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Rewrite the following:

EXERCISE.

1. In one we most admire the man, in the other we admire the work the most.

2. William was the more attentive, but his brother studied

more.

3. I am the better writer, but he can compose the best.

4. Philadelphia covers the larger extent of territory, but New York contains the greatest number of inhabitants. 5. Mary is the better singer, but her sister plays the best.

SUGGESTIONS ON STRENGTH.

1. Where Several Adverbial Modifiers are to Occur in Succession, it is best to place those of Time first, those of Place second, and those of Manner last.—Thus,

"Lost, March 1st, on the road from Baltimore to Harrisburg, a book containing some valuable papers."

2. A Sentence may sometimes be Strengthened by Omitting the Verb in Clauses after the First.-Thus,

"Homer was the greater genius; Virgil, the better artist."

3. Strength is sometimes Gained by Omitting both the Subject and its Verb in a Subordinate Clause. Thus,

"He is very fond of company, and is never so happy as when (he is) with his associates."

4. Use Particular rather than General Terms.—Thus, the following sentence becomes stronger by substituting the special term oak, maple, etc., for the word tree:

"A huge tree had fallen across the road."

5. Figurative Language is usually Stronger than Literal Language. Thus, the following sentences, expressed in figurative language, are all stronger than if they were expressed literally:

"The ship leaps from wave to wave."

"The flowers bask in the golden sunshine."

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'Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.”

6. Words, Clauses, and Sentences should.be Arranged to Form a Climax when Possible.-Climax requires that the weaker elements come first and the stronger last. Quintilian's rule is that "A weaker assertion or proposition should never come after a stronger one." What is most emphatic in a sentence is placed last, in order that a strong impression may be left on the reader's mind.

7. In a Conditional Sentence it is usually Best to put the Conditional Clause first.-Thus,

"If a man fail to take proper exercise and rest, his body becomes diseased," is better than "A man's body becomes diseased if he fail to take proper exercise and rest."

8. The Interrogative is sometimes Stronger than the Declarative Form. Thus,—

"Our homes have been desolated and our property wickedly destroyed; and we could not tamely submit to this vandalism." Better, "Our homes have been desolated and our property wickedly destroyed; should we tamely submit to such vandalism?”

9. The Imperative is sometimes Stronger than the Subjunctive Form. Thus,

"If you take from his writings his adjectives and exclamations, you will have but little left."

Better, "Take from his writings his adjectives and exclamations, and you have but little left."

10. An Expression may sometimes be Strengthened by using an Adjective instead of a Prepositional Phrase.—Thus,—

"In matters of money he understood the rules of business perfectly."

Better, "In pecuniary matters he understood the rules of business perfectly."

3. UNITY.

Unity, as a quality of style, requires that a sentence shall contain but one fundamental thought. There may be numerous thoughts, but they must all be subordinate to the main thought. The main proposition may of course contain a number of parts, but these must be so bound together as to convey to the mind the one important thought, and that alone.

Long Sentences.-It requires more than ordinary skill to complete a long sentence without having it become so complicated as to violate both strength and clearness. It also is difficult for the reader to follow long and complicated construction. It is better, therefore, to divide what would otherwise be a long sentence into several sentences.

Blair on Unity.-On the importance of unity Blair says: "This is a capital property. In every composition, of whatever kind, some degree of unity is required in order to render it beautiful. There must be always some connecting principle among the parts. Some one object must reign and be predominant. This, as I shall hereafter show, holds in history, in epic and dramatic poetry, and in all orations. But, most of all, in a single sentence is required the strictest unity. For the very nature of a sentence implies one proposition to be expressed. It may consist of parts, indeed, but these parts must be so closely bound together as to make the impression on the mind of one object, not many."

RULES FOR UNITY.

The following rules are known as "Blair's Four Laws of Unity":

1. In the course of the same sentence do not shift the scene.

The following is a violation of this rule:

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"We left Italy with a fine wind, which continued three days, when a violent storm drove us to the coast of Sardinia, which is free from all kinds of poisonous and deadly herbs except one, which resembles parsley, and which, they say, causes those who eat of it to die laughing."

Here the scene shifts at least twice, and there are three main subjects of thought.

2. Avoid crowding into one sentence heterogeneous ideas. The following sentence from Disraeli's Coningsby is a violation of this rule:

"Coningsby, who had lost the key of his carpet-bag, which he finally cut open with a penknife that he found on his writing-table, and the blade of which he broke in the operation, only reached the drawing-room as the figure of his grandfather, leaning on his ivoryheaded cane and following his guest, was just visible in the distance."

The sentence should be so divided as to leave out of the main sentence all about the opening of the carpet-bag and the breaking of the knife-blade.

3. Avoid an excess of parenthetical clauses.

The following is a violation of the rule:

"Haydn (who was a son of a poor wheelwright, and is best known to us by a noble oratorio called The Creation) wrote excellent music when he was but ten years old."

What Blair says on Parentheses:

"On some occasions parentheses may have a spirited appearance, as prompted by a certain vivacity of thought which can glance happily aside as it is going along. But for the most part their effect is extremely bad, being a sort of wheels within wheels, sentences in the midst of sentences; the perplexed method of disposing of some thought which a writer wants art to introduce in its proper place."

4. Do not add members after a full and perfect close. The following violates the rule:

"When the good news came that our party had been successful, the people were wild with delight, and they immediately began to celebrate the victory by the firing of cannon and the explosion of fireworks, which was a beautiful sight."

Here the words "which was a beautiful sight" should be detached from the preceding part of the sentence, as they serve only to destroy its unity.

SUGGESTIONS.

In addition to Blair's Four Laws, the following suggestions are offered:

1. Do not force concrete and abstract ideas into the same grammatical construction.

Violation.-"On every side they rose in multitudes, armed with rustic weapons and irresistible fury."

Note. In humorous writing and speaking such an arrangement is, however, allowable, as in the expression, "He was delivered from dread and the ill-temper of his wife."

2. Avoid inserting relative clauses in other relative clauses. Note. This is really a corollary to Blair's third law.

Violation.-"Their march was through an uncultivated country, whose savage inhabitants fared badly, having no other riches than a breed of lean sheep, whose flesh was rank and unsavory by reason of their continual feeding upon sea-fish."

Note.-When the relative clauses are co-ordinate, having reference to a common antecedent, unity is not necessarily violated. Thus, the following is correct: "He was a man who was respected by his neighbors, who was loved by his associates, and who was feared by his enemies."

EXERCISE.

Show in what respect the following sentences violate unity, and recast the sentences so as to be correct:

1. Tillotson died this year. He was exceedingly beloved, both

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