Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 30

PUNCTUATION MARKS

Originally, writing did not show where one word ended and another began. Letter after letter was written without a break, as shown in the first three lines above. Then the first punctuation mark was used, a point after every word to separate one word from another (Punctuation comes from a Latin word, punctum, meaning point}:

That helps, but still the sense is not clear.

Next, spaces were used instead of dots to separate words, hut there was nothing to show the division of the writing into sentences and portions of sentences or to indicate to the oral reader where he was to pause or change his expression. The main features of our system of punctuating really began in the fifteenth century after Christ as a result of the introduction of printing. In England the first punctuation mark used was the point or period to indicate a break in the writing. The next punctuation mark to be used was a perpendicular line which was sometimes used for a comma (,). It was soon dropped in favor of the comma. The colon (:) first appeared in 1580. It was introduced 'to show that there is more to come'. The semicolon (;) first appeared in English writings in 1599. There is some evidence that Shakespeare used the semicolon.

In present-day writing the period (.) marks the end of every sentence that is not a question or exclamation. At the end of a sentence the period indicates a definite pause in reading. It is also used after an abbreviated word, as Gen. (Genesis), Roth. (Rotherham), J. Smith, etc. The period is often used after numbers or letters in enumerations, as in the Watchtower questions at the bottom of the page. Three periods ( . . . ), called ellipsis, are used to indicate an omission of letters or words.

The most frequent use of the colon now is after expressions introducing an explanation, example, definition, a summing up, a quotation, or a list; for example: "These six things doth the LORD hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." (Prov. 6:16-19) In this case the colon precedes the listing or enumeration of the seven things hated. A colon is sometimes used between clauses instead of a period. It marks a break less than the period but more than the semicolon. A colon is also usually placed after the saluta-

tion of a business letter (Dear Sir:). A colon is placed between the hour and the minutes in expressions of time (9:30 a.m.) and between the number of the chapter and the number of the verse in Scripture citations (Matt. 5:17).

The semicolon (;), generally, marks a break in a sentence flow or structure greater than that which would be marked by a comma. It is used to separate complete statements (or clauses) whose force is dependent upon their remaining in the same sentence. For example, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Each of these two statements is a sentence in itself, but there is a definite relationship between them. The semicolon is also used to mark off the divisions of a sentence, which divisions are further subdivided by one or more commas. Thus, "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye."

Though the comma indicates the smallest interruption or break in the continuity of thought in a sentence, it is by no means the least important. First, it marks minor breaks in the flow of sentences, as follows: "God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind." Words, phrases, and clauses should be separated by commas when they are used in a series. For an illustration note the listing of the seven things hated by the Lord, that these seven things are set off by commas (the text is quoted in the paragraph on the colon). Commas are used to mark off a non-restrictive clause. Example: "The books, which I have read, I pass on to you." (That means all the books.) If there are no commas, then the clause stands as restrictive, limiting the books passed on to those read and implying that the speaker was keeping others which he had not read. The comma is generally used to separate clauses joined by one of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, neither, nor).

Brief mention is made concerning the following marks: The exclamation mark (!) is used after words that express

strong feeling, or that are to be uttered forcefully. The interrogation (question) mark (?) is used at the end of a question. An apostrophe (') indicates the omission of one or more letters (don't for do not), or with an s it shows possession (Jehovah's witnesses). Quotation marks (" ") enclose quoted matter. Incidentally, in this connection, when words are added to a quotation, the added words are put between brackets [], to indicate they are no part of the original. Single quotation marks (' ') indicate material quoted in substance, but not verbatim or word for word. The dash (—) is used to denote a sudden or abrupt change in statement, such as an interruption, or a pause for emphasis or suspense. It should not be used indiscriminately and as a general substitute for other punctuation marks.

Now returning to the first two lines of this lesson: When the religionists heatedly command Jehovah's witnesses, "Preach not!" what do Jehovah's witnesses do? They preach. But still the religionists' aim is, "They shall not preach of these things." Does their fight against the truth remove from them the shame which the declaration of God's message brings upon them in the minds of the people of good-will? No, it does not remove shame. This meaning (Watchtower of 1942, pages 57 and 58) would be difficult to get from the first line of this lesson, which has no punctuation marks. Now read it with the proper punctuation and see how much easier it is to understand: "Preach ye not!" They preach. "They shall not preach of these things!" It doth not remove shame. (See Micah 2: 6, Margolis and Young.)