The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-03-06
EXCURSIONS IN
CORRESPONDENCE
By THOMAS ARKLE CLARK
Dean of Men, University Of Illinois.
Punctuation

uAzCku6IAOn
THERE are various ways OF pune
i tuating the beginnings and end
iDgs of letter as there are of setting
Off the different parts of the address.
Each of these has its own advocates,
and each system can find its justifica
ton In the regulations set down in
the myriad Of textbooks that cumber
the shelves Of the book stores, and OF
our libraries. You can prove that al
most any method Of punctuation Is the
best If you set out to do so. Punctua-
ton Is like remedies for rheumatism;
every one has his own sort, and can
cite you instances where it has proved
marvellous panacea.
The best thing can say about pune
tuation is that every one should adopt
a method Of his own and follow 1t
punctiliously until it becomes auto
matte. II in writing letter one has
to stop and scratch his head to de-
termine whether he shall use comma
or colon following the complimentary
beginning, he has not trained himself
adequately. If at one time he uses
semi-colon and the next a comma and
dash, there is nothing settled about
his method. and 1t is likely to be
kind Of hit or miss process.
Even when was young, not to go
back too far into ancient history, there
was much more. formality in letter
writing than at the present time. We
could begin our letters. "Honored Sir"
and close them with, "Your Most Hum
BILE and Obedient Servant" with every
word capitalized for emphasis. but
nothing like that goes. Formally Is
now reduced to minimum both in
phrasing and In punctuation, and we
must all follow the styles in this par.
ticular as meticulously as we do in
choosing our straw hats. and our win
ter overcoats.
In many instances when colon
was once used we now use comma,
or comma, and a dash, and in many
cases whereA punctuation was once
thought necessary, the marks are left
out entirely. For instance, we once
punctuated the address and the com
plimentary beginning of letter a.
follows:
Mr.. Stanley F. Bonar.
1923 Michigan Avenue.
Chicago. Illinois.
My dear SIR
Now we may omit in the address the
punctuation at the end of the lines al
together, If we see fit. and the COM
plimentary beginning is seldom fol.
lowed by punctuation heavier than
the comma or the comma and the
dash, as, for instance:
I Mr.. Stanley r. Bonar
1923 Michigan Avenue
Chicago. Illinois
My dear Sir
II In the above illustrations, "Nlich-
igan' or Avenue" should be abbre-
Waited. then period should be used
to indicate this abbreviation. in addi-
tion to the comma. AS have said at
another time, 1t is not wrong to use
authorizations, but the most careful
people very seldom do SO.
In writing the complimentary close
to a letter, as "very truly yours" o.
"Yours very truly" or Truly yours
or yours truly" or any similar COL
bination, only the first word is CAPT,
talized. and the phrase is followed by
a comma. The complimentary close
is written somewhat to the right of the
middle Of the page.
If written in full, the date lines may
be punctuated as follows:
% East Main Street.
RantOul, Illinois.
July s. 1924
II the writer so desires. the pune
tuation marks may be omitted from
the end Of the lines. 1t is never cor
rect to place comma between the
month and the date (July 81. though
If the names OF the month. or the
street. or the state are abbreviated.
they should be followed by a period.
The use Of figures. and dashes to pune
tuate or to divide the separate parts
of the date. Is often employed, as.
''3-7-24," but 1t is careless. confusing.
and not authorized by any good author
ity. Few people, on the spur OF the
moment could name the seventh or
the ninth month much more readily
then they could tell the fourth or the
sixth commandments. One would usu-
ally have to stop and count in either
case.
The indenting of paragraphs is ini-
portant. The beginning of new para
graph should be shown by beginning
the first word a short distance from
the margin, say half-inch or an inch.
These indentations should be rugular
and even, as they are in printed
book, which any one may consult If he
does not understand what mean. An
evenly indented page looks neater and
better ordered than one not so done.
AS TO the punctuation Of sentences,