The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register., 1825-04-28
For the Wilmingtonian

.;,;.v with which he can divest a sentence
of rs ornamental and explanatory sections
and. by taking the skeleton OF his subject, see
whether it will clearly express the mean
ing intended by him. In this department OF
sectional reading, it is not necessary to take
,he words that remain, in that constructive
order, in which shcy are in his sentence; but
keeping the sense in view, to see whether
the context will clearly express the prima-
~ part of his meaning. To examplity this,
we shall select sentence from the second
paragraph Of a piece in the Gazette OF the
10Th. inst. over the signature OF "Plain
Truth"
"(When man attempts) Ito palm (upon
an ealetened community the suggestions)
(of his fancy) (for sound sense,l is q not
The duty1 (of every member) (of that com,
munity,) ito oppose the Innovation ana
to endcavour) Ito remove the veii) lirom
the ewes of his fellow citizens,) (that they
NAV no longer see dimiy) Gas with a CLASSY
Divested of its appendages, it will read as
follows, !and as it clearly points out the
meaning of the author, it is an evidence OF
the truth of the above observations
as it not the duty Of every member Of an
enlightened community, to remove Me peH
from the eyes of his fellow citizens that they
may no longer see dinlty."
I, is an axiom in Natural Philosophy, that
there is nothing in nature but what has some
analogy to something else: an evidence OF
this fact is strongly exemplifed in the au'
thor of "Plain Truth :" for instance, an in
sect called the freely, sees in one direction
and throws his light in another, and "Plain
Truth" throws light on MIR. Browns gram
mar without seeing or knowing any thing OF
the work on which his light is thrown; he
throws some flashes of light on "Frec En-
ouircr" whilst his eyes are directed towards
the "financier of the poor house ;'still more
like that miraculous insect, whilst he advan-
ccs in front of his illuminated community"
moves in total darkness himself, though he
sheds his light ON all who follow him; and
however brilliant the scintilatons of either
may be, they afford neither heat nor
warmth.
Having made this philosophical digres-
sion we will proceed to our subject a.
gain.
Rules for using the distinctive COM
ma
"1st Contiguous words or sections should
be separated by the distinctive point, when
no relation exists between them, i'll sense
EXAMPLE.
("When man attempts) Ito palm) Cup
ON an enlightened community (the sugges-
tions," &c)
We see, in this example, that each OF the
succeeding sections cmanate from, and is
related to, the next preceding one till we
come to .'the suggestions :" and consequent
" they will not admit the distinctive poin,
between them; but that section goes back
to the section "to PALM" and the close read
ing will be "to palm the suggestions. -
But agreeaby to rule 1st. which says "con-
tiguous words or sections should be separat-
ed by the distinctive point, when no rcla'
tion exists between them, in sense )" there
fore Iupon an enlightened community (tht
suggestions" Slc.) being contiguous sections
and no relation existing between them, il
scnse---should be separated by the disjunc'
tive point.
Having illustrated sectional reading by ar
example in each of its departments. still
feel sensible of having said too little, to rem
der its advantages plain to those who have
no knowledge of it; and too much to expect
that common readers will follow me farther
with interest. l shall end this essay by
bringing to view again, what | consider it,
general advantage. | will, however, previ'
olsly state that when | commenced these
essays, made use of strong language witt
the hopes of drawing out some one to vindi
cate Mr.. Murray from the charge of having
made greater blunders than Mr.. Brown hao
made; or, to prove that "Mr. Murray:
rules for syntactical parsing" 7vere not ar
ritrary: in the latter case, should have
occupied the very ground wished to be up
on | should then have been enabled tc
prove satisfactorily the suheriority Of Mr.
8ro7va's system ofgrammar to that of any
other, by the comparison that would have
been clicited.--Even though "Plain Trnth
se aver himself appeared in all the dignity
IGNORANCE" yet we condescend to notice
am In manner, we hope that adds to both