Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/147

Rh are words of but two syllables which some proof-readers make indivisible in the ordinary measure.

It should be noted that the alleged indivisibility of these words is controlled by pronunciation, for although of two distinct syllables, they are pronounced as words of one syllable, the last e being nearly silent. For this reason it is unusual, and in many printing-houses improper, in a measure of eighteen ems wide to divide a noun of one syllable in the plural when this plural is made by the addition of the final s. In very narrow measures this rule cannot be maintained. Divisions of two letters are always to be deplored, and those of one letter only are rated as very unworkmanlike in a measure of eighteen ems or more; but in pocket editions of the Bible and other classics, divisions like A-men, o-ver, a-ble, a-vow, have to be allowed, for they are unavoidable. The preference of the writer is for the divisions that indicate pronunciation, but the author who insists on dividing a word by another system has the right of choice.

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