Page:The king's English (IA kingsenglish00fowlrich).pdf/251

The general opinion however was, that, if Bute had been early practised in debate, he might have become an impressive speaker.–Macaulay.

The comma before whether in the next is actually misleading; it compels us at first sight to take as adverbial what is really a substantival clause, object to the verbal noun indifference:

The book...had merits due to the author's indifference, whether he showed bad taste or not, provided he got nearer to the impression he wished to convey.–Speaker.

Grammar, however, would afford some justification for distinguishing between the substantival clause as subject, object, or complement, and the substantival clause in apposition with one of these. Though there should decidedly be no comma in He said that..', it is strictly defensible in It is said, that... The that-clause in the latter is explanatory of, and in apposition with, it; and the ordinary sign of apposition is a comma. Similarly, My opinion is that: It is my opinion, that. But as there seems to be no value whatever in the distinction, our advice is to do without the comma in all ordinary cases of either kind. A useful and reasonable exception is made in some manuals; for instance, in Bigelow's Manual of Punctuation we read : 'Clauses like "It is said", introducing several propositions or quotations, each preceded by the word that, should have a comma before the first that. But if a single proposition or quotation only is given, no comma is necessary. Example:

Philosophers assert, that Nature is unlimited in her operations, that she has inexhaustible treasures in reserve, that...'

Anything that shows the reader what he is to expect, and so saves him the trouble of coming back to revise his first impressions, is desirable if there is no strong reason against it.

A more important distinction is this: He said, &c., may have for its object, and It is said, &c., for its (virtual) subject, either the actual words said, or a slight rearrangement of them (not necessarily to the eye, but at least to the mind), which makes them more clearly part of the grammatical construction, and turns them into true subordinate clauses.