Design and Economy

45

quote according to the practice of most offices, even when the meaning would suggest the reverse order.

The setting of punctuation marks in the same font of type with what precedes-roman with roman or italic with italic-is required for both consistency and good design.

Questions of visual effect cannot always be separated from questions of economy and clearness. An elaborate succession of points may be at the same time unpleasing to the eye and puzzling or labored.

ECONOMY IN PUNCTUATION

Modern preference favors the use of the fewest and least obtrusive marks that will do the required work. As a matter of course, each question of punctuation is to be settled on the merits of the case. If a semicolon will serve better than a comma to make clear the meaning and value of a pair of clauses, the semicolon is in a sense lighter, because it saves confusion. Economy consists not in denying one's self the use of semicolons or exclamation points, but rather in the use of the points most suitable to the immediate purpose.

The consideration of economy will often suggest the use of single points where older usage preferred and present usage permits two points. If a dash will do the same work as a dash and comma together, the dash alone is better. For a similar reason, a light point that will do as well as a stronger point is preferable.

Economy of pointing is conditioned upon directness of style. The small number of points in the average good sentence today may be explained partly by the avoidance of structure which would call for numerous parenthetical or series points.

An elaborate style like Pater's will require much punc

tuation even when Pater is writing about sentences that need no punctuation.

Say what you have to say, what you have a will to say, in the simplest, the most direct and exact manner possible, with no surplusage:-there, is the justification of the sentence so fortunately born, "entire, smooth, and round," that it needs no punctuation, and also (that is the point!) of the most elaborate period, if it be right in its elaboration.-Essay on Style.

Pater's sentences are not usually of the "entire, smooth, and round" variety. The first 139 sentences of the Essay on Style carry more than 7 structural points per sentence. The New York Tribune editorials listed in Chapter IX (page 251 below) have an average of not quite 1.9 points per sentence.

It is often desirable to manage so that a point will serve for two purposes at once, with the advantage of saving an unnecessary break. In this sentence from page 17 of Mr. Fred Lewis Pattee's American Literature Since 1870, the second dash marks the end of a parenthesis and at the same time a clause boundary:

Wordsworth at the opening of the nineteenth century had protested against unreality and false sentiment-"a dressy literature, an exaggerated literature" as Bagehot expressed itand he started the romantic revolt by proposing in his poems "to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men."

For a like reason there may be advantage in placing quotations so that the quote marks will come at structural breaks. Reference indexes, such as asterisks or superior figures, are usually least obtrusive if placed at ends of sentences.

Variety of Points and Structure

THE CONSIDERATION OF VARIETY

47

To insist on variety in pointing is not an unnecessary refinement, because pointing and style are inseparable. Monotonous pointing is a symptom of indolence or poverty. The excessive frequency of dashes or curves can become an intolerable mannerism; and even the recurrence of commas and periods at noticeably regular intervals may be as awkward as the recurrence of set phrases.

Just what constitutes monotony will depend on the intervals at which points occur and on the nature and the use of the points in question. A passage of considerable length may be pointed with nothing but periods and dashes without becoming at all monotonous. On the other hand, structure and points may be so combined as to give an impression of mechanical sameness.

The counsel of variety is of use in revision rather than in the first stages of work. Variety need not always be consciously worked for in advance of correction; it comes rather as a by-product of good management in respect to such things as clearness and emphasis. A good way to test a passage for variety is to read it aloud.

CHAPTER IV

PARAGRAPH AND SENTENCE POINTING-THE POINTING OF MAIN CLAUSES

THE practical difficulties of punctuation are questions of utility which frequently involve decisions as to structure, and not punctuation alone.

The apparent weight of a group depends partly on its structural status as indicated by capitals, pointing, and form. Other things equal, a sentence is rhetorically superior to a main clause. So far as form is concerned, a main clause outweighs a subordinate clause; and by virtue of its finite verb a clause of either kind is superior to a phrase. Such things as context, length, or phrasing may more than make up the difference; but under like conditions formal rank and consequent apparent value will depend on the structural rank of the element in question. The following forms distribute emphasis very differently:

The Germans give due weight to their own amiable sentimental views of German importance and destinies, but they are also guided by business considerations.-New York Times, June 10, 1918.

The Germans give due weight to their own amiable sentimental views of German importance and destinies. But they are also guided by business considerations.

Though the Germans give due weight to their own amiable sentimental views of German importance and destinies, they are not unmindful of business considerations.

48

Sentences, Clauses, Phrases

49

The two-sentence form gives increased emphasis to both parts. The form beginning with though makes the first clause subordinate, suspending attention for the sake of massing emphasis upon the following main clause.

The various ranks of sentence and sentence elements afford wide latitude of choice. A given notion, like This is a mistake, may appear in at least the following variety of forms:

As a sentence, full or elliptical: queer mistake! Isn't this a mistake?

This is a mistake. What a

As a main clause, full or elliptical: He says the plans are ready; but that is a mistake. He says the plans are ready; a serious mistake.

As a parenthetical clause: He says—but I know him to be mistaken-that the plans are ready.

As a subordinate clause: Though he is mistaken, I think he is sincere.

As an absolute phrase: That being a mistake, we must change our plan.

As an adverbial phrase: By that mistake he has spoiled a whole day's work.

As a noun phrase: This mistake has obscured the nature of the problem.

As an adjective or adjective phrase: This mistaken plan must be changed. Having been mistaken, we must change our plan.

But the distinctions of main clause, subordinate clause, and other elements cannot be rigidly applied to questions of rhetoric. For purposes of punctuation a clause technically subordinate can be rhetorically a main clause, even a sentence. Such circumstances as length, position, or content may make a subordinate element coordinate with a principal clause. An expression like No or As you please may properly stand as a sentence.

In the sentence below, the group following the semicolon