Строй современного английского языка

J ohn, as written by Galsworthy, are not finished at those points. They run on with the word said in both cases and the name of the speaker. So it will perhaps be best to say that the question mark and the exclamation mark do signal the end of the sentence in one way, and do not signal it in another way. There appear to be, as it were, two layers of sentence ends in such cases as these.¹
The functions of the two punctuation marks to show the communication type of the sentence are unmistakable.
The question mark certainly always shows the sentence to be interrogative, even though the question contained in it may be rhetorical, which does not affect the grammatical type of the sentence. The only thing to be noted here is that a question mark is also always used at the end of sentences with a so-called tag-question, as in the following example: By the way, you didn't chance to bring along your dress suit with you, did you? (DREISER) or But you didn't have to fall all over and dream in his eyes, either, did you? (Idem) Such sentences may be taken in different ways. They might, for instance, be termed half-interrogative, or they might be taken as compound sentences, with the first clause declarative, and the second interrogative. But whichever way we choose to look at them, some interrogative quality is found all the same, either in a diluted way in the sentence as a whole, or else in a concentrated state in the latter part of it.
The exclamation mark is a sufficiently certain signal of the sentence being either exclamatory or emotional (see p. 187). It is obvious that a non-exclamatory and non-emotional sentence cannot have an exclamation mark at its end. As to the other peculiarities of the sentence, namely, whether it is an exclamatory sentence, or an emotional, declarative, interrogative, or imperative one, the exclamation mark, of course, does not say anything.
The other punctuation marks have no reference to the sentence as such, except, we may say, indirectly. Some of them do, and some do not, show that the sentence is not finished. Let us first have a look at the punctuation marks which definitely show that the sentence is not finished. These are: the comma (,), the semicolon (;), and the colon (:). If we see any of these punctuation marks in the text, we may be quite sure that the sentence is not finished and will run on.
The other remaining punctuation marks are not certain signs of this. Let us, for instance, consider the dash (—). This may occasionally occur as a sign that the sentence is interrupted, that is,
¹ The full stop does not appear in such ambiguous positions. It is always replaced by a comma when the inserted sentence of the type said he is added.

Repeated Dots 339
i t will not run on, though it is not syntactically rounded off. In this case the following word ought to begin with a capital letter: if it began with a small one, this would mean that the sentence is running on. Here are two examples of an interrupted sentence ending with a dash: "But we ain't got Old Joe. We got —" "Shut up, you fool!" (M. MITCHELL) "Why, Uncle Peter! What on earth —" (Idem)
The repeated dots (three and more often four) are also sometimes used in this way. They are a signal showing interruption, if the following word begins with a capital letter (we must set apart cases when that word is a proper name). Repeated dots are, however, much less frequently used in English than in Russian, where they are the usual means of showing interruption in the sentence. Here is an example of this rather rare use in English: Was he not merely thinking of an accident that, had it occurred or could it but occur in his case. .. Ah, — but that could it but occur. There was the dark and evil thought about which he must not, he must not think. He MUST NOT. And yet — and yet.. . He was an excellent swimmer and could swim ashore, no doubt — whatever the distance. (DREISER) Let us first consider the first repeated dots (after case). The sentence is obviously interrupted, as the attributive subordinate clause beginning with the pronoun that and modifying the noun accident is never brought to an end; it ought to have been resumed after the end of the second-degree subordinate clause (a clause of condition) had it occurred or could it but occur in his case, but is not resumed (the capital initial A of the following Ah proves that a new sentence is beginning there). So, in this particular case, the repeated dots stand at the end of an interrupted sentence, though they in themselves would not be sufficient proof that what follows is the beginning of a new sentence.
As to the repeated dots after and yet, it must be said that the words and yet (repeated twice) cannot in themselves be a sentence, and as the following word He begins with a capital Я, it is clear that it is again the beginning of a new sentence, so that the preceding sentence is shown to be interrupted, and the dots clearly stand at the end of this interrupted sentence.
In other cases, of course, both the dash and the repeated dots may come at a place in the sentence which is not its end: the following word begins with a small letter, which is proof that the sentence is continued. Let us first have a look at a dash in such circumstances: It was wrong — wrong — terribly wrong. (DREISER) As the second wrong and terribly begin with a small letter, it is clear that neither the first nor the second dash stands at the end of a sentence, which runs right on from the word it to the third and last wrong.

340 Punctuation
A s for repeated dots used elsewhere than at the end of a sentence, they are very seldom met with in texts. Here is one example: And yet as she walked home from this trivial and fairly representative scene, her heart was not nearly so angry as it was sad and sore because of the love and comfort that had vanished and was not likely ever to come again. .. ever. . . ever. Oh, how terrible.. . how terrible! (DREISER) In both sentences the repeated dots are in each case followed by a word beginning with a small letter, and that proves that the sentence is running on.
So much for the possible significance of punctuation marks for the end of a sentence and for its communication type.
Now we come to the meaning of punctuation marks within a sentence.
We must first of all distinguish between punctuation marks going in pairs, those which can, but need not, form pairs, and those that never form pairs.
There are two of them belonging to the first category: brackets (parentheses) and inverted commas. These cannot occur in any other way but in pairs. Two other punctuation marks may, but need not necessarily, be used in pairs. These are dashes and commas. If we have a dash or a comma in a sentence we cannot at once tell whether it makes part of a pair or not: that will only appear as we read on. Two dashes occurring at a close interval from each other may or may not form a pair: this will only be made clear by the grammatical and semantic conditions of the sentence; and the same may be said about two commas.
Let us first have a look at sentences where two dashes do form a pair.