--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The stops point out, with truth, the time…" description: "\"“The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma, stop while one you count; At semicolon, two..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg" --- # The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A… ![“The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma, stop while one you count; At semicolon, two is the amount; A colon doth require the time of three; The period four, as learned men agree.” quote by Cecil Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg) > ““The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma, stop while one you count; At semicolon, two is the amount; A colon doth require the time of three; The period four, as learned men agree.”” [Cecil Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecil-hartley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The verse outlines how each punctuation mark signals a specific pause length, teaching timing in writing **In simple terms:** Each punctuation mark tells you how long to pause while reading Key Takeaway Observe punctuation to improve reading rhythm Themes grammar punctuation writing reading timing Mood educational instructional Type punctuation:1 Semicolon:1 Time:0 Truth:0 Comma Stop:1 Sentence Doth:0 Count Semicolon:0 Pause Sentence:0 When to use this quote - reading aloud - editing drafts - teaching punctuation - public speaking - writing prose Key Concepts syntax rhythm pause sentence structure Questions to Reflect On - How does punctuation affect comprehension? - What pause feels most natural to you? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on timing can hinder natural flow ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comma Stop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comma-stop-1295032/) [Count Semicolon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/count-semicolon-1295034/) [Pause Sentence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pause-sentence-1295035/) [Punctuation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punctuation/) [Semicolon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/semicolon/) [Sentence Doth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentence-doth-1295033/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [I'd rather be a comma than a full stop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-d-rather-be-a-comma-than-a-full-stop/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What the semicolon’s anxious supporters fret about is the tendency of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and thus precipitate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/what-the-semicolon-s-anxious-supporters-fret-about-is-the-tendency-of/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [If the semicolon is one of the neglected children in the family of punctuation marks these days, told to stay in its room and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-humphrys/if-the-semicolon-is-one-of-the-neglected-children-in-the-family-of/) [John Humphrys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-humphrys/) > [If a period is a stop sign, then what kind of traffic flow is created by other marks? The comma is a speed bump;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-peter-clark/if-a-period-is-a-stop-sign-then-what-kind-of-traffic-flow-is-created/) [Roy Peter Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-peter-clark/) > [I use a whole lot of half-assed semicolons; there was one of them just now; that was a semicolon after 'semicolons,' and another one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-use-a-whole-lot-of-half-assed-semicolons-there-was-one-of-them-just/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“We might also want to use a semicolon to hold together two sentences to avoid giving the reader too much time to think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-baranick/we-might-also-want-to-use-a-semicolon-to-hold-together-two-sentences/) [Jenny Baranick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-baranick/) > [Semicolons . . . signal, rather than shout, a relationship. . . . A semicolon is a compliment from the writer to the reader.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/semicolons-signal-rather-than-shout-a-relationship-a-semicolon-is-a/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [“Nora— Forgive me for copyediting, but it must be said—you have raped the semicolon yet again. Stop it. It wasn’t asking for it no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-reisz/nora-forgive-me-for-copyediting-but-it-must-be-said-you-have-raped/) [Tiffany Reisz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-reisz/) > [It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period. The period tells you that that is that; if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-almost-always-a-greater-pleasure-to-come-across-a-semicolon/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The American writer Donald Barthelme wrote that the semicolon is “ugly, ugly as a tick on a dog’s belly”.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/the-american-writer-donald-barthelme-wrote-that-the-semicolon-is-ugly/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like climbing a steep path through woods…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/sometimes-you-get-a-glimpse-of-a-semicolon-coming-a-few-lines-farther/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [How hideous is the semicolon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/how-hideous-is-the-semicolon/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“Academics love the semicolon; their hankering after logic demands a division which is more emphatic than a comma, but not quite as absolute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-klemperer/academics-love-the-semicolon-their-hankering-after-logic-demands-a/) [Victor Klemperer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-klemperer/) > [“The semicolon, my friends, is the punctuation mark we use to join two complete sentences. When we want to separate two complete sentences, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-baranick/the-semicolon-my-friends-is-the-punctuation-mark-we-use-to-join-two/) [Jenny Baranick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-baranick/) > [“You didn’t put a semicolon there — God did.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-brownn/you-didn-t-put-a-semicolon-there-god-did/) [Eleanor Brownn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-brownn/) ## More Punctuation quotes > [“In the United States, periods and commas go inside the quotation mark. In Britain, they go outside the quotation mark. Squiggly said, “No.” (United…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-fogarty/in-the-united-states-periods-and-commas-go-inside-the-quotation-mark/) [Mignon Fogarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-fogarty/) > [You know, you'd hide behind a Public Enemy or Ice Cube, or Bruce Springsteen, or U2, because they spoke for you. But now everybody's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ice-t/you-know-you-d-hide-behind-a-public-enemy-or-ice-cube-or-bruce/) [Ice T](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ice-t/) > [Everyone suffers; life is pain; and death is the final punctuation at the end of that sentence, so deal with it. I really think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufjan-stevens/everyone-suffers-life-is-pain-and-death-is-the-final-punctuation-at/) [Sufjan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufjan-stevens/) > [One of the things I like about my job is that it draws on the entire person: not just your knowledge of grammar and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/one-of-the-things-i-like-about-my-job-is-that-it-draws-on-the-entire/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language: they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/punctuation-marks-are-the-traffic-signals-of-language-they-tell-us-to/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [In writing, punctuation plays the role of body language. It helps readers hear you the way you want to be heard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-baker/in-writing-punctuation-plays-the-role-of-body-language-it-helps/) [Russell Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-baker/) > [“April 6—Today, I learned, the comma, this is, a, comma (,) a period, with, a tail, Miss Kinnian, says its, importent, because, it makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keyes/april-6-today-i-learned-the-comma-this-is-a-comma-a-period-with-a/) [Daniel Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keyes/) > [Give a civil servant a good case and he'll wreck it with clichés, bad punctuation, double negatives, and convoluted apology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-clark/give-a-civil-servant-a-good-case-and-he-ll-wreck-it-with-clich-s-bad/) [Alan Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-clark/) > [“I'm a big believer in random capitalization. The rules of capitalization are so unfair to the words in the middle. (32)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-m-a-big-believer-in-random-capitalization-the-rules-of/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [When we study Shakespeare on the page, for academic purposes, we may require all kinds of help. Generally, we read him in modern spelling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fenton/when-we-study-shakespeare-on-the-page-for-academic-purposes-we-may/) [James Fenton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fenton/) > [The Biblical text does not have punctuation marks like periods and question marks. Where we end sentences is a matter of interpretation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/the-biblical-text-does-not-have-punctuation-marks-like-periods-and/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I'm drowning in ellipses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-marion/i-want-to-change-my-punctuation-i-long-for-exclamation-marks-but-i-m/) [Isaac Marion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-marion/) > [I still put punctuation in my texts. If it's an 'I', I make sure it's a capital.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-cowell/i-still-put-punctuation-in-my-texts-if-it-s-an-i-i-make-sure-it-s-a/) [Simon Cowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-cowell/) > [“You didn’t put a semicolon there — God did.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-brownn/you-didn-t-put-a-semicolon-there-god-did/) [Eleanor Brownn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-brownn/) > [Doctors and nurses seemed to have been born and raised in the hospital, with only short punctuations of absenteeism for such things as schooling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-kellogg/doctors-and-nurses-seemed-to-have-been-born-and-raised-in-the/) [Marjorie Kellogg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-kellogg/) [Browse all 287 Punctuation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punctuation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma, stop while one you count; At semicolon, two is the amount; A colon doth require the time of three; The period four, as learned men agree.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cecil Hartley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-hartley/the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time-of-pause-a-sentence-doth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Punctuation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-hartley/the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time-of-pause-a-sentence-doth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/cecil-hartley-226550_time_the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time_906930.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma…” — Cecil Hartley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cecil Hartley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecil-hartley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The stops point out, with truth,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-hartley/the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time-of-pause-a-sentence-doth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-hartley/the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time-of-pause-a-sentence-doth/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```