EXCEPTION III.—­ELLIPTICAL MEMBERS UNITED.

When two simple members are immediately united, through ellipsis of the relative, the antecedent, or the conjunction that, the comma is not inserted; as, “Make an experiment on the first man you meet.”—­Berkley’s Alciphron, p. 125.  “Our philosophers do infinitely despise and pity whoever shall propose or accept any other motive to virtue.”—­Ib., p. 126.  “It is certain we imagine before we reflect.”—­Ib., p. 359.

   “The same good sense that makes a man excel,
    Still makes him doubt he ne’er has written well.”—­Young.

RULE III.—­MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also:[462] as,

    1.  “Who, to the enraptur’d heart, and ear, and eye,
       Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody.”—­Beattie.

    2.  “Ah! what avails * * * * * * * * *
       All that art, fortune, enterprise, can bring,
       If envy, scorn, remorse, or pride, the bosom wring?”—­Id..

    3.  “Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible;
       Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.”—­Shak.

    4.  “She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there.”—­Young.

    5. ——­“So eagerly the Fiend
       O’er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
       With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
       And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.”—­Milton.

RULE IV.—­ONLY TWO WORDS.

When only two words or terms are connected by a conjunction, they should not be separated by the comma; as, “It is a stupid and barbarous way to extend dominion by arms; for true power is to be got by arts and industry”—­Spectator, No. 2.

   “Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul.”—­Goldsmith.

EXCEPTION I.—­TWO WORDS WITH ADJUNCTS.

When the two words connected have several adjuncts, or when one of them has an adjunct that relates not to both, the comma is inserted; as, “I shall spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful.”—­Spectator, No. 10. “Who is applied to persons, or things personified.”—­Bullions.

   “With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
    He views, and wonders that they please no more.”—­Johnson.

EXCEPTION II.—­TWO TERMS CONTRASTED.

When two connected words or phrases are contrasted, or emphatically distinguished, the comma is inserted; as, “The vain are easily obliged, and easily disobliged.”—­Kames.