The Punctator\u27s World: A Discursion (Part Seven)

Though eighteenth-century grammarians had brought light to the profundities of our subject, their erudition and philosophical remove more often than not disqualified their ideas for popular application. Nineteenth-century scholars were a more practical breed. Their goal was to preserve the integrity of English in afar-flung and diversifying Empire. A standardized language was imperative for perspicuity in communication: for the lingua communis ofpoets and philosophers, as well asfor commerce, science, mass education, and government. In the drive for clarity and uniformity, discussions ofthe values ofthe stops and how they should be appliedformed apart of virtually every nineteenth-century grammar textbook