CHAPTER XXX.

Pauses.

233. PAUSES may be divided into two classes:

(1) Pauses of Sense, which mark the divisions of discourse, for the purpose of simply presenting the meaning clearly and distinctly, independent of emotion or passion, their place and relative length being determined by the grammatical structure of the language.

(2) Pauses of Emotion, which sometimes coincide in place with the pauses of sense, but are usually superadded to these, and depend upon emotion, passion, or strongly significant emphasis.

PAUSES OF SENSE.

234. By distinguishing sentences into their component parts and several kinds, some principles and rules may be given by which the student may be guided with regard to correct pausing.

A Sentence is an assemblage of words conveying a declaration, an interrogation, a petition, or a command. The essential of every sentence is a subject or nominative, and a finite verb. Either of these may be modified or unmodified.

A Clause is a simple sentence (one subject and one finite verb) united to some other sentence of equal value, or dependent upon some word in a sentence as a modifier.

Clauses are also called members of a sentence of which they form a part, and are either co-ordinate or subordinate; as,

“This is the man who was born blind" (subordinate).

A Phrase is a group of several words not making complete sense when uttered alone, but used to modify some other part of the sentence; as,

"Truth will at last prevail."

Sentences may be simple, complex, or compound. A simple sentence consists of a nominative and verb, either of which may be simple or modified by words or phrases; as,

"Alexander wept." Or,

"Alexander wept for the fate of Darius." Or,

"The great Alexander wept for the fate of Darius."

A complex sentence consists of one principal proposition, some part or parts of which are modified by a dependent clause or clauses; as,

"God, who is great, rules the universe."

A compound sentence is composed of two or more sentences or members of equal rank; as,

"Industry is the guardian of innocence, and adversity is the school of piety."

The members of a compound sentence may be individually simple, complex, or compound. The following is an instance where each member is compound:

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider."

Compound sentences are further divided into the period or compact sentence, and the loose sentence:

A Period is composed of two or more simple sentences or members, each of which, independent of the other, does not form complete sense; or if they do, the latter

modifies the former, or inversely, the connection in all cases between the parts being very close.

(a) A Direct Period is that in which the first member is dependent for sense upon the latter, or in which the sense is not completely formed until the close:

Though many things exceed the capacity of our wits, yet they are believed."

(2) The Limited Period is that form of compact sentence in which, although the first part forms sense alone, it is nevertheless modified by the second, and does not, therefore, form complete sense until the close:

“Many things are believed, though they exceed the capacity of our wits."

A Loose Sentence contains several members, the first one or more of which form complete sense without being modified by the latter, which usually adds some reflection, illustration, remark, or example:

"Persons of good taste expect to be pleased at the same time they are informed; and think that the best sense always deserves the best language."

With reference to the principal division of compound sentences, when read simply to develop the sense, have the following rules:

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235. RULE I.-In every Direct period the principal pause comes at that part where the sense begins to form, or the expectation excited by the first member begins to be answered.

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

RULE II. The principal pause of an inverted period should be placed at that part where the latter member begins to modify the former. Thus:

"Every man that speaks and reasons, is a grammarian and a logician, though he may be utterly unacquainted with the rules of grammar and logic."

RULE III.-A Loose Sentence requires a longer pause between its first member (usually a period direct or inverted) and the additional member which does not modify it.

"Persons of good taste expect to be pleased | at the same time they are informed; || and think that the best sense always deserves the best language."

Subordinate pauses divide the subordinate members of compound sentences, or the parts of a simple or complex

sentence.

Pauses aid in conveying the ideas in a sentence by separating such as are related, and by uniting those that are closely associated in sense. In order to determine the several degrees of union between words, so as to be able to divide them in accordance with this principle, we must consider the following: all the words of a simple or ccmplex sentence may be divided into two general classesthose that modify and those that are modified.

The words which we may consider as modified by all others are the nominative and its verb. The modifiers are, however, themselves modified by other words, and thus the words of a sentence become divisible by pauses into superior and subordinate classes, each being composed of words more closely united among themselves than the several classes are with each other.

To illustrate the substantive and verb, with their modifiers, as the two principal classes of every sentence, admit most readily of a pause between them. While the modifiers of these words are divided into subordinate classes, separable by pauses from the words they modify, and from each other, according as they possess modifiers of their

own, to which they are more closely united than to the superior words they themselves immediately modify. The same principle holds in modifiers of the third degree.

The places, then, for pausing, in every sentence, are very numerous, increasing always with the complexity of the sentence. With this in view, the following rules will be better understood and applied:

236. RULE I.—When the nominative of a sentence consists of more than one word, or of one important or emphatic word, it should have a pause after it."

"The great and invincible Alexander | wept for the fate of Darius."

“The fashion of this world | passeth away. To be virtuous | is 10 be happy."

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“Vie¦ is a monster of so frightful mein,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen."

"Self-love forsook the path it first pursued,
And formed the public in the private good."

Weeping may endure for a night; but joy | cometh in the morning."

"Our schemes of thought in childhood | are lost in those of youth."

"Hatred and anger are the greatest poison to the mind."

RULE II.—Where the adjective follows the substantive or noun it modifies, and has modifiers of its own, constituting a descriptive phrase, it should be separated from its noun by a short pause.

"He was a man | learned and polite."

"It was a calculation | accurate to the last degree."