mm mm Jjniversit 3 OF THOU 01 hi ' U ZO' bJ h 2 y V} G Si THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT t nSI orr 13 r> Choppy sa 11 tenccs to b £ combin€d Pu 93 olon jons 2hL Cause and reason o /s w/7en or clauses ^^^gf\[TQmons Exercise ive ition 1^ Subordination Subordination of \\\i main thought thwarted by and IT constructions 18 oncfw/)/c/) IThe comma splice 19 Exercise ^al 25 Logical s<^quence 26 Squinting modifier 27 Misplac(Zd word 28 Split construction 29 Exercise ions 35 Mixed infiogery 36 The exoct connective 3T Connective to t?e repeoted 38 Connective not to t?e TZP€Qk6 39 Exercise of 3X A5 Balonced sentence AS The weak passive voice 4-7- Repetition effective Aa Repetition offensive ^9 Exercise pal s 55 Tense nnode. Quxiliary 56 Adjective and adverb 5T Word in a double copacity List ofthe terms of grammar 59 Exercise Id 65 Idioms Colloquifllisms 66 er Barbarisms |Words con fused in meaning 68 Slang Glossary of faulty diction 69 Exercise /e Doubling a final consonant T6 Dropping final e TT Plurals 78 Compounds 79 Spelling list 85 ^rs Syllabication 86 Outlines 87 88 Letters Paragraphs 89 Exercise 95 Parenthesis Brackets 96 Quotation marks 97 Apostrophe 98 Question and aclam otion marks 99 Exercise Department of II rio L -^nomicb University of CaliiGrnia 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles 24, California THE CENTURY HANDBOOK OF WRITING THE CENTURY HANDBOOK OF WRITING BY GARLAND GREEVER Associate Professor of English Indiana University AND EASLEY S. JONES Instructor in English The University of Illinois s O o o '1— ( G CD r-^ L .1 ■g tr* «H '^ '^^ ■^ CO S>: NEW YORK Q THE CENTURY CO. 1918 .0 Copyright, 1918, by The Century Co A- PREFACE This handbook treats essential matters of grammar, diction, spelling, mechanics; and develops with thoroughness the prin- ciples of sentence structure. Larger units of composition it leaves to the texts ni formal rhetoric. The book is built on a decimal plan, the material being simpli- fied and reduced to one hundred articles. Headings of these articles are summarized on two opposite pages by a chart. Here the student can see at a glance the resources of the volume, and the instructor can find immediately the number he wishes to write in the margin of a theme. The chart and the decimal scheme together make the rules accessible for instant reference. By a device equally efficient, the book throws upon the student the responsibility of teaching himself. Each article begins with a concise rule, which is illustrated by examples; then follows a short " parallel exercise " which the instructor may assign by add- ing an X to the number he writes in the margin of a theme. While correcting this exercise, the student will give attention to the rule, and will acquire theory and practice at the same time. Moreover, every group of ten articles is followed by mixed exer- cises; these may be used for review, or imposed in the margin of a theme as a penalty for flagrant or repeated error. Thus friendly counsel is backed by discipline, and the instructor has the means of compelling the student to make rapid progress toward good English. Although a handbook of this nature is in some ways arbitrary, the arbitrariness is always m the interest of simplicity. The book does ha\e simplicity, permits instant reference, and provides an adequate drill which may be assigned at the stroke of a pen. 979S08 TABLE OF CONTENTS SENTENCE STRUCTURE « COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 1. Fragments wrongly used as sentences 2. Incomplete constructions 3. Necessary words omitted 4. Comparisons not logically completed 5. Cause and reason 6. Is zvhen and is where clauses 7. Undeveloped thought 8. Transitions 9. Exercise A. Incomplete sentences B. Incomplete constructions C. Incomplete logic D. Undeveloped thought and transitions UNITY OF THOUGHT ID. Unrelated ideas in one sentence 11. Excessive detail 12. Stringy sentences to he broken up 13. Choppy sentences to be combined 14. Excessive coordination 15. Faulty subordination of the main thought 16. Subordination thwarted by and 17. The and zchich construction 18. The comma splice 19. Exercise A. The comma splice B. One thought in a sentence C. Excessive coordination D. Upside-down subordination CONTENTS CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT Reference 20. Divided reference 21. Weak reference 22. Broad reference 23. Dangling participle or gerund COHEREN'CE 24. General incoherence 25. Logical sequence 26. Squinting modifier 2y. Misplaced word 28. Split construction 29. Exercise A. Reference of pronouns B. Dangling moilifiers C. Coherence Par.\llel Structure 30. Parallel structure for parallel thoughts 31. Correlatives Consistency 2)2. Shift in subject or voice 2,2,. Shift in number, person, or tense 34. Mixed constructions 35. Mixed imagery Use of Connectives 36. The exact coimective 2,'7. Repetition of connective with gain in clearness 38. Repetition of connective with loss in clearness 39. Exercise A. Parallel structure B. Shift in subject or voice C. Shift in number, person, or tense D. The exact connective E. Repetition of connectives EMPHASIS 40. Emphasis by position 41. Emphasis by separation CONTENTS 42. Emphasis by subordination 43. The periodic sentence 44. Order of chmax 45. The balanced sentence 46. Weak effect of the passive voice 47. Repetition effective: a Words; b Structure 48. Repetition offensive : a Words ; b Structure 49. ExERCIf^E A. Lack of emphasis in general B. Loose structure C. Repetition GRAMMAR 50. Case : a Nominative, especially after than or as; b Nominative tc/jo and -whoczer; c Predicate nominative; d Objective; e Objective with infinitive; f Possessive; g Possessive with genmd ; h Possession by inanimate objects; i Agreement of pronouns 51. Number: a Each, every one, etc.; b Those kind, etc.; c Collective nouns : d Don't 52. Agreement — not to be thwarted by : a Intervening nouns; b Together zvith phrases; c Or or nor after subject; d And in the subject; e A predicate noun; f An introductory tliere 53. Shall and zvill 54. Principal parts. List 55. Tense, mode, auxiliaries : a Tense in dependent clauses or infinitives; b The past perfect; c Present tense for a general statement : d Mode ; e Auxiliaries 56. Adjective and adverb: a Adjective misused for adverb; b Ambiguous cases; c After verbs pertaining to the senses 57. A word in a double capacity 58. List of the terms of grammar 59. Exercise A. Case of pronouns B. Agreement C. Shall and tc/// D. Lie, lay: sit, set; rise, raise E. Principal parts of verbs F. General CONTENTS DICTION 60. Wordiness 61. Triteness 62. The exact word 63. Concreteness 64. Sound 65. Subtle violations of good use; a Faulty idiom; b Col- loquialism G6. Gross violations of good use: a Barbarisms; b Impro- prieties; c Slang 67. Words often confused in meaning. List 68. Glossary of faulty diction 69. Exercise A. Wordiness B. The exact word C. Words sometimes confused in meaning D. Colloquialisms, slang, faulty idioms SPELLING 70. Recording errors 71. Pronouncing accurately ^2. Logical kinship in words "72,. Superficial resemblances. List 74. Words in ei and \e 75. Doubling a final consonant 76. Dropping final e 77. Plurals: a Plurals in s or es; b Nouns ending in y: c Compound nouns; d Letters, figures, and signs; • e Old plurals; f Foreign plurals 78. Compounds: a Compound adjectives; b Compound nouns; c Numbers; d Words written solid; e General principle 79. Spelling List (500 words, 200 in bold-face type) MISCELLANEOUS 80. Manuscript: a Titles; b Spacing; c Handwriting 81. Capitals ; a To begin a sentence or a quotation ; b Proper names; c Proper adjectives; d In titles of books or themes ; e Miscellaneous uses 82. Italics: a Titles of books; b Foreign words; c Names of ships; d Words taken out of context; e For emphasis CONTENTS 83. Abbreviations : a In ordinary writing; b In business writing 84. Numbers: a Dates and street numbers; b Long figures; c Sums of money, etc. 85. Syllabication: a Position of hyphen; b Division between syllables; c Monosyllabic words not divided; d One con- sonant between syllables; e Two consonants between syllables ; f Prefixes and suffixes ; g Short words ; h Mis- leading division 86. Outlines: a Topic Outline; b Sentence Outline; c Para- graph Outline; d Indention; e Parallel form; f Faulty coordination ; g Too detailed subordination 87. Letters: a Heading; b Inside address and greeting; c Body, Language; d Close: e. Outside address; f Miscellaneous directions; g Model business letter; h Formal notes 88. Paragraphs : a Indention ; b Length ; c Dialogue 89. Exercise Capitals, numbers, abbreviations, etc. PUNCTUATION 90. The Period: a After sentences; b But not after frag- ments of sentences ; c After abbreviations 91. The Comma; a Between clauses joined by but, for, and; h But NOT to splice clauses not joined by a conjunction; c After a subordinate clause preceding a main clause; d To set oft' non-restrictive clauses and phrases; e To set off parenthetical elements; f Between adjectives; g Between words in a series; h Before a quotation; i To compel a pause for clearness ; j Superfluous uses 92. The Semicolon: a Between coordinate clauses not joined by a conjunction; b Between long coordinate clauses; c Before a formal conjunctive adverb; d But not before a quotation 93. The Colon : a To introduce a formal series or quotation ; b Before concrete illustrations of a previous general statement 94. The Dash : a To enclose a parenthetical statement : b To mark a breaking-off in thought ; c Before a summarizing st^itement; d But not to be used in place of a period; e Not to be confused with the hyphen 95. Parenthesis Marks : a Uses ; b With other marks ; c Con- CONTENTS firmatory symbols; d Not used to cancel words; c Brackets 96. Quotation Marks: a With quotations; b With para- graphs; c In dialogue; d With slang, etc.; e With words set apart; f Quotation withni a quotation; g Together with other marks ; h Quotation interrupted by he said; i Omission from a quotation ; j Unnecessary in the title of a theme, or as a label for humor or irony 97. The Apostrophe: a In contractions; b To form the pos- sessive ; c To form the possessive of nouns ending in s; (1 Not used with personal possessive pronouns; e To form the plural of certain signs and letters 98. The Question Mark: a After a direct question; b Not followed by a comma within a sentence ; c In parentheses to express imcertainty; d Not used to label irony; e The Exclamation Point gg. Exercise 100. General Exercise TO THE STUDENT When a number is written in the margin of your theme, you are to turn to the article which corresponds to the number. Read the rule (printed in bold-face type), and study the examples. When an r follows the number on your theme, you are, in addition, to copy the rule. When an x follows the number, you are, besides acquainting yourself with the rule, to write the exercise of five sentences, to correct your own faulty sentence, and to hand in the six on theme paper. If the number ends m 9 (9. 19, 29, etc.). you will find, not a rule, but a long exercise which you are to write and hand in on theme paper. In the absence of special instruc- tions from your teacher, you are invariably to proceed as this paragraph requires. Try to grasp the principle which underlies the rule. In many pl.-ices m this book the reason for the existence of the rule is clearly stated. Thus under 30, the reason for the rale on parallel structure is explained in a prologue. In other nistances, as in the rule on divided reference (20), the reason becomes clear the mo- ment you read the examples. In certain other instances tlie rule may appear arbitrary and without a basis in reason. But there is a basis in reason, as you will observe in the following illustration. Suppose you write, " He is twenty one years old." The in- structor asks you to put a hyphen in tivenfy-one, and refers you to 78. You cannot see why a hyphen is necessary, since the mean- ing is clear without it. But tomorrow you may write. " I will send you twenty five dollar bills." The reader cannot tell whether you mean twenty five-dollar bills or twenty-five dollar bills In the first sentence the use of the hyphen in twenty-one did not make much difference. In the second sentence the hyphen makes seventy-five dollars' worth of difference. Thus the instructor, in asking you to write, " He is twenty-one years old," is helping you to form a habit that will save you from serious, error in other sentences. Whenever you cannot understand the reason for a rule, ask yourself whether the usage of many clear-thinking men for long years past may not be protecting you from difficulties which you do not foresee. Instructors and writers of text books (impressive as is the evidence to the contrary) are human, and do not invent rules to puzzle you. They do not, in fact, invent rules at all, but only make convenient applications of principles which generations of writers have found to be wisest and best SENTENCE STRUCTURE COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT The first thing to make certain is that the thought of a sentence is complete. A fragment which has no meaning when read alone, or a sentence which omits a necessary word, phrase, or idea, violates an elemen- tary principle of writing. Fragments Wrongly Used as Sentences 1. Do not write a subordinate part of a sentence as if it were a complete sentence. Wrong: He stopped short. Hearing some one approach. Right: He stopped short, hearing some one approach. [Or] Hearing some one approach, he stopped short. Wrong: The winters are cold. Although the summers are pleasant. Right: Although the summers are pleasant, the winters are cold. Wrong: The hunter tried to move the stone. Which he found very heavy. Right : The hunter tried to move the stone, which he found very heavy. [Or] The hunter tried to move the stone. He found it very heavy. Note. — A sentence must in itself express a complete thought. Phrases or subordinate clauses, if used alone, carry only an incomplete meaning. They must there- fore be attached to a sentence, or restated in independent form. Elliptical expressions used in conversation luay be regarded as exceptions: Where? At what time? Ten o'clock. By no means. Certainly. Go. 3 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT Exercise: 1. My next experience was in a grain elevator. Where I worked for two summers. 2. The parts of a fountain pen are : first, the point. This is gold. Second, the body. 3. The form is set rigidly. So that it will not be displaced wlien the concrete is thrown in. 4. There are several reasons to account for the swarming of bees. One of these having already been mentioned. 5. Since June the company has increased its trade three per cent. Since August, five per cent. Incomplete Constructions 2. Do not leave uncompleted a construction which you have begun. Wrong: You remember that in his speech in which he said he would oppose the bill. Right : You remember that in his speech he said he would oppose the bill. [Or] You remember the speech in which he said he would oppose the bill. Wrong : He was a young man who, coming from the country, with ignorance of city ways, but with plenty of determination to succeed. Right : He was a young man who, coming from the country, was ignorant of city ways, but had plenty of determination to succeed. Wrong: From the window of the train I perceived one of those unsightly structures. Right: From the window of the train I perceived one of those unsightly structures which are always to be seen near a station. Exercise : 1. As far as his having been deceived, there is a difference of opinion on that matter. 2. The fact that he was always in trouble, his parents wondered whether he should remain in school or not. 4 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 3. People who go back to the scenes oi their childhood every- thing looks strangely small. 4. It was the custom that whenever a political party came into office, for the incoming men to discharge all employees of the opposite partj'. 5. Although the average man, if asked whether he could shoot a rabbit, would answer in the affirmative, even though he had never hunted rabbits, would find himself badly mis- taken. Necessary Words Omitted 3. Do not omit a word or a phrase which is necessary to an immediate understanding of a sentence. Ambiguous : I consulted the secretary and president. [Did the speaker consult one man or two?] Right: I consulted the secretary and the president. [Or] I consulted the man who was president and secretary. Ambiguous : Water passes through the cement as well as the bricks. Right : Water passes through the cement as well as through the bricks. Wrong; 1 have had experience in every phase of the auto- mobile. Right: I have had experience in every phase of automobile driving and repairnig. Wrong : About him were men whom he could not tell whether they were friends or foes. Right : About hmi were men regarding whom he could not tell whether they were friends or foes. [Or, better] About him were men who might have been either friends or foes. Exercise : 1. When still a small boy, my family moved to Centerville. 2. Constantly in conversation with some one broadens our ideas and our vocabulary. 3. It was a trick play which opposing teams were sure to be baffled. 5 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 4. They departed for the battle front with the knowledge they might never return. 5. At the banquet were all classes of people; I met a banker and plumber. Comparisons 4. Comparisons must be completed logically. Wrong: His speed was equal to a racehorse. Wrong: Of course my opinion is worth less than a lawyer. Wrong: The shells which are used in quail hunting are dif- ferent than in rabbit hunting. Compare a thing with another thing, an abstraction with another abstraction. Do not carelessly com- pare a thing with a part or quality of another thing. Continually ask, what is compared with what? Right: His speed was equal to that of a racehorse. Right: Of course my opinion is worth less than a lawyer's. Right: The shells which are used in quail hunting are dif- ferent from those which are used in rabbit hunting. Self-contradictory: Chicago is larger than any city in Illinois. Right: Chicago is larger than any other city in Illinois. Impossible : Chicago is the largest of any other city in Illinois. Right: Chicago is the largest of all the cities in Illinois. [Or] Chicago is the largest city in Illinois. Note. — After a comparative, the subject of the compari- son should be excluded from the class with which it is compared; after a superlative, the subject of the com- parison should be included within the class. r taller of all the girls W''0"^-t tallest of any girl r taller than any other girl [comparative] Right: ^tallest of all the girls [superlative] COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT Exercise : 1. The climate of America helps her athletes to become su- perior to other countries. 2. This tobacco is the best of any other on the market. 3. You men are paid three dollars more than any other factory in the city. 4. I thought I was best fitted for an engineering course than any other. 5. Care should be taken not to turn in more cattle than the grass in the pasture. Cause and Reason 5. A simple statement o£ fact may be completed by a because clause. Right: I am late because I was sick. But a statement containing the reason is must be completed by a that clause. Wrong: The reason I am late is because I was sick. [The " reason " is not a " because " ; the " reason " is the fact of sickness.] Right : The reason I am late is that I was sick. Because, the conjunction, may introduce an adverbial clause only. Wrong: Because a man wears old clothes is no proof that he is poor. [A because clause cannot be the subject of is.] Right : The fact that a man wears old clothes is no proof that he is poor. [Or] The wearing of old clothes is not proof that a man is poor. Note. — Because of, ozving to, on account of, introduce adverbial phrases only. Due to and caused by intro- duce adjectival phrases only. 7 Right: He failed COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT Wrong: He failetl, due to weak eyes. [Due is an adjective; it cannot modify a verb.] ^. , ,T. r -1 fdue to "1 , Right: His faiUire was^' ,, ^ weak eyes. ° [^caused byj 'because of owing to |.weak eyes, on account of Exercise : 1. The reason why I would not buy a Ford car is because it is too light. 2. My second reason for coming here is because of social advan- tages. 3. Because John is rich does not make him happier than I. 4. Because I like farming is the reason I chose it. 5. The only reason why vegetation does not grow here is be- cause of the lack of water. is when or is where Clauses 6. Do not use a when or where clause as a predicate noun. In definitions, do not say that a noun is a "when" or a "where". Define a noun by another noun. Wrong: The great event is when the train arrives. Right: 1 he great event is the arrival of the train. Wrong: Immigration is where foreigners come into a country. Right : Immigration is the entering of foreigners into a coun- try. Wrong: A simile is when one object is compared with another. Right: A simile is a figure of speech in which one object is compared with another. Note. — A definition of a term is a statement which (i) names the class to which the term belongs, and (2) distingtiishes it from other members of the class. Ex- COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT ample: A hound is a dog which hunts by scent. The test of a detinition is to ask whether it separates the term defined from all other things. If the definition does not do this, it is incomplete. Define California (so as to exclude other states), Zi'hidoi'.' (so as to ex- clude door), star (exclude moon), night, rain, circle, Bible, metaj, mile, patriotism. Exercise : 1. The pistol shot is when the race begins. 2. A snob is when a man treats others as inferior socially. 3. The wireless telegraph is where messages are sent a long distance through the air. 4. The definition of usury is where one charges interest higher than the legal rate. 5. Biology is when one studies plant and animal life. Undeveloped Thought 7. Do not halfway express an idea. If the idea is impor- tant, develop it. If it is not important, omit it. Incomplete : We were now quite sure that we had lost our way, and Jack said he had a business engagement that night. Better : We were now quite sure that we had lost our way. a fact which was all the more annoying as Jack said he had a business engagement that night. Puzzling: Since McAndrew had inherited money, his suitcase was plastered with labels. Right : Since McAndrew had inherited money, he had traveled extensively. His suitcase was plastered with labels of foreign hotels. Careless : In looking for gasoline troubles, we forgot to see whether the tank was supplied. Right: In looking for the cause of the trouble, we forgot to see whether the tank was supplied with gasoline. COMPLETENESS OE THOUGHT Note. — In giving information about books, do not con- fuse the title with the contents or some part of the con- tents. Be accurate in referring to the time, scene, ac- tion, plot, or characters. Loose thinking: Shakespeare's Hamlet occurs in Denmark [The scene is laid?]. Many passages are powerful, especially the grave-diggiiig [Ls grave-digging a passage?]. The character of Horatio is a noble fellow [conception], and the same is true of Ophelia [Ophelia a fellow?]. The drama takes place over several weeks. [The action covers a period of several weeks.] Exercise : 1. The victrola brings to the home the world's musical ability. 2. The user of Dietzgen instruments is not vexed by numerous troubles that accompany the inferior makes. 3. To the picnicker rainy weather is bad weather, while the farmer raises a big crop. 4. Some diseases can be checked by preventives, and in many cases can be of great use to an army. 5. This idea of breaking all records held for eating is naturally harmful to the digestion, and these important organs may thank their stars that Christmas does not come very often. Transitions The state of mind of a writer is not the state of mind of his reader. The writer knows his ideas, and has spent much time with them. The reader meets these ideas for the first time, and must gather them in at a glance. The relation between two ideas may be clear to the writer, and not at all clear to the reader. There- fore, 10 8 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 8. In passing from one thought to another, make the con- nection clear. If necessary, insert a word, a phrase, or even a sentence, to carry the reader safely across. Space transition needed: We were surprised to see a house in the distance, but we went to the door and knocked. [This sentence does not give a reader the effect of distance.] Better : We were surprised to see a house in the distance. But zt'e Iiastcncd tozvard it zuith thoughts of a zvarm meal and a good lodging. ]Vc entered the yard, and went up to the door, and knocked. Exterior-interior transition needed : We noticed that the house was built of cobblestones. There was a broad window from which we could look out upon the small stream that dashed down the rocky hillside. Better : We noticed that the house was built of cobblestones. We went inside, and found that the living room zcas large and airy. There was a broad window from which we could look out upon the small stream that dashed down the rocky hill- side. Cause transition lacking: The Romans were great road-build- ers. They wished to maintain their empire. Better : The Romans were great road-builders, because means of moving troops quickly were necessary to the maintenance of their empire. General-to-particular transition needed : Modern machinery often makes men its slaves. Last summer I worked for the Chandler Company. [This gap in thought occurs oftenest be- tween the first two sentences of a paragraph or theme ] Better : Modern machinery often makes men its slaves. This truth is zccll illustrated by my ozvn experience. Last summer I worked for the Chandler Company. Transition to be improved by changing order : A careless trainer may spoil a good colt. A good horse can never be made of a vicious colt. [Here the order of ideas is: " Trainer . . . colt. Horse . . . colt." Turn the last sentence end for end.] II 8 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT Better : A careless trainer may spoil a good colt. And a vi- cious colt can never be made a good horse. [Now the order of ideas is " Trainer . . . colt. Colt . . . horse.'j Transition to be improved by removal of a disturbing element : Our class in physics last week visited a pumping station in which the Corliss type of steam engine is used. The engines are manufactured by the Allis-Chaliiicrs Company of Milivau- kee, Wisconsin. This type of engine is used because it has several advantages. [The italicized sentence should be omitted here, and used later in the theme.] Note. — Tlie divisions of lliought within a paragraph may Hkewise be indicated by connectives: hozvever, on the other hand, equally important, anotJier interesting prob- lem is, for this reason, the remedy for this, so much for, it remains to mention, of course 1 admit, finally. (For a longer list see 36.) Such phrases are also use- ful in Iniking one paragraph to another. When a student first learns the art, he is liable to use transition phrases in excess, and produce something like the following: "When I have to write a theme, I first think of my subject. As soon as I have my sub- ject, I take out my paper. On the paper 1 then make a rough outline." This abuse of transition causes an overlapping of thought, like shingles laid three inches to the weather. An abrupt transition is better than wordiness. Exercise : 1. The shore looked far ofif. Then we reached it. 2. A light snow was falling last night. This is a good day for hunting rabbits. 3. A dollar is often a large sum. I sold newspapers when I was a boy. 12 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 4. Many English words still preserve their old meanings. There is the teller in the bank. 5. We had to walk half a mile across the pastures in the fresh morning air. Exercise indoors does not arouse much zest or enthusiasm. 9. EXERCISE IN COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT • A. Fragments Misused as Sentences Rewrite the following statements in sentences each of which expresses»-a complete thought. 1. He gave me a tiower. Which was wilted. 2. The gasoline flows through the supply tube to the carburetor. Where it should vaporize and enter the cylinders. 3. People of all ages were there. Old men, young women, and even children. 4. He told us that you had a good standing among business men. That you always met your bills promptly. 5. Excuse Everett Smith from school this morning. He having the measles. 6. The internal-combustion engine may be either one of two types. The two cycle or the four cycle. 7. The young men and women acted like children. Who should have known better. 8. There was a cross cow in the pasture. Which had long horns. 9. Bacteria are microscopic organisms. Especially found where milk or some other substance decomposes. 10. We pass on down the street. The buildings rising two or three stories high on either side. 11. The Y. M. C. A. enables you to keep your religious interests alive. As well as to associate with clean young men. 12. She wasted her time on foolish clothes. While her mother took in washing. 13. He was dressed in a ridiculous fashion. Wearing, for in- stance, an orange necktie. 14. The point is similar to that of the ordinary steel pen, except that it is made of gold. Gold being used on account of its greater smoothness and durability. 13 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 15. Tire troubles have been made less formidable by the invention of a compact, efficient little vulcanizer. A factory for mak- ing which IS now being built. B. Incomplete Constructions Improve the following statements. Stipply missing words. Make sure that each construction and each sen- tence is complete. 1. When one year old, my mothnr died 2. Yours received, and in reply wouid say your order has been filled. 3. While in there a man came in and bought a quarter's worth of soap. 4. War is largely dependent upon the engineers to design new machinery. 5. When you talk to a man look at him, not the floor or ceiling. 6. In writing a book, an author's first one is usually not very good. 7. Every summer while in high school, our family has gone to our cottage on Lake Michigan. 8. When a boy, Mary was my best friend. 9. There is, however, another reason a person should know how to swim. 10. I think more of her than anyone else. 11. Corrupt laws are often the means rich people obtain the earn- ings of others. 12. A hundred dollars invested in a warning signal, future accidents would be prevented. 13. Electric transmission is sometimes used on automobiles more of an experiment than anything else. 14. Was delighted to hear from you. Glad to hear you entered the wholesale business. Wish you success. 15. As a rule people eat too much. This point should be noticed, and not overwork the digestive organs. 14 COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT C. Incomplete Logic The following sentences are inadequate statements of cause, comparison, etc. Complete the thought. 1. His neck is as long as a giraffe. 2. His name was David Meek, from New Hampshire. 3. The Pacific Ocean is larger than any ocean. 4. Because he never worked led to his failure. 5. A monitor is where a heavily armored boat of light draft can go near the %hore. 6. Democracy is when people, through representatives, govern themselves. 7. The story of Huckleberry Finn is in reality Mark Twain him- self. 8. Because a man has money is no reason why he should be lazy. 9. The character of Sydney Carton is the real hero of this novel. 10. A forester leads an interesting life is the reason I want to be one. 11. Tact is where a man anticipates the criticism of others, and acts with discretion. 12. The comfort of a modern house is much greater than the old- time house. 13. Free trade is when no revenue is collected on imports, be- yond enough to run the government. 14. The cost of room, board, and tuition is low at this school, compared to the more fashionable schools. 15. The theme of this novel tells how a peasant, Jean Valjean, from a convict comes to be a respected citizen. D. Undeveloped Thought and Transitions Complete the thought of the following sentences, and secure a smooth transition between parts. I. As you enter this room, to the left is an interesting painting of the Canterbury Pilgrims. IS COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT 2. Poe delights in fantastic plots. A pirate's treasure chest was discovered in The Gold Buy. 3. I got up and ate a bite of breakfast. A few of my friends came over. We went to play golf. 4. All the loose material on the trail is carried off by the rush of the water. The last time I was on it was in early sum- mer, and I found it in this rough condition. 5. I managed to find the softest board in the floor and went to sleep. Some of the boys found pleasure in arousing me with a shower of cold water. 6. Under guise of friendly escort the Indians accompanied the inhabitants of the fort a few miles. Only three escaped the massacre. 7. Many people say that in civil engineering it depends on the prosperity of the country; in hard times they do not build and in good times they do build. 8. Canada has more forests than minerals. Canada has made only a start in the lumber industry. The minerals are found, for the most part, in the mountain district near Lake Superior. 9. Thanksgiving day, as we are told, is a day on which our Puri- tan forefathers gathered round the roast turkey and gave thanks to God for his goodness. Last Thanksgiving I was at home. 10. The old method was to dig the holes by hand, and drop two or three kernels in each hole. Corn has become a staple crop. Machinery is used. The preparing of a field for corn has become a science. 16 UNITY OF THOUGHT Unity means oneness. A sentence should contain one thought. It may contain two or more statements only when these are closely related parts of a larger thought or impression. A writer should make certain, first, that his thought has unity ; and second, that this unity will be obvious to the reader. Unrelated Ideas in One Sentence 10. Do not combine ideas which have no obvious relation to each other. Place the ideas in separate sentences. Or, write the ideas as one sentence, making their rela- tion obvious. Wrong: The Spartans did not care for literature, and lived in the southern part of Greece. Wrong ; The coffee business is not difficult to learn, and the most important work in preparing the coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries. The simplest method of correction is to divide the sentence. Right; The Spartans lived in the southern part of Greece. They did not care for literature. Right : The coffee business is not difficult to learn. The most important work in preparing the coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries. Another method of correction is to subordinate one idea to the other, or to change the wording until the re- lation between the ideas is obvious. Right : The Spartans, who lived in the southern part of Greece, did not care for literature. 17 11 UNITY OF THOUGHT Right : The coffee business is not difficult to learn, since the only important work in preparing the coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries. Exercise : 1. Franklin is often regarded as the typical American, and wrote an interesting autobiography. 2. Coal miners wear little oil lamps in their caps, and they sel- dom receive very good wages. 3. My neighbor, Mr. Houghton, was always a very good friend of mine, and died last night. 4. I dropped the clock and injured the works, but the jeweler told me it would be cheaper for me to buy a new clock. 5. The next thing the camper should do is to make a bed, and the branches of the spruce are the best. Excessive Detail 11. Do not encumber the main idea of a sentence with superfluous details. Place some of the details in an- other sentence, or omit them. Faulty : In the town in which I live there are several large churches, and about six o'clock one morning, in a violent storm, one of these churches was struck by lightning. Right : In my home town there are several large churches. One morning about six o'clock, in a violent storm, one of these churches was struck by lightning. Wrong: In 1836, in Baltimore, Poe married Virginia Clemm, his cousin, who was hardly more than a child, being then four- teen years old, while Poe himself was twenty-eight, and to her he wrote much of his best verse. Right: In 1836 Poe married Virginia Clemm. Poe was then twenty-eight, and Virginia was only fourteen. To this girl Poe wrote much of his best verse. 18 12 UNITY OF THOUGHT Exercise : 1. The house with the red tile roof is the finest in the city, and is owned by Mr. Saunders, who made his money speculating in land. 2. Then the engine tilted and fell over on one side, and the boiler exploded and added to the frightful scene. 3. The deer whose antlers you see over the fireplace as you enter the .room was shot by my Uncle Will, who is now in South America on a hunting expedition. 4. The seeds, which have previously been soaked in water over night, are now 'planted carefully, not too deep, in straight rows sixteen inches apart, the best time being in April, when the ground is soft and has been thoroughly spaded. 5. One day last week my employer, Mr. Conway, a jolly, pe- culiar man, raised my salary, first telling me I was about to be discharged, and laughing at me when I looked so surprised. Stringy Sentences to be Broken up 2. Avoid stringy compound sentences. The crude, ram- bling style which results from their use may be cor- rected by separating the material into shorter sen- tences, or by subordinating lesser ideas to the main thought. Faulty: The second speaker had sat quietly waiting, and he was a man of a dift'erent type, and he began calml}', yet from the very first words he showed great earnestness. Right : The second speaker, who. had sat quietly waiting, was a man of a dift'erent type. He began calmly, yet from his very first words he showed great earnestness. Faulty : There are many stops on the organ which control the tones of the different pipes and one has to learn how and when to use these and this takes time and practice. Right : On the organ are many stops which control the tones of the different pipes. To learn how and vVipn to use these takes time and practice. 19 12 UNITY OF THOUGHT Faulty: He published prose fiction, and this was then the ac- cepted literary form, and the drama was neglected. Better : He published prose fiction, which was then the accepted literary form, the drama being neglected. [This sentence makes three statements in a diminishing series. The important idea is expressed in a main clause ; a less important explana- tion is fitted into a relative clause; and a still less important comment takes a parenthetical phrase at the end.] Note. — One of the crying faults of the immature writer is that by excessive coordination he obscures the fine shades of meaning. When two clauses are joined, the meaning will very often be more exact if one is subordi- nated to the other. For a list of subordinating connec- tives, see 36. Exercise : 1. He went down town, and it began to rain, and so he decided to go to the city library. 2. There is an old saying which I have often heard and I believe in it to a certain extent, and it runs as follows : The more you live at your wit's end, the more the wit's end grows. 3. Our salesman, Mr. Powers, has spoken very favorably of your firm, and we feci that our relations will be most pleas- ant, and the report of the commercial agencies is sufficient evidence of your good financial standing. 4. There was no escaping from this churn, so one of the frogs, after a brief struggle, thought that he might just as well die one time as another, and so he gave up and sank to the bottom. 5. Socrates did no writing himself, and the only information we have of him we get from the writings of his pupils and from later writers, and our most reliable knowledge comes from two of these writers, Plato and Xenophon. 20 13 UNITY OF THOUGHT Choppy Sentences to be Combined Do not use two or three short sentences to express ideas which will make a more unified impression in one sentence. Place subordinate ideas in subordinate grammatical constructions. Excessive predication: Excavating 'is the first operation in st-reet paving. The excavating is usually done by means of a steam shovel. The shovel scoops up the dirt and loads it directly into wagons. Right : Excavating, the first operation in street paving, is usually done by a steam shovel which loads the dirt directly into wagons. Monotonous : The doe is wading along the shore. She is nib- bling the lily pads as she goes. Now she moves slowly around the point. She has a little spotted fawn with her. The fawn frolics along at the heels of his mother. Better : Wading along the shore, the doe nibbles the lily pads by the way, and moves slowly around the point. A spotted fawn frolics at her heels. Primer style : Rooms are marked on the floor. These rooms are about fourteen feet square. Better: The floor is marked off into rooms about fourteen feet square. Note. — An occasional short sentence is permissible, even desirable. Successive short sentences may be used to express rapid action, or emphatic assertion, or delib- erate simplicity. Otherwise, avoid them. Exercise : 1. Decatur has wide streets. The streets are paved with brick, asphalt, and creosote blocks. 2. Sixteen posts are set in a row. All of these are at equal intervals. 3. The boat approaches the leeward side of the ship. This side is the side protected from the wind. 14 UNITY OF THOUGHT 4. The Scientific American reports the progress of science. It explains new inventions. It makes practical applications of scientific principles. 5. The beans are usually harvested about the middle of Septem- ber. They are cut when the plants turn color at the roots and the beans turn white. They are cut by a bean-cutter which takes two rows at a time. Excessive Coordination In structure a sentence may be A. Simple : The rain fell. B. Compound : The rain continued and the stream rose. C. Complex : When the rain ceased, the flood came. In B, the clauses are of almost equal importance, and the first is coordinated with the second. In C, the clauses are not of equal importance, and the first is subordinated to the second. And is a coordinating conjunction. IV hen is a subordinating conjunction. For a list of connectives see 36. 14. Do not use coordination when subordination will secure a more clear and emphatic unit of thought. Especially do not coordinate a main idea with an explanatory de- tail. The speech of children connects all ideas, impor- tant and unimportant, with and. Discriminating writers place minor ideas in subordinate clauses, consign still less important ideas to participial or prepositional phrases, and omit trivial details altogether. Childish : I went down town and saw a crowd standing in the street, and wanted to know what was the matter, and so I went up and asked a man. Right: When I went down town, I saw a crowd standing in 14 UNITY OF THOUGHT the street, and since I wanted to know what was the matter, I asked a man. [Two clauses are subordinated by the use of when and since. This change abohshes two ands. The words went up and are struck out. One and remains, and deserves to remain, for it joins two ideas which are truly coordinate.] Main idea not emphasized ; I talked with an old man and his name was Ned. Better: I talked with an old man named Ned. [A participial phrase replaces a clause. The name is now subordinated to the man.] Main idea not emphasized : Developing is the next step in pre- paring the film, and it is very important. Better : Developing, the next step in preparing the film, is very important. [An appositional phrase replaces tlie first predi- cate.] Main idea not emphasized: They began their perilous journey, and they had four horses. Right [emphasizing perilous journey] : With four horses they began their perilous journey. [A prepositional phrase re- places a clause.] Right [emphasizing haling the horses] : When they began their perilous journey, they had four horses. [A subordinate clause replaces a main clause.] Capable of greater unity : The frog is a stupid animal, and may be caught with a hook baited with red flannel. [Is the writer trying to tell us hoiv to catch frogs, or merely that frogs are stupid? Coordination makes the two ideas appear equally important.] Right [emphasizing frogs are stupid] : The fact that the frog can be caught with a hook baited with red flannel proves his stupidity. Right [emphasizing hozv to catch frogs] : The frog, being stupid, will bite at a piece of red flannel. Exercise : I. Men were sent to Panama and could not live in such unsani- tary conditions. 23 15 UNITY.OF 'ni-OtljOHT '' " ' ' •.. .• ;• •fl^»\i: = •■'• 2. When a letter came ahtf it bore 'a familiar handwriting, I al- ways opened it eagerly. 3. West Hickory is the name of the place where the tannery is situated, and it is a laboring man's town. 4. She wore a dress and it was silk, and cost her father a lot of money. 5. Every race horse has a care taker or groom, and this man spends all his time and makes the horse comfortable. Faulty Subordination of the Main Thought 15. Do not put the principal statement of a sentence in a subordinate clause or phrase. This violation of unity is sometimes called " upside-down subordination". Faulty: I was going down the street, when I heard an explo- sion. [If hearing the explosion is the main thought, it should be placed in the main clause.] Right: When I was going down the street, I heard an explo- sion. Faulty : Longstreet received orders to attack the Federal right wing, which he did immediately. Right: As soon as Longstreet received orders, he attacked the Federal right wing. Faulty : 1 suspected that it would rain, although I did not take an umbrella. Right: Although I suspected that it would rain, I did not take an umbrella. Exercise : 1. An old man used to work for us, who died yesterday. 2. He became angry, saying he positively refused to go. 3. He is a bright boy, although I should not want to trust him with my pocketbook. 4. He had an ambition which was to become the best lawyer in the state by the time he v/as forty years old. 5. The cable breaks and the elevator starts to drop, when the safety device always operates at once to prevent an accident. 24 405 Rii' ,^^"^^i^nia ^s Angeles 24, CaJif ornia Subordination Thwarted by and L6. Do not attach to a main clause by means of and, a word, phrase, or clause which you intend shall be subordinate. The presence of and thwarts subordi- nation. Wrong: Maior went to bed, and leaving the work unfinished. Right: Major went to bed, leaving the work unfinished. Wrong: He ran home and with coat tails flying. Right: He ran home with coat tails flying. Exercise : 1. They denied my request, and giving no reason for the refusal. 2. He gave me his answer and in few words. 3. The girl stood on the edge of the cliff, and thus showing that she was not afraid. 4. A telegraph line is leased by the Associated Press, and thus giving the newspapers quick service. 5. When the summer passed, the fisherman returned home for the winter, and where he renewed his acquaintance with the villagers. The and which construction L7. Use and which (or but which), and who (or but who) only between relative clauses similar in form. Be- tween a main clause and a relative clause, and or but thwarts subordination. Wrong: This is an important problem, and which we shall not find easy to solve. Right: This is an important problem, which we shall not find easy to solve. Right: This problem is one zi'hich is important, and zvhkh we cannot easily solve. Wrong: Les Miscrahks is a novel of great interest and which everybody should read. 25 18 UNITY OF THOUGHT Right: Lcs Miserablcs is a novel of great interest, and one which everyhody should read. Wrong: Their chief opponent was Winter, a shrewd politician, but who is now less popular than he was. Right : Their chief opponent was Winter, a shrewd politician, who is now less popular than he was. Note. — Rule 17 is sometimes briefly stated: "Do not use and zvhich unless you have already used which in the sentence." This statement is generally true, but an exception must be made for sentences like the fol- lowing: Right: "He told me what countries he had visited, and which ones he liked most." Exercise : 1. Just outside is a small porch looking out over the street, and which can be used for sleeping purposes. 2. She is a woman of pleasing personality, and who can con- verse intelligently. 3. It is a difficult task, but which can be accomplished in time. 4. He is a good-looking man, but who is very snobbish. 5. The rule made by the conference of college professors in 1896, and which has been followed ever since, applies to the case we are considering. Unity. Thwarted by Punctuation The Comma Splice 18. Do not splice two independent statements by means of a comma. Write two sentences. Or, if the two state- ments together form a unit of thought, combine them (i) by a comma plus a conjunction, (2) by a semi- colon, or (3) by reducing one of the statements to a phrase or a subordinate clause. Wrong : The town has two railroads, it was founded when oil was discovered. 26 UNITY OF THOUGHT Right: The town has two railroads. It was founded when oil was discovered. Wrong : The speed of the car seemed slower than it really was, this was due, no doubt, to the absence of all noise. [Here are three commas. The reader cannot quickly discover which one marks the great division of thought.] Right : The speed of the car seemed slower than it really was. This was due, no doubt, to the absence of all noise. Wrong: The winters were long and cold, nothing could live without shelter. Right : The wintere were long and cold. Nothing could live without shelter. Right : The winters were long and cold, and nothing could live without shelter [For the use of the comma, see 91a]. Right : The winters were long and cold ; nothing could live without shelter [For the use of the semicolon see 92]. Right: The winters were so long and cold that nothing could live without shelter. Exception. — Short coordinate clauses which are parallel in structure and leave a unified impression, may be joined by commas, even though the conjunctions be omitted. Right : All was excitement. The ducks quacked, the pigs squealed, the dogs barked. [The general idea excitement gives the three clauses a certain unity.] Exercise : 1. The key is turned to the right, this unlocks the door. 2. The author keeps one guessing, there is no hint how the story will end. 3. The farmer is independent, he has no task-master. 4. There has been a change of government, in fact there has been a revolution. J. Lamb had failed in poetry, in the drama, and in the novel, in the essay, at last, he succeeded. 27 18 19 UNITY OF THOUGHT 19. EXERCISE IN UNITY OF THOUGHT A. The Comma Splice Rewrite the following material in sentences each of which is a unit of thought. Most of the statements should be summarily cut apart. If you decide that others taken together have unity of thought, combine them (i) by a comma plus a conjunction, (2) by a semicolon, or (3) by reducing one of the statements to a phrase or a subordinate clause. 1. The canoe is long and narrow, it is made of birch bark. 2. 1 decided to serve tea, of course cream and sugar would be needed. 3. Some men hunt rabbits for market purposes only, they are the sportsman's enemies. 4. This city furnished many boats for the siege of Calais, when these boats returned thej- brought the plague with them. 5. The bottom of the box is then put in, it is nailed to the sides. 6. It is not easy to become a good musician, one must practice continually. 7. The Northern and the Southern states could not be separate nations, there was no natural boundary between them. 8. The telephone is a great invention, it is very useful to the farmer, g. Why would no one come to help me, my feet ached and I was thirsty. 10. I know a girl who has a cynical disposition, she is always criticizing. 11. I went into the office hopeless, a dime stood between me and starvation. 12. The construction of the bridge has much to do with the tone of a violin, it should be lower on the side nearest the E string. 13. A private expense account does not require much labor or time, just one hour a week will suffice to keep track of all expenditures. 28 19 UNITY OF THOUGHT 14. We offer you sixty dollars a month to start, this is all we can afford to pay at present. 15. He wanted personal success but would not shirk a duty or harm any one in any way to gain that success, at all times he forgot his own personal importance and was ready to do any task set before him. B. One Thought in a Sentence By dividing, subordinating, or logically combining the following statements, secure unity of thought. 1. She was born in .A.tlanta, Georgia, on September 30, 1902, where she has lived ever since and is now well known. 2. Franklin was kindly, shrewd, and capable, and was the rep- resentative of the United States in France. 3. She said that Mrs. Brown was ill and that she was just caring for the baby, she loved babies anyway, she said. 4. One Sunday afternoon there was an excursion to Beaver and several of us decided to go and take our lunches and return on the eight o'clock car. 5. He gave me the dimensions of the room. The dimensions were ten by twelve feet. 6. Good grades may be obtained in two ways : by honest work, and by cheating ; however any one who cheats is doing him- self more harm than good. 7. The wall studding is made of two-by-fours. These two-by- fours are placed sixteen inches apart. 8. The returning Crusaders brought with them oriental learning, and found the peasantry impoverished. 9. The articles in this magazine are of high quality. The articles are well written and attractively illustrated. 10. A Japanese woman going abroad at night must carry a lighted lamp and must not speak to any one, women do not have much freedom in Japan. 11. The sugar beets are irrigated by river water. They are irri- gated by means of furrows. The furrows run between the rows of beets. The beets are irrigated once a week. 29 19 UNITY OF THOUGHT 12. The referee asked each captain if his men were ready, after which he blew the whistle, and the game was on, and within five minutes our team scored a touchdown. 13. The ground should be harrowed as soon as possible after it is plowed. It is a good plan to harrow the ground on the same day that it is plowed, or on the day following. 14. Choose the middle of the prepared ground, which is about eightj'-five by fifty feet, as your starting point, measure twenty-four feet east and west and set the net posts; then, after marking off the different courts with tape, you are ready for a good game of tennis. 15. There are two places on the island suitable for plays: one in the bungalow and the other down on the sandy point ; the latter lends itself to the purpose readily, there are two trees which make a splendid support for wires on which to hang the curtain, and just east of these the ground slopes enough to make a natural amphitheater, C. Excessive Coordination The ideas in the following sentences are loosely strung together with coordinating conjunctions. Place the im- portant idea in the main clause. Subordinate other ideas by reducing each to a dependent clause, or a phrase, or a word. 1. Chris has a new coat and it is double-breasted. 2. I had a dog, and his name was Scratcher. 3. He gave a laugh but it was forced. 4. The woodcock is so foolish and deliberately walks into a trap. 5. The engineers fastened rafts to the piles, and which were pulled up when the tide rose. 6. Students often sit all doubled up, and raising their feet high on the table. 7. Dunlap is carrying a palette, but without any paint on it. 8. The government had been successful in its suit, and the tobacco trust was dissolved. 30 UNITY OF THOUGHT 9. The British troops had no protection against poisonous gas, and the use of gas by the enemy was unexpected. 10. 1 make it a rule to study one thmg at least an hour and no long rest between. 11. The concrete is spread in a layer, and this is about nine inches thick, and the width being ten feet. 12. Rockwell is our postmaster, and is accommodating, but he has a disposition to be curious. 13. At the Gatun Dam there arc concrete locks, and the purpose of these is to lift vessels into the lake. 14. They say to tourists that objects are historic but which are no*- historic at all. 15. 1 was lying quietly in the hammock, and I happened to look up in the tree, and there was a green bird and eating a cherry. 16. They disputed for a time, and afterward the officer became angry, and whipped out his sword. 17. A mirage is an illusion and the traveler thinks he sees water when there really is none. D. Upside-down Subordination In the following sentences the important idea is buried in a subordinate clause or phrase. Rescue this main idea, express it in the main clause, and if possible sub- ordinate the rest of the sentence to it. 1. I spoke to her on the street, when she did not answer. 2. She thanked me for my assistance, also asking me to come and visit her the following Stmday. 3. The water froze in the buckets, although they did not burst. 4. The crows cawed angrily and circling around in one place. 5. He is threatened with tuberculosis, although he will not sleep in the open air. 6. We had hacked the bark, the tree dying after a few months. 7. One of the contestants was from Wendover College, who re- ceived the prize. 31 UNITY OF THOUGHT 8. You ask a person what a spiral staircase is, when he will go to showing you by motions of his hand. 9. It was about three o'clock, and we decided to return home, which we did. 10. The plumber came, stopping the leak as soon as he arrived. 11. Benton sold stamps, in which business he grew rich. 12. The sun's heal beats down upon the brick tenements, which is terrible. 13. The chemist tested the purity of the water, hut which he found unfit to drink. 14. Montaigne wrote an essay on " Solitude ", where he pointed out the disadvantages of travel. 15. The house is set close to the edge of the bluff, overlooking a wide bend of the Alleghany River. 16. Things had been going from bad to worse among the Indians, and some Sioux were entertaining a few Chippewas, and murdered them, when the government took a hand in the affair. 17. The slight knowledge of metals and wide-awake observation of an inexperienced miner discovered gold in Arizona. 32 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT Clearness is fundamental. The writer should be con- tent not when his meaning may be understood, but only when his meaning cannot be misunderstood. He may attain this entire clearness by giving attention to five matters : * Reference (20-23) Coherence (24-28) Parallel Structure (30-31) Consistency (32-35) Use of Connectives (36-38) REFERENCE By the use of pronouns, participles, and other de- pendent words, language becomes flexible and free. But each dependent part must refer without confusion to a word which is reasonably near, and properly ex- pressed. Ordinarily a reader expects a pronoun or a participle to refer to the nearest noun (or pronoun) or to an emphatic noun. Divided Reference 20. A pronoun should be placed near the word to which it refers, and separated from words to which it might falsely seem to refer. If this method does not secure clearness, discard the pronoun and change the sen- tence structure. Uncertain reference of zvhich: He dropped the bundle in the mud which he was carrying to his mother. [The reader for 33 20 CLEARNESS BY REFERENCE a moment refers the pronoun to the wrong noun. Bring which nearer to its proper antecedent bundle.] Right: He dropped in the mud the bundle which he was carry- ing to his mother. Vague reference of this: My failure in mathematics was seri- ous. My grades in English, history, and Latm were good enough. But this brought down my average. [Thisf What this/ Five nouns intrude between the pronoun this and its proper antecedent failure.] Right: In English, history, and Latin I received fairly good grades. But in mathematics I received a failure. This brought down my average. Remote reference of it: If you want to make a good speech, take your hands out of your pockets, open your mouth wide, and throw yourself into it. Right: If you want to make a good speech, take your hands out of your pockets, open your mouth wide, and throw your- self into what you are saying. [Or, better] Take your hands out of your pockets, open your mouth wide, and throw your- self into the speech. Ambiguous reference of he: John spoke to the stranger, and he was very surly. Right: John spoke to the stranger, who was very surly. [Or] John spoke in a surly manner to the stranger. Note. — The reference of relative and demonstrative pro- notms is largely dependent upon their position. The reference of a personal pronotm (he, she, they, etc.) is not so much dependent upon its position, the maiir con- sideration being that the antecedent shall be emphatic (See the next article.) Exercise : 1. He was driving an old mule attached to a cart that was blind in one eye. 2. There is a grimy streak on the wall over the radiator which can be removed only with great difficulty. 34 21 CLEARNESS BY REFERENCE 3. The feet of Chinese girls were bandaged so tightly when they were babies that they could not grow. 4. He gave me a receipt for the money which he told me to keep. 5. After the pictures have been taken and the film has been removed, they are sent to the developing room where it is developed and dried. Weak Reference • 21. Do not allow a pronoun to refer to a word not likely to be central in the reader's thought; a word, for example, in the possessive case, or in a parenthetical expres- sion, or in a compound, or not expressed at all. Make the pronoun refer to an emphatic word. Wrong : \\ hen a poor woman came to Jane Addams' famous Mull House, she always gave help. [Poor woman and Hull House are the emphatic words, to which any pronoun used later is instinctively referred by the reader.] Right : When a poor woman came to Jane Addams' famous Hull House, she always received help. [Or] When a poor woman came to Hull House, Jane Addams always gave help. Wrong : Tn biology, which is the study of plants and animals, we find that they are made up of unitary structures called cells. [Since the words plants and animals occur only in a parenthetical clause, the reader is surprised to find them used as an antecedent.] Right : In the study of biology we find that plants and animals are made up of unitary structures called cells. Wrong: This old scissors-grinder sharpens them for the whole neighborhood. [The center of interest in the reader's mind is a man, not scissors.] Right : This old scissors-grinder sharpens scissors for the whole neighborhood. Wrong : I always liked engineers, and I have chosen that as my profession. 35 22 CLEARNESS BY REFERENCE Right : 1 always liked engineering, and I have chosen it as my profession. Absurd : When the baby is through drinking milk, it should be disconnected and put in boiling water. [The centred idea in the reader's mind is baby, not inilk-bottlc. The writer may have been thinking about the bottle, but he did not make the word emphatic ; in fact, he did not express it at all.] Right : When the baby is through drinking milk, the bottle should be taken apart and put in boiling water. Note. — Ordinarily, do not refer to the title in the first line of a theme. The reader expects you to assert some- thing, and face forward, not to turn back to what you have said in the title. Faulty: Color Photography I am interested in this new development of science. For a long time I . . . Right: Color Photography Taking pictures in color has long appealed to me as an in- teresting possibility . . . Exercise : 1. In Shakespeare's play Othello he makes lago a fiend. 2. The noodle-cutter is a kitchen device which saves time in making this troublesome dish. 3. The life of a forester is interesting, and I intend to follow that profession. 4. He took down his great-grandfather's old sword, who had carried it at Bunker Hill. 5. I was always making experiments in science, and I naturally acquired a liking for periodicals of that nature. Broad Reference 22. Do not use a pronoun to refer broadly to a general idea. Supply a definite antecedent or abandon the pronoun. 36 22 CLEARNESS BY REFERENCE Wrong: The tapper strikes the gong, which continues as long as the push button is pressed. [The writer intends that zvliich shall refer to the entire precedmg clause, but the ref- erence is intercepted by the word gong.] Right [supplying a definite antecedent] : The tapper strikes the gong, a process which continues as long as the push but- ton is pressed. [Or, abandoning the pronoun] The tapper strikes the gong as long as the push button is pressed. Wrong: Read the directions which are printed on the bottle and it may save you from making a mistake. Right [supplying a- definite antecedent] : Read the directions which are printed on the bottle. This precaution may save you from making a mistake. [Or, abandoning the pronoun] Reading the directions on the bottle may prevent a mistake. Wrong: The managers told him they would increase his sal- ary if he would represent them in South America. He re- fiised that. Right: The managers told him they would increase his salary if he would represent them in South America. He refused the offer. Exception. — It cannot be maintained that a pronoun must alzvays have one definite word for its antecedent. Many of the best English authors occasionally use a pronoun to refer to a clause. But the reference must always be clear. Note. — Impersonal constructions must be used with cau- tion. " It is raining " is correct, although it has no antecedent. We desire that the antecedent shall be vague, impersonal. But unnecessary use of the indefi- nite it, you, or they should be avoided. Faulty: It says in our history that Columbus was an Italian. Right: Our history says that Columbus was an Italian. Not complimentary to the reader: You aren't hanged nowa- days for stealing. 37 23 CLEARNESS BY REFERENCE Right ; No one is hanged nowadays for stealing. Fauhy : They are noted for their tact in France. Right : The French are noted for their tact. Exercise : 1. You use little slang in your paper which is commendable. 2. They had no reinforcements which caused them to lose the battle. 3. The carbon must be removed from pig iron to make pure steel, and that is done by terrific heat. 4. Our stenographer spends most of her spare time at a cheap movie theater, which is in itself an index of her character. 5. It is doubtful in the minds of some whether commercialized athletics is worth the trouble. Dangling Participle or Gerund 23. A participle, being dependent, must refer to a noun or pronoun. The noun or pronoun should be within the sentence which contains the participle, and should be so conspicuous that the participle will be associated with it instantly and without confusion. Wrong: Coming in on the train, the high school building is seen. [Is the building coming in? If not, who is?] Right: Coming in on the train, one sees the high school building. A sentence containing a dangling participle may be corrected (i) by giving the word to which the parti- ciple refers a conspicuous position in the sentence, or (2) by replacing the participial phrase by some other construction. Wrong: Having taken our seats, the umpire announced the batteries, ^ight : Having taken our seats, we heard the umpire announce 38 CLEARNESS BY REFERENXE the batteries. [Or] When we had taken our seats, the um- pire announced the batteries. Wrong: She was for a long time sick, caused by overwork. [The participle caused should not modify sick. A participle is used as an adjective, and should therefore modify a noun.] Right — using an adjectival modifier: She had a long sickness, J ^^"^^ ^ [-overwork. (^due to J Right — using an adverbial modifier : * rbecause of She was for a long time sickJ owing to .overwork. I on account of When a gerund phrase (In passing, while speaking, etc.) implies the action of a special agent, indicate what the agent is. Otherwise the phrase will be dangling. Faulty: In talking to Mr. Brown the other day, he told me that you intend to buy a car. Better: In talking to Mr. Brown the other day, I learned that you intend to buy a car. Faulty: The address was concluded by reciting a passage from Wordsworth. Better: The speaker concluded his address by reciting a pas- sage from Wordsworth. [Or] The address was concluded by the recitation of a passage from Wordsworth. Note. — Two other kinds of dangling modifier, treated elsewhere in this book, may be briefly mentioned here. A phrase beginning with the adjective due shotild refer to a noun; otherwise the phrase is left dangling (See 5 Note). An elliptical sentence (one from which words are omitted) is faulty when one of the elements is left dangling (See 3). 39 23 24 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE Faulty: I was late due to carelessness [Use because of]. Ludicrous : My shocstrnig always breaks when hurrying to the office at eight o'clock [Say when I am hurrying]. Exercise : 1. Coming out of the house, a street car is seen. 2. While engaged in conversation with my host and hostess, the maid placed upon the table a steaming leg of lamb. 3. A small quantity of gold is thoroughly mixed with a few drops of turpentine, using the spatula to work it smooth. 4. After being in the oven twenty minutes, open the door. When fully baked, you are ready to put the sauce on the pudding. 5. Entering the store, a soda fountain is observed. Passing down the aisle, a candy counter comes into view. The rear of the store is bright and pleasant, caused by a sky- light. COHERENCE The verb cohere means to stick or hold firmly to- gether. And the noun coherence as applied to writing means a close and natural sequence of parts. Order is essential to clearness. General Incoherence 24. Every part of a sentence must have a clear and natural connection with the adjoining part. Like or related parts should normally be placed together. Bring related ideas together: Little Helen stood beside the horse wearing white stockings and slippers. Right: Little Helen, in white stockings and slippers, stood beside the horse. Keep unlike ideas apart: The colors of purple and green are pleasing to the eye as found in the thistle. Right : The purple and green colors of the thistle are pleasing. 40 25 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE Distribute unrelated modifiers, instead of bunching them : I four.d a heap of snow on my bed in the morn- ing which had drifted in through the window. [Sub- ject verb — object — place — time — explanation.] Right: In the morning I found on my bed a heap of snow which had drifted in through the window. ['Time — subject verb — place — object — explanation.] Bring related modifiers together: When he has prepared his lessons, he* will come, as soon as he can put on his old clothes. [Condition — main clause — condition.] Right: When he fcas i)reparcd his lessons and put on his old clothes, he will come. [Condition and condition — main clause.] Exercise : 1. He was gazing at the landscape which he had painted with , a smiling face. 2. She turned the steak with a fork which she was cooking for dinner every few minutes. 3. Dickens puts the various experiences he had in the form of a novel when he was a boy. 4. H the roads are made of dirt, the farmer has to wait, if the weather is rainy, till they dry. 5. We received practically very little or none at all experience in writing themes. Logical Sequence 25. Place first in the sentence the idea which naturally comes first in thought or in the order of time. Faulty: We went to the station from the house after bidding all goodby. Right : We said goodby to all, and went from the house to the station. Do not begin one idea, abandon it for a second, and then return to the first. Complete one idea at a time. 41 26 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE Faulty: She looked up as he approached and smoothed her hair. [The writer begins a main clause, changes to a subordi- nate clause, and then attempts to add more to the main clause. Unfortunately the last two verbs appear to be coordinate.] Right : She looked up and smoothed her hair as he approached. [Or] As he approached she looked up, and smoothed her hair. Ordinarily, let a second thought begin where the first leaves off. Faulty: An orange grove requires plenty of water. The young trees will die if they do not have plenty of water. [The order of ideas is: "Grove . . . water. Trees . . . water." Re- verse the order of the second sentence.] Right: An orange grove requires plenty of water. For without water the young trees will die. [Now the order of ideas is: " Grove . . . water. Water . . . trees."] Exercise : 1. I boarded the train, after buying a ticket. 2. I dropped my pen when the whistle blew and sighed. 3. Unless the bank clerk has ability he will never be successful unless he works faithfully and hard. 4. I remember the days when Rover was a pup. Now he is not half so interesting as he was then. 5. A chessboard is divided into sixty-four squares, and there is plenty of room between the opposing armies for a terrific battle, since each army occupies only sixteen squares. Squinting Modifier 26. Avoid the squinting construction. That is, do not place between two parts of a sentence a modifier that may attach itself to either. Place the modifier where it cannot be misunderstood. Confusing: I told him when the time came I would do it. [When the time came is said to "squint" because the reader 42 27 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE cannot tell whether it looks forward to the end of the sen- tence, or backward to the beginning.] Right: When the time came, I told him I would do it. [Or] I told him I would do it when the time came. Confusing: Some friends 1 knew would enjoy the play. [/ knew squints.] Right: Some friends would enjoy the play, I knew. Confusing: The orator whom every one was calling for en- thusiasticaHy hurried to the platform. [Enthusiastically squints] Clear: The orator, whom every one was enthusiastically calling lor hurried to the platform. Exercise : 1. The man who laughs half the time does not understand the joke. 2. Playing football in many ways improves the mind. 3. When she reached home much to her disgust the door was locked. 4. When the lightning struck for the first time in my life I was afraid. 5. The landlord wrote that he would if the rent were not paid in thirty days eject the tenant. Misplaced Word 27. Such an adverb as only, ever, almost, should be placed near the word it modifies, and separated from words which it might falsely seem to modify. Such a con- junction as nevertheless, if required with a clause, should usually be placed near the beginning. Illogical : I only need a few dollars. Right: I need only a few dollars. Illogical : I don't ever intend to go there again. Right: I don't intend ever to go there again. [Or] I intend never to go there again. 43 28 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE Illogical: She has the sweetest voice I nearly ever heard. Right: She has nearly [or al>iiost\ the sweetest voice 1 ever htard. Tardy use of conjunction: 1 intend to try. I do not expect to accomplish mucli, however. Right: 1 intend to try. 1 do not, however, expect to accom- plish much. Exercise : 1. Students are only admitted to one lecture. 2. This is the smallest book 1 almost ever saw. 3. He is so poor he hasn't any food, scarcely. 4. She had one dress that she never expected to wear. 5. The difficulties were tremendous. He said that he would do his best, nevertheless. Split Construction 28. Elements that have a close grammatical connection should not be separated awkwardly or carelessly. These elements are : (a) subject and verb, or verb and object ; (b) the parts of a compound verb ; and (c) the parts of an infinitive. Awkward : One in the struggle for efficiency should not be- come a machine. Better : In the struggle for efficiency one should not become a machine. Awkward : What use of an education could a girl who married a penniless rogue and afterwards knew nothing but hard labor, make? Belter : What use of an education could a girl make who mar- ried a penniless rogue and afterward knew nothing but hard labor? Crude : He was unable to even so much as stir a foot. Better: He was unable even to stir a foot. 44 CLEARNESS BY COHERENCE Note. — It is often desirable to separate the forms enumer- ated under (a) and [h) above, either for emphasis (See 40) or to avoid a bunching of modifiers at the end of a sentence (See 24). The whole point of rule 28 is not to depart from a natural order needlessly. Exercise : 1. One thing the beginner must remember is to not get excited. 2. Ralph, when he heard the news, came flying out of the house. 3. The president called together, for the need was urgent, his cabinet. 4. Bryce said that it is more patriotic to judiciously vote than to frantically wave the American flag. 5. About the time Florence Nightingale had to give up her plans, a war between Turkey, England, and France on one side and Russia on the other, broke out. 29. EXERCISE IN CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT A. Reference of Pronouns In the following sentences make the reference of pro- nouns exact and unmistakable. 1. Brown wrote to Roberts that he had made a mistake. 2. We heard a voice through the door which told us to enter. 3. There is a walk leading from the street to the house which is made of thin slabs of stone. 4. A milking stool was beside the cow on which he was accus- tomed to sit. 5. Should a community, such as a small village, spend the money they do on roads? 6. This magazine prints many special articles on politics and social reforms that are always instructive. 7. I wish I could do something for the protection of birds in our country which is neglected. 45 29 CLEARNESS 01' THOUGHT 8. After a man lias failed in one business, it is no sign he will fail in every other. 9. Sometimes cane syriip is mixed with the maple syrup, which reduces the value of the product. 10. It means hard and diligent work to study Latin, but it strength- ens our brain or at least it gives it good e.xcrcise. 11. In the class room the students become acquainted, which may develop into lifelong friendships. 12. He was delighted with a ride on horseback, which animal he had been familiar with in his childhood on the farm. 13. It says in our history that the battle of New Orleans was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed. 14. Sparks flew about in the air, and it reminded me of a huge Fourth of July celebration. 15. The doctor gave me medicine to stop the dull pain in my head. This made me feel much better. B. Dangling Modifiers Remembering that a participle is used as an adjec- tive and must therefore refer to a noun or pronoun, correct the following sentences. Gerund phrases and a few elliptical sentences are included in the list. 1. Having planned the basement, the next thing considered was the first floor. 2. Glancing around the room, the ugly wall paper at once con- fronted me. 3. After ringing the bell, and waiting a few moments, a maid came to the door. 4. When selecting a site for an orchard, it should be well drained. 5. Not being a skilled dancer, my feet moved awkwardly. 6. Having no watch, the clock must be consulted. 7. He was sick, caused by eating too much dessert. 8. Radium is very difficult to get, making it the most valuable metal. 0. One man goes home and beats his wife, resulting in internal injuries. 46 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT 10. Over the paper and kindling a few small chunks of coal are scattered, taking care not to choke the draft. 11. In speaking of character, it does not mean to be a governor or a general. 12. This town draws trade for a radius of twenty miles, thus accounting ior the large volume of business. 13. While talking to Ralph jesterday, he spoke about his recent success in the hardware business. 14. The bus holds fifteen people, and when full, the bus man shuts the door. 15. If bright and pleasant, the rabbit will be found sitting at the entrance of his burrow. C. Coherence Secure a clear, smooth, nattiral order for the follow- ing sentences. 1. 1 have a lot for sale near the city limits. 2. Many men can only speak their native tongue. 3. I saw yesterday, crossing the street, a beautiful woman. 4. They entered the room, and sitting on the floor they saw a baby. 5. I put down my book when the clock struck and yawned. 6. She dropped the money on the sidewalk which she was carry- ing home. 7. The horse did not notice that the gate was open for several minutes. 8. It was worth the trouble. I do not wish to have the experience again, however. g. My first trip away "from home, of any distance, was made on a steamboat from St. Louis to New Orleans. 0. He gazed at a young man who was waving his hands vio- lently, called a cheer leader. 11. Any soil will grow some variety of strawberry, except sand and clay. 12. I turned triumphantly to Will, who was still gazing at the place where the muskrat sank with a beaming face. 47 29 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT 13. Only the interest, the principal being kept intact, is spent. 14. A student should see that external conditions are favorable for study, such as light, temperature, and clothing. 15. Draw a heavy line using a ruler to connect New York and San Francisco across the map. 48 PARALLEL STRUCTURE When the structure of a sentence is simple and uni- form, the important words strike the eye at once. Compare the following: Parallel : Beggars must not be choosers. Confusing: Beggars must not be the ones who choose. A reader giv^s attention partly to the structure of a sentence, and partly to the thought. The less we puzzle him with our structure, the more we shall impress him with our thought. Parallel: Seeing is believing. [Attention goes to the thought.] Confusing: Seeing is to believe. [Attention is diverted to structure.] The reader's expectation is that uniform structure shall accompany uniform ideas, and that a departure from uniformity shall indicate a change of thought. Parallel Structure for Parallel Thoughts 30. Give parallel structure to those parts of a sentence which are parallel in thought. Do not needlessly in- terchange an infinitive with a participle, a phrase with a clause, a single word with a phrase or clause, a main clause with a dependent clause, one voice or mode of the verb with another, etc. Faulty: Riding is sometimes better exercise than to walk. Right; Riding is sometimes better exercise than walking. [Or] To ride is sometimes better exercise than to walk. Faulty: He had two desires, of which the first was for money; in the second place, he wanted fame. 49 CLEARNESS BY PARALLEL STRUCTURE Right: He had two desires, of which the rirst was for money and the second for fame [Or] He had two desires; in the first place, he wanted money ; in the second, fame. Fauh\ : His rival handled cigars of better quality and having a higher selling price. Right: His rival handled cigars of better quality and higher price. Faulty: When you have mastered the operation of shifting gears, and after a little practice you will be a good driver. Right: When you have mastered the operation of shifting gears, and had a little practice, you will be a good driver. [Or] After yoii master the gears and have a little practice, you will be a good driver. Faulty : These are the duties of the president of a literary so- ciety : (a) To preside at regular meetings, (b) He calls special meetings, (c) Appointment of committees. Right: These are the duties of the president of a literary so- ciety : (a) To preside at regular meetings, (b) To call special meetings, (c) To appoint committees. Faulty : She was actively connected with the club, church, and with several organized charities. [Here parallelism is obscured by the omission from the second phrase of both the preposition and the article.] Right : She was actively connected with the club, with the church, and with several organized charities. Faulty: He was red-faced, awkward, and had a disposition to eat everything on the table. [The third element is like the others in thought, and should have similar form.] Right: He had a red face, an awkward manner, and a dispo- sition to eat everything on the table. [Or] He was red-faced, awkward, and voracious. SO CLEARNESS BY PARALLEL STRUCTURE Note. — Avoid misleading parallelism. For ideas different in kind, do not use parallel structure. Wrong: He was hot, puffing, and evidently had run very hard. [The third element is unhke the others in thought ; hence the and is misleading.] Right : He was hot and puffing ; evidently he had run very hard. Confusing:* He was admired for his knowledge of science, and for his taste for art, and for this I too honor him. [The last for gives a fals^ parallelism to unlike thoughts.] Better: He was admired for his scientific knowledge and for his artistic taste. I honor him for both these qualities. Exercise : 1. The duties of the secretary are to answer correspondence, and keeping the minutes of the meetings. 2. This process is the most difficult; it costs the most; and is most important. 3. I make it a rule to be orderly, spend no money foolishly, and keep still when 1 have nothing to say. 4. The cotton is put up in bales about five feet in length and three feet wide and four thick, and one of them weighing about five hundred pounds. 5. Considerations of economy that one should bear in mind when planning a house are; first, a rectangular ground- plan ; second, a one-chinmey plan ; third, to have only one stairway; fourth, eliminate as many doors as possible; fifth, the bathroom should be above the kitchen so as to reduce the cost of plumbing; and lastly, the rooms should be few and large rather than small and many of them. Correlatives Conjunctions that are used in pairs are called correla- tives; for example, not only . . . but also . . , both . . . and . . , either . . or . . , neither . . . nor . . , not . . ' or , . , whether . . . or . . . 51 31 CLEARNESS BY PARALLEL STRUCTURE 31. Correlatives should usually be followed by elements parallel in form ; if a predicate follows one, a predicate should follow the other; if a prepositional phrase fol- lows one, a prepositional phrase should follow the other; and so on. Faulty : He was not only courteous to rich customers but also to poor ones. [Here the phrases intended to be balanced against each other are to rich customers and to poor ones. As the sentence stands, it is the word courteous that is bal- anced against to poor ones.] Right: He was courteous not only to rich customers but also to poor ones. Faulty : She could neither make up her mind to go nor could she decide to stay. Right : She could neither make up her mind to go nor decide to stay. [Or] She could not make up her mind either to go or to stay. Faulty: I talked both with Brown and Miller. [Here one conjunction is followed by a preposition and the other by a noun.] Right: I talked with both Brown and Miller. [Or] I talked both with Brown and with Miller. Exercise: 1. He was courteous to both friends and his enemies. 2. Such conduct is not only dangerous to society but becomes a national disgrace as well. 3. She had neither affectation of manners nor was she sharp- tongued. 4. After reading Thoreau's Waldcn I appreciate not only the style but also I am inclined to believe in his ideas. 5. The good that the delegates derive from the convention not only helps them, but they tell others what happened. 52 CLEARNESS BY CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY Shift in Subject or Voice 32. Do not needlessly shift the subject, voice, or mode in the middle of a sentence. Keep one point of view, un- til there is a reason for changing. Faulty; Iirthe stream which the road led over, fish were plen- tiful. [Here the first mental picture is of a stream. Then the thought is >erked awa}- to the road above. Then it re- turns to the fish in the stream.] Right; In the stream which flowed under the roadway, fish were plentiful. Faulty : Mark Twain was born in the West, but the East was his home in later years. [The change of subject is uncalled for.] Right ; ]Mark Twain was born in the West, but lived in the East in his later years. [Or] The West was the birthplace of Mark Twain, and the East was his home m his later years. Faulty : A careful driver can go fifteen miles on a gallon of gasoline, and at the same time very little lubricating oil is used. [The shift Irom active to passive voice is awkward and confusing.] Right: A careful driver can go fifteen miles on a gallon of gasoline, and at the same time use very little lubricating oil. Faulty: When a problem in chemistry is given, or when we wish to calculate certain formulas, we find that a knowledge of mathematics is indispensable. Right : When a problem in chemistry is given, or when certain formulas are to be calculated, a knowledge of mathematics is indispensable. [Or] When we face a problem in chemistry, or wish to calculate certain formulas, we find that a knowledge of mathematics is indispensable. Faulty : Next the ground should be harrowed. Then you sow the wheat. [The subject changes from ground to you. One verb explains what should be done, the other what somebody does.] S3 CLEARNESS BY CONSISTENCY Right : Next the ground / , 1 1 v 1- harrowed. Then it J , J , V i- sown to wheat. [Or] Next you should harrow the ground. Then you should sow the wheat. Exercise : 1. One end of a camera carries the fdm, and the lens and shut- ter are in the other end. 2. When an athlete is in training, good healthful food should be eaten. 3. An engineer's time is not devoted to one branch of science, but should include many. 4. By having only five men in charge of our city government, they would have more power, and we could then fix re- sponsibility. 5. There are two main classes of cake, sponge and butter. We are taught to make both in cooking school. I like the sponge cake. The butter cake is preferred by most persons. Shift in Number, Person, or Tense 33. Avoid an inconsistent change in number, person, or tense. Faulty change in number : One should save their money. Right: People should save their money. [Or] A man should save his money. Faulty change in person : Place the seeds in water, and in a few days a person can see that they have started to grow. Right : Place the seeds in water, and in a few days you will see that they have started to grow. Faulty change in number: Take your umbrella with you. They will be needed today. Right : Take your umbrella with you. You will need it today. Faulty change in tense : Freedom means that a man may con- duct his afi'airs as he pleases so long as he did not injure any- body else. 54 34 CLEARNESS BY CONSISTENCY Right: Freedom means that a man may conduct his affairs as he pleases so long as he does not injure anybody else. Faulty change in tense : When he heard the news, he hurries down town and buys a paper. Right: When he heard the news, he hurried down town and bought a paper. Note. — A change of tense within a sentence is desirable and necessary in certain instances, for which see 55. Sometimes, fof the sake of vividness, past events are described in the present tense, as if they were taking place before our eyes. This usage is called the his- torical present. A shift to the historical present should not be made abruptly, or frequently, or for any sub- ject except an important crisis. Exercise ; 1. A person should be careful of their conduct. 2. Sentences should be so formed that the reader feels it to be a unit. 3. One should make the best of their surroundings and their possessions, provided they cannot better them. 4. When he sees me coming, he looked the other way. 5. Silas Marner lost many of his habits of solitude, and goes out among his neighbors. Mixed Constructions Do not make a compromise between two constructions. Faulty: I cannot help but go. Right: I cannot help going. [Or] I cannot but go. [Or] I can hut go. Faulty : They are as following : Right: They are as follows: [Or] They are the following: Faulty : He tried, but of no avail. 55 35 CLEARNESS BY CONSISTENCY Right: He tried, but to no avail. [Or] He tried, but his effort was of no avail. Faulty : There is no honor to be on this committee. Right: It is no honor to be on this committee. [Or] There is no honor ni being on this conimitlee. Faulty: Sparks from the chimney caught the house on fire. Right: Sparks from the chimney set the house on fire. [Or] The house caught fire from the sparks from the chimney. Note. — The double negative and I^indred expressions (not hardly, not scarcely, etc.) are an especially gross form of mixed construction. Wrong: He isn't no better now than he was then. [Logically, not no belter means better. The two negatives cancel each other and leave an affirmative.] Right: He isn't any better now than he was then. [Or] He is no better now than he was then. AVrong: She couldn't see her friend nowhere. Right: She couldn't see her friend anywhere. [Or] She could see her friend nowhere. Wrong: We couldn't hardly see through the mist. Right: We could hardly see through the mist. [Or] We couldn't see well through the mist. Exercise : 1. He doesn't come here no more. 2. I cannot help but make this error. 3. I remember scarcely nothing of the occurrence. 4. I would not remain there only a few days. 5. John would not do this under no circumstances. Mixed Imagery 35. Avoid phrases which may call up conflicting mental images. When using metaphor, simile, etc., carry one figure of speech through, instead of shifting to an- other, or dropping suddenly back into literal speech. 56 35 CLEARNESS BY CONSISTENCY Crude : The Republicans have gained a foothold in the heart of the cotton belt. Right : The Republicans have gained a foothold in the South. Crude : He traveled a rough road and climbed with his burden the ladder of success, where he is a glowing example and guide to other men. [The suggestion which a reader with a sense of humor may get is, that a man starts out as a traveler, suddenly becomes a*hod-carrier, and is then transformed into a bonfire or a lighthouse.] Right : He traveled a rough road, but found success. Other men followed in his steps. Incongruous : Spring came scattering flowers, and there was rain a great per cent of the time. [This sentence mingles the language of poetry with the language of science. It should be fanciful, or else literal, throughout.] Right: Spring came scattering flowers and rain. [Or] Spring came with much rain and many flowers. Inconsistent use of irony : The phonograph was shrieking, " Waltz me around again, Willie." I am sure I love that beau- tiful song. The taste of the people who attend these cheap theaters is deplorable. [The three sentences should be ironical throughout, or not ironical at all.] Exercise : 1. We should meet the future from the optimistic point of view. 2. General Wolfe put every ounce of his life into the capture of Quebec. 3. A key-note of sincerity should be the mainspring of a well- built speeech. 4. He went drifting down the sands of time on flowery beds of ease. 5. The blank in my mind crystallized into action. S7 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES USE OF CONNECTIVES The Exact Connective 36. Use a connective which expresses the exact relation be- tween two clauses. Distinguish between time and cause, concession and condition, etc. Do not over- work and, so, or while. Misleading: While he is sick, he is able to walk. [Use though.] Misleading: Miss Brown sang, ivhile her sister spoke a piece. [Use but.] Faulty : Work hard n'hcii you want to succeed. [Use if.] Faulty: They will be sorry tvithout they do this. [Use unless.] Faulty: Little poetry is read, only at times when it is compul- sory. [Use except.] Faulty: The early morning and evening are the best times to find ducks, and we did not see many flying. [Use and for that reason.] Faulty : Corbin says : " In America sportsmanship is almost a passion," and in England " the player very seldom forgets that he is a man first and an athlete afterward." [Use whei'eas.] Note. — So is an elastic word that covers a multitude of vague meanings. Language has need of such a word, and in many instances (especially when the relation be- tween clauses is obvious and does not need to be pointed out) so serves well enough. Use it, but not as a substitute for more exact connectives. Beware of falling into the '' .yo-habit ". Abuse of so as a vague coordinating connective : So T went to call on Mrs. Woods, and so she told me about Mrs. White's new gown ; so then I missed the car, and so of course our sup- per is late. [Strike out every so.] Abuse of so as a subordinating connective: You may go, so 58 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES you keep still. [Use provided.] So you do only that, I shall be satisfied. [Use though.] Right : I was excited, so 1 missed the target. The most correct use of so is to express result. But when a clause of result is important and needs empha- sis, it is perhaps better to strike out so and subordinate the preceding clause. Right Right Right In my excitement I missed the target. Because Twas excited, I missed the target. Being excited, I missed the target. List of Connectives A. With Coordinate Clauses, expressing 1. Addition: and, besides, furthermore, again, in addition, in like manner, likewise, moreover, then too, and finally. 2. Contrast: but, and yet, however, in spite of, in contrast to this, nevertheless, notwithstanding, nor, on the contrary, for all that, rather, still, but unhappily, yet unfortunately, whereas. 3. Alternative: or, nor, else, otherwise, neither, nor, or on the other hand. 4. Consequence: therefore, hence, consequently, accordingly, in this way, it follows that, the consequence is, and under such circumstances, wherefore, thus, as a result, as a con- sequence. 5. Explanation: for example, for instance, in particular, more specifically, for, because. 6. Repetition for emphasis : in other words, that is to say, and assuredly, certainly, in fact, and in truth, indeed it is cer- tain, undoubtedly, for example, in the same way, as I have said. 59 36 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES B. With Subordinate Adverb Clauses, expressing 1. Time: when, then, before, while, after, until at last, as long as, now that, upon which, until, whenever, whereupon, meanwhile. 2. Place: where, whence, whither, wherever. 3. Degree or Comparison: as, more than, rather than, than, to the degree in which. 4. Manner: as, as if, as though. 5. Cause: because, for, as, inasmuch as, since, owing to the fact that, seeing that, in that. 6. Purpose: that, so that, in order that, lest. 7. Result: that is, so that, but that. 8. Condition: if, provided that, in case that, on condition that, supposing that, unless. 9. Concession: though, although, assuming that, admitting that, granting that, even if, no matter how, notwithstanding, of course. C. With Adjective Clauses. Adjective or relative clauses are introduced by who, which, that, or an equivalent compound. Exercise: Insert within the parentheses all the connectives that might conceivably be used, placing first the one which you consider to be most exact : 1. He is not a broad-minded man; ( ) he has many preju- dices. 2. A number of friends came in, bringing refreshments, ( ) we spent a delightful evening. 3. We ought to return now, for it is growing dark; ( ) I told Mary we would be home at six o'clock. 4. I do not believe that climate is responsible for many of the differences between races, ( ) Taine says that it is. 5. She took the letter from me and read it slowly, ( ) her eyes filled with tears. 60 37 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES Repetition of Connective with a Gain in Clearness 37. Connectives that accompany a parallel series should be repeated when clearness requires. Preposition to be repeated : He was regarded as a hero by all who had known him at school, ai;d especially his old school mates. Right : He was regarded as a hero by all who had known him at school, and especially by his old school mates. Sign of the infinitive to be repeated: He wishes to join with those who love freedom and justice, and end needless suffer- ing. Right: He wishes to join with those who love freedom and justice, and to end needless suffering. Conjunction to be repeated: Since he was known to have suc- ceeded in earlier enterprises, though confronted by difficulties that would have taxed the ability of older men, and his powers were now acknowledged to be mature, he was put in charge of the undertaking. Right : Since he was known to have succeeded in earlier en- terprises, though confronted by difficulties that would have taxed the ability of older men, and since his powers were now acknowledged to be mature, he was put in charge of the un- dertaking. Conjunction to be repeated: He explained that the strikers asked only a fair hearing, since their contentions were mis- understood ; were by no means in favor of the violent measures to which the public had grown accustomed ; and had no desire to resort to bloodshed and the destruction of property. Right : He explained that the strikers asked only a fair hearing, since their contentions were misunderstood ; that they were by no means in favor of the violent measures to which the public had grown accustomed ; and that they had no desire to resort to bloodshed and the destruction of property. 6i 38 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES Exercise : 1. The place is often visited by lishermen who catch some strange varieties of lish and especially summer tourists. 2. The worth of a man depends upon his character, not his pos- sessions. 3. He was delighted with that part of the city which overlooked the harbor and bay, and especially the citadel on the high- est point. 4. Although he was so youthful in appearance that the recruit- ing officer must have known he was under twenty-one, and had not yet become a fully naturalized citizen, his effort to enlist met with immediate success. 5. In the course of his speech he said that he was a foreigner, he came to this country when he was fourteen years old, landing in New York with his only possessions tied in a handkerchief, went to work in an iron foundry, and after many years of toil he found himself at the head of a great industry. Repetition of Connective with a Loss in Clearness 38. Do not complicate thought by persistent repetition of elements beginning with that, which, of, for, or but, and NOT parallel in structure. Complicated repetition of that: He gave a quarter to the boy that brought the paper that printed the news that the war was ended. [That, ivhich. and ivho are often used carelessly to form a chain of subordinate clauses. Three successive sub- ordinations are all that a reader can possibly keep straight; ordinarily a writer should not exceed two. But in parallel structure (See 30 and 37) the number of that, zchich, or ivho clauses does not matter; a writer may fill a page with them and not confuse the reader at all.] Right : He gave the boy a quarter for bringing him the paper with the news that the war was ended. 62 CLEARNESS BY CONNECTIVES Complicated repetition of of : The East Side Civics Club is an organization of helpers of the helpless of the lower classes of the city. Right: The East Side Civics Club is organized to help the helpless poor of the city. Complicated repetition of for: The general was dismayed, for he had not expected resistance, for he had thought the power . of the enemy was shattered. Right : The general was dismayed ; he had not expected resist- ance, for he had thought the power of the enemy was shat- tered. * Complicated repetition of but: He was undoubtedly a brave man, but now he was somewhat alarmed, but he would not turn back. Right: He was undoubtedly a brave man; though now some- what alarmed, he would not turn back. [Or] He was un- doubtedly a brave man. He was now somewhat alarmed, but he would not turn back. Note. — Guard against the &H^habit. Frequent recur- rence of hut makes the reader's thought " tack " or change its course too often. There are ways to avoid an excessive use of but and however. When one wishes to write about two things, A and B, which are opposed, he need not rush back and forth from one idea to the other. Let him first say all he wants to say about A. Then let him deliberately use the adversative but, and proceed to the discussion of B. In the fol- lowing paragraph on " Whipping Children " the writer tries to be on both sides of the fence at once. Confusing: It is easier to punish a child for a misdeed, than to explain and argue. But the gentler method is better. Yet we all admit that the birch must be used sometimes. Hoivever, if it is used only for serious transgressions, the child will have a sense of proportion regarding what offenses are grave. But 63 38 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT for ordinary small misdemeanors I think we need a new motto : Spoil the rod and spare the child. Right ; It IS easier to punish a child for a misdeed than to ex- plain and argue. And of course we all admit that the birch must be used sometimes. But if it is used only for serious transgressions, the child will have a sense of proportion re- garding what offenses are grave. For ordinary small misde- meanors I think we need a new motto : Spoil the rod and spare the child. Exercise : 1. He did not agree at first, but hesitated for a time, but finally said that he would go along. 2. Push down on the foot le\er. which closes a switch which starts an electric motor which turns the flywheel so that the gasoline engine starts. 3. Apple dumplings are good, but they must be properly baked, but fortunately this is not difficult to do. 4. The work of the course consists partly of the study of the principles of grammar and of rhetoric, partly of the writing of themes, partly of oral composition, and partly of the reading and study of models of English prose. 5. The landscape which lay before me was one which was differ- ent from any which T had ever seen before. There was one thing which impressed me, and that was the miles and miles of grass which stretched and undulated away from the hill on which I stood. 39. EXERCISE IN CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT A. Parallel Structure Give parallel structure to elements which are parallel in thought. 1. Baskets are of practical value as well as being used for orna- ments. 2. The Book of Job ought to be interesting to a student, or for anybody. 64 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT 3. The important considerations are whether the soil is sandy, and if it is well drained, and that it shall be easily cultivated. 4. A rtower garden is a source of profit — profit not measured in money but in pleasure. 5. He was successful in business, and also attained success in the political world. 6. Whether his object was writing for pastime, or to please a friend, or money, we do not know. 7. Always praise your enemj', because if you whip him your glory is increased, and if he whips you it lets you down easy. 8. Either the ship»will sink in the rough sea or gu to pieces on the shore. 9. An athlete must possess strength, nerve, and be able to think quickly. 10. We were interested in buying some dry-goods, and at the same time see the sights of the great city. 11. Some people talk foolishness, and others on serious subjects, and some keep still. 12. Not only she noticed my condition, but commented on it. 13. He abides by neither the laws of God nor man. He spoke both to Harry and Tom. 14. It is good for the health of one's mind to get new ideas every day, and expressing them clearly in writing. 15. Everyone who is capable of understanding the tax laws should know them and how they are abused. 16. I began by making applications at federal, state, and city em- ployment bureaus for a position as cost accountant, sales- man, or clerical work. 17. The damage to the trunk was caused by rough handling and not from faults in construction. 18. Pope, Swift, Addison, and Defoe were four satirists, but differing greatly in their work. ig. The occupants of these buildings are engaged in various kinds of business, namely: shoe-shining, shoe repair shops, clean- ing and pressing clothes, confectionery stores, and restau- rants. 20. I sing of geese : of the Biblical goose, that blew his bugle from the roof of Ncah's Ark; the classical goose that picked his 6s 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT livelihood along the shores of the ^gean ; of the historical goose, that squawked to save old Rome; the mercenary goose, laying. the golden egg; and, finally, of the roast goose. B. Shift in Subject or Voice Rewrite the following sentences, avoiding all un- necessary shift in construction. 1. After you decide on the plan of the house, your attention is turned to the materials of construction. 2. Editors are careful to use words that are exact, yet simple, and the use of technical terms is not generally considered to be good. 3. Bank accounts should be balanced once a month in order that you may know your exact standing. 4. We should have our athletic contests between the weakest students, and in that way they will become physically strong. 5. When one is making a long-distance run, several cautions should be borne in mind by him. 6. In melody the poem is good, but the author's ideas are eccen- tric. 7. Lincoln's sentences are plain, blunt, and to the point. He lacks the ornate eloquence of Jefferson. 8. The operator places a large shovelful of concrete in the mold, and the mixture is made solid by tamping. 9. He might become angry, but it was over in a few minutes. 10. The pauper chanced to gain entrance to the royal palace, and while there the young prince is met by him. 11. When the weather is hot, plowing is accomplished very slowly with horses, while on the tractor the heat has no effect. 12. First, one should mix one-half cup of corn syrup and one cup of brown sugar ; then one cup of cream and the flavoring are added. 13. In the college situated in a small town there are dormitories for the student, but in the cities they usually room where they please. 14. An education should enable us to tell the valuable from the 66 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT cheap book, and by it we should be able to tell the true from the counterfeit man. 15. Moisten the sand thoroughly and set the box in a warm place, and in about a week's time it can readdy be seen by the way the grains have sprouted which ears of seed corn have greatest vitality. . C. Shift in Number, Person, or Tense Rewrite the following sentences, removing all incon- sistency in grammatical form. 1. Every one has a right to their own opinion. 2. Bryant rushed to the window and shouts at the postman. 3. The life of the honey bee has been studied, and their activities found to be remarkable. 4. He says to me, "Are you ready?" And I answered, "No." 5. When a person keeps a store, you should remember the names and faces of your customers. 6. An automobile is expensive, and they are liable to become an elephant on your hands. 7. If one studies the market, he would find that prices rise every year. 8. If one went to Europe, he will find everything different. 9. Since these tires were different in construction, the method of repairing will var}'. 10. Contentment is a state of mind in which one is satisfied with themselves and their surroundings. 11. It is easy to catch 'possums if you can find the rascal. 12. The writer of a theme should not waste time on a long intro- duction, but get to the facts of your subject as quickly as possible. 13. Shakespeare's comedies are great fun. I prefer it to tragedy. 14. Often a man will knock at the door, and finds no one at home. 15. Too much attention will spoil a child. They should not be entertained every minute. 67 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT D. The Exact Connective Each of the following sentences contains an idea which is, or may be, subordinate to another idea, (i) Decide what kind of subordinate relation should exist between the ideas. (2) Determine what connective best expresses this relation. (ConsuU 36 for a list of connectives.) (3) Write the sentence as it should be. 1. Wealth is a good thing, while honest wealth is better. 2. Spend an hour in the open air every day when you want to keep your heaUh. 3. The rattlesnake gives warning and it is only afterward that he strikes. 4. South Americans are our national neighbors, and we as a na- tion should understand them. 5. The city man knows nothing about a cow, only that it has horns. 6. He got up early in order that he might be able to see the sunrise. 7. The tenderfoot saw the funnel-shaped cloud when he made for a cyclone cellar. 8. Men fear what they do not understand, and a coward is one who is ignorant. g. Hinting did not influence her; then he tried scolding. 10. The valet spilled the wine, and the duke started up with an oath. 11. While he writhed on the ground, he was not really hurt. 12. He will not cash the check without you endorse it. 13. We want this work done by the first of April, so please send an estimate soon. 14. He had traveled everywhere, and he had a vivid recollection of only three scenes: Niagara Falls, the Jungfrau, and Lake Como. 15. I never hear him talk but he makes me angry. 16. Animals have some of the same feelings as human beings have, 68 1 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT 17. It was four o'clock and we decided to return and be home for supper. E. Repetition of Connectives In the following sentences determine whether repe- tition is desirable or undesirable, and change the sen- tences accordingly. 1. With the comin^of meal time, the potatoes are removed from the fire with a fork with a long handle. 2. His clothes were brushed and neat, but patched and re- patched. But still he could be bright and cheery. 3. To no other magazine do I look forward to the arrival of its new issue, more than I do to the IVorld's Jl'ork. 4. At the time the book was written, I believe Forster was con- sidered to be almost the best biographer living at that time. 5. The freshman has no spirit until the sophomores have pro- voked him until he resists until he finds that he has spirit. 6. Some socialists are against the present system of initiative, referendum, and recall, but advocate a system much like it but applied in a different way. 7. The gun with which the Germans bombarded Paris with had a range of seventy-five miles. 8. Basketball is a game that I have played for years, and I am greatly interested in. 9. This is the lever which throws the switch which directs the train that takes the track that goes to Boston. 10. Short talks were made by the captain, the coach, and by the faculty, ir. At this school one can study to be a doctor, dentist, farmer, a lawyer, or an engineer. 12. I like to cross the harbor on the ferry, to dodge in and out among the ships, see the gulls dart among the waves, smell the sharp tang of salty air, and to feel the rocking motion of the boat. 13. In the sultry autumn, and when the winter's storms came, and 09 39 CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT when in spring the winds whistled, and in the summer's heat, he always wore the same old coat. 14. He knew that if he did not ignite the piece of wet bark this time, that he could not dry his clothing or broil the bacon. 15. The next speaker said that the need was critical, the schools must be enlarged, and that the paving now begun must be completed, and a new board of health should be created, that the interest on past debts had to be paid, and the city treasury was at this moment out of funds. 70 40 EMPHASIS Emphasis by Position 40. Reserve the emphatic positions in a sentence for im- pcrtant words or ideas. (The emphatic positions are the beginning and the end — especially the end.) Weak ending: Then like a flash a vivid memory of my uncle's death came to me. Weak : 1 demand the release of the prisoners, in the first place. Weak: This principle is one we cannot afford to accept, if my nnderstanding of the question is correct. place the important idea at the end. Secure, if possible, an emphatic beginning. " Tuck in " unimportant modi- fiers. Emphatic : Like a flash came to me a vivid memory of my uncle's death. Emphatic : I demand, in the first place, the release of the pris- oners. Emphatic : This principle, if my understanding of the question is correct, is one we cannot afford to accept. Elxercise : 1. " War is inevitable," he said. 2. 1 he cat had been poisoned to all appearances. 3. There are several methods of learning to swim, as every- one knows. 4. A liar is as bad as a thief, in my estimation. 5. He saw a fight below him in the street, happening to look out of the window. yi 41 EMPHASIS BY SEPARATION Emphasis by Separation 41. An idea which needs much emphasis may be detached, and allowed to stand in a sentence by itself. Faulty : The flames were by this time beyond control, and the walls collapsed, and several Firemen were hurt. [The ideas here are too important to be run together in one sentence.] Right : By this time the flames were beyond control, and the walls collapsed. Several firemen were hurt. A quotation gains emphasis when it is separated from what follows. Faulty : " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley," are some lines from Burns which McDonald was always quot- ing. Right: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley." McDonald was always quoting these lines from Burns. Direct discourse is more emphatic when it is separated from explanatory phrases, particularly from those which follow. Faulty : IMosher leaped to the stage and shouted defiantly, " I will never consent to that ! " and he looked as if he meant what he said. Right : Mosher leaped to the stage and shouted his defiance. " I will never agree to that ! " And he looked as if he meant what he said. Exercise : 1. After the tents are pitched, the beds made, and the fires started, the first meal is cookea and served, and this meal is the beginning of camp-life joy. 2. He tried to make his wife vote for his own, the Citizen's Party, but she firmly refused. 72 42 EMPHASIS BY SUBORDINATION 3. At the word of command the dog rushed forward ; the covey rose with a mighty whir, and the hunter fired both barrels, and the dog looked m vain for a dead bird, and then re- turned disconsolate. 4. I sat and gazed at the motto, " Aim high, and believe your- self capable of great things," which my mother had placed there for me. 5, . "A 9ook; of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Thou Beside me singmg in the Wilderness " were the fouf things Omar Khayyam wanted to make him happy. Emphasis by Subordination 42. Do not place the important idea of a sentence in a sub- ordinate clause or phrase. Make the important idea grammatically independent. If possible, subordinate the rest of the sentence to it. Faulty ; He had a manner which made me angry. Faulty: The fire spread to the third story, when the house was doomed. Faulty: For years the Indians molested the white people, thereby causing the settlers to want revenge. The important idea shotild not be placed in a zvJiich clause, or a zuhen clause, or a participial phrase. Right: His manner made me angry. Right: When the fire spread to the third story, the house was doomed. Right: Years of molestation by the Indians made the white men want revenge. Exercise : I. I was riding on the train, when suddenly there was an acci- dent. 73 43 EMPHASIS BY PERIODIC STRUCTURE 2. There are two windows in each bedroom, thus insuring good ventilation. 3. Yonder is the house which is my home. 4. He saw that argument was useless, so he let her talk. 5. His clothes were very old, making him look like a tramp. The Periodic Sentence A sentence is periodic when the completion of the main thought is delayed until the end. This delay creates a feeling of suspense. A periodic sentence is doubly emphatic : it has emphasis by position because the important idea comes at the end ; it has emphasis by subordination because all ideas except the last one are grammatically dependent. 43. To give emphasis to a loosely constructed sentence, turn it into periodic form. Loose : I saw two men fight a duel, many years ago, on a moonlit summer night, in a little village in northern France. [What is most important, the time? the place? or the actual duel? Place the important idea last.] Periodic: Many years ago, on a moonlit summer night, in a little village in northern France, I saw two men fight a duel. Loose : We left Yellowstone Gateway for the ride of our lives in a six-horse tally-ho. [Place the important idea last, and make all other ideas grammatically subordinate.] Periodic : Leaving Yellowstone Gateway in a six-horse tally-ho, we had the ride of our lives. Loose : The river was swollen with incessant rain, and it swept away the dam. [Which is the important idea? Why not make it appear more important by subordinating every- thing to it?] Periodic : The river, swollen with incessant rain, swept away the dam. 74 44 EMPHASIS BY CLIMAX Loose: War means to have our pursuit of knowledge and hap- piness rudely broken off, to feel the sting of death and be- reavement, to saddle future generations with a burden of debt and national hatred. Periodic: To have our pursuit of knowledge and happiness , rudely broken off, to feel the sting of death and bereavement, to saddle future generations with a burden of debt and na- .tional hajred — this is war. Exercise : 1. I am happy when the spring comes, when the sun is warm, when the fieffls revive. 2. He cares nothing for culture, for justice, for progress. 3. As the boat gathered speed, the golden sun was setting far across the harbor. 4. He amassed a great fortune, standing there behind his dingy counter, discounting bills, pinching coins, buying cheap and selling dear. 5. The shattered aqueducts, pier beyond pier, melt into the darkness, from the plains to the mountains. Order of Climax 44. In a series of words, phrases, or clauses of noticeable difference in strength, use the order of climax. Wrong order: He was insolent and lazy. Weak ending: Literature has expanded into a sea, where be- fore it was only a small stream. Weak ending : As we listened to his story we felt the sordid misery and the peril and fear of war. Emphatic : He was lazy and insolent. Emphatic : The stream of literature has swollen into a tor- rent, expanded into a sea. Emphatic : As we listened to his story we felt the fear, the peril, the sordid misery of war. Exercise. I. We boarded the train, after having bought our tickets and checked our baggage. 75 45 EMPHASIS BY BALANCED STRUCTURE 2. War brings famine, death, disease alter it. 3. They have broken up our homes, and enslaved our children, and stolen our property. 4. In the old story, the drunken man, carried into the duke's pal- ace, sees himself surrounded with luxury, and imagines himself a true prince, after waking up. 5. The becalmed mariners were famished, hungry. The Balanced Sentence 45. Two ideas similar or opposite in thought gain in emphasis when set off, one against the other, in simi- lar constructions. Weak and straggling: This paper, like many others, has many bad features, but in some ways it is very good. The news articles are far better than the editorials, which are feeble. Balanced structure : This paper is in some respects good ; in other respects very poor. The news articles are impressive; the editorials are feeble. Weak and complicated: From the East a man who lives in the West can learn a great deal, and an Easterner ought to be able to understand the West. Balanced : A Westerner can learn much from the East, and an Easterner needs to understand the West. Weak : Both Mill and Macaulay influenced the younger writers. Mill taught some of them to reason, but many more of them learned from Macaulay only a superficial eloquence. Balanced : Both Mill and Macaulay influenced the younger writ- ers. If Mill taught some of them to reason, Macaulay tempted many more of them to declaim. Note. — Although excessive use of balance is artificial, occasional use of it is powerful. It can give to writ- ing either dignity (as in an oration) or point (as in an epigram). Observe how luany proverbs are in bal- anced structure. " Seeing is believing. — Nothing ven- 76 46 EMPHASIS BY THE ACTIVE VOICE ture, nothing have. — For every grain of wit there is a grain of folly. — You cannot do wrong without suffer- ing wrong. — An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Note the effective use of balance in Emerson's Essays, particularly in Compensation; and in the Old Testa- ment, particularly in Psalms and Proverbs. « Exercise : 1. Machinery is of course labor-saving, but countless men are thrown out of work. 2. There is a difference between success in business and in acquiring culture. 3. I attend concerts for the pleasure of it, and to get an under- standing of music. 4. The stag in the fable admired his horns and blamed his feet ; but when the hunter came, his feet saved him, and after- ward, caught in the thicket, he was destroyed by his horns. 5. We do not see the stars at evening, sometimes because there are clouds intervening, but oftener because there are glim- merings of light; thus many truths escape us from the obscurity we stand in, and many more from the state of mind which induces us to sit down satisfied with our imaginations and of our knowledge unsuspicious. [This sentence is correctly balanced, except at the end.] The Weak Effect of the Passive Voice 46. Use the active voice unless there is a reason for doing otherwise. The passive voice is, as the name implies, not emphatic. Weak: Your gift is appreciated by me. Better : I appreciate your gift. Weak and vague : His step on the porch was heard. Better: His step sounded on the porch. [Or] I heard his step on the porch. 77 47 EMPHASIS BY REPETITION The passive voice is especially objectionable when by failing to indicate the agent of the verb it unnecessarily mystifies the reader. Vague : The train was seen speeding toward us. Better : We saw the tram specdnig toward us. Exercise : 1. Their minds were changed frequently as to what profession should be taken up by them. 2. A gun should be examined and oiled well before a hunter starts. 3. Finally the serenaders were recognized. 4. In athletics a man is developed physically. 5. If a man uses slang constantly, a good impression is not made. Effective Repetition 47a. The simplest and most natural way to emphasize a word or an idea is to repeat it. The Bible is the best stand- ard of simplicity and dignity in our language, and the Bible uses repetition constantly, A word or idea that is repeated must, of course, be important enough to de- serve emphasis. Fairly emphatic : He works and toils and labors, but he seems never to get anywhere. Very emphatic: Work, work, work, all he does is work, and still he seems never to get anywhere. Fairly emphatic: How did the general meet this new menace? He withdrew before it! Very emphatic: How did the general meet this new menace? He withdrew ! He retreated ! He ran away ! Homely but emphatic: "I went under," said the old salt; " bows, gunnels, and starn — all under." Deliberately too emphatic: Everywhere we hear of efficiency — efficiency experts, efficiency bureaus, efficiency methods, in 7^ 47 EMPHASIS BY REPETITION the office, in the school, in the home — until one longs to fly to some savage island beyond the reach of inhuman modern science. b. Not only words, but an entire grammatical structure may be repeated on a large scale for emphasis. Weak : We hope that this shipment will reach you in good condition, and that you will favor us with other orders in the future, which will be given prompt and courteous attention. [This sentence is flimsy and spineless because the writer had a timid reluctance to repeat.] Strong : We hope that this shipment will reach you in good condition. We believe that the quality of our goods will in- duce you to send us a second order. We assure you that such an order will receive prompt and courteous attention. [Note the emphasis derived from the resolute march of the expres- sions We hope, We believe, We assure.^ Emphatic: Through the patience, the courage, the high char- acter of Alfred the country was saved — saved from the rapacities of fortune, saved from the malignancy of its ene- mies, saved from the sluggish despair of the people of Eng- land themselves. Emphatic and natural: This corner of the garden was my first playground. Here I made my first toddling eft'ort to walk. Here on the soft grass I learned the delight of out- of-doors. Here I became acquainted with the bull-frog, and the bumble-bee, and the neighbor's dog. Emphatic and delightful: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadcth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul ; he Icadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Exercise: 1. He kept digging away for gold through long years. 2. Breaking against the shore, came innumerable waves. 3. Sand, sagebrush, shimmering flat horizon. I could not en- dure the barren monotony of the desert. 79 48 EMPHASIS BY VARIETY 4. We want you to come and visit us, and bring along a good appetite and your customary high spirits. Plan to stay a long time. 5. 'Twas bitter cold outside. The cat meowed until I had to let her in. Offensive Repetition Careless repetition attracts attention to words that do not need emphasis. It is extremely annoying to the reader. 48a. Unless a word or phrase is repeated deliberately to gain force or clearness, its repetition is a blunder. Get rid of recurring expressions in one of three ways: (i) by substituting equivalent expressions, (2) by using pro- nouns more liberally, (3) by rearranging the sentence so as to say once what has awkwardly been said twice. Each of these schemes is illustrated below. 1. Repetition cured by the use of equivalent expressions ( synonyms ) . Bad: Just as we were half way down the lake, just off Mil- waukee, we began to feel a slight motion of the ship and the ivind began to freshen. The ivind began to blow more fiercely from the south and the waves began to leap high. The boat began to pitch and roll. Right: Just as we were half way down the lake, opposite Mil- waukee, we began to feel a slight motion of the ship, for the wind had freshened. Before long a gale, blowing from the south, kicked up a heavy sea and caused the boat to pitch and roll. [Notice how combining the last two sentences helps to solve the problem of the last began, besides giving firmer texture to the construction.] 2. Repetition cured by the use of pronouns. (In using 80 48 EMPHASIS BY VARIETY this method, one should take care that the reference of the pronouns is clear.) Bad: The Laiv Building, the Commerce Building, and the Sci- ence Buildiny are ciose together. The Commerce Building is south of the Law Building, and the Science Building is south of the Commerce Building The Law Building is old and dilapidated. The Commerce Building is a red brick build- ing, trimmed in terra-cotta. The Science Building resembles the Commerce Building. Right: The Law, Commerce, and Science Buildings are close together in a row. The first of these is old and dilapidated. South of it stands the Commerce Building, which, because of its red brick and terra-cotta trimmings, somewhat resembles the Science Building. 3. Repetition cured by rearranging and condensing. Bad : The autumn is my favorite of all the seasons. While autumn in the city is not such a pleasant season as autumn in the country, yet even in the city my preference will always be for the autumn. Right: My favorite season is autumn. I like it best in the country, but even in the city it is the best time of the year. b. Avoid a monotonous repetition of sentence structure. To give variety to successive sentences: (i) vary the length, (2) vary the beginnings, (3) avoid a series of similar compound sentences, (4) interchange loose with periodic structure, (5) use rhetorical question, exclamation, direct discourse, (6) avoid an excessive use of participles or adjectives. I. Vary the length of sentences. Bad : Walter came up the path carrying Betty in his arms. She was wet from head to toe. Damp curls clung to her pale face. Water dripped from her clothes. One hand hung loosely over Walter's arm. The other held a live duckling, 81 EMPHASIS BY VARIETY She had saved the Httle duck from drowning. This was Betty's tirst day in the country. Right : Walter came up the path carrying Betty in his arms — httle Betty who was spending her first day in the country. She was wet from head to toe; damp curls clung to her pale face, and water dripped from her clothes. In one hand she held a live duckling. Her face lighted with courage as she told how she jumped into the pond and saved the little duck from drowning. 2. Vary the beginnings of sentences. Do not allow too many sentences to begin with the subject, or with a time clause, or with a participle, or with so. When you have finished a composition, rapidly read over the open- ing words of each sentence, to see if there is sufficient variety. Bad [too many sentences begin directly with the subject] : Our way is circuitous. A sharp turn brings us round a rocky point. The road drops suddenly into a little valley. The roof of a house appears in a grove of trees below. A cottage is there and a flower garden. An old-fashioned well is near the door. Right : Presently, on our circuitous way, we make a sharp turn round a rocky point. Before us the road drops suddenly into a little valley. In a grove of trees below appears the roof of a house, and as we draw nearer we see a cottage surrounded by flowers. Nothing could be more attractive to a weary traveler than the old-fashioned well near the door. 3. Avoid a series of similar compound sentences, espe- cially those of two parts of equal length, joined by and or but. Bad : Ring was a sheep dog, and tended the flock with his master. One day there came a deep snow, and the flock did not return. They found the herder frozen stiff, and the dog shivering beside him. 82 48 EMPHASIS BY VARIETY Right : Ring was a sheep dog, and tended the flock with his master. One day there came a deep snow. When the flock failed to return, the men became uneasy, and began a search. They found the herder frozen stift', with the dog shivering beside him. 4. Change occasionally from loose to periodic or balanced structtire, (See 43 and 45). Monotonous : I stood at the foot of Tunbridge hill. I saw on the horizon a dense wood, which, in the evening sunlight, was veiled in purple haze [Loose]. On the left was the village, the houses appearing like specks in the distance [Loose]. Nearer on the right was the creek, winding through the wil- lows [Loose]. The creek approached nearer until it reached the dam, over which it rushed tumultuously [Loose]. Near by was a thicket of tall trees, through which I could see the white tents of my fellow campers, and their glowing camp fires [Loose]. Right: Far south from Tunbridge hill, on the dim horizon, I saw, veiled in the evening haze, a dense wood [Periodic, long, conveying the idea of distance better than a loose sentence]. On my left stood the village, the houses like specks ; on my right wound the creek, nearer and nearer through the willowis [Balanced]. The creek advanced by slow sinuous turns, until, reaching the dam, it plunged over tumultuously [Loose]. Through a thicket of tall trees, near at hand, I could see the white tents of my fellow campers, and their glowing camp fires [Periodic through the middle of the sentence; then loose]. 5. Use qtiestion, exclamation, direct quotation. Somewhat flat : lie asked me the road to Camden. I did not know. I told him to ask Thurber, who knew the country well. Better : He asked me the road to Camden. The road to Cam- den? How should I know? "Ask Tlnirbcr," I said impa- tiently; "he knows this country. I'm a stranger." 83 48 EMPHASIS BY VARIETY 6. Avoid an excessive use of participles. Do not pile ad- jectives around every noun. Above all, do not form a habit of using adjectives in pairs or triplets. Bad : Sitting by the window, 1 saw a sharp, dazzling flash of lightning, and heard a loud rumbhng crash of heavy thunder, warning me of the coming of the storm. Darting across the gray, leaden sky, the quick, jagged lightning flashed inces- santly. The tall stately poplar trees thrashed around in the boisterous wind. Then across the window, like a great white curtain, swept the streaming, blinding rain. Right: I sat by the window. Suddenly a sharp flash of light- ning and a roll of thunder gave warning of the approach of a storm. Soon lightning zig-zagged across the sky inces- santly. The wind huddled the poplar trees. Then like a white curtain across the window streamed the rain. Exercise ; 1. The parts of the tables arc not put together at the factory, but the different parts are shipped in different shipments. 2. In order to convince the reader that the present manage- ment of farms is inefficient, I shall give some examples of inefficiency in the farm management on some farms with which I am acquainted. 3. When one wishes to learn how to swim one must first be- come accustomed to the water. The best way to become accustomed to the water is to go into it frequently. After one has become accustomed to the water he may begin to learn the strokes. 4. The Life of Sir Walter Scott, written by J. G. Lockhart, is an interesting biography of this great writer. It con- sists of a short biography by Scott himself, and also con- sists of a continuation of this biography by his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart. 5. If a piece of steel is kept hot for several seconds, it will lose some of its hardness. If kept hot longer, it will lose more of its hardness. Along with losing its hardness it 84 49 EMPHASIS will lose its brittleness. If the piece of steel is heated continually it will lose nearly all its hardness and brittle- ness. In other words, it will lose its '" temper." 49. EXERCISE IN EMPHASIS A. Lack of Emphasis in General Make the following sentences emphatic. 1. The man is a tliief who fails in business but continues to live in luxury. 2. The plant was withered and dry, not having been watered for over a week. 3. Much time is saved in Chicago by taking the elevated cars, if you have a great distance to travel. 4. The clock struck eleven, when he immediately seized his hat and left. 5. These liberal terms should be taken advantage of by us. 6. The study of biology has proved very interesting, as far as I have gone. 7. Who is this that comes to the foot of the guillotine, crouch- ing, trembling? 8. They must pay the penalty. Their death is necessary. They have caused hami enough. 9. I intend to get up fifteen minutes earlier, thereby giving myself time to eat a good breakfast. ID. The book was reread several times, for I never grew tired of it. 11. "What is the aim of a university education?" the speaker asked. 12. A bicycle is sometimes ridden when a tire contains no air, total ruin resulting from the weight of the rim upon the flat tire. 13. He sprang forward the instant the pistol cracked, since the start of a sprint is very important, and one cannot overdo the practicing of it. 8s 49 EMPHASIS 14. Sometimes the fuses fail to burn, or burn too fast, causing an explosion before the workmen are prepared for it. 15. How father made soap was always a mystery to me. Crack- lings saved from butchering time, lye, and water went into the kettle on a warm spring day and came out in the form of soap a few hours later, to my great astonishment. B. Loose or Unemphatic Structure Make the following sentences more emphatic by throwing them into periodic form. 1. It was Tom, as I had expected. 2. I will not tell, no matter how you beg. 3. The supremacy of the old river steamboat is gone forever, un- less conditions should be utterly changed. 4. Across the desert he traveled alone, and over strange seas, and through quaint foreign villages. 5. The hot water dissolves the glue in the muresco, making the mixture more easily applied. 6. Visions of rich meadows and harvest-laden fields now pass before my eyes, as I sit by the fire. 7. Some of the women were weeping bitterly, thinking they would never see their homes again. 8. I splashed along on foot for three miles after night in a driving rain. 9. Very high rent is demanded, thus keeping the peasants con- stantly in debt. 10. Roderigo was in despair because he had been rejected by Desdemona, and was ready to end his life, by the time lago entered. 11. Through storm and cold the open boat was brought to the shore at last, after toil and suffering, with great difficulty. 12. The car came to a violent stop against a rock pile, after it demolished two fences, upset a hen-house, and scared a pig out of his wits. 13. The Panama Canal is the fulfilment of the dreams of old Spanish adventurers, the desire.-^ of later merchant princes, 86 49 EMPHASIS and the demand of modern nations for free traffic on the seas. 14. The fiddle yelled, and the feet ©f the dancers beat the floor, and the spectators applauded, and the room fairly rang. 15, The man with the best character, not the man with most money, will come out on top in the end. • C. Faulty Repetition Repetition in the following sentences is objectionable, because it attracts attention to words or constructions that do not need to be emphasized Improve the sen- tences, avoiding unnecessary repetition. 1. He is a great friend of boys, and views things from the boys' point of view. 2. In the case of the strike at Lawrence, Massachusetts, the real cause was low wages caused by immigration and child ial)or. 3. First, a subject must be chosen, and in choosing a subject, choose one that you know something about. 4. There are great opportunities in the field of science, and a .scientist who makes a mark in the world of science makes a mark for himself everywhere. 5. While the practical man is learning skill in the practical world, the college man is attaining a development of mentality that will surpass that of the practical man when the college man learns the skill of the practical man. 6. The field is dragged and rolled. Dragging and rolling leaves the ground smooth and ready for planting. 7. A great number and variety of articles appears in every issue. There is a complete review of each subject. It is treated in a short, but thorough manner. 8. They gave me a hearty welcome. They stood back and looked at me. They wanted to see if three rnonths in the city had made any changes in me. But they said it had not. 9. Engineering is looked upon by many students as an easy and uninteresting study, but to my knowledge it is not uninter- 87 49 EMPHASIS esting and easy. Engineering is probably one of the hard- est courses in college. To nie it is also the most interesting. 10. A duck hunter should have a place to hunt where ducks are frequently found in duck season. Ducks often light in the backwater along a river, and in ponds. They are often found in small lakes. Corn fields are common feeding places for ducks. Ducks make regular trips to cornfields within reach of a body of water such as a river or lake. It is their nature to spend the night in the water, and in the morning and in the evening they go out to the fields to feed. 88 50 GRAMMAR Case 60a. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case, even when the verb is remote, or understood (not ex- pressed). Wrong: They are as old as us. Right: They are as old as we [are]. Wrong: He is taHer than her. Right: He is taller than she [is]. Note. — Than and as are conjunctions, not prepositions. When Ihey are followed by a pronoun merely, this pro- naun is not their object, but part of a clause the rest of which may be understood. The case of this pronoun is determined by its relation to the rest of the unex- pressed clause. Sometimes the understood clause calls for the objective: "I like his brother better than [I like] him." Than zvhom, though ungrammatical, is sanctioned by usage. b. Guard against the improper attraction of who into the objective case by intervening expressions like he says. Wrong: The man whom they believed was the cause of the trouble left the country. [They beUeicd is parenthetical, and the subject of was is zt/io.] Right : The man who they believed was the cause of the trou- ble left the country. Wrong: Whom do you suppose made us a visit? Right: Who do you suppose made us a visit? Guard against the improper attraction of who or who- ever into the objective case by a preceding verb or preposition. 89 50 GRAMMAR — CASE Wrong: Punish whomever is guiUy. [The pronoun is the sub- ject of is. The object of punish is the entire clause ivhocver Is guilty.] Right ; Punish whoever is guilty. Wrong : The mystery as to whom had rendered him this serv- ice remained. [The pronoun is the subject of had rendered. The object of the preposition is the entire clause zvho had roidered him this service.] Right : The mystery as to who had rendered him this service remained. C. The predicate complement of the verb to be (in any of its forms, is, was, were, be, etc.) is in the nominative case. To be never takes an object, because it does not express action. Wrong: Was it her? Was it them? It is me. Right: Was it she? Was it they? It is I. Wrong: The happiest people there were him and his mother. Right : The happiest people there were he and his mother. d. The object of a preposition or a verb is in the objective case. Wrong: Some of we fellows went fishing. Right: Some of us fellows went fishing. Wrong; That seems incredible to you and I. Right : That seems incredible to you and me. Wrong: Who did they detect? Right: Whom did they detect? e. The " assumed " subject of an infinitive is in the objec- tive case. Right: I wanted him to go. [Him to go is the group object of the verb wanted. To go, being an infinitive, cannot assert an action, and consequently cannot take a subject. But to go implies that something is at least capable of action. Him is the latent or assumed subject of the action implied in to go.] 90 50 GRAMMAR — CASE Right: IVhoni do you wish to be your leader? [lyiioni is the assumed subject of the infinitive to be.] f. A noun or pronoun used to express possession is in the possessive case. Do nut omit the apostrophe (See 97) from nouns, or from the pronouns one's and other's. Most of the other possessive pronouns do not require an apostrophe. Right: The man's hair is gray. Right : The machine does its work well. [It's would mean it IS.] Right : One should do one's duty. g. A noun or pronoun linked with a gerund should be in the possessive case vi^henever the use of the objective case might cause confusion. F"aulty: Is there any criticism of .Arthur going? Right: Is there any criticism of Arthur's going? Right : I had not heard of his being sick. Right, but slightly less desirable : I had not heard of him be- ing sick. Note. — In other instances than those in which clearness is involved many good writers use the objective case with the gerund. But even in these instances most writers prefer the possessive case. h. It is usually awkward and slightly illogical to attribute possession to inanimate objects. Awkward : The farm's management. Better: The management of the farm. Awkward : The stomach's lining. Better; The lining of the stomach. Note. — Usage justifies many exceptions, particularly (r) 91 61 GRAMMAR — NUMBER expressions that involve time or measure, a day's zvork, a hair's breadth, a year's salary, a i^'eek's vacation, a cable's length; and (2) expressions that involve per- sonification, explicit or implied, Reason's voice, the lazv's delay, for mercy's sake, the heart's desire, the tempest's breath. 1. A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, gender, and number, but not in case. Right : /, zvlw am older, know better. Right: Te!l inc. zclio am older, your trouble. Right: Many a man has saved himself by counsel. Exercise : 1. 1 am as old as (he, him). They may be pluckier than (we, us). Nobody is less conceited than (she, her). 2. He gave help to (whoever, whomever) wanted it. The girls (who, whom) they say have the worst taste are on a com- mittee to select the class pm. 3. Four of (we, us) boys were left without a cent. That is a good investment for her cousin and (she, her). 4. It was (he, him). It is (they, them). The sole occupants of the car were his chum and (he, him). 5. I had not heard of (his, him) being sick. She does not approve of (our, us) being late to dinner. (They, them) who labor now the Master will reward. Number 51a. Each, every, every one, everybody, anybody, either, neither, no one, nobody, and similar words are singu- lar. Wrong: Everybody did tlieir best. Right : Everybody did his best. Wrong: Each of my three friends were there. Right : Each of my three friends was there. 92 51 GRAMMAR — NUMBER Wrong: Either of the candidates are capable of making a good officer. Right : Either of the candidates is capable of making a good officer. b. Do not let this or that when modifying kind or sort be attracted into the plural by a following noun. Wrong: He knew nothing of those kind of activities. Right: He knew nothing of that kind of activities. Wrong : I never^id like these sort of post cards. Right: I never did like this sort of post cards. C. Collective nouns may be regarded as singular or plural, according to the meaning intended. Right; The crowd is waiting. Right: The crowd are not agreed. Right: Webster maintained that the United States is an in- separable union ; Hayne that the United States are a separable union. English usage : The government were considering a new bill regarding labor. American usage : The government was glad to place our troops at the disposal of General Foch. d. Do not use don't in the third person singular. Use doesn't. Don't is a contraction of do not. Wrong: He don't get up early on Sunday morning. Right : He doesn't get up early on Sunday morning. Exercise : 1. She said not to buy those sort of carpet tacks. These kind of apples won't keep. I don't care for these boasting kind of travelers. 2. Neither of us were in condition to run the race. Every one assured Mrs. Merton they had spent a pleasant evening. 3. He don't suffer much now. I don't care if she don't come to- day. 93 52 GRAMMAR — AGREEMENT 4. Each of us in that dismal waiting room were angry with the agent lor tclHng us the train was not late. 5. No one of the girls would tell their age. it don't matter. Agreement 52Si, A verb agrees in number with the subject, not with a noun which intervenes between it and the subject. Wrong; The size of the plantations vary. Right: The size of the plantations varies. Wrong: The increasing use of luxuries are a menace to the country. Right: The increasing use of lu.xuries is a menace to the coun- try. Wrong: The prices of grain fluctuates in response to the de- mand. Right: The prices of grain fluctuate in response to the de- mand. [Or] The price of grain fluctuates in response to the demand. b. The number of the verb is not affected by the addition to the subject of words introduced by with, together with, no less than, as well as, and the like. Wrong: The mayor of the city, as well as several aldermen, have investigated the charges. Right : The mayor of the city, as well as several aldermen, has investigated the charges. C. Singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb. Wrong: Either the second or the third of the plans they have devised are acceptable. Right: Either the second or the third of the plans they have devised is acceptable. 94 52 GRAMMAR — AGREEMENT d. A subject consisting of two or more nouns joined by and takes a plural verb. Right; The hunting and fishing are good. e. A verb should agree in number with the subject, not with a predicate noun. Wrong: The weak point in the team were the fielders. Right : The weak point in the team was the fielders. Wrong; Laziness and dissipation is the cause of his failure. Right : Laziness and dissipation are the cause of his failure. f. In There is and There are sentences the verb should agree in number with the noun that follows it. Wrong: There is very good grounds for such a decision. Right ; There are very good grounds for such a decision. Wrong; There was present a man, two women, and a child. Right ; There were present a man, two women, and a child. E.xercise : 1. The sound of falling acorns (is, are) one of the delights of an autumn evening. Eye strain through ill-fit glasses (is, are) injurious to the general health, but reading without glasses (is, are) often more harmful still. 2. Neither the baritone nor the tenor (has, have) as good a voice as the soprano. The guitar or the mandolin (is, are) al- ways out of tune. 3. The Amazon with its tributaries (affords, afford) access to the sea. The conductor of the freight train, along with the engineer and fireman of the passenger, (was, were) in- jured. 4. Ghost stories late at night (is, are) a crime against children. My reason for knowing that it is six o'clock (is, are) the factory whistles. 5. There (was, were) in the same coach a dozen singing fresh- men. Years of experience in buying clothes (gives, give) me confidence in my judgment. 95 53 GRAMMAR — i-Z/^LL AND WILL Shall and Will, Should and Would Although there is a tendency to disregard subtle dis- tinctions between shall and ivill in ordinary speech, it is desirable to preserve the more important distinctions in written discourse. 53. To express simple futurity or mere expectation, use shall with the first person (both singular and plural) and will with the second and third. I shall go. We shall walk. You will play. You will hear. He will sing. They will reply. To express resolution or emphatic assurance, reverse the usage ; that is, use will with the first person (both singular and plural), and shall with the second and third. I will ; I tell you, I will. We will not be excluded. You shall do what I bid. You shall not delay us. He shall obey me. They shall pay the tribute. In asking questions, use the form expected in the answer. "Shall I go?" 1 asked myself musingly. "Shall we take a walk?" "You promise. But will you pay?" "Will it rain tomorrow? " Should and zvould follow the rules given for shall and will. Mere statement of a fact : I [or We] should like to go. You [or He or They] would of course accept the offer. Resolution or emphatic assurance : I [or We] would ne\er go under terms so degrading. You [or He or They] should decline; honor demands it. 96 54 GRAMMAR — PRINCIPAL PARTS. Should has also a special use in the subjunctive (in all per- sons) to express a condition; and i^uiild has a special use (in all persons) to express a wish, or customary- action. If it should rain, I shall not go. If I should remain, it would probably clear off. Would that I could swim ! He [I, We* You, They] would often sit there by the hour. Exercise : 1. I (shall, will) probably do as he says. I'm determined; I (shall, will) go! We (shall, will; see what tomorrow (shall, will) bring forth. 2. The train (shall, will) whistle at this crossing, I suppose. When the log is nearly severed, it (shall, will) begin to pinch the saw. The weather (shall, will) be warmer to- morrow. 3. Johnny, you (shall, will) not go near those strawberries! He (shall, will) not leave us in this predicament. I repeat it, he (shall, will) not! We (shall, will) never sell this good old horse. 4. (Shall, will) this calico fade? (Shall, will) you give the organ grinder some money? (Shall, will) I raise the win- dow? (Should, would) I ask his permission? 5. If you (should, would) visit his laboratory, you (should, would) learn how a starfish preserved in alcohol smells. You (shall, will) all die some day, my friends. (Shall, will) I ever forget this? Time (shall, will) tell. Principal Parts 54. Use the correct form of the past tense and past parti- ciple. Avoid come, done, bursted, knowed, says tor the past tense; and \hod] eat, [had] froce, [have] ran, [has] tvent, [has] ivrote for the past participle. Mem- orize the principal parts of difficult verbs. The prin- 97 54 .GRAMMAR — PRINCIPAL PARTS cipal parts are the present tense, the past tense, and the past participle. A good way to recall these is to re- peat the formula : Today 1 sing; yesterday 1 sang; often in the past I have sung. The principal parts of sing are sing, sang, sung. A list of difficult verbs is given below. bear bore borne fall fell fallen born fight fought fought begin began begun flee fled fled bend bent bent fly flew flown bid bid bid flow flowed flowed bade bidden freeze froze frozen bite bit bit get got got Ditten go went gone bleed bled bled grow grew grown blow blew blown hang hung hung break broke broken hang hanged hanged burn burnt burnt hold held held burned burned kneel knelt knelt burst burst burst know knew known catch caught caught lay laid laid choose chose chosen lead led led come came come lend lent lent deal dealt dealt lie lay lain dive dived dived lie lied lied do did done loose loosed loosed drag dragged dragged lose lost lost draw drew drawn mean meant meant dream dreamt dreamt pay paid paid dreamed dreamed prove proved proved drink drank drunk read read read drive drove driven rid rid rid drown drowned drowned ride rode ridden dwell dwelt dwelt ring rang rung dwelled dwelled rise rose risen eat ate eaten run ran run 98 54 GRAMMAR — PRINCIPAL PARTS say see set shake shine show shrink sing sit " slink speak spend spit steal said saw set shook shone showed shrank sang sat" slunk spoke spent spit spat stole said seen set shaken shone shown shrunk sung sat shmk ^spoken spent spit spat stolen swear swore sworn sweep swept swept swim swam swum take took taken tear tore torn throw threw thrown thrust thrust thrust tread trod trod trodden wake woke waked waked wear wore worn weave wove woven weep wept wept write wrote written Exercise : I. Adams and - once - (past tense of draw) another glass of cider (past tense of drink) it. When those squashes (past tense of begin), they (past tense of grow) like mad. 2. The thermometer had (past participle of fall) twenty degrees, and three water pipes had (past participle of freeze). Afterward one (past tense of burst). 3. Annie had (past participle of speak) a piece, and Nancy had (past participle of ivrite) a poem, and Isabel had nearly He- (past participle of burst) with envy. (past tense oi do) a brave deed; he (past tense of sw'im) straight for the whirlpool. I had (past parti- — (past participle ciple of knozv) him before, and had — of shake) hands with him. 5. He (past tense of come) home late, and has (past participle of eat) his dinner. Now he has (past parti- ciple of go) down town. He has (past participle of ride) before. I (past tense of see) him. He (past tense of run) swiftly. 99 55 GRAMMAR — TENSE, MODE, AUXILIARIES Tense, Mode, Auxiliaries 55a. In dependent clauses and infinitives, the tense is to be considered in relation to the time expressed in the principal verb. Wrong: I intended to have gone. [The principal verb intended indicates a past time. In that past time I intended to do some- thing. What? 'Didlmttnd to go,or to have gone?] Right : I intended to go. Wrong: We hoped that you would have come to the party. [The principal verb hoped indicates a past time. In that past time our hope was that you ivould come, not that you ivould have come.] Right : We hoped that you would come. b. When narration in the past tense is interrupted for reference to a preceding occurrence, the past perfect tense is used. Wrong: In the parlor my cousin kept a collection of animals which he shot. Right: In the parlor my cousin kept a collection of animals which he had shot. C. General statements equally true in the past and in the present are usually expressed in the present tense. Faulty : He said that Venus was a planet. Right : He said that Venus is a planet. d. The subjunctive mode of the verb to be is used to ex- press a condition contrary to fact, or a wish. Faulty: If he was here, I should be happy. Right : If he were here, T should be happy. Faulty : I wish that I was a man. Right : I wish that I were a man. 56 GRAMMAR — ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB e. Use the correct auxiliary. Make sure that the tense, mode, or aspect of successive verbs is not altered with- out reason. Wrong: By giving strict obedience to commands, a soldier learns discipline, and consequently would have steady nerves in time of war. [Learns should be followed by will have.] Wjong: A4-1 automobile should be kept in good working order so that its life is lengthened. [Should be is properly followed by may be.] Exercise : 1. Every one hoped that you would have spoken. 2. I saw it in the window. It was the very book I wanted so long. 3. If I was sick, I should go home. 4. They expected to have won the game. 5. The Masons never invite men to join their lodge, but if a person expresses a desire to join, his friends would prob- ably be able to secure membership for him. Adjective and Adverb >a. Do not use an adjective to modify a verb. Crude: He spoke slow and careful. Right: He spoke slowly and carefully. Crude : He sure did good in his classes. Right : He surely did well in his classes. b. In such sentences as He stood firm and The cry rang clear the modifier should be an adjective if it refers to the subject, an adverb if it refers to the verb. Right : The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home. [Here the thought is that the sun which shines is bright.] Right: He worked diligently. [Here the modifier refers to the manner of working rather than to the person who works. It should therefore be an adverb.] lOJ 57 GRAMMAR — DOUBLE CAPACITY Right: It stood immovable. The shot rang loud. He becomes angry. The weeds grow thick. They remain obstinate. He seems intelligent. C. After a verb pertaining to the senses, look, sound, taste, smell, feel, an adjective is used to denote a quality pertaining to the subject. (An adverb is used only when the reference is clearly to the verb.) She looks beautiful. [Not beautifully.] The dinner bell sounds good. [Not well.] My food tastes bad. [Not badly.] That flower smells bad. [Not badly.] I feel good [in good spirits.] I feel well \in good health. An adjectival use of well.] I feel bad [in bad health or spirits. " I feel badly " would mean " My sense of touch is impaired."] Exercise : 1. They fought (heroic, heroically). Dave stumbled (awkward, awkwardly). 2. Margaret (sure, surely) worked (faithful, faith- fully) in economics. 3. At this reply the teacher grew (wrathful, wrathfully). I hear you (plain, plainly). 4. I feel (giddy, giddily). Your rose looks (sweet, sweetly). No perfume smells so (dainty, daintily). 5. That salad tastes (good, well). I feel (bad, badly) today. Your voice sounds (good, well) and (familiar, familiarly). A Word in a Double Capacity 57. Do not use a verb, conjunction, preposition, or noun in a double capacity when one of the uses is ungram- matical. Wrong [verb] : An opera house was built in p.ne part of town, and two churches in another. .10^ 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR Right : An opera house was built in one part of town, and two churches were built in another. Wrong [verb] : He always has and will do it. Right: He alwa\'s has done it, and always will do it. Wrong [conjunction] : He was as old, if not older, than any other man in the community. Right: He was as old as any other man in the community, if jiot older. Wrong [preposition] : He was fond and diligent in work. Right: He was fond of work and diligent in it. Wrong [noun] : ^e is one of the most skilful, if not the most skilful, tennis players in the state. Right: He is one of the most skilful tennis players in the state, if not the most skilful. Exercise : 1. He is as old, if not older, than she is. 2. Two boats were in the water, and one on the shore. 3. From childhood he has, and to old age he will, have many hobbies. 4. A visit to a ten cent store is better, or at least as good, as a visit to a circus. You see as many or more queer things than in any show. 5. One of the greatest, if not the greatest, secrets in keeping our health, is to keep our teeth in good condition. A famous physician said that one of the next, if not the very next, marked advance in medical science will be through discov- eries in the realm of dentistry. 58. Parts of Speech, Other Grammatical Terms, Conjugation The Parts of Speech and Their Uses Noun. A noun is a name. It may be proper (Philip Watkim), or common. Common nouns may be concrete (man. ivind- mill), or abstract (gratitude, nearness). A noun applied to a group is said to be collective (family, race). The uses of 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR a noun are: to serve as the subject of a verb, to serve as the object of a verb or a preposition, to be in apposition with an- other noun (Jenkins, our coach), to indicate possession {Jose toll's coat of many colors) ; and less frequently, to serve as an adjective (the brick sidewalk; or adverb (John went home), and to indicate direct address {Jehovah, help us!). Pronoun. A pronoun is a word which takes the place of a noun. It may be personal (/, thou, you, he, she, it, xce, they), relative {who, zvhuii, zvhat, that, as, and compounds whoever, zvhichsocver, etc.), interrogative {who, which, what), demonstrative {this, that, these, those), or indefinite {some, any, one, each, either, neither, none, feiv, all, both, etc.). Strictly speaking, the last two groups, demonstratives and indefinites, are adjectives used as pronouns. Certain pro- nouns are also used as adjectives, notably the possessives {my, his, their, etc.) and the relative or interrogative which and zvhat. The addition of -self to a personal pronoun forms a refliexive pronoun or intensive (I blamed myself. You yourself are at fault). A noim for which the pronoun stands is called the antecedent. The uses of pronouns are in general the same as those of nouns. In addition, relatives serve as connectives (the man who spoke), interrogatives ask questions {zvhat man?), and demonstratives point out (that man). Verb. A verb is a word or word-group which makes an asser- tion about the subject. It may express either action or mere existence. It may be transitive {trans meaning "across"; hence action carried across, requiring a receiver of the act : Brutus stabbed Caesar; Caesar is stabbed) or intransitive (not requiring a receiver of the act: Montgomery fell). Its mean- ing is dependent upon its voice, mode, and tense. Voice shows the relationship between the subject and the assertion made by the verb. The active voice shows the subject as actor (They elected Washington) ; the passive voice, as acted upon (Washington zvas elected). (A transitive verb may be active or passive, but an intransitive verb has no voice.) Mode in- dicates the manner of predicating an action, whether as assertion, condition, command, etc. There are three modes 104 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR in English. The indicative mode aflfirms or denies (He ivent. She did not dance). The subjunctive expresses condition or wish (If he were older, he would be wiser. Would that I were there!). The imperative expresses command or exhor- tation (Remain there. Go! Let us pray). Modal auxil- iaries with these three modes form modal aspects of the verb. There are as many different aspects as there are auxiliaries. Aspects are sometimes spoken of as separate modes or called collectively the " potential mode." Tense ex- presses the time of the action or existence. The tenses are the present, th» past, the future (employing the auxiliaries shall and i^-ill), the perfect (employing have), the past per- fect (employing had), and the future perfect (employing shall have and ivill have). Verbals are certain forms of the verb used as other parts of speech (noun, adjective, adverb). For the verbal forms, infinitive, gerund, and participle, see the separate headings. Adjective. An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or pronoun. An adjective may be attributive (bright sun, cool- headed adventurers) or predicate (The field is broad. The meat tastes bad. I want this ready by Christmas). Adjec- tives assume three forms known as degrees of comparison. The positive degree indicates the simple quality of the object without reference to any other. The comparative degree indicates that two objects are compared (Stanley is the older brother). The superlative degree indicates that three or more objects are compared (Stanley is the oldest child in the family) or that the speaker feels great interest or emotion (A most excellent record). Ordinarily er or r is added to the positive to form the comparative, and est or st to the positive to form the superlative (brave, braver, bravest). But some adjectives (sometimes those of two, and always those of more than two, syllables) prefix more (or less) to the positive to form the comparative, and most (or least) to the positive to form the superlative (beautiful, more beautiful, most beauti- ful). Some adjectives express qualities that do not permit comparison (dead, four-sided, unique). los 58 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR Adverb. An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjec- tive, another adverb (She played zvcll; uiiusually handsome; very sternly), or, more rarely, a verbal noun (Walking fast is good for the health) or a preposition (The ship drifted almost upon the breakers). Certain adverbs {fatally, entirely) do not logically admit of comparison. Those that do are compared like adjectives of more than two syllables (slowly, more or less slozvly, most or least slowly). Preposition. A preposition is a connective placed before a substantive (called its object) in order to subordinate the substantive to some other word in a sentence (The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power. He ran toward the enemy without fear). Conjunction. A conjunction is a word used to join together words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. A coordinate conjunc- tion connects elements of equal rank (See 36). Correlative conjunctions are conjunctions used in pairs (See 31). A subordinate conjunction is one that connects elements un- equal in rank (See 36). When a conjunction, in addition to its function as a connective, indicates a relation of time, place, or cause, it is often called a conjunctive adverb or relative adverb. Interjection. An interjection is a word thrown into speech to express emotion. It has no grammatical connection with other words. (Oh, is that it? Well, I'll do it. Hark!) Other Grammatical Terms Absolute expression. An expression (usually composed of a substantive and a participle, perhaps with modifiers) which, though not formally and grammatically joined, is in thought related to the remainder of the sentence. (The relief party having arrived, we went home. This disposed of, the coun- cil proceeded to other matters. Defeated, he was not dis- mayed. ) Antecedent. A substantive to which a pronoun or participle refers. Literally, antecedent means that u-hich goes before; 106 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR but sometimes the antecedent follows the dependent word. (The man who hesitates is lost. Entering the store, we saw a barrel of apples.) Man is the antecedent of the pronoun who. and we is the aiatecedent of the participle entering. Auxiliary. Be, have, do, shall, will, ought, may, can, must, might, could, zvould, should, etc., when used with participles and infinitives of other verbs, are called auxiliary verbs. Case. The relation of a substantive to other words in the sen- tence as shown by inflectional form or position. The sub- ject of a verb, or the predicate of the verb to be, is in the nominative case? The object of a verb or preposition, or the "assumed subject" of an infinitive, is in the objective case. A noun or pronoun which denotes possession is in the pos- sessive case. Clause. A portion of a sentence which contains a subject and a verb, perhaps with modifiers. The following sentence con- tains one dependent (subordinate) and one independent (prin- cipal) clause: When the storm ceased, the grove was a ruin. Conjugation. The inflectional changes in the verb to indicate person, number, tense, voice, mode, and modal aspect. Declension. The changes in a noun, pronoun, or adjective to indicate person, number, or case. Ellipsis, elliptical expression. An expression partially incom- plete, so that words have to be understood to complete the meaning. An idea or relation corresponding to the omitted words is present, at least vaguely, in the mind of the speaker. Elliptical sentences are usually justifiable except when the reader cannot instantly supply the understood words. Ex- amples of proper ellipses: You are as tall as I [am tall]. Is your sister coming? I think [my sister is] not [coming]. I will go if you will [go]. [I give you] Thanks for your ad- vice. Gerund. A verbal in -ing used as a noun. (T do not object to your telling. His having deserted us makes little difference.) The gerund may be regarded as a special form of the infini- tive. Infinitive. A verbal ordinarily introduced by to and used I07 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR as a noun {To err is human). In such sentences as "The road to follow is the river road," folloiv may be regarded as the noun of a phrase (compare the road to Mandalay), or the entire phrase may be regarded as an adjective. Similarly, in " He hastened to comply," comply miiy be regarded as a noun or to comply as an adverb. After certain verbs {bid, dare, help, make, need, etc.) the to is omitted from the infinitive group. (He bids me go. I need not hesitate.) Inflection. Change in the form of a word to show a modifi- cation or shade of meaning. At a very early period in our language there was a separate form for practically every modification. .A.lthough separate forms are now less numerous, inflection is still a convenient term in grammar. Its scope is general : it includes the declension of nouns, the compari- son of adjectives and adverbs, and the conjugation of verbs. Modify. To be grammatically dependent upon and to limit or alter the quality of. In the expression " The very old man," the and old modify man, and very modifies old. Participle. A verbal used as an adjective, or as an adjective with adverbial qualities. In the sentence " Mary, being oldest, is also the best liked," being oldest refers e.xclusively. or almost exclusively, to the subject and is therefore adjectival. In such sentences as '" He fell back, exhausted " and " Run- ning down the street. I collided with a baby carriage," the participle refers in part to the verb and is therefore adverbial as well as adjectival. Phrase. A group of words forming a subordinate part of a sentence and not containing a subject and its verb. Examples: With a zi'histle and a roar the train arrived [prepositional phrase]. Bowing his head, the prisoner listened to the ver- dict of the jury [participial phrase]. In a loose, untechnical sense phrase may refer to any short group of words, even if the group includes a subject and its verb. Predicate. The word or word-group in a sentence which makes an assertion about the subject. It consists of a finite verb with or without objects or modifiers. Predicate adjective. An adjective in the predicate, usually io8 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR linked with the subject by some form of the verb to be (is, was, zvere, etc.). (John is la::y. The soldiers were very eager. ) Predicate noun. A noun linked with the subject by some form of the verb to be. (John is halfback. They were our neigh- bors. ) Sentence. A sentence is a group of words containing (i) a subject (with or without modifiers) and a predicate (with or without moditiers) and not grammatically dependent on any words outside o^f itself; or (2) two or more such expres- sions related in •thought. Sentences of type i are smiple or complex ; sentences of type 2 are compound. A simple sen- tence contains one independent clause (The dog barks an- grily). A complex sentence contams one uidLpendent clause and one or more subordinate clauses (The dog barks when the thief appears). A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses (The dog barks, and the thief runs). Substantive. A noun or a word standing in place of a noun. (The king summoned parliament. The bravest are the tcn- derest. She was inconsolable.) A substantive phrase is a phrase used as a noun. {From Dan to Bcersheba is a term for the whole of Israel.) A substantive clause is a clause used as a noun. {That he oived the money is certain.) Syntax. Construction ; the grammatical relation between the words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. Verbal. .\ny form of the verb used as another part of speech. Infinitives, gerunds, and participles are verbals. They are used to express action without asserting it, and cannot, there- fore, have subjects or be used as predicate verbs. Abridged Conjugation of the verb to take Indicative Mode Tense Active Voice Passive Voice Present I take I am taken Past I took 109 I was taken 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR Tense Active Voice Passive Voice Future I shall (will) take I shall (will) be taken Perfect I have taken I have been taken Past Perfect I had taken I had been taken Future Perfect I shall (will) have I shall (will) have taken been taken Subjunctive Mode Present If I take If I be taken Past If I took If I were taken Perfect If I have taken If I have been taken Past Perfect If I had taken Imperative Mode If I had been taken Present Take Modal Aspects (Modal aspects, formed by combniing auxiliaries with the main verb, give special meanings — emphatic, progressive, etc. — to the primary modes. Since there are almost as many aspects as there are auxiliaries, only a few can be enumerated here.) Active Voice Passive Voice Emphatic: 1 do take Progressive: I am taking I am being taken Present Contingent: I may take I may be taken Indicative Potential: I can take I can be taken Obligative: I must take I must be taken Etc. * Emphatic: I did take Progressive: I was taking I was being taken Past Contingent: I might take I might be taken Indicative Potential: I could take I could be taken Obligative: I must take I must be taken Etc. no 58 THE TERMS OF GRAMMAR Tense Present Subjunctive Emphatic: Progressive: Contingent: Potential: Obligative: Etc. Active Voice If I do take If I be taking If I might take If I could take If I must take Present j'Emphatic: Imperative [Progressive: Do take Be taking Verbals Infinitive Active Voice Present: To take Perfect: To have taken Present: Taking Perfect: Having taken Present: Taking Past: Perfect: Having taken Gerund Participle Passive Voice To be taken To have been taken Being taken Having been taken Being taken Taken Having been taken Exercise : Copy a page of good prose from any book, leaving wide spaces between the lines. Indicate the part of speech of every word. This .may be done l)y abbreviations placed beneath the words. For example: "Von Arden, having fallen into a very unnuiet noun part. prep. art. adv. adj. slumber, dreamed that he was an aged man who noun vtr6 ctnj. pert pro. verb art. adj. noun ret. pro, Stood beside a window." vtrb frtf. art. noun III 59 GRAMMAR 59. EXERCISE IN GRAMMAR 1 A. Case of Pronouns Determine the correct form of the pronoun. 1. It ii, {I, me). 2. No one knows better than (she, her). | 5. Then came the whistle for Gerald and (I, me). 4. It was (they, them). I 5. Alice can drive a car as well as (he, him). 6. It was (she, her) (who. whom) you saw on the car. ^j 7. John, you may go with Dan and (I, me). I 8. If I were (she, her), I could not think of accepting the ques- ™ tionable honor. 9. One evening four of (we, us) girls decided to go to the theater. M 10. Others are older than (we, us). 11. (Who. Whom) do you imagine will be our next president? 12. He does not approve of (our, us) walking on the grass. 13. Surely you will not question (it, its) being (he, him). 14. That seems strange to you and (T, me). 15. Her mother has more regular features than (she, her). 16. Women (who, whom) some people would call "quiet" are often the wisest. 17. Between you and (I, me). I'm hungry. 18. The thought of (it, its) coming by parcel po.st never entered my mind. ig. He never discovered (who. whom) his enemy was. 20. In case of a fumble, the ball is given to (whoever, whom- ever) recovers it. B. Agreement Determine the correct form of the verb. 1. He (don't, doesn't) care for music. 2. The swimming, boating, and fishing (is, are) good. 3. Each one of the two hands of the clock (is, are) made of gold. 59 GRAMMAR 4. The ore is sorted and the cars having good ore (is, are) hauled to the smeher. 5. A deck of ordinary playing cards consisting of fifty-two cards Us, are) used. 6. It is safe to say that only one out of every ten of the great number of students (realizes, realize) the value of economy. 7. In spite of all obstacles, the construction of the three hundred .trestles and the twenty scaffolds (was, were) completed. 8. Some nights may seem still, yet there (is, are) always noises. 9. The exact meaning of such words as inspiration, prophecy, and orthodox (puzzies, puzzle) laymen. ID. Hard roads (is, are) an important matter to all country people. 11. There (has, have) been many lives lost in Arctic exploration. 12. Personal gifts inspired by good will and directed by careful thought (is, are) the very best kind of charity. 13. In Lincoln's replies to Douglas there (is, are) no flights of oratory. 14. The conciseness of these lines (is, are) to be admired. 15. A constant stream of wagons and horses (was, were) passing as the circus was unloaded. 16. Nevertheless there (exists, exist) a certain class of students who are socially submerged. 17. She (doesn't, don't) care for olives. 18. "Current Events" (is, are) a very useful department of this magazine. IQ. No people (lives, live) in that house. 20. The corporal, together with two other members of the patrol, (was, were) captured by the enemy. C Shall and Will, Should and Would Determine the correct form of the verb. 1. Perhaps I (shall, will) be able to go. 2. I tell you. I (shall, will) not allow that dog in the car. 3. It is odd what a person (shall, will) do in a time of excite- ment. us 59 GRAMMAR 4. Thty have never seen anything hke it, and probably they never (shall, will;. 5. "Johnny, you (shall, will) not go!" Johnny knew that fur- ther begging was useless. 6. As we (shall, will) tind by investigation, our coast fortifi- cations are few. 7. I (shouldn't, wouldn't) do that for anything. 8. I (should, would; thnik you (should, would) enjoy your bicycle. 9. (Shall, willj you go driving with us? 10. Do you think it (shall, will) rain? 11. Where (shall, will} 1 hang my hat? 12. (Should, would) you go if I (should, would) ask you? 13. Rover (should, would; stay in the house all the time, if we (should, would) let him. 14. I promised that I (should, would) be at the station early, lest we (should, would) miss the train. 15. You (shall, will) have much trouble with that cold, I'm afraid. D. Lie, lay; sit, set; rise, raise Fix in mind the following principal parts : I have lain I have laid 1 have sat I have set I have risen I have raised Lie, sit, rise are used intransitively; lay, set, raise are used tran- sitively. Lay, set, raise are causatives; that is, to lay means to cause to lie, etc. Insert a correct form of the verb He or lay: I. 1 here and watch the clouds. My dog is ing at my feet. 114 I I lie I lay I lay I laid 1 sit I sat I set I set I rise I rose I raise I raised i 59 GRAMMAR 2. In the evening I aside all cares. I down on the couch and read. Yesterday J there an hour. 3. The children have ni bed until seven o'clock. John has his coat on a chair. He there asleep now. 4. the sho\cl down. The garden is now out in rows. down and take a little rest. 5. Smoke along the horizon. Snow was ing here yester- day. He is ing plans for ihe future. Insert a correct form of the verb sit or set: 6. Jerome the hox on the floor. Then he on the box. 7. Four people are ing at the table. Who the lamp there?" 8. I had there an hour. They had the pitcher outside the door. 9. I often up late. Last night I up late. I must the alarm clock. 10. the package down. down and rest. While we are ing here the gardener is ing out the plants. Insert a correct form of the verb rise or raise: 11. up and speak! the window. 12. He quickly his head. The cork had gone under, but now it again to the surface. 13. During the night the bread to the top of the pan. 14. The invalid slowly himself in his bed. 15. The river has already and overflowed its banks. E. Principal Parts of Verbs In the following sentences supply the correct form of the verb. 1. He (past tense of come) to this country in 1887. 2. He has (past particii)!e of eat) breakfast and (past participle of go) to the office. 3. Have you (past participle of ride) far? I have (past participle of drive) ten miles. us 59 GRAMMAR 4. I am sure it was Henry who (past tense of do) it, for 1 (past tense of sec) him runnnig away as fast as he could go. 5. The whid has (past participle of tear) down the chimney and (past participle of I'loik') down the tree. 6. After he (past tense of Iw) down, he remembered he had left his books (present participle of lie) in the orchard. 7. He (past tense of throxv) the ball so hard that the win- dow was (past participle of break) into a hundred pieces. 8. The man (past tense of gize) warning before we had (past participle of go) too far. 9. After we had (past participle of ride) about ten miles we (past tense of come) upon a stretch of hard road. 10. Where (past tense of be) you? You n't (past tense of be) at home when I (past tense of ring) the bell. 11. The harness was (past participle of break or burst) be- yond repair. Who (past tense of break) it? 12. I (past tense of take) four shots at the rabbit, but every shot (past tense of go) wild 13. He has (past participle of swim) across the harbor, and has (past participle of break) the record. 14. I had (past participle of drink) buttermilk for several weeks. I (past tense of begin) to gain weight. 15. When we had (past participle of sit) there an hour and (past participle of eat) all we wanted, Jim (past tense of drazc) out his purse and (past tense of give) the waiter a dollar. F. General Improve the grammar of the following sentences. 1. Those kind of lamps are ugli". 2. It don't interest me any more. 3. Nobody may enter the hall tonight without their admittance cards. 116 59 GRAMMAR 4. One does not need to strain their ears while at the movies. 5. Nearly all people eat too much, too fast, and too irregular, 6. Don't take this letter too serious. 7. He done the best he could with these kind of tools. 8. Every person with a cold was blowing their nose. 9. It would help considerable if you would speak to the man- ager about the existing conditions. 10. If I were the mayor, I could not do as good as he does. 11. Talk polite to your customers. 12. It is important that a salesman has a good memory. 13. Each tube must be capable of withstanding a pressure of five hundred pounds per square inch before they are lowered into place. 14. She is as tall, if not taller, than he is. 15. He always has and always will say that. 16. He is one of the worst, if not the very worst, player on the team. 17. Final examinations require time and study that would not otherwise be done. 18. I feel badly. He talks rude. It smells fragrantly. 117 60 DICTION Wordiness 60. Avoid wordiness. Strike out words not essential to the thought. , Roundabout impersonal construction : There are many interest- ing things which may be seen in New York. [12 words.] Better : Many interesting things may be seen in New York. [9 words.] Clause to be reduced to a phrase: The skeleton which stood in the office of Dr. Willard was terrifying to little Cecil. [15 words.] Right : The skeleton in Dr. Willard's office was terrifying to little Cecil. [11 words.] Clause and phrase each to be reduced to a word : Men who cared only for their individual interests were now in a state of discouragement. [15 words.] Right: Selfish men were now discouraged. [5 words.] Separate predication in excess : That day I was shocking wheat behind the binder. Shocking wheat behind the binder was my usual job in harvest. That day while I was working at this job, I found a nest full of partridge eggs. [37 words.] Right : That day, while shocking wheat behind the binder, my usual job in harvest, I found a nest full of partridge eggs. [21 words.] Ponderous scientific terms for simple ideas : Since, according to the physicists, the per cent of efficiency of a machine is equal to the amount of energy put in, divided by the amount of useful work performed, it naturally follows that in all hu- man activities, unnecessary friction, since it lowers the amount of nervous energy, is going to lower the per cent of efficiency. While we may never reach an astonishing degree of efficiency by economizing nervous energy, nevertheless, if we consist- ently and perseveringly try to spare ourselves all unnecessary 118 80 DICTION — WORDINESS labor and exertion, we shall have an abundant supply of energy to direct into channels of usefulness. [loo words.] Right: If we economize our strength, we can make our actions more efficient and useful. [14 words.] Inflated writing : She was supreme in beauty among the daugh- ters of Eve whom his ravished eyes had hitherto beheld. [17 words.] Right: Shp was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. [10 words.] Note. — A speciaf form of wordiness is tautology — the useless repetition of an idea in different words. Gross tautology: He had an entire monopoly of the whole fruit trade. [This is like saying "black blackbird."] Right : He had a monopoly of the fruit trade. Tautological expressions : this here connect up where at meet up with return back combined together ascend up perfectly all right repeat again. utter absence of biography of his life quite round good benefits absolutely annihilated fellow playmates still continue to Hallowe'en evening absolutely new creation important essentials necessary requisite indorse on the back total effect of all this Exercise : 1. The people who act the parts in a play want the people who witness the performance to applaud them. 2. There is an oily grass which is found on the prairie, and which is called mesquite grass, and it covers the prairie. 3. You wish to call the operator. You take the receiver from the hook. By taking the receiver from the hook you call the operator. 119 61 DICTION — TRITENESS 4. At last the employer of the men, and those who were em- plojcd b}' him, having compromised their difficulties, effected a settlement, and reached an amicable understanding agree- able to both parties. 5. The two merchants joined up their forces together in order to secure a monopoly of the entire trade of the village. There was one absolutely essential preliminary which they thought must necessarily precede everything else. It was that they should take all the old shop-worn articles and dispose of them by selling them as bargains at 'a reduced rate. Triteness 61. Avoid trite or hackneyed expressions. Such expres- sions may be tags from everyday speech (the ziorse for wear, had the time of my life) ; or stale phrases from newspapers ( taken into custody, the officiating clergy- man) ; or humorous substitutions {ferocious canine, paternal ancestor) ; or forced synonyms {gridiron heroes, the Hoosier metropolis) ; or conventional fine writing (reigns supreme, zvind kissed the tree-tops) ; or oft-repeated euphemisms (limb for leg, pass azvay for die) ; or overworked quotations from literature (mon- arch of all I siirz'cy, footprints on the sands of time). List of trite expressions: along these lines sadder but wiser meets the eye did justice to a dinner feathered songsters a goodly number a long-felt want budding genius the last sad rites beggars description launched into eternity a dull thud last but not least silence broken only by doomed to disappointment wended their way at one fell swoop abreast of the times 62 DICTION — THE EXACT WORD trees stood like sentinels the proud possessor method in his madness too full for utterance sun-kissed meadows a pugilistic encounter tired but happy conspicuous by its absence hoping you are the same with whom they come in contact nipped in the bud exception proves the rule the happy pair favor with a selection seething mass of humanity as luck would have it specimen of humanity more easily imagined than de- with bated breath scribed green with envj» where ignorance is bliss Exercise : 1. Halleck returned from his trip considerably the worse for wear. 2. The baby whom she had promised to keep quiet proved to be a foeman worthy of her steel. 3. I first saw the light of day in New Orleans. It was in the Crescent City also that my dear mother passed away. 4. Americans come off second best in a vocali/^ing encounter with umlauted u, while Germans and Frenchmen wage sanguinary battles with our th. 5. The daily scramble for dear life to get aboard a trolley was like taking arms against a sea of troubles. Even standuig room was conspicuous by its absence. Sheridan began to think along the line of getting to the office in some other way. The Exact Word 62. Find the exact word. Do not be content with a loose meaning. Seek the verb, the noun, the adjective, the adverb, or the phrase which expresses your thought with precision. Such words as said, proposition, and nice are often used too loosely. Observe the possible gain in detiniteness by substitution. For said (verb) : declared, related, insisted, exclaimed, added, repeated, replied, admitted, commented, corrected, protested, 63 DICTION — CONCRETENESS explained, besought, interrupted, inquired, stammered, sighed, murmured, or thundered. For p-roposition (noun; : transaction, undertaking, venture, re- course, suggestion, overture, proposal, proffer, convenience, difficulty, thesis, or doctrine. For nice (adjective) : discriminating, precise, fastidious, dainty, neat, pretty, pleasant, fragrant, delicious, zvell-behaved, good, or moral. Inexact verb: He had not sufficiently regarded the difficulties of the task [Use co)isidered]. Inexact noun : Promptness is an item which a manager should possess [Use quality]. Inexact adjective: He looked aivfiilly funny when I told him he had made a mistake [Use surprued]. Inexact phrasing throughout: Health is first in every line of activity. A man who has it does not hold it with enough respect, and make efforts enough to keep it. Right: Health is indispensable to success in any work. Even those who have it do not realize its value. Exercise : 1. He was proud of the honorable record he had gained. 2. He resolved that some day he would be a banker, and I shall tell you how he tried to do so. 3. Isn't the sunset grand? Isn't it nice to be out of doors? 4. The mystery as to which ones of the piano keys to play was hard for him to acquire. 5. If the package comes by freight, you must negotiate the proposition of getting it home; but if it comes by express, the delivery is done free. Concreteness 63. Concrete words are often more effective than vague, general, or abstract words. Not specific: She held herself aloof from her brothers' games and amusements. 64 DICTION — SOUND Concrete: She never played soldier or sailed paper boats with her brothers. No appeal to the senses ; I liked to watch the servant girl as she moved about the kitchen, preparing our morning repast. Concrete : I liked to watch Norah as she fried our crisp break- fast bacon and browned our buckwheat cakes. Flat, not readily visualized: The first inhabitants overcame the barriers to settlement about a century ago. Concrete : Rough backwoodsmen broke through the underbrush and swamp-landa century ago. •■ Exercise : 1. The scientist discovered a bird in a tree. 2. Our hostess set before us many good things to eat. 3.- The sailor was carving queer figures on a piece of soft wood. 4. The night watchman heard something that made him sus- picious. 5. I stood at the door of the shop to watch the astonishing things the blacksmith was doing. Sound 64. Avoid the frequent repetition of a sound, especially if it be harsh or unpleasant. Bad : He is an exceedingly orderly secretary. Better : As a secretary he is very systematic. [Or] The secre- tary is very systematic. Bad : Immediately the squirrel hid himself behind the hickory tree. Better: Immediately the squirrel dodged behind the hickory tree. Unfortunate rime : Bert did not dare to go home with wet hair. Better : Bert did not dare to go home with his hair wet. [Or] Bert was afraid to go home with wet hair. Exercise : 1. That Christmas happened to be unusually happy. 2. I fear we must sit near the rear of the room. 123 65 DICTION — SUBTLE VIOLATIONS 3. The Jackies went clambering and scurrying up the rigging. 4. The ship slips anchor while the idlers sip tea on the deck. 5. The third treasure-seeker heard a thud. His pick had struck an obstruction. Subtle Violations of Good Use: Faulty Idioms, Colloquialisms 66. Avoid subtle violations of good use, particularly (a) faulty idioms and (b) colloquialisms. 3,, Make your expression conform to English idiom. A faulty idiom is an expression which, though correct in grammar and general meaning, combines words in a manner contrary to usage. Idioms are established by custom, and cannot be explained by logical rules. " I enjoy to read " is wrong, not because the words offend logic or grammar, but merely because people do not instinctively make that combination of words. " I like to read " and " I enjoy reading " are good idioms. Faulty Idioms Correct Idioms in the city Toledo in the city of Toledo in the year of 1920 in the year 1920 I hope you a good time I wish you a good time the Rev. Hopkins the Reverend Mr. Hopkins possessed with ability possessed of ability stay to home stay at home different than different from independent from independent of in search for in search of Observe that many idioms are concerned with preposi- tions. Make sure that a verb or adjective is accompa- nied by the right preposition. Study the following list of correct idioms : 124 DICTION — SUBTLE VIOLATIONS accused of (a theft) accused by (a person) accord with (a person) agree with (a person) agree to (a proposal) agreeable to angry at (things or persons) , angry with (a person) careful about (an affair) careful of (one's money) comply with •■ convenient to (a person) convenient for (a purpose) correspond to (things) correspond with (persons) dissent from enamored of entrust to free from listen to part from (a person) part with (a thing) pleased with resolve on sympathize with take exception to b. Do not carry the standards of conversation into formal writing. (Tolloquial usage is more free than Hterary usage. The colloquial sentence That's the man I talked with becomes in writing That is the man zvith zvhom I talked. The colloquial sentence It zvas a cold day but there wasn't any zuind blozuing is a loose string of words. Written discourse requires greater tension and more care in subordinating minor ideas: The day, though cold, zvas still. Contractions are proper in con- versation, and in personal or informal writing. In for- mal writing they are not appropriate. And do not let such expressions as He doesn't, We aren't, It's proved, used in talk by careful speakers, mislead you into ex- pressions like He don't. We ain't, It's proven, which vio- late even colloquial good use. Exercise : 1. He confessed of his inability to comply to the demand. 2. Is he from Irish descent? Is humor characteristic with the Irish? 3. She was not to home, but I was reluctant against leaving. 125 66 DICTION — GROSS VIOLATIONS 4. He dissented tc the opinion of the committee's majority, for his ideas were utterly different than theirs. 5. He got a few jobs as a carpenter that summer, but they didn't pay him much, and so he went to loafing around, and he's been at it ever since. Gross Violations of Good Use: Barbarisms, Improprieties, Slang 66. Avoid gross violations of good use, particularly (a) barbarisms, (b) improprieties, and (c) slang. a. Barbarisms are distortions of words in good use, or coinages for which there is no need. Examples : to conccrtize, to burgle or burglarize, to jell, alright, a-plenty, most (for almost), performess, fake, pep, tasty, illy, complected, undoubtably, nozvheres, soph, lab, gents. b. Improprieties are words wrenched from one part of speech to another, or made to perform an unnatural service. Examples: to suspicion, to gesture, to sui- cide, a steal, a try, a go, an invite, the eats, humans, some or real or szvell (as adverbs), like (as a conjunction). C. Slang is speech consisting either of uncouth expressions of illiterate origin, or of legitimate expressions used in grotesque or irregular senses. Thougli sometimes (witness eighteenth century mob, and nineteenth cen- tury buncombe) it satisfies a real need and becomes established in the language, in most instances it is short- lived (witness the thieves' talk in Oliver Twist, or pas- sages from any comic opera song popular five years ago). Vicious types of slang are: Expressions of vulgar origin (from criminal classes, the prize ring, the vaudeville circuit, etc.) : get pinched, down and out, 126 67 DICTION — WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED took the count, bum hunch, nix on the comedy stuff, get across. Language strained or distorted for novel effect: performed the feed act at a bang-up gastronomic emporium, bingled a tall drive that made the horsehide ramble out into center garden. Blanket expressions used as substitutes for thinking: corking, stunning, ain't it fierce? can you beat itf going some, just so I get by with it. The use of the last-named type is most to be regretted. It leads to a .mental habit of phonographic repetition, with no resort* to independent thinking. If a man really desires to use slang, let him invent new expressions every day, and make them fit the specific occasion. Exercise : 1. I disremember what sort of an outfit he wore. 2. Helen's as light-complected a girl as you'll run across, I cal- culate. 3. His ad brought a first-rate gent to hold down the job. 4. Thompson hasn't stability, or it seems like it. He ain't got no gumption. He's too easy enthused. 5. The grub was to of cost us two bits, but we didn't have the dough. We gets outside the food, and when the cashier ain't lookin', we runs out the door and beats it. Words Often Confused in Meaning 67. Do not confuse or interchange the meanings of the fol- lowing words : Accept and except. Accept means to receive; except as a verb means to exclude and as a preposition means ivith the exception of. Affect and effect. Affect is not used as a noun ; effect as a noun means result. As verbs, affect means to influence in part; effect means to accomplish totally. " His story affected me deeply." "The Russians effected a revolution." Affect 127 67 DICTION — WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED also has a special meaning to feign. " She had an affected manner." Allusion and illusion. Allusion means a reference; illusion means a deceptive appearance. " A Biblical allusion." " An optical illusion." Already and all ready. Already means by this time or before- hand; all ready means ivholly ready. " I have already invited him." " Dinner is all ready." " We are all ready for dinner." Altogether and all together. Altogether means zvhoUy, en- tirely; all together means collectively, in a group. "He is altogether honest." " The King sent the people all together into exile." Can and may. Can means to be able; may means to have per- mission. Can for may has a certain colloquial standing, but is condemned by literary usage. Emigrate and immigrate. Emigrate means to go out from a country; immigrate means to enter into a country. The same man may be an emigrant when he leaves Europe, and an immigrant when he enters America. Healthy and healthful. Healthy means having health; health- ful means giving health. " Milk is healthful." " The climate of Colorado is healthful." " The boy is healthy." Hanged and hung. Hanged is the correct past tense of hang in the sense put to death, hanged on the gallons; hung is the correct past tense for the general meaning suspended. Hygienic and sanitary. Both words mean pertaining to health. Hygienic is used when the condition is a matter of personal habits or rules; sanitary is used when the condition is a matter of surroundings (water supply, food supply, sew- age disposal, etc.) or the relations of numbers of people. Instants and instance. Instants means small portions of time; instance means an e.vample. Later and latter. Later means more late; latter means the second in a series of tzvo. "The latter" is used in conjunc- tion with the phrase " the former." Lead and led. Led is the past tense of the verb to lead. Lead is the present tense. 128 DICTION — WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED Learn and teach. Learn means to get knozvledge of; tec means to give knozvledge of or to. " The instructor teaches (not learns) me physics." " He learns his lessons easily." Leave and let. Leave means to abandon; let means to permit. Less and fewer. Less refers to quantity; fezver refers to num- ber. " He has fezver (not less) horses than he needs." Liable, likely, and apt. Likely merely predicts ; liable conveys -the additional idea of harm or responsibility. Apt applies usually to persons, in the sense of having natural capability, and sometimes .to things, in the sense of fitting, appropriate. " It is likely to Se a pleasant day." " I fear it is liable to rain." " He is liable for damages." " He is an apt lad at his books." " That is an apt phrase." Lie and lay. Lay, a transitive verb, means to cause to lie. " I lay the book on the table and it lies there." " Now 1 lay me down to sleep." A source of confusion between the two words is that the past tense of lie is lay: I lie down to sleep. I lay the book on the table. I lay there yesterday. I laid it there yesterday. I have lain here for hours. I have laid it there many times. Like and as or as if. Like is in good use as a preposition, and may be followed by a noun; as is in good use as a conjunction, and may be followed by a clause. " He is tall like his father." "He is tall, as his father is." "It looks as if (not like) it were going to rain." Lose and loose. Lose means to cease having; loose as a verb means to set free, and as an adjective, free, not bound. Majority and plurality. In a loose sense, majority means the greater part. More strictly, it means the number by which votes cast for one candidate exceed those of the opposition. A plurality is the excess of votes received by one candidate over his nearest competitor. In an election A receives 500 votes; B, 400 votes; and C, 300 votes. A has a plurality of 100, but no majority. Practical and practicable. Practical means not theoretical; practicable means capable of being put into practice. " A practical man." " The arrangement is practicable." 129 ^68 67. DICTION — WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED Principal and principle. Principal as an adjective means chief or Icadmy; principle as a noun means a general truth. Prin- cipal as a noun means a sum of money, or the chief oMcial of a school. Proof and evidence. In a law court, proof is evidence suffi- cient to establish a fact; evidence is zvhatever is brought for- ward in an attempt to establish a fact. " The evidence against the prisoner was extensive, but hardly proof of his guilt." In ordinary speech, proof is sometimes loosely used as a synonym for evidence. Pseudo= and quasi=. As a prefix, pseudo- means false; quasi- means literally as if, hence seeming, so-called. " Phrenology is a pseudo-science." "A quasi-evolutionary doctrine." Quiet and quite. Quiet is an adjective meaning calm, not noisy; quite is an adverb meaning entirely. Respectfully and respectively. Respectfully means in a cour- teous manner; respectively means in a way proper to each. "Yours respectfully" (not respectively). "He handed the commissions to Gray and Hodgins respectively." Rise and raise. Rise is an intransitive verb; raise is a transi- tive verb. " I rise to go home." " I raise vegetables." " I raise the stone from the ground." Sit and set. Set, a transitive verb, means to cause to sit. " He sets it in the corner and it sits there." The past tense of sit is sat. 1 sit down. I always set it in its place. He sat in this very chair. I set it in its place yesterday. He has sat there an hour. I have always set it just here. Stationary and stationery. Stationary is an adjective mean- ing fi.ved; stationery is a noun meaning writing materials. Statue, stature, and statute. Statue means a carved or moulded figure; stature means height; statute means a law. Exercise : I. Insert affect or effect: Noise does not my studying. It has little on me. By the exercise of will power I was able to a change. 130 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION 2. Insert healthy or healthful: New Mexico has a climate. Graham bread is . You will be if you take exer- cise. 3. Insert later or latter: I will see you . Here are two plans : the former is complex ; the is simple. Sooner or you will learn the rule. 4. Insert less or feiver: They have money than we; we have • pleasures than they. It seems to me there are accidents. 5. Insert principal or principle: The part of a clock is the pendulum, which swings regularly, according to a of science. My reason for trusting him is that he is a man of . He is the of the high school. The widow spends the interest on the money, but keeps the intact. Glossary of Faulty Diction 68. Avoid faulty diction. Ad (for advertisement). Avoid in formal writing and speak- ing. Ain't. Never correct. Say isn't or is not. All the farther, all the faster. Crude. Use as far as, as fast as. Alright. No such word exists. Use all right. As. (a) Incorrect in the sense of that or whether. "I don't know zvhether (not as) I can tell you." " Not that (not as) I know." (b) As . . . as are correlatives. Than nuist not re- place the second as. Right: "As good as or better than his neighbors." "As good as his neighbors, or better [than they]." See 57. Auto. An abbreviation not desirable in formal writing. Awful. Means filling zvith azcc or filled zvifh aive. Do not use in the sense of uncivil, serious, or ludicrous, or (in the ad- verbial form) in the sense of very, extremely. Balance. Incorrect when used in the sense of remainder. 131 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION Because. Not to be used for the fact that. " The fact that (not because) he is absent is no reason why we should not proceed." See 5. Between. Used of two persons or things. Not to be confused with among, which is used of more than two. Blame on. A crudity for put the blame on or blame. Faulty: " Don't blame it on me." Better : " Don't blame me." Borned. A monstrosity for born. "I was born (not borned) in 1899." Bursted. The past tense of burst is the same as the present. Bust or busted. Vulgar for burst. Right; "The balloon burst." " The bank failed.'' But what. That is often preferable. " I do not doubt that (not but xvhat) he is honest." Canine. An adjective. Not in good use as a noun. Cannot help but. A confusion of can but and cannot help. "1 can but believe you"; or "I cannot help believing you"; not " I cannot help but believe you." See 34. Caused by. To be used only when it refers definitely to a noun. Wrong: "He was disappointed, caused by the late- ness of the train." The noun disappointment should be used instead of the verb disappointed. Then caused will have a definite reference. Right: "His disappointment was caused by the lateness of the train." See 23. Claim. Means to demand as a right. Incorrect for maintain or assert. Considerable. An adjective, not an adverb. "He talked con- siderably (not considerable) about it." Could of. An illiterate form arising from slovenly pronuncia- tion. Use could have. Avoid also may of, must of, would of, etc. Data. Plural. The singular (seldom used) is datum. Com- pare stratum, strata; erratum, errata. Demean. Means to conduct oneself, not to loiver or to degrade. Different than. Different from is to be preferred. Than is a conjunction. The idea of separation implied in different calls for a preposition, rather than a word of comparison. 132 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION Disremember. Not in good use. Done. A gross error when used as the past tense of do, or as an adverb nieannig already. " I did it (not / done it)." " I've already (not done) got my lessons." Don't. A contraction for do not; never to be used for does not. The contraction of docs not is doesn't. See 5id. Drownded. Vulgar for drowned. . Dye to. To be used only when it refers definitely to a noun. Faulty : " He refused the offer, due to his father's opposi- tion." Right: "His refusal of the offer was due to his fa- thers oppositioiT." The noun refusal should be used instead of the verb refused. Then due will have a definite reference. See 5. Enthuse. Not in good use. Etc. An abbreviation for the Latin et cetera, meaning and other [things]. Et means and. And etc. is therefore grossly in- correct. Do not write ect. Expect. Means to look forivard to. Hardly correct in the sense of suppose. Fine. Use cautiously as an adjective, and not at all as an ad- verb. Seek the exact word. See 62. Former. Means the first or first named of two. Not to be used when more than two have been named. The correspond- ing word is latter. For to. Incorrect for to. "I want you (not for you) to listen carefully." "He made up his mind to (not for to) accept." Gent. A vulgar abbreviation of gentleman. Good. .An adjective, not an adverb. Wrong: "He did good in mathematics." Right: "He did well in mathematics." " He did good work in mathematics." Gotten. An old form now usually replaced by got except in such expressions as ill-gotten gains. Guess. Expresses conjecture. Not to be used in formal com- position for think, suppose, or e.rpect. Had of. Illiterate. " I wish I had known (not had of known) about it." Had ought. A vulgarism. " He ought (not had ought) to have 133 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION resigned." We oughtn't (not hadn't ought) to make this error." Hardly. Not to be used with a negative. See 34. Home. Do not use when you mean simply house. Human or humans. Not in good use as a noun. Say human being. Right: "The house was not fit for human beings (not humans) to hve in." //. Do not use for ivhcthcr. "I can't say ivhether (not if) the laundry will be finished today." In. Often misused for into. "He jumped into (not in) the pond.*' It's. Means it is; not to be written for the possessive its. Kind of. (a) Should not modify adjectives or verbs. "He was somewhat (not kind of) lean." "She partly suspected (not She kind of suspected) what was going on." (b) When using with a noun, do not follow by a. "That kind of man"; not " That kind of a man." Like. To be followed by a substantive ; never by a substantive and a verb. "He ran like a deer." "Do as (not like) I do.'' "She felt as if (not like) she was going to faint." Like is a preposition; as is a conjunction. Literally. Do not use where you plainly do not mean it, as in the sentence, " I was literally tickled to death." Loan. Lend is in better use as a verb. Locate. Do not use for settle or establish oneself. Lose out. Not used in formal writhig. Say lose. Lots of. A mercantile term which has a dubious colloquial standing. Not in good literary use for many or much. Might of. A vulgarism for might have. Most. Do not use for almost. " Almost (not most) all." Myself. Intensive or reflexive; do not use when the simple personal pronoun would suffice. " I saw them myself." " Some friends and / (not myself) went walking." Neither. Used with nor, and not with or. " Neither the man whom his associates had suspected nor (not or) the one whom the police had arrested was the criminal." " She could neither paint a good picture nor (not or) play the violin well." 134 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION Nice. Means delicate or precise. Nice is used in a loose col- loquial way to indicate general approval, but should not be so used in formal writing. Right: "He displayed nice judg- ment." " We had a pleasant (not nice) time." See 62. Nowhere near. Vulgar for not nearly. Nowheres. Vulgar. O and Oh. O is used with a noun in direct address ; it is not - separated from the noun by any marks of punctuation. Oh is used as an interjection; it is followed by a comma or an exclamation point. " Hear, O king, what thy servants would say." " Oh, d&r ! " Of. Do not use for have in such combinations as should have, may have, ought to have. Off of. Use off alone. "He jumped off (not off of) the plat- form." Onto. On, upon, or some equivalent expression is usually preferable. Ought to of. A vulgarism for ought to have. Over with. Crude for over. Pants. Trousers is the approved term in literary usage. Pants (from pantaloons) has found some degree of colloquial and commercial acceptance. Party. Not to be used for person, except in legal phrases. Phone. A contraction not employed in formal writing. Say telephone. Plenty. A noun; not in good use as an adjective or an adverb. "He had plenty of (not plenty) resources." "He had re- sources in plenty (not resources plenty)." Proposition. Means a thing proposed. Do not use loosely, as in the sentence : " A berth on a Pullman is a good propo- sition during a railway journey at night." See 62. Proven. Prefer proved. Providing. Prefer provided in such expressions as " I will vote for him prozided (not providing) he is a candidate." Quite a. Colloquial in such expressions as qttite a while, quite a few, quite a number. 13s 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION ffaise. Rear or bring up is preferable in speaking of children. "She reared (not raised) seven children." Rarely ever. Crude for rarely, hardly ever. Real. Crude for very or really. " She was very (not real) intelligent." " He was really (not real) brave." Remember of. Not to be used for remember. Right smart and Right smart of. Extremely vulgar. Same. No longer used as a pronoun except in legal documents. " He saw her drop the purse and restored it (not the same) to her." Scarcely. Not to be used with a negative. See 34. Seldom ever. Crude for seldom, hardly ever. Shall. Do not confuse with zvill. See 53. Sight. A sight or o sight of is very crude for many, much, a great deal of. "A great many (not a sight) of them." So. Not incorrect, but loose, vague, and often unnecessary, (a) As an intensive, the frequent use of so has been christened " the feminine demonstrative ". Hackneyed : " I was so sur- prised." Better: "I was nuich surprised." Or, "I was sur- prised." (b) As a connective, the frequent use of so is a mark of amateurishness. See 36 Note. Some. Not to be used as an adverb. " She was somewhat (not some) better the next day." Wrong: "He studied some that night." Right : " He did some studying that nigh* " Somewheres. Very crude. Use somewhere. Species. Has the same form in singular and plural. " He dis- covered a new species (not specie) of sunflower." Such, (a) To be completed by that, rather than by so that, when a result clause follows. " There was such a crowd that (not so that) he did not find his friends." (b) To be com- pleted by as, rather than by that, zvho, or zchich, when a rela- tive clause follows. " I will accept such arrangements as (not that) may be made." "He called upon such soldiers as (not zvho) would volunteer for this service to step forward." Superior than. Not in good use for superior to. Sure. Avoid the crude adverbial use. " It surely (not sure) was pleasant." In answer to the question, "Will you go?" 136 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION either sure or surely is correct, though surely is preferred. " [To be] sure." " [You may be] sure." " [I will] surely [go]." Suspicion. A noun. Never to be used as a verb. Take and. Often unnecessary, sometimes crude. Redundant: "He took the ax and sharpened it." Better: "He sharpened the ax." Crude : " He took and nailed up the box." Better : ." He nailed up the box." Tend. In the sense to look after, takes a direct object without an interposed to. Attend, however, is followed by to. "The milliner's assistant tends (not tends to) the shop." "I shall attend to your wants in a moment." That there. Do not use for that. " I want that (not that there) box of berries." Them. Not to be used as an adjective. "Those (not them) boys." There were or There was. Avoid the unnecessary use. Crude: "There were seventeen senators voted for the bill." Better : " Seventeen senators voted for the bill." These sort. These kind. Ungrammatical. See 51b. This here. Do not use for this. Those. Do not carelessly omit a relative clause after those. Faulty: " He is one of those talebearers." Better: " He is a talebearer." [Or] " He is one of those talebearers whom everybody dislikes." Those kind, those sort. Ungrammatical. See 51b. Till. Do not carelessly misuse for when. " I had scarcely strapped on my skates when (not till) Henry fell through an air hole." Transpire. Means to give forth or to become knoivn, not to occur. " The secret transpired." " The sale of the property occurred (not transpired) last Thursday." Try. A verb, not a noun. Unique. Means alone of its kind, not odd or unusual. United States. Ordinarily preceded by the. '' The United States raised a large army." (Not "United States raised a large army.") 137 68 GLOSSARY OF FAULTY DICTION Up. Do not needlessly insert after such verbs as end, rest, settle. Used to could. Very crude. Say used to he able or once could. Very. Accompanied by much when used with the past parti- ciple. "He was very much (not very) pleased with his re- ception." Want to. Not to be used in the sense of should, had better. " You should (not You want to) keep in good physical con- dition." Way. Not to be used for away. "Away (not way) down the street." Ways. Not to be used for zvay in referring to distance. " A little zvay (not ways)." When, (a) Not to be used for that in such a sentence as " It was in the afternoon that the races began." (b) A when clause is not to be used as a predicate noun. See 6. Where, (a) Not to be used for that in such a sentence as "I see in the paper that our team lost the game." (b) A where clause is not to be used as a predicate noun. See 6. Where at. Vulgar. "Where is he? (not Where is he at?) " Which. Do not use for who or that in referring to persons. " The friends who (not zvhich) had loved him in his boyhood were still faithful to him." Who. Do not use unnecessarily for which or that in referring to animals. Do not use the possessive form zchose for of which unless the sentence is so turned as practically to require the substitution. Will. Do not confuse with shall. See 53. Win out. Not used in formal writing or speaking. Woods. Not ordinarily to be used as singular. "A wood (ndV A woods)." Would have. Do not use for had in if clauses. " If ycu had (not zvould have) spoken boldly, he would have granted your request." Would of. A vulgarism for would have. You was. Use You zvcrc in both singular and plural. Yourself. Intensive or reflexive ; do not use when the personal 138 69 DICTION pronoun would suflfice. " Vou (not Yourself) and your family must come." Exercise: 1. Be sure the gun works alright. I was already when you came. 2. He talked considerable, but I couldn't scarcely remember what all he said. 2^ I never suspicioned that John could of been guilty of forging his father's note. It don't seem hardly possible. 4. The island was not inhabited by humans. It was different than any pl^e I ever remember of. One sailor and my- self climbed a sand hill, but we couldn't see any signs of life anywheres. 5'. Hawkeye walked a ways into a woods. He was a right smart at ease, for he had Kildeer with him. 69. EXERCISE IN DICTION A. Wordiness Strike out all that is superfluous, and make the fol- lowing sentences simple and exact. 1. Some students lack the ability of being able to spell. 2. He seems to enjoy the universal esteem of all men. 3. The mind rebels against the enforced discipline imposed upon it by others. 4. This is the house that was constructed and erected by a young fellow who went by the common name of Jack. 5. There are invariably people in the world who always want to get something for nothing. I saw some today crowding round a soap man who was giving away free samples gratis. 6. Strawberries which grow in the woods or anywhere like that have a flavor that is better than that of those which grow in gardens. 7. The people showed Jackson the greatest honor it is within their power to bestow by electing him president. 139 69 DICTION 8. It was an old man of about sixty years, and he carried a cane to support himself with when he took a walk. He pulled out his watch to see what time it was every few minutes. 9. My favorite magazine is the one called Popular Mechanics. I like it because it appeals to me. 10. There is a bird, and that bird is the cuckoo, that seems to think it unnecessary to build its own nest, and so it occupies any nest that it happens to find. 11. It is a good plan to follow if one would like to be able to de- velop his memory to make it a rule to learn at least a few lines of poetry every night before going to bed. 12. In the annals of history there is no historical character more unselfish than the character of Robert E. Lee. 13. There are quite a few hotels in Estes Park, which is in Colo- rado, but the one that is the most picturesque and striking so that you remember it a long time on account of its un- usual surroundings is Long's Peak Inn. 14. It is often, but not always, a good sign that when one person is quick to suspect another person of disloyalty or dishon- esty that he himself is disloyal or dishonest. 15. The canine quadruped was under suspicion of having obliter- ated by a process of mastication that article of sustenance which the butcher deposits at our posterior portal. B. The Exact Word Substitute, for inaccurate words and phrases, expres- sions which carry an exact and reasonable meaning. 1. Ostrich eggs made into omelets are a funny experience. 2. A small back porch can be built which will enter directly into the kitchen. 3. Ruskin uses a great deal of unfamiliar words. 4. Reading will broaden the point of view of a student. 5. To visit the plant in operation is indeed a spectacular sight. 6. My plants grew and looked nicer than any I ever saw. 7. I place little truth in that article, since it appeared in a strong partisan paper. 140 DICTION 8. The manufacturing of automobiles has gained to quite an extent. 9. Emerson has some real clever thoughts in his essays. 10. I do not mean to degrade our local street car system, for in- deed, it is good along some hues. 11. I want to attain a greater per cent of efficiency in my study. 12. Imagination is an important part in the successful writing of themes. 13. His employer praised him for the preparation he had done. 14. I used water7wings as a sort of a " safety first " until I learned how-to swim. 15. In order to prevent infection from disease, two big things are necessary. 16. The pastor delivered the announcements and after the collec- tion had been obtained, he presented the sermon of the morn- ing. 17. Another factor in my career that winter was that I became a part of the orchestra. 18. It was a mighty nice party that Mrs. Jones gave and everybody seemed to have an awfully nice time. 19. The more general word socialism might be divided into three distinct classes, namely : the political party, the theoretical socialist, and last what might be called a general tendency. 20. Starting with the pioneer days and up to the present time every energy was set forth to lay low the forests and to get homes from the wilderness. C. Words Sometimes Confused in Meaning Use the word which accurately expresses the thought. 1. The climate of California is very (healthful, healthy). 2. (Leave, let) me have the book. 3. He is afraid that he will (loose, lose) his position. 4. The (principal, principle) speaker of the day was Colonel Walker. 5. I cannot run (as, like) he can. 6. An hour ago he (laid, lay) down to sleep. 141 DICTION 7. I fear we are (liable, likely) to be punished. 8. The scolding did not much (affect, effect) him. 9. The light roller presses down the bricks so that the steam roller will break (fewer, less) of them. ID. Whittier makes many (allusions, illusions) to the Bible. 11. Bread will (raise, rise) much more quickly in a warm place than in a place where there is a draft. 12. It hardly seems (credible, creditable) that a small child could walk ten miles. 13. I can't write a letter on this (stationary, stationery). 14. He (sets, sits) at the head of the table. 15. He spoke to the stranger (respectfully, respectively). 16. Did the president (affect, effect) a settlement of the strike? 17. I cannot (accept, except) help from anyone. 18. Are the guests (already, all ready) for dinner? 19. Is the train moving or (stationary, stationery) ? 20. It is (apt, likely, liable) to be pleasant tomorrow. D. Colloquialism, Slang, Faulty Idiom, etc. The diction of the following sentences is incorrect or inappropriate for written discourse. Improve the sen- tences. 1. I was kind of tired this morning, but now I feel alright. 2. I should of known better. 3. A young lady and myself went walking. 4. He is out of town for a couple days. 5. I feel some better now. 6. He will benefit greatly from the results. 7. The Puritans were a very odd acting people. 8. I like camping because of many reasons. 9. Cook your meal, and after you are finished eating, wash the dishes. 10. He is a regular genius of a bookkeeper. 11. It is hard to see how humans can live in such tenements. 12. The soldiers destroyed property without the least regard of who owned it. T42 69 DICTION 13. She was crazy for an invite to the hop. 14. It was up to me to get out before there was something doing. 15. The Gettysburg Address is very simple of understanding though very strong of meaning. 16. When we become located in a desirable locality, we intend to pay off some of our social indebtedness. 17. Have some local glass dealer to mend the broken door, and - send us the bill for the same. 18. The first part of Franklin's Autobiography is different than the latter part, which he wrote after the Revolutionary War. 19. In 1771 a fellow by the name of Arkwright established a mil) in which spinning machines were run by water power. 20. Each day has brought closer to home the truth that the condi- tion of mankind in one part of the world is certain to effect the equilibrium of mankind in most all other parts of the world. <43 70 • SPELLING No one is able to spell all unusual words on demand. But every one must spell correctly even unusual words in formal writing. The writer has time or must take time to consult a dictionary. The best dictionaries are Webster's Nezv International Dictionary, the Standard Dictionary (less conservative than Webster's), the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (Volume 11 of the Century is the best place to look for proper names), and Murray's Nezv English Dictionary (very thorough, each word being illustrated with numerous quotations to show historical development). An abridged edition of one of these (the price is one to three dollars) should be accessible to each student who cannot buy the larger volumes. The best are : Webster's Secondary School Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls Desk Standard Dic- tionary, the Oxford Concise Dictionary, and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. But the student will be spared constant recourse to the dictionary, and will save himself much time and many humiliations, if he wull employ the rules and prin- ciples which follow. Recording Errors 70. Keep a list of all the words you misspell, copying them several times in correct form. Concentrate your effort upon a few words at a time — upon those words which you yourself actually misspell. The list will be shorter than you think. It may comprise not more than twenty or thirty words. Unless you are extraordinarily defi- 144 SPELLING cient, it will certainly not comprise more than a hundred or a hundred and fifty. Find where your weakness lies ; then master it. You can accomplish the difficult part of the task in a single afternoon. An occasional review, and constant care when you write, will make your mas- tery permanent. " Afternhis, and only after this, begin slowly to learn the spelling of words which you do not yourself use often, but whkh are a desirable equipment for all edu- cated men. See the list under 79. Concentrate your efforts upon a feiv zvords at a time. It is better to know a few exactly than a large number hazily. Form the mental habit of being always right with a small group of words, and extend this group gradually. Exercise : Prepare for your instructor a corrected list of words which you have misspelled in your papers to the present time. Pronouncing Accurately 71. Avoid slovenly pronunciation. Careful articulation makes for correctness in spelling. Watch the vowels of unaccented syllables ; give them distinct (not exaggerated) utterance, at least until you are familiar with the spelling. Examples: separate, opportunity, everybody, sophomore, di- vine. Sound accurately all the consonants between syllables, and do not sound a single consonant twice. Ex- amples: candidate, government, surprise (not sup prise), omission (compare occasion), defer (compare differ). 14s 71 SPELLING Sound the g in final -ing. Examples: eating, run- ning. Pronounce the -al of adverbs derived from adjec- tives in -ic or -al. Examples : tragically, occa- sionally, generally, ungrammatically. Do not transpose letters ; place each letter where it belongs. Examples: perspiration (not prespiror lion), tragedy (not trade gy). Note. — The principle of phonetic spelling as stated above applies to many words, but by no means to all. The Simplified Spelling Board would extend this principle by changing the spelling of words to correspond with their actual sounds. It recommends such forms as tho, thru, cnuf, quartet, catalog, program. If the student employs these forms, he must use them con- sistently. jNIany writers oppose simplified spelling; many advocate it; many compromise. Others desire to supplant our present alphabet with one more nearly phonetic, and prefer, until this fundamental reform takes place, to preserve our present spelling as it is. Exercise : Copy the following words slowly, pronouncing the syllables as you write: accidentally, accommodate, accurately, artistically, athletics (not atheletics), boundary, candidate, cavalry, commission, curiosity, defer, definite, description, despair, different, dining room, dinned, disappoint, divide, divine, emphat- ically, eighth, everybody , February, finally, god- dess, government , hundred, hurrying , instinct, laboratory, library, lightning , might have (not might of), naturally, necessary, occasionally, omis- sion, opinion, opportunity, optimist, partner, per- 146 SPELLING form, perhaps, perspiration , prescription, primi- tive, privilege, probably, quantity, really, recog- nize, recommend , reverence, separate, should have (not should of), sophomore ,■ strictly , superintend- ent, surprise, tc mperance , tragedy, usually, whether. • Logical Kinship in Words 72. Get help in spelHng a difficuh word by thinking of re- lated words. To think of ridiculous will prevent your writing a for the second i of ridicule; to think of ridi- cule will prevent your writing rcdiculous. To think of prepare will prevent your writing prepcraticn; to think of preparation will forestall prcparitory. To think of busy will save you from the monstrosity buis- ness. To think of the prefixes re- (meaning again) and dis- (meaning not), and the verbs commend and appoint, will prevent your writing recommend or dis- appoint with a double c or s. Note. — The relationship between words is not always a safe guide to spelling. Observe four, forty; nine, nintli; maintain, maintenance ; please, pleasant; speak, speech; prevail, prevalent. Do not confuse the follow- ing prefixes, which have no logical connection : ante- (before) anti- (against, opposite) de- (from, about) dis- (apart, away, not) per- (through, entirely) pre- (before) Exercise : I. Write the nouns corresponding to the following verbs: pre- pare, allude, govern, represent. 147 73 SPELLING 2. Write the adjectives corresponding to the following nouns and the nouns corrcbpondnig to the following adjectives: desperation, ridiculous, »iiiaculous, grammatical, arith- metical, busy. 3. Write the adverbs corresponding to the following adjectives: real, sure, actual, hurried, accidental, incidental, gram- matical. 4. Copy the following pairs of related words or related forms of words: labor, laboratory; debate, debater; base, based; deal, dealt; chose, chosen; mean, meant. 5. Write each of the following words with a hyphen between the prefix and the body of the word : describe, description, disappoint, disappear, disease, dissatisfy, dissever, permit, perspire, prescription, preconceive, recommend, recollect, reconsider, antedate, antecedent, anticlimax, antitoxin. Superficial Resemblances between Words 73. Guard against misspelling a word because it bears a su- perficial resemblance, in sound or appearance, to some other word. Most of the words in the following list have no logical connection ; the resemblance is one of form only (angel, angle). But a few words are in- cluded which are different in spelling in spite of a logical relation (breath, breathe). accept (to receive) all right except (to exclude, with exclu- almost sion of) already advice (noun) altogether advise (verb) always affect (to influence in part) alley (a back street) effect (to bring to pass totally) ally (a confederate) allusion (a reference) altar (a structure used in wor- illusion (a deceiving appear- ship) ance) alter (to make otherwise) 148 73 SPELLING angel (a celestial being) angle (the meeting place of lines) baring (making bare) barring (obstructing) bearing (carrymg) born {brought nito being) bortie (carried) breath (noun) breathe (verb) •• capital (a city) Capitol (a building) canvas (a cloth) canvass (to solicit) clothes (garments) cloths (pieces of cloth) coar?c (not fine) course (route, method of havior) conscious (aware) conscience (an inner moral sense) dairy diary device (noun) devise (verb) desert (a barren country) dessert (food) dining room dinning disappear disappoint disavowal two dissatisfaction dissimilar dissipate dissuade decent (adjective) descent (downward slope or mo- tion) dissent (a disagreement) dual (adjective) duel (noun) formally (in a formal way) formerly (in time past) forth forty four fourth freshman be. freshmen (not used as adjec- tive) gambling (wagering money on games of chance) gamboling (frisking or leaping with joy) guard regard hear here hinder hindrance holly (a tree) holy (hallowed, sacred) wholly (altogether) 149 73 SPELLING hoping (from hope) hopping instance (an example) instants (periods of time) isle (an island) aisle (a narrow passage) its (possessive pronoun) it's (contraction of it is) Johnson, Samuel J on son, Ben later (comparative of late) latter (the second) lead (present tense) led (past tense) lessen (verb) lesson (noun) perceive perform persevere persuade purchase pursue personal (private, individual) personnel (the body of persons engaged in some activity) Philippines Filipino plain (clear; adjective) plain (fiat region: noun) plane (flat; adjective) plane (geometrical term; noun) planed (past tense of plane) planned (past tense of plan) liable (expresses responsibility or disagreeable probability) likely (expresses probability) pleasant please precede loose (free, not bound) lose (to suffer the loss of) proceed succeed exceed these three are the " double e group " maintain concede maintenance intercede nineteenth ninetieth ninety ninth past (adjective, adverb, preposi- tion) passed (verb, past tense) recede supersede precedence (act or right of pre- ceding) precedents (things said or done before, now used as authority or model) presence (state of being pres- peace (a state of calm) ent) piece (a fragment) presents (gifts) 150 73 SPELLING prevail prevalent principal (chief, leading, the leading official of a school, a sum of money) principle (a general truth) quiet (still) quite '(completely) rain reign (rule of a monarch) rein (part of a harness) respectfully (" Yours respect- fully") respectively (in a way proper to each — should never be used to close a letter) right rite (ceremony) write shone (past tense of shine) shown (past tense of show) seize siege sight (view, spectacle) site (situation, a plot of ground reserved for some use) cite (to bring forward as evi- dence) speak speech Spencer. Herbert (scientist) Spenser, Edmund (poetj stationary (not moving) stationery (writing materials) statue (a sculptured likeness) stature (height, tigure; statute (a law) steal (,to take by theft) steel (a variety of iron) than then their (belonging to them) there (in that place) they're (they are) therefor (to that end, for that thing) therefore (for that reason) till until to too two track fan imprint, or a road) tract (an area of land) tract (a treatise on religion) village villain wandering wondering weak (not strong) week (seven days) weather whether whole (entire) hole (an opening) who's (who is; whose (the possessive of who) your (indicates i)ossession) you're (contraction of you are) 151 74 SPELLING Exercise : 1. Insert to, too, or tzvo: He is tired walk the miles the town. Then , it is late catch a car. It is minutes of . It is bad. 2. Insert lose or loose: Vou will your monej- if you carry it in your pocket. We are ing time. The sailor ens the rope. Did you your ticket? 3. Insert speak or speech: I was ing with our' congressman about his recent . I from experience. 4. Insert plan or plane: The architect's was accepted. The carpenter's cuts a long shaving. The carpenter does not the house. 5. Insert quite or quiet: The baby is ly sleeping. She is well now, but last night she was sick. Be . Walk ly when you go. Words in ei or ie 74. Write i before e When sounded as ee Except after c. Examples : belieze, grief, chief; but receive, deceive, ceiling. Exceptions : Neither financier seized either species of Zi'eird leisure. (Also a few uncommon words, like seignior, inveigle, plebeian.) Rules based on a key-word, lice, Alice, Celia {i follows / and e follows c) apply after two consonants only, and do not help one to spell a word like grief. Rule 74 applies after all consonants. Note. — The words in which the sound is ee are the words really diffictilt to spell. When the sound is any other than ee (especially when it is a), i usually follows 152 75 SPELLING Examples: veil, n'cigli, freight, neighbor, height, sleight, heifer, counterfeit, foreign, etc. Exceptions : ancient, friend, sieve, mischief, fiery, tries, etc. Exercise : Write the fallowing words, supplying ei or ie: conc—t, retr—ve, dec—tful, n—ce, y—ld, p—ce, s—ge, s—se, rec—pt, n—thcr, zf—rd, rel—ve, I— sure, f—ld, v—n, r—gn, sover—gn, sl—gh, hr—f, dec—ve. r—fl, f—nt, perc—ve, zv—ld, gr—zous, —thcr. Doubling a Final Consonant 75. Monosyllables and words accented on the final syllable, if they end in one consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Examples: (a) Words derived from monosyllables: plan-ned, clan-nish, get-ting, hot-test, bag-gage, (b) Words derived from words accented on the final syl- lable : begin-ning, repel-lent, unregret-tcd. Note I. — There are four distinct steps in the application of this rule. ( i ) The primary word must be found. To decide whether begging contains two g's, we must first think of beg. (2) The primary word must be a monosyllable or a word accented on the final syllable. Hit and allot meet this test ; open does not. Deferred and differed, preferred and proffered, committed (or committee) and prohibited double or refrain from doubling the final consonant of the primary word ac- cording to the position of the accent. The seeming dis- crepancy between preferred and preferable, between con- 153 76 SPELLING f erred and conference, is due to a shifting of the accent to the first syllable in the case of preferable and con- ference. (3) The primary word must end in one con- sonant. Trace, oppose, interfere, help, reach, and per- form fail to meet this test, and therefore in derivatives do not double the last consonant. Assurance has one r, as it should have ; occurrence has two r's, as it should have. (4) The final consonant of the primary word must be preceded by a single vowel. This principle ex- cludes the extra consonant from needy, daubed, and proceeding, and gives it to running. Note 2. — After q, u has the force of iv. Hence quitting, qnicses, squatter, acquitted, equipped, and similar words are not really exceptions to the rule. Exercise: 1. Write the present participle (in -ing) of din (not dine), begin, sin (compare shine), stop, prefer, rob, drop, occur, omit, sziim, get, commit. 2. Write the past tense (in -ed) of plan (not plane), star (compare stare), stop (compare slope), lop (not lope), hop (not hope), tit, benefit, occur (compare cure), offer, confer, bat (compare abate). Final e before a SufBx Beginning with a Vowel 76. Words that end in silent e usually drop the e in deriva- tives or before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Examples: bride, bridal: guide, guidance; please, pleasure; fleece, fleecy; force, forcible; argue, arguing; arrive, arrival; conceive, conceivable ; college, collegiate; zvrite, li'riting ; use. using; change, changing; judge, judging; believe, believing. »54 77 SPELLING Note I. — Of the exceptions some retain the e to prevent confusion with other words. Exceptions : dyeing, singeing, mileage, acreage, lioeing, shoeing, agreeing, eyeing. The exceptions cause comparatively little trouble. One rarely sees hoing or shoing ; he often sees hopcing and invitcing. Note 2. — After c or g and before a suffix beginning with a or the e is -retained. The purpose of this retention is to preserve the soft sound of the c or g. (Observe that c and g have the hard sound in cable, gable, cold, go.) Examples : peaceable, changeable, noticeable, service- able, outrageous, courageous, advantageous. Exercise : 1. Write the present participle of the following words: use, love, change, judge, shake, hope, shine, have, seize, slope, strike, dine, coniii, place, argue, achieve, emerge, arrange, abide, oblige, subdue. 2. Write the present participle of the following words: singe, tinge, dye, agree, eye. 3. Write the -ous or -able form of the following words : trace, love, blame, move, conceive, courage, service, advantage, umbrage. 4. Write the adjectives which correspond to the following nouns: force, sphere, vice, sense, fleece, college, hygiene. 5. Write the nouns which correspond to the following verbs: please, guide, grieve, arrive, oblige, prepare, inspire. Plurals 77a. Most nouns add s or es to form the plural. Ex- amples: uord, words; tire, fires; negro, negroes; Es- kimo, Eskimos: leaf, leaves (f changes to v for the sake of euphony) ; knife, knives. 15s 77 SPELLING b. Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant (or by u as w) change the y to i and add es to form the plural. Examples: sky, skies, lady, ladies; colloquy, collo- quies; soliloquy, soliloquies. Other nouns ending in y form the plural in the usual way. Examples: day, days; boy, boys; monkey, mon- keys; valley, valleys. C. Compound nouns usually form the plural by adding s or es to the principal word. Examples : sons-in-laz^', passers-by; but stand-bys. d. Letters, signs, and sometimes figures, add 's to form the plural. Examples : Cross your t's and dot your i's; ?'s; $'s; 3's or 3s. e. A few nouns adhere to old declensions. Examples: ox, oxen; child, children; goose, geese; foot, feet; mouse, mice; man, men; n'oman, zvomen; sheep, sheep; deer, deer; szvine, szvine. f. Words adopted from foreign languages sometimes re- tain the foreign plural. Examples: alumnus, alumni; alumna, aluniiicv; fungus, fungi; focus, foci; radius, radii; datum, data; medium, media; phenomenon, phenomena; stratum, strata; analysis, analyses; antithe- sis, antitheses; basis, bases; crisis, crises; oasis, oases; hypothesis, hypotheses; parenthesis, parentheses ; thesis, theses; beau, beaux; tableau, tableaux; Mr., Messrs. (Messieurs) ; Mrs., Mmes. (Mesdames). Exercise : Write the singular and plural of the following words : day, sky, lady, zvife, leaf, loaf, negro, potato, tomato, pass, glass, boat, 156 78 SPELLING beet, flash, crash, bead, box, passenger, messenger, son-in-law, Snntli, Jones, jack-o'-laiitcrn, hanger-on, stratum, datum, phe- nomenon, crisis, basis, thesis, analysts. Compounds TSa. Use a hyphen between two or more words which serve as a single adjective before a noun: iron-bound bucket, well-kept lawn, tzvelve-inch main, normal-school teacher, up-to-date methods, tiventicth-century ideas, devil-may-care expression, a tzccnty-doUar-a-zceek clerk. But when the words follow the noun, the hyphen is omitted. The la'wn ts iccll kept. Methods up to date in every ivay. Also adverbs ending in -ly are not ordinarily made into compound modifiers: nicely kept lawn, securely guarded treasure. b. Use a hyphen between members of a compound noun when the second member is a preposition, or when the writing of two nouns solid or separately might confuse the meaning : runner-up, kick-off ; letting- doxi'n of effort, so)i-in-law, jack-o'-lantcru, Pedro was a bull-tighter, a zvoman-hater. Did you ever see a shoe- polish like this? C. Use a hyphen in compound numbers from twenty- one to ninety-nine, and in fractions according to the following examples: Tzi'enty-three, eighty-nine ; but one hundred and one. Twenty-third, one-hundred-and-first man. Three-fourths, four and tzvo-thirds, thirty-hundredths, thirty-one hundredths. 157 78 SPELLING But omit the hyphen in simple fractions when loosely used: Three quarters of )iiy life are spent. One third of his for til lie. d, A hyphen is not used in the following common words : airship, altogether, anybody, baseball, basketball, every- body, football, (joodby, herself, handbook, himself, inas- much, itself, midnight, myself, nevertheless, nobody, nothing (but no one), noztadays, railroad, themselves, together, typczcntten, zvherezer, nithout, zcorkshop, yourself. e. For words that do not come within the scope of rules, consult an up-to-date dictionary. Compounds tend, with the passing of time, to grow together. Once men wrote steam boat, later steam-boat, and finally steamboat. New-coined words are usually hyphenated ; old words are often written solid. The degree of intimacy be- tween the parts of a compound word afifects usage ; thus we write sun-motor, but sunbeam; birth-rate, but birthday; cooling-room, but bedroom; non-conductor, but nonsense. The ease with which a vowel blends with the consonant of a syllal)le adjoining it alTects usage ; thus self-evident, but selfsame; non-e.vistent, but nondescript; un-American, but unzvise. Many com- pounds, however, are still uncontrolled by usage; whether they should be written as two words or one, whether with or without the hyphen, the dictionaries themselves do not agree. Exercise : Copy the following e.xpressions, inserting hyphens where they are necessary: tzventy tivo years old, tzventy tivo dollar bills IS8 SPELLING iuake forty dollars, twenty seven eighths inch boards, a normal school graduate, two handled boxes, a cloth covered basket, blood red sun, water tight compartment, si.xty horse poi\.'er mo- tor, seven dollar bathing suits, a happy go lucky fellow, germ destroying pou'der, he had a son in laiv, passers by on the street, the kick oft is at three o'clock, dark complexioned icoman, silver tongued orator, a dish like valley, a rope like tail, a fish shaped floud, a tduch me not expression, tvill o' the wisp, well to do merchant, rough and tumble existoice. 79. SPELLING LIST The English language comprises about 450,000 words. Of these a student uses about 4000 (although he may understand more than twice that number when he encounters them in sentences). Of these, in turn, not more than four or five hundred are frequently mis- spelled. The following list includes nearly all of the words which give serious trouble. Certain American colleges using this list require of freshmen an accuracy of ninety per cent. absurd aggravate analysis ascend academy alley angel asks accept allotted angle athletic accidentally all right annual audience accommodate ally anxiety auxiliary accumulate already apparatus awkward accustom altar appearance acquainted alter appropriate balance acquitted altogether arctic barbarous across alumnus argument baring addressed always arising barring adviser amateur arithmetic baseball aeroplane among arrange based affects analogous arrival 159 bearing 79 SPELLING becoming compelled dictionary excellent before competent difference except beggar concede digging exceptional begging conceivable dilemma exhaust beginning conferred dining room exhilarate believing conquer dinning existence benefited conqueror disappear expense biscuit conscience disappoint experience boundaries conscientious disavowal explanation brilliant considered discipline Britain continuous disease familiar Britannica control dissatisfied fascinate buoyant controlled dissipate February bureau cooperate distinction fiery business country distribute fifth busy course divide finally courteous divine financier calendar courtesy doctor forfeit candidate cruelty don't formally can't cylinder dormitories formerly cemetery drudgery forth certain dealt dying forty changeable debater fourth changing deceitful ecstasy frantically characteristic decide effects fraternity chauffeur decision eighth freshman choose deferred eliminate (adj.) chose definite embarrass friend chosen descend eminent fulfil clothes describe encouraging furniture coarse description enemy column derived equipped gallant coming despair especially gambling commission desperate etc. generally committee destroy everybody goddess comparative device exaggerate government compel devise exceed governor i6o 79 SPELLING grammar intelligence Massachusetts officers grandeur intentionally material omitted grievous intercede mathematics omission guard irresistible mattress opinion guess its meant opportunity guidance it's messenger optimistic itself miniature original harass invitation minutes outrageous haul mischievous overrun having judgment Mississippi height •■ misspelled paid hesitancy knowledge momentous pantomime holy month parallel hoping laboratory murmur parliament huge ladies muscle particularly humorous laid mysterious partner hurriedly later pastime hundredths latter necessary peaceable hygienic lead negroes perceive led neither perception imaginary liable nickel peremptory imitative library nineteenth perform immediately lightning ninetieth perhaps immigration likely ninety permissible impromptu literature ninth perseverance immkient loneliness noticeable personal incidentally loose nowadays personnel incidents lose perspiration incredulous losing oblige persuade independence lying obstacle pertain indispensable occasion pervade induce maintain occasionally physical influence maintenance occur picnic infinite manual occurred picnicking instance manufacturer occurrence planned instant many occurring pleasant intellectual marriage o'clock politics i6i 79 SPELLING politician really siege there possession recede similar therefore possible receive since they're practically recognize smooth thorough prairie recommend soliloquy thousandths precede reference sophomore till precedence referred speak to precedents regard specimen too preference region speech together preferred religion statement tragedy prejudice religious stationary track preparation repetition stationery tract primitive replies statue transferred principal representative stature tranquillity principle restaurant statute translate prisoner rheumatism steal treacherous privilege ridiculous steel treasurer probably stops tries proceed sacrilegious stopped trouble prodigy safety stopping truly profession sandwich stories Tuesday professor schedule stretch two proffered science strictly typical prohibition scream succeeds tyranny promissory screech successful prove seems summarize universally purchase seize superintendent ""ti^ pursue sense supersede using putting sentence sure usually separate surprise ^fO*^1»^^» 3 for fuel and other minor uses; and B wasteful methods of forestry. Ill The remedies for the depletion are: A reforestation 1 by individuals, 2 by the states, 3 by extension of the present National Forest Reserves ; B the prevention of waste 1 in fires, by insects, etc., 2 in cutting and sawing, 3 in by-products (sawdust, odd lengths, etc.)'; and C the use of substitutes for wood (concrete, steel, brick, stone, etc.). C. A paragraph outline is a series of sentences summariz- ing the thought of successive paragraphs in a com- position. Conform to the following model: 173 86 OUTLINES The Disagreeable Optimist 1. The present age may be called an era of efficiency, prosperity, and optimism, suice elHciency has produced prosperity, and this in turn has produced " optimism " — a word recurrent in common literature and conversation. 2. The optimist is often not natural or sincere, because his thoughts are centered on keeping up an appearance of being happy. 3. He is intrusive, for he thrusts comfort upon those who wish to mourn, and repeats irritating epigrams and poems about cheer. 4. He is undiscriminating, in that he prescribes the same rem- edy, "good cheer," for everybody and for every condition. 5. He is sometimes harmful, because he tells us that the world is going well, when conditions need changing, and need changing badly. d. Mechanical details. Indent headings that are coordi- nate (that is, of equal value) an equal distance from the margin. One inch to the right is a good distance for successive subordinate headings. Use Roman nu- merals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, and small let- ters to indicate the comparative rank of ideas. When a heading runs over one Hue. use hanging indention ; that is, do not allow the second line to run back to the left- hand margin, but indent it. Make the numerals and letters (/, A, etc.) stand out prominently. The title of a theme should not be given a numeral or letter. Faulty indention : Sources of energy which may be utilized when the coal supply is exhausted are I Rivers and streams, especially in mountain districts n The tides ni The heat of the sun 174 86 OUTLINES Correct hanging indention ; Sources of energy which may be utihzed when the coal supply is exhausted are I Rivers and streams, especially in mountain districts II The tides III The heat of the sun e. Ideas parallel in thought should be expressed in paral- lel form. Nouns and phrases including nouns are ordinarily used. Faulty parallelism : Advantages of a garden: 1 Profitable 2 It afifords good exercise 3 Gives pleasure Right : Advantages of a garden: 1 Profit 2 Exercise 3 Pleasure f. Avoid faulty coordination (giving two ideas equal rank, when one should be subordinated to the other) and vice versa, avoid faulty subordination. Faulty coordination : How Seeds Scatter I By Wind II Some Seeds provided with parachutes III Others light, and easily blown about IV By Water V By Animals I7S 86 OUTLINES Right ; How Seeds Scatter I By Wind A Some seeds provided with parachutes B Others Hght, and easily blown about II By Water III By Animals g. Avoid detailed subordination. Especially avoid a single subheading when it can be joined to the pre- ceding line, or omitted. Too detailed : A The McClellan Orchard 1 Situation a On a northern slope 2 Nature of soil a Sandy 3 Kind of fruit a Apple b Cherry Right : A The McClellan Orchard 1. Situation: a northern slope 2. Nature of soil : sandy 3- Kind of fruit: apple and cherry Exercise : I. Give a title to an outline which shall include the following topics. Group the topics under two main headings, and give the headings names. Uses of the Grape The Vine The Fruit Itself How Marketed How Cultivated 176 87 LETTERS 2, Place in order the sentences of the following outline on "Why Keep a Diary?' Subordinate some of the headings to others. A diary affords great satisfaction in future years. We sometimes record m a diary information which proves useful. A few lines a day will suffice. A diary is not hard to keep. We may find time for writing in our diary if we do not \>caste time at the table or on newspapers. We may write in our diary just before we go to bed. A diary will bring back the past. We all have some moments to kill. A diary gives us pleasure even in the present. 3. Place in order the headings of the following outline on " Ulysses S. Grant." Subordinate some of the headings to others. Obscurity in 1861 Prominence in 1865 Patience President General Perseverance and Resolution Character The Turning Point in His Career Letters The parts of a letter are the heading, the inside ad- dress, the greeting, the body, the close, and the signa- tmre. For these parts good use prescribes definite forms, which we may sometimes ignore in personal letters, but must rigidly observe in formal or business letters. 87a. The heading of a letter should give the full address of the writer and the date of writing. Do not abbreviate short words, or omit Street or Avenue. 177 87 LETTERS Objectionable: #15 Hickory, Omaha. Right: 15 Hickory Street, Omaha, Nebraska. Objectionable; 4/12/iy; io-j8-'i6; May 2nd, 1910. Right: April 12, 1919; October 28, 191b; May 2, 1910. The following headings are correct: 106 East Race Street, Red Oak, Iowa, August 4, 1916. 423 Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois May 20, 1918 Prescott, Arizona, June i, 1920. ]\Tote. — In personal letters the heading may be trans- ferred to the end, below the signature, at the left- hand side. But it must not be so divided that the street address will appear in one place and the town and state in another. The "closed" form of punctuation (the use of punctuation at the ends of the lines) is best until the student learns what is correct. Afterward, the adop- tion of the " open " form becomes purely a matter of individual taste and not a matter of carelessness or ignorance. b. An inside address and a greeting are required in busi- ness letters. Personal letters contain the greeting, but may omit the inside address, or may supply it at the end of the letter. The Jeffrey Chemical Works, 510 Marion Street, Norfolk, Virginia. Gentlemen : 178 LETTERS 87 Mr. Joseph N. Kellogg 141 1 Lake Street Cleveland, Ohio Dear Mr. Kellogg: Secretary of Rice Institute, Houston, Texas. My 'dear Sir :~ Greetings used in business letters are: My dear Sir : My dear Madam: My dear Mr. Fisher: Dear Sir: Greetings used in personal letters are : My dear Miss Brown : Dear Professor Ward : Dear Jones, Sir: Sirs: Gentlemen ; Ladies ; Dear Mrs. Vincent, Dear Robert, Dear Ohve. " My dear Miss Brown " is more ceremonious than " Dear Miss Brown ". As a rule, the more familiar the letter, the shorter the greeting. A colon follows the greeting if the letter is formal or long; a comma, if the letter is familiar or in the nature of a note. Both inside address and greeting begin at the left-hand margin. The body of the letter begins on the line below the greeting, and is indented as much as an ordi- nary paragraph (about an inch). C. The body of a letter should be written in correct style. I. Do not omit pronouns, or write a " telegraphic style ". Wrong: Just received yours of the 21st, and in reply would say your order has been filled and shipped. 179 87 LETTERS Right: 1 have your letter of March twenty-first Your or- der was promptly tilled and shipped. 2. The idea that it is immodest to use / is a superstition. Undue repetition of / is of course awkward; but entire avoidance of it is silly. 3. Use simple language. Say " your letter " ; not " your kind favor ", or " yours duly received ", or " yours of the 2 1 St is at hand ". 4. Avoid " begging " expressions which you obviously do not mean, especially the hackneyed " beg to advise ". Wrong: Received yours of the 3rd instant, and beg to ad- vise we are out of stock. Right: We received your order of March 3. We find that we have no more dinmg-room chairs B 2-4-6 in stock. Wrong : I beg to enclose a booklet. Right : I enclose a booklet. Wrong: Permit us to say that prices have been advanced. Right: The prices on our goods have been advanced. 5. Avoid the formula " please find enclosed ". The reader will find what is enclosed ; if you use ** please ", let it refer to what the reader shall do with what is enclosed. Wrong: Enclosed please find 10 cents, for which send me Bulletin 58. Right : I enclose ten cents, for which please send me Bulletin 58. 6. Avoid unnecessary commercial slang: On the job, A-i service, O. K., your ad, popular-priced line, this party, as per schedule. 7. Get to the important idea quickly. In applying for a position, do not beat around the bush, or say you 180 87 LETTERS •' wish to apply ' ' or " would apply ", Begin, " I make application for . . .", " kindly consider my application for . . .", or '* I apply . . ." 8. Group your ideas logically. Do not scatter informa- tion. A letter applying for a position might consist of three paragraphs: Personal qualifications (age, health, education, etc. ) ; Experience (nature of posi- tions, dates, etc.) ; References (names, business or profession, exact street address). Finish one group of ideas before passing to the next. g. Do not monotonously close all letters with a sentence beginning with a participle : Hoping to hear from you . . . , Asking your cooperation . . . , Awaiting your further favors . . . , Trusting this zvill he satis- factory . . . , Wishing you . . . , Thanking you .... The independent form of the verb is more emphatic (see 42) ; I hope to hear from you . . . , We await further orders . . . , We ask cooperation .... I, The close should be consistent in tone with the greet- ing. It is written on a separate line, beginning near the middle of the page, and is followed by a comma. Only the first word is capitalized. Preceding expres- sions like "I am", "I remain", "As ever'", (if they are used at all) belong in the body of the letter. Right : I thank you for your courtesy, and remain Yours sincerely, Robert Blair Right: I shall be grateful for any further information you can give me. Yours truly, Florence Mitchell 181 87 LETTERS in business letters the following forms are used : Yours truly, Very truly yours, Yours respectfully, In personal letters the following are used : Yours truly, Yours sincerely, Sincerely yours. Cordially yours, e. The outside address should follow one of the forms given below: R. E. Stearns =,12 Chapel Hill St. Durham, N. C. Mr. Donald Kemp 3314 Salem Street Baltimore Maryland Bentley Davis 906 Park Street Ogden, Utah Rogers, Mead, and Company 2401 Eighth Avenue Los Angeles California 182 87 LETTERS Note. — An abbreviation in an address is followed by a period. Punctuation is also correct, but not necessary, after every line (a period after the last line, and a comma after the others). A married woman is ordinarily addressed thus: Mrs. George H. Turner. But a title belonging to the hus- band should not be transferred to the wife. Wrong: Mrs. Dr. Jenkins, Mrs. Professor Ward. Right: Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Ward. Reverend Mr. Beecher is a cor- rect address for a minister; not "Rev. Beecher". If a title of respect is placed before a name (Professor, Dr., Honorable), it is undesirable to place another title after the name (Secretary, M. D., Ph.D., Principal, Esq.). f. Miscellaneous directions. Writing should be centered on the page, not crowded against the top, or against one side. Letter paper so folded that each sheet is a little book of four pages is best for personal correspond- ence. Both sides of such paper may be written on. The pages may be written on in any order which will be convenient to the reader. An order like that of the pages in a printed book (i, 2, 3, 4) is best. Business letters are visually written on one side only of fiat sheets 8i by 11 inches in size. The sheet is folded once horizontally in the middle, and twice in the other direction, for insertion in the envelope. g. A business letter should have, in general, the following form: 183 87 LETTERS 15 16 South Garrison Avenue, Carthage, \]ibbouri, May 14, 1918. J. E. Pratt, General Superintendent, The Southwest Missouri Railroad Company, 1012 North Madison Street, Webb City, Missouri. Dear Sir : 1 apply for a position as mechanic's assistant in the electrical department of your shops. 1 am nineteen years old, and in good physical condition. On June 6 I shall graduate from Carthage High School, and after that date I can begin work immediately. 1 have had no practical experience in electrical work. But I have for two years made a special study of physics, in and out of school. I worke7 Repeated carelessly, 38 Conjunctive adverbs Defined. 58 Punctuation with, 92c Connectives, 8, 36, 27^ 38 Consonants Between syllables, 71, 85 Final (in spelling), 75 Dangling gerund, 22, Dangling participle, 2^ Dash, 94 Dates, Writing of, 84, 9ie Declension, 58 Definition, 6 Note Dialogue Paragraphing, 88c Punctuation before, 9ih, 93a Punctuation in, g6 Diction, Faulty (list), 68 Different than, 68 Divided reference, 20 Don't. 5id Double capacity, Words in, 57 Double negative, 34 Note Droivnded. 68 Due to, Proper use of, 5 Note, 22, Note, 68 Each, Number of, 51a ri or ie, 74 Either. Number of, 51a Either ... or, 31 Ellipsis Defined, 58 Misuse of, 3, 23 Note Emigrate and immigrate, 67 Emphasis By brevity, 41 By position, 40 By repetition, 47 By separation, 41 By subordination, 42, 14 By variety, 48 Enthuse, 68 224 INDEX The numbers refer to articles. Etc., Use of, 68 Euphemism, 6i Ever, Position of, 27 Every, every one, everybody. Number of, 51a Exclamation point, 980 Exact connective, 36 Eiact worcl, 62 Figures, Use of, 84 Figures of speech. Mixed, 35 Final consonant Ci" spelling), 75 Final c before a suttix, 76 Fine, Abuse of, 68 Fine writing, 61 Flowery language, 61 Formal invitations, 87h Former, 68 Gent, 68 Geographical names, pie Gerund Dangling, 23 Defined, 58 With possessive, 50g Good use, 65, 66 Gotten, 68 Grammar, 50-59 Grammatical terms, 58 Guess, 68 Hackneyed expressions, 61 Had ought, 68 Handwriting, 80c Hanged and hung, 67 Healthy and healthful, 67 Historical present. 3;^ Note Hoivever, Position of, 27 Human, humans, 68 Hygienic and sanitary, 67 Hyphen Between syllables, 85 In compound words, 78 Idioms, 65 Illogical thought, 4, S, 6, 7 Imagery mixed, 35 Impersonal construction. Need- less use of, 60 Improprieties, 60 Incomplete construction, "i. Indefinite it, you, they, 22 Nott Indention of paragraphs, 88 Intlection, 58 Infinitive Case with, 5oe Defined, 58 Sign of, to be repeated, 37 Split, 28 Tense of, 55 Instants and instance, 67 Interjections Defined, 58 Punctuation of, gie. 98e Invitations, Formal, 87h Is tvhen clauses, 6 Is ivhere clauses, 6 Italics, 82, 96e Its (possessive adjective), without apostrophe, 5of, 97d Kind of, 68 Later and latter, 67 Lead and led, 67 Learn and teach, 67 Leave and let, 67 Length of paragraph, 88b Length of sentences, 12, 13, 48b Less and feiver, 67 Letters, 87 Liable and likely, 67 Lie and lay, 59D, 67 Like (for as), 67, 68 List Of connectives, 36 Of principal parts, 54 Of grammatical terms, 58 Of words confused in mean- ing, 67 Of words incorrectly used, 68 Of words logically akin, 72 225 INDEX The numbers refer io articles. List — continued Of words confused in spell- ing, 73 For spelling, 79 Loan, 68 Locate, bS Logic, 4, 5, 6, 7 Logical Agreement, 4, 5, 6 Logical Sequence, 2S Lose and loose, 67 Lots of, 68 Majority and f^hirality, 67 Manuscript, 80 .Uiy/// 0/, 68 Misplaced word, 27 Mixed constructions, 34 jMixed imagery, 35 Modal aspects, 58 ]Mode Definition of, 58 Use of subjunctive, 55d ]\lodifiers Grouping of, 24, 25 Needless separation of, 24, Squinting, 26 Wrongly used as sentences, I, 90b Money, 84c Most (for almost), 66, 68 Myself, Needlessly used for / or me, 68 Negative, Double. 34 Note Neither, Number of, 51a A' either . . . nor, 31 Nice, Inaccurate use of, 62, 68 Nicknames, Quotations with, 96d Not only . . . but also, 31 Nouns, Classes of, 58 Numlier Shift in, 33 These kind, etc., 51b Each, Every, etc., 51a Collective nouns, 51c Of verbs, 52 226 Numbers, Use of, 84 Formation of plural, 77d, 97e O and Oh, 68 Objective case, 5od, 5oe Off of. 68 Omission Of words, 3 From quotations, 96i Only, Position of, 27 Outlines. 86 Overlapping thought, 8 Note Owing to, Proper use of, 5 Note Paragraphs, 88 Parallel structure. 30, 31, 45 Parenthesis and parenthetical elements, 91 e, 94a, 95 Participle Dangling, 23 Definition of, 58 Parts of speech, 58 Party. Abuse of, 68 Passive voice, not emphatic, 46 Past tense, Wrong forms of, 54 Past perfect tense, 55 Period, 90, 91b, 92a Note After quotation, 96g Note Not used after question mark, 98b " Period blunder," i, 90b Periodic sentence. 43 Person, Change in, 33 Phonetic spelling, 71 Note Phrases Defined. 58 Not to be used as sentences, I Note Absolute. 9ie Plurals. Spelling of, 77 Poetry to be separated from prose, 41, 80b Point of view. Shift in, 32 Ponderous language, 60 INDEX The numbers Possessive With gerund, 50g Apostrophe with, 5of, 97 Inanimate obiects in, 5oh Practical and practicable, 67 Predicate adjective, 58 Predicate noun, 58 Prefixes, 72 Prepositions Defined. 58 Omitted, 3, Z7 . Repeated carelessly, 38 Principal parts, 54 Principal and principle, 67 Pronouns Agreement with antecedent, ' 5oi Case of, 50 Kinds of, 58 Reference of, 20, 21, 22 Wrong use of myself, your- self, for /, me, you, 68 Pronunciation as a guide to spelling, 71 Proof and evidence, 67 Proposition, Synonyms for, 62 Proven, 68 Pscudo- and quasi-, 67 Quiet and quite, 67 Question mark, 98 Quotation marks vs. italics, 82a Note 2, 96e Quotations Punctuation before, 9ih, 92d, 93a Punctuation of, 96 Reason, Statement of. to be completed by a that clause, 5 Redundance, 60 Reference Ambiguous. 20 Broad, 22 Divided. 20 Impersonal, 22 Note refer to articles. Reference — continued Remote, 20 To a clause, 22 To a title, 21 Note To an unemphatic word, 21 Weak, 21 Reflexive wrongly used for the simple pronoun, 68 Repetition Of connectives, good, 2,7 ; bad, 38 Of structure, good, 47b; bad, 48b Of words, good, 47a ; bad, 48a Respectfully and respectively, 67 Restrictive and non-restrictive clauses, 9id Right smart, 68 Rise and raise, 59D, 67 Said, Synonyms for, 62 Same, Abuse of, 68 Scrappy sentences, 13 Semicolon, 91b, 92, 95b After quotation, 96g Note Not used after question mark, 98b Sequence of tense, 55 Sequence of thought, 25 Series, Punctuation of, 91 f, 9ig, 91J 3 Shall and will, 53 Shift in number, person, or tense, 33 Shift in subject or voice, 32 Should and zcould, 53 Sit and set, 59D, 67 Slang, 66 Quotations with, 96d So, 36 Note, 68 Some, Abuse of, 68 Somezi'heres, 68 Sound. 64 Spacing, 80b Specific words, 63 227 INDEX 28 Spelling, 70-79 Spilt cunstruction Split intinitive, 28 Squinting, 20 Stationary and stationery, 67 Statue, stature, and statute, 67 Stringy sentences, 12. 14 Subject in nominative case, 50a Subjunctive mode Detined, 58 Use of. 53d Subordinating conjunctions Defined, 58 Enumerated, 36 Subordination Necessary, 12, 13, 14 Faulty, 15, 16, 17, 42 And which, 17 Substantive defined, 58 Such, 68 Suffixes, 75. 76 Superlative degree in compari- sons, 4, 58 Sure and surely, 68 Suspicion, 68 Syllabication, 85 Syntax defined, 58 Tautology, 60 Note Technical terms. Quotations with, 96d Tense In dependent clauses, 55a In general statements, 55c Past perfect. 55b Sequence of, 55 Shift in, ^3 Than or as. Case of pronouns after, 50a That there, 68 Them (misused as adjective), 68 The numbers refer to articles. These kind. 51b Those, Omission of relative clause after, 2, 68 Thought undeveloped, 7 Title Capitals in, 81 Reference to, 21 Note Spacing, etc., 80a, 96J Quoted (books, periodicals, etc.), 82a, Q6e Transitions, 8, 36 Trans(^ire, 68 Triteness, 61 Undeveloped thought, 7 Unity, 10-19 Upside-down subordination, 15 Usage, Good, 65, 66 Verbals, 58 Verb, Forms of the, 58 Ways, 68 Weak reference, 21 Where at, 68 While, Abuse of, 36 nin out. 68 Who. whoever, 50b IVoods, 68 Would of. 68 Wordiness, 60 Words Confused in meaning, 67 Confused in spelling, 73 Double capacity of, 57 Misused, 68 Omission of, 3 Yourself wrongly you, 68 used for 228 Ill COMPLETENESSlFr Z J5 ' rggmentsi incomplete I Necessary Aonvb UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ecoTioTOict JUL 1 7 1959 Los Angeles Libra^'3 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-40to-7,'56(C790s4)444 Punctuation! pc^od Comma Semicolon Colon ?(3nsonsi omplel'' '.dssm Jinatic 24 .Mro\ 3T" lixed 44 kr c imax 54 ncipcl arts . )und r..- e 7L ± I 9 .1 60 -^ 74 Coil', ^ iialismsj ' University Of California Los Angeles L 007 618 6 3 9 Exercise 29 Exercise 39 Exercise ixercise 59 Exercise 69 f fc Exercise i.ie anmg 1 diclion "^5 . , , . Doubling «n ind/e, a fina' consono. .• TT ^" Plun 78 79 lie SnUTHFRN BFGinNAl I IBRARY rACILITY III ^4 5 nt>€ ■CO 34 1 ash AA 000 352 201 8 gr Exercise 'X rr 99 Exercise