THE WRITER’S DESK BOOK

[Available: Transcriber's Note]

OTHER BOOKS BY MR. ORCUTT

GOOD OLD DORCHESTER. A Narrative History

PRINCESS KALLISTO, and other Tales of the Fairies

ROBERT CAVELIER. A Novel

THE FLOWER OF DESTINY. A Novel

THE SPELL. A Novel

THE LEVER. A Novel

THE MOTH. A Novel

The Writer’s

Desk Book

Being a ref­er­ence vol­ume up­on ques­tions of PUNC­TU­A­TION · CAP­I­TA­LI­ZA­TION · SPEL­LING · DI­VI­SION OF WORDS · IN­DEN­TION · SPA­CING ITA­LICS · AB­BREV­IA­TIONS AC­CENTS · NUM­ER­ALS · FAUL­TY DIC­TION · LET­TER WRI­TING · POST­AL REG­U­LA­TIONS · Etc · Etc

By WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT for many years Head of The University Press · Cambridge · Now associated with THE PLIMPTON PRESS · Norwood Mass.

New York · FREDERICK·A·STOKES COMPANY · Publishers · MCMXIII

Copyright, 1912, by FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. SECOND EDITION

THE · PLIMPTON · PRESS [W · D · O] NORWOOD · MASS · U · S · A

CONTENTS

PAGE

PUNCTUATION Importance of correct punctuation — punctuation marks and accents — the comma — the semicolon — the colon — the period — the dash — the exclamation — the interrogation — quotation-marks — parentheses — brackets — the apostrophe — the hyphen 1

CAPITALIZATION Of religious terms — of proper names — of titles — of institutional terms — of references — of ordinals — in general — use of small capitals 20

SPELLING Importance of adopting an authority — basic rules for numbers and diphthongs — simple rules of orthography — accented words — participles — variable endings — list of variable spellings 31

COMPOUND WORDS General theory — changes in modern uses — rules and examples 45

DIVISION OF WORDS Rules and examples 52

INDENTION AND PARAGRAPHING Various forms used in display — en échelon — irregular — hanging — reverse — lozenge — blocked — definition of the paragraph — its value — kinds of paragraphs — length of paragraph 55

SPACING General principles — kerned letters — examples of varying spaces 59

ITALIC Its origin — its uses — when required and when not 62

ABBREVIATIONS Of dates — of proper names — of titles — commercial — of given names — geographical — miscellaneous — scriptural — monetary signs — mathematical signs — medical signs 65

NUMERALS History of their evolution — lists 93

CORRECT AND FAULTY DICTION Dr. Campbell’s canons — good usage — list of words and phrases commonly misused 99

LETTER WRITING Its importance — business, informal, formal — the heading — the address — the salutation — the text — the complimentary close — the signature — the envelope — postal cards — in general — examples 114

POSTAL INFORMATION Classes of mail — parcel post — wrapping of mail matter — forwarding mail matter — what cannot be mailed — concealed matter — domestic rates — foreign rates — exceptions — foreign parcels post — money order fees — registered mail — special delivery system — postal distances and time from New York City 129

APPENDIX Standard time — values of foreign coins — comparative thermometers — weights and measures — British weights and measures 142

INDEX 163

{1}

THE WRITER’S DESK BOOK

{2}