66 STUDYING THE USE OF MARKS AND FORMS 191 A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December," said Scrooge. CHARLES DICKENS In the above selection, what is the first word that contains an apostrophe? Is it a contraction or a possessive? If a possessive, what is possessed or owned? If a contraction, for what does it stand? What letter or letters have been omitted? Study in the same way every word containing an apostrophe. XI. STUDYING THE USE OF MARKS AND FORMS Study the selection about old Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, telling yourself why each capital and each mark of punctuation is used, as follows: Paragraph I "You'll" is indented, or has a double margin, because it is the beginning of a paragraph. "You'll " begins with a capital letter because There is an apostrophe in "you'll" because it is a contraction. It is a contraction of Try to read this sentence without pausing after "tomorrow" and you will see how hard it is to do so. Besides, you will see that you do not get the real meaning if you do not pause. In the third paragraph three commas are used to mark pauses for meaning. They are so used after "convenient," "it," and "used." When you come to these commas, remember why they are used. "I" is a capital letter because There are quotation marks around There is a comma to separate the because from Scrooge " begins with a capital letter because There is a period at the end of the sentence because Study each of the remaining paragraphs in the same way. XII. WRITING FROM DICTATION 1* XIII. INDIVIDUAL CORRECTION OF XIV. GRANDFATHER'S LETTER One day a child received the following letter: My dear Grandchild, Stanhope, Ohio When I turned over the new leaf in my calendar today, I saw at a glance that somebody had drawn a heavy red mark around the figure 4. "Who could 1 Note to the teacher: Material and directions for conduct. ing these exercises are given in your Manual, page 161. GRANDFATHER'S LETTER 193 have done that? Suddenly I remembered. "O foolish Grandfather!" I said to myself. "You put that mark there yourself, and you did it to remind you that September the fourth is your grandchild's very own birthday." What does it mean? I thought. So, my dear, I am sending you the inclosed five dollars. With it I want you to buy something you would like. I hope you will have a very happy birthday and that on that day you will grow one year bigger, one year wiser, and one year better. After your birthday, write and tell me how you spent the day and what you bought with the money that I sent you. Your loving grandfather, George Williams Study the above letter. See how the heading is written. Tell yourself where and why every capital and mark of punctuation is used. Read the whole letter through carefully. What does the grandfather ask his grandchild to do? Suppose you were that grandchild your book does not say whether the grandchild was a boy or a girl what would you buy with the five dollars? Between now and your next lesson, at which you will write an answer to the letter, think just how you would spend your birthday if you could plan it, and how you will answer the letter. XV. ANSWERING GRANDFATHER'S LETTER You may write the answer to the grandfather's letter, telling him what he wanted to know; also be sure to send your thanks and some kind or loving message. Write the heading from your own address. For the date take September the sixth, as all such letters should be answered promptly. You should begin : Dear Grandfather This is called the salutation. What mark should be placed after the salutation? In writing the letter, think each sentence through to the end before you write one word of it. How will you end your letter? XVI. CORRECTING LETTERS1 XVII. CHAPTER TEST: WRITING ORIGINAL LETTERS Write a letter to a friend, answering one of the following questions: If you had one dollar, what would you do with it? If you could buy just one thing, what would you buy? If you could go to just one place, where would you go? 1 Note to the teacher: See Manual, page 162. CHAPTER TEST: ORIGINAL LETTERS 195 If you could do just what you wished to do all day tomorrow, what would you do? Remember to make your heading exactly right. Your letter need not be long, but it should be interesting. You should not excuse yourself if you make one mistake in the use of capitals or marks of punctuation, or in the arrangement of your letter on the paper. |