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guage, though inelegant, is not ungrammatical;” that is," it is grammatical."

Rule 17.

Prepositions govern the objective case; as, "I have heard a good character of her;" "From him that is needy, turn not away;" "A word to the wise is sufficient for them;" "We may be good and happy without riches."

Rule 18.

Conjunctions connect the same moods and tenses of verbs, and cases of nouns and pronouns; as, "Candour is to be approved and practised;" "If thou sincerely desire, and earnestly pursue virtue, she will assuredly be found by thee, and prove a rich reward;" "The master taught her and me to write;" "He and she were school-fellows."

Rule 19.

Some conjunctions require the indicative, some the subjunctive mood, after them. It is a general rule, that when something contingent or doubtful is implied, the subjunctive ought to be used; as, "If I were to write, he would not regard it;"" He will not be pardoned, unless he repent."

Conjunctions that are of a positive and absolute nature require the indicative mood. "As virtue advances so vice recedes ;" " He is healthy because he is temperate.”

Rule 20.

When the qualities of different things are compared, the latter noun or pronoun is not governed by the conjunction than or as, but agrees with the verb, or is governed by the verb or the preposition, expressed or understood; as, "Thou art wiser than I;" that is, " than I am.” "They loved him more than me;" that is, more than they loved me." "The sentiment is well expressed by Plato, but much better by Solomon than him ;" that is," than by him."

Rule 21.

To avoid disagreeable repetitions, and to express our ideas in few words, an ellipsis, or omission of some words, is frequently admitted. Instead of saying, "He was a learned man, he was a wise man, and he was a good man;" we use the ellipsis, and say, " he was a learned, wise, and good man."

When the omission of words would obscure the sentence, weaken its force, or be attended with an impropriety, they must be expressed. In the sentence, "We are apt to love who love us," the word them should be supplied. "A beautiful field and trees;" is not proper language. It should be," Beautiful fields and trees;" or, " A beautiful field and fine trees."

Rule 22.

All the parts of a sentence should correspond to each other: a regular and dependent construction, throughout, should be carefully preserved. The following sentence is therefore inaccurate: "He was more beloved, but not so much admired, as Cinthio." It should be," He was more beloved than Cinthio, but not so much admired."

PROSODY.

PROSODY Consists of two parts: the former teaches the true pronunciation of words, comprising ACCENT, QUANTITY, EMPHASIS, PAUSE, and TONE; and the latter, the laws of VERSIFICATION.

Accent.

Accent is the laying of a peculiar stress of the voice on a certain letter or syllable in a word, that it may be better heard than the rest, or distinguished from them; as, in the word presúme, the stress of the voice must be on the letter u, and second syllable, súme, which take the accent.

Quantity.

The quantity of a syllable is that time which is occupied in pronouncing it. It is considered as long or short.

A vowel or syllable is long, when the accent is on the vowel; which occasions it to be slowly joined, in pronunciation, to the following letter; as, fall, bale, mood, house, feature.

A syllable is short, when the accent is on the consonant; which occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding letter; as, an't, bon'net, hunger.

A long syllable requires double the time of a short one in pronouncing it; thus, mate and note should be pronounced as slowly again as măt and not.

Emphasis.

By emphasis is meant a stronger and fuller sound of voice, by which we distinguish some word or words on which we design to lay particular stress, and to show how it affects the rest of the sentence. Sometimes the emphatic words must be distinguished by a particular tone of voice, as well as by a greater stress.

Pauses.

Pauses or rests, in speaking and reading, are a total cessation of the voice, during a perceptible, and, in many cases, a measurable space of time.

Tones.

Tones are different both from emphasis and pauses; consisting in the modulation of the voice, the notes or variations of sound which we employ, in the expression of our sentiments.

Versification.

Versification is the arrangement of a certain number and variety of syllables, according to certain laws.

Rhyme is the correspondence of the last sound of one verse, to the last sound or syllable of another.

PUNCTUATION.

PUNCTUATION is the art of dividing a written composition into sentences, or parts of sentences, by points or stops, for the purpose of marking the different pauses, which the sense and an accurate pronunciation require.

The Comma represents the shortest pause; the SemicoJon, a pause double that of the comma; the Colon, double that of the semicolon; and the Period, double that of the colon.

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The points are marked in the following manner;

The Comma,

The Semicolon;

The Colon:

The Period.

Comma.

The comma usually separates those parts of a sentence, which though very closely connected in sense, require a pause between them; as, I remember, with gratitude, his love and services. Charles is beloved, esteemed, and respected.

Semicolon.

The semicolon is used for dividing a compound sentence into two or more parts, not so closely connected as those which are separated by a comma, nor yet so little dependent on each other, as those which are distinguished by a colon; as, straws swim on the surface; but pearls lie at the

bottom.

Colon.

The colon is used to divide a sentence into two or more parts, less connected than those which are separated by a semicolon; but not so independent as separate, distinct sentences; as, do not flatter yourselves with the hope of perfect happiness: there is no such thing in the world.

Period.

When a sentence is complete and independent, and not connected in construction with the following sentence, it is marked with a period; as, Fear God. Honour the King. Have charity towards all men.

Besides the points which mark the pauses in discourse, there are others that denote a different modulation of voice, in correspondence to the sense. These are,

as,

The Interrogative point?

The Exclamation point!

· Parentheses ()

Are

you sincere?

How excellent is a grateful heart!

Know then this truth (enough for man to know)

Virtue alone is happiness below.

The following characters are also frequently used in composition.

An Apostrophe, marked thus '; as, tho', judg'd.

am

A Caret, marked thus a: as, I diligent.

A

A Hyphen, which is thus marked ; as, lap-dog, to

morrow.

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The Acute Accent, marked thus'; as, fan'cy.
The Grave Accent, thus ; as, fàvour.

The proper mark to distinguish a long syllable, is this
as, rosy and a short one, this; as, folly. This last mark
is called a Breve.

A Diæresis, thus marked ", shows that two vowels form separate syllables; as, Creator.

A Section is thus marked §.

A Paragraph thus ¶.

A Quotation has two inverted commas at the beginning, and two direct ones at the end of a phrase or passage; as, "The proper study of mankind is man."

Crotchets or Brackets serve to inclose a particular word or sentence. They are marked thus [ ].

An Index or Hand points out a remarkable passage. A Brace unites three poetical lines; or connects a number of words, in prose, with one common term.

An Asterisk, or little star*, directs the reader to some note in the margin.

An Ellipsis is thus marked

; as, K-g, for King.

An Obelisk, which is maked thus †, and Parallels thus |, together with the letters of the alphabet, and figures, are nsed as references to the margin.

CAPITALS.

THE following words should begin with capitals:

1st. The first word of every book, chapter, letter, paragraph, &c.

2d. The first word after a period, and frequently after the notes of interrogation and exclamation.

3d. The names of the Deity; as, God, Jehovah, the Su. preme Being, &c.

4th. Proper names of persons, places, ships, &c.

5th. Adjectives derived from the proper names of places; as, Grecian, Roman, English, &c.

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