdain | ing.

2. Běside | ǎ fōunt | ăin.

3. Thě al | bătrōss | did fōl | low.

4. Büt hāil, | thou göd | děss sage | ănd ho | lý.

5. The meeting points | the sã | crěd háir | dissēv | ĕr.

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