XVII. [*] The ASTERISK, or STAR, [Dagger] the OBELISK, or DAGGER, [Double dagger] the DIESIS, or DOUBLE DAGGER, and [||] the PARALLELS, refer to marginal notes.  The SECTION also [Sec.], and the PARAGRAPH [], are often used for marks of reference, the former being usually applied to the fourth, and the latter to the sixth note on a page; for, by the usage of printers, these signs are commonly introduced in the following order:  1, *; 2, [Dagger]; 3, [Double dagger]; 4, Sec.; 5, ||; 6, ; 7, **; 8, [Dagger][Dagger]; &c.  Where many references are to be made, the small letters of the alphabet, or the numerical figures, in their order, may be conveniently used for the same purpose.

XVIII. [[Asterism]] The ASTERISM, or THREE STARS, a sign not very often used, is placed before a long or general note, to mark it as a note, without giving it a particular reference.

XIX. [,] The CEDILLA is a mark borrowed from the French, by whom it is placed under the letter c, to give it the sound of s, before a or o; as in the words, “facade,” “Alencon.”  In Worcester’s Dictionary, it is attached to three other letters, to denote their soft sounds:  viz., “[,G] as J; [,S] as Z; [,x] as gz.”

[Fist][Oral exercises in punctuation should not be confined to the correction of errors.  An application of its principles to points rightly inserted, is as easy a process as that of ordinary syntactical parsing, and perhaps as useful.  For this purpose, the teacher may select a portion of this grammar, or of any well-pointed book, to which the foregoing rules and explanations may be applied by the pupil, as reasons for the points that occur.]

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE PUNCTUATION.—­MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR.

“The principal stops are the following:—­

The Comma (,) the semicolon (;) the colon (:) the period, or fall stop (.) the note of interrogation (?) the note of exclamation (!) the parenthesis () and the dash (—­) [.]”—­Bullions, E. Gram., p. 151; Pract.  Les., p. 127.  “The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English.  The marks employed, are the Comma (,); Semicolon (;); Colon (:); Period (.); Interrogation (?); Exclamation (!).”—­Bullions, Lat.  Gram., p. 3.

“Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game; you chide me, says the youth, for a trifling fault.  Custom, replied the philosopher, is no trifle.  And, adds Montagnie, he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy.”—­Home’s Art of Thinking, (N.  Y. 1818,) p. 54.

“A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died?  ’My father,’ says the skipper, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned.  ‘Well,’ replies the merchant, and are not you afraid of being drowned too?’”—­Ib., p. 135.