Business English Part 64

"When I answered him with, 'In the same way that I explain the unequal distribution of whiskers,' bedlam broke loose.

"As soon as I could get quiet restored, I said: 'Now don't think I returned the answer I did to make fun of your whiskers. You will observe that I have no whiskers, as I dissipate them by shaving them off.

Nature gives me abundance of whiskers, and, if I conserved them as you do, I also should be abundantly supplied. Now, it is the same way with money. The man who conserves his money has more than his share, as with whiskers; while the man who dissipates his money is without his allotment.'"

=Exercise 190--The Semicolon (;)=

The semicolon is used between the propositions of a compound sentence when no coordinate conjunction is used. (See Exercise 176, 2.)

It is not work that kills men; it is worry.

It is important not to overdo this use of the semicolon. Do not use it unless the two princ.i.p.al clauses of the sentence taken together easily form one idea.

Especial care must be taken not to confuse coordinate conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. The following are conjunctive adverbs: _then_, _therefore_, _consequently_, _moreover_, _however_, _so_, _also_, _besides_, _thus_, _still_, _otherwise_, _accordingly_. When they are used to join princ.i.p.al clauses, they should be preceded by a coordinate conjunction or a semicolon; as,

Fruit was plentiful, and therefore the price was low.

Fruit was plentiful; therefore the price was low.

When there is a series of phrases or clauses, each of which is long and contains commas within itself, the sentence becomes clearer if the members of the series are separated by semicolons instead of by commas; as,

You know how prolific the American mind has been in invention; how much civilization has been advanced by the steamboat, the cotton-gin, the sewing-machine, the reaping-machine, the typewriter, the electric light, the telephone, the phonograph.

Write the following from dictation:

1

No man can deny that the lines of endeavor have more and more narrowed and stiffened; no one who knows anything about the development of industry in this country can fail to have observed that the larger kinds of credit are more and more difficult to obtain, unless you obtain them upon the terms of uniting your efforts with those who already control the industries of the country; and n.o.body can fail to observe that any man who tries to set himself up in compet.i.tion with any process of manufacture which has been taken under the control of large combinations of capital will presently find himself either squeezed out or obliged to sell and allow himself to be absorbed.--Woodrow Wilson: _The New Freedom._

2

If the total amount of savings deposited in the savings banks were equally divided among the population of the country, the amount apportioned to each person in 1820 would have been twelve cents; in 1830, fifty-four cents; in 1840, eighty-two cents; in 1850, $1.87; in 1860, $4.75; in 1870, $14.26; in 1880, $16.33; in 1890, $24.75; in 1900, $31.78; in 1910, $45.05, and it is steadily increasing. Remember the fact that the population had increased from 10,000,000 in 1820 to over 90,000,000 in 1910; the "rainy day"

money, therefore, a.s.sumes gigantic proportions.

3

In Germany, says _The Scientific American_, wood is too expensive to be burned, and it is made into artificial silk worth two dollars a pound and bristles worth four dollars a pound; into paper, yarn, twine, carpet, canvas, and cloth. Parquet flooring is made from sawdust; the materials may be bought by the pound and then mixed, so that the householder can lay his own hardwood floors according to his individual taste and ingenuity.

4

The country gentlemen and country clergymen had fully expected that the policy of these ministers would be directly opposed to that which had been almost constantly followed by William; that the landed interest would be favored at the expense of trade; that no addition would be made to the funded debt; that the privileges conceded to Dissenters by the late king would be curtailed, if not withdrawn; that the war with France, if there must be such a war, would, on our part, be almost entirely naval; and that the government would avoid close connections with foreign powers and, above all, with Holland.--_Macaulay._

=Exercise 191--The Colon (:)=

The colon is always used to indicate that something of importance follows, usually an enumeration or a list of some kind, or a quotation of several sentences or paragraphs; as,

1. Three things are necessary: intelligence, perseverance, and tact.

2. The buffalo supplies them with almost all the necessities of life: with habitation, food, and clothing; with strings for their bows; with thread, cordage, and trail-ropes for their horses; with coverings for their saddles; and with the means of purchasing all that they desire from traders.

3. Quoting from the current number of the _---- Magazine_, he read: (four paragraphs).

Punctuate:

1. For the first fifty miles we had companions with us Troche a little trapper and Rouville a nondescript in the employ of the fur company.

2. About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains Sublette Redd.i.c.k and two others.

3. Reynal was gazing intently he began to speak at last "Many a time when I was with the Indians I have been hunting gold all through the Black Hills there's a plenty of it here you may be certain of that I have dreamed about it fifty times" etc.

4. Objects familiar from childhood surrounded me crags and rocks a black and sullen brook that gurgled with a hollow voice among the crevices a wood of mossy distorted trees.

=Exercise 192=

The colon is used after _thus_, _as follows_, _the following_, or similar expressions; as,

Name the adverbs in the following: He left hurriedly rather early in the morning.

The colon is not used after _namely_, _as_, _that is_, _for example, for instance_, and the like. Such expressions are preceded by the semicolon and followed by the comma.

Punctuate the following:

1. The Christmas presents that he wants are the following a toy train a toy automobile a toy circus and a printing press.

2. Do the exercise thus first lunge to the left second raise the arms forward and third wind the wand.

3. We are offering for sale three residences of the size that you wish namely 438 Bishop Ave 1614 Winchester St and 2015 Logan Square.

4. The following are the two that we liked best 438 Bishop Ave and 2015 Logan Square.

5. One use of the comma is to set off an appositive for example Mr Kearne the buyer has left the city.

6. The comma is used to set off an independent adverb as We have not yet decided however when we shall leave.

7. The plan is this I'll do the work and you pay for the materials.

8. The officers are as follows Edward Lawrence for President John Kelly for Secretary and Fred Morrison for Treasurer.

=Exercise 193--The Dash(--)=

The dash is used to set off parenthetical expressions that have very little connection with the rest of the sentence; as,

In New York the Harlem River tunnel was comparatively a simple one, but the first East River tunnels--the two subway tubes from the Battery to Brooklyn--presented all the difficulties known to subaqueous construction.

These tunnels extend on under the great Pennsylvania terminal building--another of the same decade's accomplishments--to East Thirty-fourth Street.

The dash is also used to indicate a sudden change or break in the thought; as,