Violation. I took a book from the library which had never been read. Correction. I took from the library a book which had never been read. Examples for Correction. 1. Susan found a diamond ring, assorting rags. 2. A pearl was found, by a sailor, in a shell. 3. A boy was killed, with long hair, by a shot from a rifle. 4. A gentleman called from Germany to pay his respects. 5. He examined the deed that was handed him with great interest. 6. Henry saw the procession pass the house, standing in the yard. 7. The enraged man smothered the child seizing a bolster. 8. Wanted a man to work on a farm, with no bad habits. 9. James found a pocket-book crossing the street near the curbstone. 10. Some clothes were given to a ragged boy made of woollen goods. 11. In one evening I saw twenty-seven meteors sitting on my piazza. 12. Take a tablespoonful before meals undiluted. 13. People ceased to wonder by degrees. 14. He apologized when he saw his mistake like a gentleman. 15. To man has been given the power of speech only. 16. The bride entered with her father, gowned in dainty white tulle. 17. He was only able to go as far as Chicago. 18. He was only successful in accomplishing the result because of hard work. V.-Avoid using long, involved, complex sentences. Long sentences are a fruitful source of annoyance to the reader and the cause of misunderstandings and law-suits. The profoundest thoughts can be expressed in simple words and in short sentences. For proof of this fact, read Professor Drummond's sermon on "Love, the Greatest Thing in the World," Rev. Phillips Brooks's "Symmetry of Life," and the Sermon on the Mount. VI.-Avoid using a verb in the wrong number. Do not use a verb in the plural when a plural adjunct of the subject comes between a singular subject and its verb. This caution is violated in the following sentence: Violation. A succession of accidents have discouraged him. Examples for Correction. 1. The energy of all oppose her. 2. Each of the officers were suspected. 3. Nothing except disappointed hopes remain to them. 4. The greater part of the members were opposed to him. 5. Cæsar with his veterans have conquered Gaul. 6. The encouragement of education and charity were the chief objects of his life. 7. Though they seemed to listen with great attention, not one of them were convinced. 8. Neither of the parties are much better. 9. The derivation of these words are uncertain. 10. To these belong the power of licensing places for the sale of intoxicating drinks. VII.-Avoid improper ellipsis. An ellipsis is the omission of a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the construction. Dependent clauses are often abbreviated into single words or phrases. In analysis and parsing, supply the ellipsis. This caution is violated in the following sentence: Violation. It is important if true. Correction. It is important if it is true. Supply the ellipsis in each of the following sentences: 1. She is as handsome as ever. 2. Love thy neighbor as thyself. 3. I was surprised at the manner he received it. 4. Solon was banished his country. 5. Your friends never blame you for making short credits and calls. 6. It is a long road has no turning. 7. The children thought one way; their parents, another. 8. A topical memory makes a man an almanac ; a talent for debate, a disputant. NOTE. The words omitted as truly belong to the sentence grammatically as the words expressed. Examples for Correction. 1. She placed me near the desk and James at the farther end of the large room. 2. He never has succeeded and never will. 3. It is not so easy to get money as to spend it. 4. It is an offence that does not admit an apology. 5. I cannot remember one of his statements. 6. He is still in the situation you saw him. 7. I would very much rather live with an honest boor than a false gentleman. VIII.-Avoid solecisms. A solecism is a violation of grammatical rules, or of approved idiomatic usage, any impropriety, a monstrosity. The writing habit of the average business man and the talking habit of the average society woman are in a large measure determined by the language used in the daily papers and monthly magazines which they read. In a popular monthly can be found inaugurate for begin, start, or set on foot; splendid for excellent; witness for see; stand point for point of view; youths for boys and girls; conflagration for fire; elegant for delicious (elegant steak); epistolary correspondence for letter-writing. IX. Avoid slang. Slang is inelegant, unauthorized language, consisting of words and expressions of low, illiterate origin and use. Unfortunately slang is much used in newspaper locals and dime novels. It is the dominant language of cheap saloons and vaudeville theatres. Samples: Go it, boys. Come off. Cut it. Keep your eye peeled. He is a hummer. dandy. He is not in it. She is a stunner. He is a X.-Avoid the unnecessary repetition of and. That is, do not use and to connect irrelevant sentences. This caution is violated in the following paragraphs: "The tiger is not a bold hunter and he does not chase his prey, and he hides in the grass by the roadside and in ditches near drinkingplaces, and, like the cat, he waits until the victim is near enough and then pounces suddenly upon it, and cattle soon learn when a tiger is about, and they stay in the open meadows, for they can scent him a long way off, and they keep well away from the tall reeds and thickets." "There is a kind of spider that is called the mason spider, and it builds a house and fixes to it a door, and the door opens and shuts on a hinge like the lid of a box, and this spider digs a hole in the ground about the size of a man's finger, and lines it with silk of its own weaving and keeps it warm and dry, and it makes a trap door of wet earth mixed with a little silk, and the hinges on which this door opens and shuts are made of fine silk; and then there is another kind of spider, called the geometrical spider, and it weaves its web with lines running out like the spokes of a wheel from a centre, and it crosses these with regular lines.” EXERCISE XIX. Transformation of Sentences. TO TEACHER AND PUPIL: Composing is the most important agency in developing power to think and in acquiring mastery of the art of expression. Next in value to composing is the transformation of the thoughts of others into equivalent expressions of our own. A parrot-like knowledge of inflection and rules has ceased to be the goal of linguists in scholarship, and so far as any useful end is concerned, the mere ability to parse and analyze an intricate sentence counts but little.-Professor Huffcut, Cornell University. A sentence is transformed when it undergoes a change in the form of any of its elements without material change in the meaning. The form of a sentence may be changed: I. By the expansion: 1. Of words into phrases. 3. Of phrases into clauses. 4. Of phrases into independent propositions. II. By the contraction: 1. Of independent propositions into clauses. 4. Of clauses into words. |