How to parse. ...

APPENDIX IV.

HINTS ON PUNCTUATION.
292 Stops, or Marks of the Division of
Sentences.
1. Full Stop.. (.) 5. Note of Interrogation. (?)
2. Colon... (:) 6. Note of Exclamation.. (!)
3. Semi-colon. (;) 7. The " dash" or" break ". (-)
4. Comma.. (,) 8. Marks of Parenthesis ( )
9. Inverted commas, or, Marks of Quotation (" ")
293 Use of Stops.-The meaning of a sentence
often depends on the pauses after certain words.
These pauses are represented by marks, sometimes
called (from their effect) Stops. and sometimes (from
their appearance) Points. The Latin for "point"
is punctunm, and accordingly the arrangement of
points in a sentence is called Punctuation: -
"John," said Thomas, "would come if he could."
Omit the points in the foregoing sentence, and
it becomes ambiguous.
294 The Comma. -The Comma (meaning "that
which is cut off") marks the smallest " cutting off,"
or division of a sentence.