Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-11-08
TEACHING PUNCTUATION.

IL IS often asked, when should
punctuation be taughtp" | believe it
can be taught Just as soon as n child
begins to read and write which,
thanks to the adjustment of the old
alphabet and printing methodsi-are
now simultaneous achievements.
| have been asked still oftener,
"How soon, and how, and why would
you use the printers marks?" AS /
have not found many teachers who do
use them, an experience may prove in
teresting, and in relating it / hope to
answer these questions A class was
sent to me from a lowef room, COM
posed Of scholars ranging from nine TO
twelve years Of age, the majority Of
whom were well yersed in the use of
the period and comma, so it was easy
10 carry them farther ON this road.
But writing compositions was still "a
cross to them, borne with varying de-
grees Of patience or Righteousness, ac-
cording TO the disposition of each
pupil. | had long held a theory as to
the use of the printers marks in cor
recting compositions, and as these
were the youngest pupils | had ever
taught, it seemed a good time to begin.
Not scholar knew any Of them except
the caret and TIE sign for italics. so |
had virgin soil in which to work.
One day the simpler marks were
placed on the board, the two lines for
small capitals, the Il for paragraph,
the r. and line around words to in
dictate transpostion, and for omitted
quotation marks Gone comma being
used to indicate an omitted apostro-
phe) AS these were the marks that
would most easily indicate their most
common errors.
The pupils used no books, theirwork
consisting Of written work on black
board or paper, and object language
lessons. An had notebooks, into which
the signs given them were copied, andin
q few DAYS all had learned them. They
were accustomed to writing impromp-
tn exercises, and that day were re-
uucsted to use extra care in preparing
them, as their papers would be first
corrected by members Of the class, and
afterwards by the teacher who would
mark each scholar, both for the mis-
takes he made in his own exercise, and
for the mistakes he made in using the
marks for correction. The marks were
to be used in the. inch margins, which
thew always left all around their eXer-
cises, to Indicate the mistakes made,
bit no corrections lCere 10 be made IN the
body Of tie c1crcjsc.
Fifteen minutes were used in writ
ing, then the papers were folded
lengthw.se and exchanged. The mis-
takes on the left of the fold in paper
were to be corrected in the left-hand
margin, etc. At first / let the correct
or draw a line through the word that
was wrong, but we soon did away with
that, merely placing the mark on the
same line where the mistake occurred,
and leaving the scholar to whom the
exercise belonged to find out Jgtat the
mistake was, and correct it in copying
his exercise for final approval.
Some were troubled at first, by find
ing several errors in one line, both at
left and right of the fold, but little
miss Immediately solved the difficulty
by saying, in a scornful tone that was
vastly amusing, "Why, put all the
marks for one line in row, Of course,
and take them as they Gomez
The papers were then returned to
their writer's, and each, as called upon,
told the marks in the margin, what
they indicated, and made the correc-
tions orally
| was agreeably surprised at the re-
suit. A few of the class failed utterly,
as is generally the case when new
methods are tried on short notice, but
nearly all made the marks neatly,
learned their meaning readily, correct
ed their mistakes quickly, and were
delighted with "the cute little things,
as one girl called them.
This trial convinced me that it is
never too soon to begin to teach a new
thing, if it is good, and answers the
first part of that question, while the
chow is already explained. began
at once 10 use it in my Older compost
ton classes, and was always surprised
at the new interest II infused lnto the
formerly dreaded task Of essay writing,
If this method is used soon enough,
and followed in all the different
grades, the graduates win have thor
ough. practical. and lasting knowledge
of the principal signs used by COM
positors and proofTeaders, and Of all
the grammatical and diacritical points.
"a large card ON which the diacrtical
points were printed with "A marking
PEN was hung in the recitation room,
and the pupil soon learned them with
out making any especial effort TO
mcmorize them.) -ATiSttHe anderson ~
J5UrRQJ ot EdHcah0H.