G R A M M A R. 
77 
have a comma between tliem, if tbc latter be explana¬ 
tory of the former; but, when the former word will 
admit the word either to precede it, the latter cannot be 
explanatory of the former, confequently a comma is iin- 
necellary.— Ex, “ Milton too frequently ufes technical 
words, or terms of art.” — “You certainly mud be 
^either'] mad or foolilh.”—The difference is obvious. It 
is allowed, that pundduation fliould not only dire6l the 
reader in paufe, but fliould point to the fenfe of an 
author; and, in this cafe, the comma is made to per¬ 
form its double office. 
V. Nouns in appofition, that is, nouns added to other 
nouns in tlte fame cafe, by way of explication, or illuf- . 
tration, when accompanied with adjuncts, are feparated 
from the reft of the fejitence by commas.— Ex. “ Cupid, 
the god of love, was the fon of Venus, the goddefs of 
beauty.”—In this example, the god of love is in jyapofi- 
tion to Cupid, and the goddefs of beauty is in appofition to 
Venus. 
VI. Two nouns in appofition, not accompanied with 
adjundts, the latter noun forming, as it were, part of a 
proqjer name, are not divided.— Ex. “ The emperor 
Antoninus wrote an excellent book.” 
VII. Expreffions in a diredf addrefs, or what is called 
in Latin the vocative cafe, are feparated from the refi 
of the fentence by commas.— Ex. “ Beware, Amalia, of 
the artful fycophant.” 
To fliow more clearly the ufe of the comma after the 
vocative cafe, let us take the following fentence; and 
firll we fliall fet it down without any point: “ Sextus 
Nasvius my client does not vie with you in intereft.” 
Guthrie's Cicero, \\\. Thus pointed, we cannot tell 
who was Cicero’s client. If we fliould point thus, 
“ Sextus Nffivius, my client, does not vie, &c.” it 
would appear that S. Nievius w'as his client. But the 
true pointing, “ S. Nasvius, my client does not vie, 
&c.” fliews at once, that S. Ntevius is the perlon ad- 
drelfed, or in the vocative cafe, and that the client was 
(P. Quintius) a perfon not then named. 
VIII. A noun or pronoun, in what is called the cafe 
abfolute, and the participle, &c. with whicli it is con¬ 
nected, when it begins a fentence, fliould be feparated 
from tiie refi of the fentence by a comma.— Ex. “ Harold 
being flain in the field, the conqueror marched direftly 
to London.”—“Harold’s being flain in the field caufed 
great joy to the friends of the conqueror.”—In this lat¬ 
ter example, Harold's being fain in the field is the complex 
nominative cafe to the verb caufed, and does not there¬ 
fore admit of a comma, notwitliftanding the length of, 
the fentence. 
IX. Two adjeflives, belonging to a fubfiantive im- 
jnediately following, with or without conjunctions, ad¬ 
mit the intervention of no point.— Ex. “ Beware of a 
cenforious four feverity.”—Commas placed after each 
adjective w'ould be too rigid, and therefore the commas 
mufi be totally expunged. Another reafon is, that the 
firft adjective may be confidered as aCting adverbially 
upon the fecond, .(as if it had flood “ cenforioully- 
four,”) and therefore admits no feparation from it or 
from its fubfiantive. But the prevailing method, of 
putting a comma after the firfi only of two adjeCtives, 
(“ Beware of a cenforious, lour feverity,”) is abfurd 
in tiie higlieft degree. Take the following infiance: 
In the edition of Boyer’s French Grammar from which 
the compiler of this article Itudied when a boy, the 
title-page exprefles, among other things, “ A Well di- 
gefted, and copious Vocabulary.” Here the digefied Well 
is made quite a diflinCt thing from the Vocabulary, 
and is what no one would expeCt to find in a French 
Grammar, 
A limilar rule holds with the verb: Two adverbs be- 
Jlonging to a verb immediately following mufi not have 
a point between them. The following inftance will Ihow 
the abfurdity of departing from this rule : “ Camden’s 
Britannia is a work too long, and too well known, to 
VllL No. J43, 
have its merits now efiimated.” Monthly Rev. iii. 176. 
If vve-read this fentence according to its punctuation, 
we lhall fuppofe, that one reafon vvliy the merits of the 
Britannia cannot or need not now be efiimated, is be- 
caufe tlie work is too long-, but, from the word now being 
inferted, it can hardly be doubted but the w riter of the 
article meant to fay, that work had been too long knoioit 
and too v>ell known: therefore the comma after the word 
long fliould have been omitted. 
Tiie abfurdity of infulating certain words from thofe 
they immediately belong to occurs fo very frequently, 
that few books can be opened without prefenring infiances 
fuch as the following:—“ A dray, or cart-horfe, fliould 
be fniooth trimmed about the head and ears.” Laurence 
on Horfes, i. 308.—“As I chofe rather to be an ear, than 
an eye-witnefs of fuch events, I departed.” Guthrie's Ci¬ 
cero, ii. 20.—Here the word dray and the word ear are 
moft carefully feparated from the very words which the 
fenfe fo clofely conneCts them with; and even the hypheir 
is prelfed into the fervicc to increafe the abfurdity. 
X. Three or more adjeClives, belonging to the fame 
fubfiantive, are feparated from each other, and from 
their concordant fubfiantive, by commas.— Ex. “ Sacred 
hifiory is a fimple, chafie, faithful, dilpallionate, im¬ 
partial, detail of faCts.” 
XI. Thr<e or more verbs having the fame nominative 
cafe, and iuiU’.f Uiately following, one another, are lepa- 
rated by commas.— Ex. “ Exercife ferments the hu¬ 
mours, calls them into their proper channels, throws 
oft' redundancies, and affifis nature in her necell'ary ope¬ 
rations.” 
XII. Several verbs in the infinitive mood, depending 
on one common word, and immediately lucceeding one 
another, are divided by commas.— Ex. “The Spartan 
youth were accufiomed to go barefoot, to lie on the 
ground, to fuft’er heat and cold, to live on the moft or¬ 
dinary provifions, to he engaged in continual excrcil'e, 
and to be enured to blows and wounds.” 
XIII. When the expreliion is fuch as would be tranf- 
lated into Latin by a prepofition and a gerundial adjec¬ 
tive, a comma mufi always precede; for that expreflion, 
in Englifli, is ftrictly rendered in order to, although it 
more frequently differs not in form from the infinitive 
mood.— Ex. “ An old man mufi be a father, to bear the 
follies and abfurdities of youth.”—In this place, to bear 
means in order to bear-, and this is a diftinction between 
the tw o ways in v/hich the infinitive mood may be ufed. 
XIV. A remarkable expreliion, or a fliort obfervation, 
in the form of a quotation, ought to be feparated Iron* 
the words which introduce and follow it: It the quo¬ 
tation be very fliort, or clofely cennefted with the co;'- 
text, a comma will be fufficient.— Ex. “ Swift lays, no 
wife man ever wifned himfelf younger.” 
XV. Between a nominative cafe and its verb, or be¬ 
tween a verb and its objeftive cafe, no point can be ad¬ 
mitted, provided they immediately fucceed each other; 
but all words and fentences that intervene, except an 
adverb or the like, are to be included between commas; 
and, when the nominative and objective cafes are not 
connedbed with their verbs by juxta-pofition, it is uni- 
verfal to lead from one to the other by commas.— E.x. 
“ Epicurus, we are told, left behind him three hundred 
volumes of his works.”—“ Epicurus undoubtedly left 
behind him three hundred volumes of his works.” 
No fingle uncompounded fentence, confifiing of a no¬ 
minative cafe, a verb, and its objedtive cafe, can be fo 
long as to juftify the infection of a comma. As the na¬ 
tural connexion between thofe parts of lpeech,-and their 
dependence upon each other, w'ould be divided, the 
comma, fo i-nlerted, would be improper. A paufe in 
reading, indeed, may be allowable ; but not a paule of 
fuch length as the comma indicates. Befides, there 
would arife a difference of opinion, in whether the paufe 
fhould follow the nominative cafe or precede the objec- 
tive cafe. There are infinite infleblions and paufes of 
9 M ihw 
