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In this sentence the first member ending at taste forms perfect sense, but is qualified by the last; for Gratian is not said simply to recommend the fine taste, but to recommend it in a certain way; that is, as the utmost perfection of an accomplished man. The same may be observed of the following sentence :

Persons of good taste expect to be pleased, at the same time they are informed.

Here perfect sense is formed at pleased; but it is not meant that persons of good taste are pleased in general, but with reference to the time when they are informed; the words taste and pleased, therefore, in these sentences, we must pronounce with the rising inflexion, and accompany this inflexion with a pause; for the same reasons, the same pause and inflexion must precede the word though in the following example :

I can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for those that love him, though they be such as eye had not seen, ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Locke.

LOOSE SENTENCE.

A loose sentence has been shown to consist of a period, either direct or inverted, and an additional member which does not modify it; or, in other words, a loose sentence is a member containing perfect sense by itself, followed by some other member or members, which do not restrain or qualify its signification. According to this definition, a loose sentence must have that member which forms perfect sense detached from those that follow, by a long pause and the falling inflexion.

As in speaking, the ear seizes every occasion of varying the tone of voice, which the sense will permit; so in reading, we ought as much as possible to imitate the variety of speaking, by taking every opportunity of altering the voice in correspondence with the sense: the most general fault of printers*, is to mark those members of loose sentences, which form perfect sense, with a comma, instead of a semicolon, or colon: and a similar, as well as the most common fault of readers, is to suspend the voice at the end of these members, and so to run the sense of one member into another; by this means, the sense is obscured, and a monotony is produced, in

*The grand defect of the points is, that only two of them, the comma and period, necessarily mark a continuation and completion of sense: the semicolon and colon, by being sometimes placed after complete sense, and sometimes where the sense continues, are very fallacious guides, and often lead the reader to an improper turn of voice. If to the colon and semicolon were annexed a mark to determine whether the sense were complete or not, it must certainly be of the greatest assistance to the reader, as he would naturally accompany it with a turn of voice, which would indicate the completeness or incompleteness of the sense, independent on the time; and such a mark seems one of the great desiderata of punctuation. I know it may be said that the completeness or incompleteness of the sense is of itself a sufficient guide, without any points at all: yes, it may be answered, but without the gift of prophecy we are not always able to determine at sight whether the sense is complete or not; and sometimes even when we have the whole sentence in view, it is the punctuation only that determines whether the member of a sentence belongs to what goes before, or to what follows. The intention of the points is, in the first place, to fix and determine the sense when it might otherwise be doubtful; and, in the next place, to apprise the reader of the sense of part of a sentence before he has seen the whole. A mark, therefore, which accomplishes this purpose, must unquestionably be of the utmost importance to the art of reading.

stead of that distinctness and variety, which arises from pronouncing these members with such an inflexion of voice as marks a certain portion of perfect sense, not immediately connected with what follows; for as a member of this kind does not depend for its sense on the following member, it ought to be pronounced in such a manner, as to show its independence on the succeeding member, and its dependence on the period, as forming but a part of it.

In order to convey precisely the import of these members, it is necessary to pronounce them with the falling inflexion, without suffering the voice to fall gradually as at a period; by which means the pause becomes different from the mere comma, which suspends the voice, and marks immediate dependence on what follows; and from the period, which marks not only an independence on what follows, but an exclusion of whatever may follow, and therefore drops the voice as at a conclusion. An example will assist us in comprehending this important inflexion in reading:

All superiority and pre-eminence that one man can have over another, may be reduced to the notion of quality, which, considered at large, is either that of fortune, body, or mind. The first is that which consists in birth, title, or rìches; and is the most foreign to our natures, and what we can the least cail our own, of any of the three kinds of quality.

Spectator, N° 219.

In the first part of this sentence the falling inflexion takes place on the word quality; for this member we find contains perfect sense, and the succeeding members are not necessarily connected with it; the same inflexion takes place in the next member on the word riches; which,

The Interrogation.

It must be first observed, that, with respect to pronunciation, all questions may be divided into two classes; namely, into such as are formed by the interrogative pronouns or adverbs, and into such as are formed only by an inversion of the common arrangement of the words *; the first with respect to inflexion of voice, except in some few cases, may be considered as purely declarative; and like declarative sentences, they require the falling inflexion at the end: and the last, with some few exceptions, require the rising inflexion of voice on the last word; and it is this rising inflexion at the end which distinguishes them from almost every other species of sentence :-of both these in their order.

The indefinite Question, or the Question with the Interrogative Words.

RULE I. When an interrogative sentence commences with any of the interrogative pronouns or adverbs, with respect to inflexion, elevation, or depression of voice, it is pronounced exactly like a declarative sentence.

EXAMPLES.

How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great and noble, who only believes that, after a short turn on the stage of this world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever? Spectator, N° 210.

As an illustration of the rule, we need only alter two or three of the words to reduce it to a

* Mr. Harris calls the former of these questions indefinite, and the latter definite; as these may be answered by yes or no, while those often require a whole sentence to answer them. See Hermes, b. i. p. 151.

declarative sentence; and we shall find the inflexion, elevation, and depression of voice on every part of it the same.

He cannot exalt his thoughts to any thing great or noble, because he only believes that, after a short turn on the stage of this world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever.

Here we perceive, that the two sentences, though one is an interrogation, and the other a declaration, end both with the same inflexion of voice, and that the falling inflexion; but if we convert these words into an interrogation, by leaving out the interrogative word, we shall soon perceive the difference.

Can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great or noble, who only believes that, after a short turn on the stage of this world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for éver?

In pronouncing this sentence with propriety, we find the voice slide upwards on the last words, contrary to the inflexion it takes in the two former examples. If grammarians, therefore, by the elevation of voice, which they attribute to the question, mean the rising inflexion, their rule, with some few exceptions, is true only of questions formed without the interrogative words; for the others, though they may have a force and loudness on the last words, if they happen to be emphatical, have no more of that distinctive inflexion which is peculiar to the former kind of interrogation, than if they were no questions at all. Let us take another example:-Why should not a female character be as ridiculous in a man, as a male character in one of the female sex? Here the voice is no more

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