hat caused the accident?
Right: He asked, "What caused the accident?"

Napoleon said to his army at the battle of the Pyramids: "Soldiers,
forty centuries are looking down upon you."

The duties of the superintendent are grouped under three heads:
first, etc.

4. Before formal quotations.

Write a short essay on the following topic: "What is wrong with our
industrial system?"

When the formal introduction is brief, a comma may be used.

St. Paul said, "Bear ye one another's burdens."

5. After the formal salutatory phrase at the opening of a letter.

My dear Sir:

When the letter is informal use a comma.

Dear John,

6. Between the chapter and verse in scriptural references.

John xix: 22.

7. Between the city of publication and the name of the publisher in
literary references.

"The Practice of Typography." New York: Oswald Publishing Company.

The colon has been similarly employed in the imprints on the title pages
of books.

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880.

DeVinne remarks upon this use of the colon that it is traditional and
can not be explained.

The colon is sometimes used between the hours and minutes in indicating
time, like: 11:42 a.m.

DeVinne does not approve of this, though other authorities give it as
the rule. It is probably better to use the period in spite of its use as
a decimal point, which use was probably the motive for seeking something
else to use in writing time indications. In railroad printing the hour
is often separated from the minutes by a simple space without any
punctuation.

THE PERIOD

The period, or full stop, marks the end of a declarative sentence. As a
sign it has several other uses which will appear in the paragraphs
following.

_Rules for the Use of the Period_

1. At the end of every sentence unless interrogative or exclamatory.

2. After abbreviations.

Nicknames, _Sam_, _Tom_, etc., are not regarded as abbreviations.

The metric symbols are treated as abbreviations but the chemical
symbols are not. M. (metre) and mg. (milligram) but H_{2} O and
Na Cl.

Per cent is not regarded as an abbreviation.

The names of book sizes (12mo 16mo) are not regarded as
abbreviations.

The period is now generally omitted in display matter after

Running heads,
Cut-in side-notes,
Central head-lines,
Box heads in tables,
Signatures at the end o