NOTE.-When several questions follow one another in a series, it is best to begin only the first with a capital; as, When did you see him? where? in what company?

19. The Exclamation Point is used (a) after every exclamatory sentence, and may be used instead of the comma (b) after oh, ah, alas, etc.; as,

(a) How beautiful the sky looks!

NOTE.

(b) Alas! our young affections run to waste,

Or water but the desert.

When several exclamations follow one another in series, it is best to begin only the first with a capital; as,

How beautiful is the night! how still! how serene!

20. Quotation Marks are used (a) at the beginning and at the close* of a direct quotation, and may be used instead of italics (b) in writing the names of books, magazines, and newspapers; as,

(a) 1. "I would rather be right than president," said Clay.

2. "I would rather be right," said Clay, "than president.” (b) 1. I looked through several copies of "The New York Times" and of "Harper's Monthly" to find a criticism of "The Jungle Books."

21. The only safe Rule for Punctuation is to cultivate the habit of observing closely what you read.

*These words are italicized because there is a tendency on the part of pupils, as persistent as it is confusing, to omit the quotation marks at the close of a quotation,

I am overworked and growing old. I shall be sixty next February 3d. On the whole, it seems I must decline to lecture henceforth, except in this immediate vicinity, if I do at all. I cannot promise to visit Illinois on that errand-certainly not now.

Your acceptance to lecture before our association next winter came to hand this morning. Your penmanship not being the plainest, it took some time to translate it; but we succeeded, and would say, your time, February 3d, and terms, $60, are entirely satisfactory. As you suggest, we may be able to get you other engagements in the immediate vicinity; if so, we shall advise you.

Yours respectfully,

M. B. CASTLE.

II

Write also from dictation this extract:

"I see him," said Rebecca. "He leads a body of men close under the outer barrier of the barbican. They pull down the piles and palisades; they hew down the barriers with axes. They have made a breach in the barriers! they rush in they are thrust back! Front de Boeuf heads the defenders; I see his gigantic form above the press. They throng again to the breach, and the pass is disputed, hand to hand, and man to man. Front de Boeuf and the Black Knight fight hand to hand on the breach, amid the roar of their followers, who watch the progress of the strife. Heaven strike with the cause of the oppressed and of the captive!" She then uttered a loud shriek, and exclaimed, "He is down! he is down!"

"Who is down ?" cried Ivanhoe.

"The Black Knight," answered Rebecca faintly; then instantly again shouted with joyful eagerness, "But no! but no! he is on foot again, and fights as if there were twenty men's strength in his single arm."

WALTER SCOTT: Ivanhoe

FORM AND FUNCTION

22. Changes of Form in Words.

The sentence, we have learned, is a part of the paragraph. We are now to study words as parts of the sentence. The most noticeable thing about words is their frequent change of form. Can you find in any dictionary all the words occurring in any paragraph that has been quoted? Try the first sentence of the paragraph quoted on page 15. Dictionaries, as a rule, either omit "rested," "came," and "her, or refer to "rest," "come, " and "she." Why? Because "rested" is only a form of "rest," " came" of "come," and "her" of "she.'

Evidently, then, the dictionary does not tell all that we must know about words. It does not explain the different meanings and uses of the various forms of a word. Some words "and," "or," "to," "thus," etc.-have no other forms; but most of the words in our language may change their form to denote a change of function.

EXERCISE

In the following selection, tell what words would be found in the dictionary under different forms:

It was with some difficulty that he [Rip] found the way to his own house, which he approached with silent awe, ex

pecting every moment to hear the shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle. He found the house gone to decay-the roof fallen in, the windows shattered, and the doors off the hinges. A half-starved dog that looked like Wolf was skulking about it. Rip called him by name; but the cur snarled, showed his teeth, and passed on. This was an unkind cut indeed-"My very dog," sighed poor Rip, "has forgotten me!"

WASHINGTON IRVING: Rip Van Winkle

23. Changes of Function in Words.

Does "I" differ in meaning from "my" and "me"? Does "see" differ in meaning from “saw, "seen," "sees," and "seeing" Not in the dictionary sense of meaning; otherwise, the dictionary would give separate definitions for each of these words. The same may be said of "boy," "boy's," "boys," and "boys'"; of "rich," "richer," and "richest"; of "this" and "these," "that" and "those"; and of many other words. These words differ fundamentally; but it is a difference of function, and this difference is shown by a change of form. The grammatical function of a word, then, means its particular duty, or office, or relationship in the sentence. Outside of the sentence, a word can have no grammatical function: it is dead to grammar, but alive to the dictionary.

24. Form and Function.

Form and function should be studied together, for we cannot use the grammatical form of a word