“Thus, by the creative influence of the Eternal Spirit, were the heavens and the earth finished in the space of six days, so admirably finished, an unformed chaos changed into a system of perfect order and beauty, that the adorable Architect himself pronounced it very good, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”—­See Key.

“If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I NEVER would lay down my arms; NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.”—­Columbian Orator, p. 265.

   “Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,
    Nor your son Dorset, Buckingham, nor you.”—­See Key.

UNDER RULE III.—­FAULTY DASHES.

“—­You shall go home directly, Le Fevre, said my uncle Toby, to my house,—­and we’ll send for a doctor to see what’s the matter,—­and we’ll have an apothecary,—­and the corporal shall be your nurse;—­and I’ll be your servant, Le Fevre.”—­STERNE:  Enfield’s Speaker, p. 306.

[FORMULE.—­Not proper, because all the dashes here quoted, except perhaps the last, are useless, or obviously substituted for more definite marks.  But, according to Rule 3d, “Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more definite, are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation.”  Therefore, the first of these should be simply expunged; the second, third, and fourth, with their commas, should be changed to semicolons; and the last, with its semicolon, may well be made a colon.]

“He continued—­Inferior artists may be at a stand, because they want materials.”—­HARRIS:  Enfield’s Speaker, p. 191.  “Thus, then, continued he—­The end in other arts is ever distant and removed.”—­Id., ib.

“The nouns must be coupled with and, and when a pronoun is used it must be plural, as in the example—­When the nouns are disjoined the pronoun must be singular.”—­Lennie’s Gram., 5th Ed., p. 57.

“Opinion is a noun or substantive common,—­of the singular number,—­neuter gender,—­nominative case,—­and third person.”—­Wright’s Philos.  Gram., p. 228.

   “The mountain—­thy pall and thy prison—­may keep thee;
    I shall see thee no more; but till death I will weep thee.”
        —­Felton’s Gram., p. 146.

MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR

“If to accommodate man and beast, heaven and earth; if this be beyond me, ’tis not possible.—­What consequence then follows? or can there be any other than this—­if I seek an interest of my own, detached from that of others; I seek an interest which is chimerical, and can never have existence.”—­HARRIS:  Enfield’s Speaker, p. 139.

“Again—­I must have food and clothing—­Without a proper genial warmth, I instantly perish—­Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itself?  To the distant sun, from whose beams I derive vigour?”—­Id., ib., p. 140.