Workbook for the Macmillan handbook of English [4 ed.]

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THE mACmillAH

OF

•

illGliSi"!

HANDBOOK KEY GRAMMAR AND USAGE Case Agreement

Sentence Fragment

4

Pronouns:

^

Run-together Sentence

D

Adjectives

O

Subject

O

Verb Forms

1

and

Yerii

& Adverbs

MECHANICS w

Manuscript: Form

O

Capitals

&

Revision

V 10

Abbreviations

& Numbers

Italics

II Syllabication & Hyphens

PUNCTUATION End Punctuation

16

Quotation Marks

Comma

1/

Colon

14

Semicolon

18

Parentheses

15

Apostrophe

19

Too Much Punctuation

12 I

O

& Dash &

SPELLING

20

Spelling Ust

&

Rules

21

Similar Forms

Brackets

HANDBOOK KEY [WORDS AND PHRASES

22

Exactness

23

Appropriateness: Usage

24

Idioms

jLD

OA ZO 07 Z/

Concreteness

Wordiness

^

Conciseness:

w. .J Vividness:

Repetition

Metaphors triteness

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

28

Sentence Unity:

i£7

3^

^'^''* "" ''®'"* *^'

Subordination

3d

Parallel Structure

OU

Reference of Pronouns

36

Comparisons

O

Proper Arrangement

37

Words

Dangling Modifiers

38

Variety

39

Awkwardness & Obscurity

I

32 OQ OO

c Emphasis: .

.

^ ®^ Mu^ch^*^

Position

Active or Passive

Left

^*®^

Out

PHS

40

Adequate Development

XO 4Z

Coherence:

41

Unity in Paragraph

43

Point of

^

Arrangement

.

44 GLOSSARY'

View

Transitions

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2011

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L

THE MACMILLAN HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH

FOURTH EDITION

JOHN M.

KIERZEK and

WALKER GIBSON

!

THE MACMILLAN HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH

THE

MACMILLAN COMPANY New

York

© The Macmillan Company

Fourth Edition

1960

—

no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper. All rights reserved

Fifth Printing 1964

Library of Congress catalog card number: 60-5258

The Macmillan Company, New York Brctt-Macmillan Ltd., Gait, Ontario Printed in the United States of America

M. Kierzek copyright 1939, 1947 and 1954 by The Macmillan Company

Previous editions by John

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The

and Canadian publishers and authors'

following British

agents have kindly granted permission to reproduce material from All quotations granted by

the publications cited.

lishers are credited in the places of their

American pub-

occurrence in the

text.

George Allen & Unwin Ltd. On Education by Bertrand Russell. Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd. Two Cheers for Democracy by E. M. Forster. Jonathan Cape Ltd.: In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, and The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings. Cassell & Company Ltd. Into Battle by Winston Churchill. Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. The Houses in Between by Howard :

:

:

:

Spring. J.

M. Dent & Sons

Ltd.:

Scenes and Portraits by

Van Wyck

Brooks.

Eyre

&

Spottiswoode Ltd.

Autumn

:

Across America by Edwin

Way

Teale.

Hamish Hamilton Ltd. The Big Change by Frederick Lewis and The Second Tree from the Corner by E. B. White. :

&

George G. Harrap

Co. Ltd.

:

Mirror for

Man

Allen,

by Clyde Kluck-

hohn.

William Heinemann Ltd.: Wolfe, Cannery

The Hogarth

Row

Of Time and

the River by

Thomas

by John Steinbeck.

Press Ltd.

:

The Death

of a

Moth and Other

Essays

and Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf. McClelland and Stewart Ltd. Blood, Sweat and Tears by Winston :

Churchill.

Methuen & Co. Ltd. Hills and the Sea by Hilaire Belloc. WiUiam Morris Agency: The Houses in Between by Howard :

Spring.

Paul Reynolds

Ann

&

Son: The

Walkins, Inc.

:

Up

Wind and

Front by

Bill

the

Rain by Thomas Burke.

Mauldin. vii

i9i

PREFACE Those who have used

earlier editions of

The Macmillan Hand-

book of English are familiar with the general plan of Like

its

predecessors, this edition

bined.

It

may

is

this

book.

a rhetoric and handbook com-

be used as either or as both.

Material that can be

most profitably used in classroom instruction has been placed in Material most useful in the marking and revision of

the rhetoric.

papers has been placed in the handbook.

Of

course, one part

supplements the other and enables the teacher to repeat instruction,

when

new

necessary, with

and a

materials

The

fresh approach.

first

part of the book attempts to give the beginner the sort of help-

ful,

common-sense advice about writing that he needs the most

when he

is

The

a beginner.

student

is

introduced to the concept

He

and growing language.

of English as a living

is

then taken

through discussions of grammar as a tool of effective writing, of

and good paragraphs,

building good sentences

to the process of

planning and writing compositions of various kinds and lengths.

The

first

section leads

up

to a discussion of a long

paper based on

the investigation of published material, the most elaborate

and

ambitious project that the student will undertake.

The chapter on Most

the library paper has been entirely rewritten.

of the material in

The system

paper.

of

new, including a new sample research

it is

documentation in footnotes and bibliog-

raphy has been adapted to

suit the

the revised Style Sheet of the

The itself

needs of undergraduates from

Modem

Language

Association.

material of the second part of the book

—

is

organized under forty-four divisions.

—

the

handbook

A comprehensive in-

dex and a theme-correction chart help both the student and the teacher to find any section easily and quickly.

In a

period

methods are

when both

linguistic

in a state of rapid change,

research it is

and pedagogical

essential that a

handix

PREFACE book for students of writing should present from time to time a new and fresh face. Old illustrations become dated; through long use, teaching

devices

lose

their

vitality.

Profiting

from new knowledge, and from the good advice

we have

tried to strengthen

from experience, of other teachers,

and enrich the teaching devices

proved useful and have discarded those that proved weak. of the illustrative material

rewritten.

Most important

simplified so that

its

venient for teacher

is

new;

of

all,

all

of the exercises

more compact and con-

to use.

In the preparation of the fourth edition

we have

received advice

and help from teachers throughout the country, and

we wish

to express

sor

Oscar

and

for his

We

also

have been

perhaps, the handbook has been

forty-four divisions are

and student

that

Much

our deep gratitude.

for that help

Special thanks go to Profes-

New

York University, for his valuable advice help in seeing the book through the press. wish to thank those whose student papers or outlines

Cargill,

we have used

as

examples throughout the book: Hallie Ashton,

Alan Berman, Pat Caven, Shirley Haag, Janet Mcintosh, Marilyn Manley, George R. Powers, Elizabeth Roosa, Michal Rubin, Pearl Swanson, and Audrey Wilsey.

Jeanne

Ball,

John M. Kierzek Walker Gibson

CONTENTS Part

I:

THE EXPRESSION

Chapter

1:

AND COMMUNICATION OF THOUGHT

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The Family

of

Languages

3

Periods of Linguistic Change

4

The Old English Period The Middle English Period Modern English Our Changing Language

5

12

Levels of Usage and Functional Varieties of English

13

6 10

Standard English

16

Standard English: Informal Varieties

21

The Vernacular The Student's Choice

25

Bibliography

31

Chapter 2:

29

THE SENTENCE

A. Grammatical Patterns

32

What Is Grammar? The Parts of Speech Noun

32 34 34

Verb Pronoun

35

Adjective

35

Adverb

36

Preposition

Conjunction

36 36

Interjection

37

35

The Verbals

37

Gerund

38

Participle

38 38

Infinitive

The Elements

of the Simple Sentence

Complements Direct Object Indirect Object

39

40 40 40 xi

CONTENTS Subjective

Objective

Complement Complement

41 41

Retained Object

41

Phrases

42

Prepositional Phrase

42

Verbal Phrase

43

Participial Phrase

43

Absolute Phrase

44

Gerund Phrase

44

Infinitive Phrase

The Elements of The Elements of Noun Clause

the

45

Compound

the

Sentence

Complex Sentence

49

Adjective Clause

50

Adverbial Clause

51

Elements of the Compound-complex Sentence B.

48 48

Rhetorical Patterns

The Problem

of Effectiveness

52 54

54

Long and Short Sentences

56

Uses of Subordination

58

Variation in Order

65

Loose and Periodic Sentences

66

Parallel Structure

and Balance

Euphony and Rhythm

71

THE PARAGRAPH

Chapter 3:

What

74

a Paragraph?

Is

67

Length of Paragraphs

78

The Topic Sentence

78

How

Write a Paragraph

79

Particulars

and Details Examples or Typical Instances

81

Definition

87

to

83

Comparison or Contrast

88

Analogy

90

Methods

in

Combination

Arrangement or Order

in

Paragraphs

Transitions in Paragraphs

Chapter 4:

91

96

Unity in Paragraphs

96 97

THE PROCESS OF PLANNING AND WRITING

Selecting an Appropriate Subject

101

The Autobiographical Sketch

102

xii

CONTENTS The Autobiographical

105

Incident

First Impressions of College

107

The Narrative

108

Incident

110

Descriptions Interpretations of

Home

and Friends

113

Occupations

114

The The

116

Profile Brief,

Informal Book Review

119

Directions, Processes, Organizations

121

"Local Color" Articles

124

Personal Essays

128

Planning the Paper

132

Limiting the Subject

132

Nature of the Plan or Outline

134

The Informal Outline The Process of Synthesis

134

Order

135

The The The The The

134

of Presentation

Chronological Order

135

Inductive Order

135

Order of Enumeration Order of Easy Comprehension Order of Division Conventions of the Formal Outline Beginning the Paper Writing the Paper

136 137 137

138

140 144

Proportion

145

Substance: Use of Details

146

The Ending Chapter 5:

147

WRITING THE LIBRARY PAPER

Importance of the Library Paper

The Use of the Library The Card Catalogue: Basic Guide Call Numbers

151

152 to the Library

152 155

Library of Congress System

156

Dewey Decimal System

156

The Reference Library The General Encyclopedias The Special Encyclopedias The Year Books Guides

to

157 157

157 158

Reference Books

158

Biographical Information Dictionaries and Books of

158

Synonyms

159 xiii

CONTENTS Gazetteers and Atlases

159

Books on Literature

160

Books of Quotations Books on Mythology, Classical Literature Indexes to Periodicals

160 160 160

Indexes to Magazines

160

Indexes to Bulletins

160

Indexes to Newspapers

The

Library Paper

160 162

Choosing the Subject

163

Deciding on the General Field

163

Limiting the Subject

164

Preparing a Working Bibliography

166

Bibliographic Forms

166

Gathering Material and Making Notes on Reading

167

Use

of

169

The

Preliminary Outline

Note Cards

Methods

of Identifying Notes

The Form

of

Notes

169 169

170

Reading and Skimming

170

Evaluating Your Sources

171

Sample Note Cards

171

The The

172

Final Steps:

Writing the Paper

Final Outline

Footnotes:

Where Needed

172 173

Numbering and Spacing Footnotes

173

The Form

174

of Footnotes

Abbreviations in Footnotes

176

Roman Numerals

176

Sample Outline and Library Paper

177

Chapter 6:

LETTER WRITING

The Heading The Inside Address The Salutation or Greeting The Body of the Letter The Complimentary Close The Signature

194

191

192 193 193

194

Sample Business Letter

195

Letters of Application

195

Sample Letter

196

of Application

Invitations, Acceptances, Regrets

198

Faults to Avoid

199

xiv

CONTENTS Part 2:

A HANDBOOK OF WRITING AND REVISION

GRAMMAR AND USAGE 1.

2.

The Sentence Fragment

203

la.

Dependent Clause

206

lb.

Phrase

206

Ic.

Appositive

207

Id.

Uncompleted Thought

2b.

The Comma Splice The Run-together Sentence

209 212

Subject and Verb

When

215

Word

Intervenes

216

3b. Together with, as well as, etc.

216

3a.

3c.

3d. 3e. 3f.

3g.

3h. 3i.

3j.

3k. 4.

207

209

Run-together Sentences 2a.

3.

203

Plural

217

In Nontypical Patterns

With Subject, not Subjective Complement Subjects Joined by and With neither-nor, etc. With each, every, etc. With Collective Nouns With Titles, Clauses, etc. Words Ending in -ics With Relative Pronouns

Pronouns

Gerund

4d. Possessive Case with 4e.

Use

4f.

The Objective Case

4i.

5.

5a.

220 221 221

for Direct

Case after than,

Object

as

With Infinitives Agreement with Antecedent Correct Forms

Awkward Use

225

226 226 227

Adjectives and Adverbs 5.

219 220

228

of oj Phrase

4h. Object of Preposition

4j.

219

223

Nominative Case for Subject 4b. Nominative Case for Subjective Complement 4c. Possessive Case Forms 4a.

4g. Objective

218 218

228 229

230 230 231

236 236

of

Noun Form

Verbs like be, seem, become, etc. Adverb Uses 5d. Nonstandard Uses 5e. Two Forms Distinguished 5f. Comparative and Superlative Forms

237

5b. After

237

5c.

238:

239 240 240

XV

CONTENTS 6.

Verb Forms Use of Appropriate Form 6a. Correct Tense Forms 6.

243

245

6b.

Uses of Subjunctive

249

6c.

Uses of Passive Voice

250

MECHANICS

254

Form and Revision

Manuscript:

7.

7a.

Preparation of Manuscript

7b. Revision of

Manuscript

Word

8a. First

8b.

of Sentence, etc

9a.

9b. 9c.

10a.

261

When

in Proper Sense

Numbers

261

263

263

to Abbreviate

Numbers Written Out to Use Figures

265

When

265

267

For Titles of Books,

10b. Foreign

etc.

Words and Phrases

267

268

Letters, Figures

269

Emphasis Syllabication and Hyphens

270

10c.

Words,

lOd. Italics for 11.

259

Names

with

Common Nouns

Italics

10.

258

260

Abbreviations and

9.

254

Proper Nouns and Adjectives

8c. Titles

8d.

254

259

Capitals

8.

271

11a. Undesirable Division

271

lib. Rules for Proper Division

272

lie.

lid. lie.

Hyphen with Compound Adjective Hyphen in Numbers Special Uses of Hyphen

PUNCTUATION 12.

End Punctuation

To

Indicate Omissions (...)

13.

278 279 281

13c.

Between Co-ordinate Clauses Between Parts of a Series Between Co-ordinate Adjectives

13d,

To

13b.

277 277

after Direct Question

Mark

The Comma

13a.

277

Exclamation Point for Strong Feeling

12d. Question 12e.

273

274

277

12b. Period after Abbreviations 12c.

273

276

12a. Period after Sentence

Prevent Misreading

i3e. After Introductory

xvi

243

Elements

282 283

284

284

285

CONTENTS With Transposed Elements and Contrast With Mild Exclamations, etc. 13h. With Nonrestrictive Clauses 13i. With Parenthetical Elements 13 j. With Absolute Phrases 13k. With Appositives 131. Words Used in Direct Address 13m. With Dialogue Guides 13n. Geographical Names, Dates, Addresses 13f.

287

13g.

287

The Semicolon 14a. In Compound Sentence without Conjunction

14.

14b. 14c.

With Conjunctive Adverbs With Internal Punctuation

-s

To

Plurals of Figures, Letters, etc.

Indicate Omission

With Direct Quotations

With Titles Words Spoken of as Words Words Used in Special Sense With Meanings in Definitions

Commas,

Marks 16h. Quotation Marks with Other Marks 16i. With Dialogue Guides in Quoted Matter 17. The Colon and Dash 17a. Before List or Formal Quotation (Colon) 17b. Special Use between Clauses (Colon) 17c. Dash for Abrupt Break 17d. Dash with Parenthetical Elements 17e. Dash with Appositive or Summary 18. Parentheses and Brackets 16g.

302 304

-

16b. Quotation within Quotation

16f.

302 302

303

Quotation Marks

16e.

298 298

302

15g. In Titles

16d.

293

302

15f,

16c.

293

293

301

Nouns Ending in -s Singular Nouns Ending in With Indefinite Pronouns

15e.

16a.

291

301

15b. Plural

16.

29!

299

The Apostrophe 15a. To Form Possessive

15d.

289

298

15.

15c,

287

Periods with Quotation

304 305

306

306 306 307 307 307

307 309

309 310 311

311

312 313

18a. Parentheses with Explanations

313

18b. Brackets for Interpolations

315

19.

Too Much Punctuation

19a. Superfluous

315

Commas

315

19b. Unnecessary Periods 19c.

Wrong Use

of Question

318

Marks

319 xvii

CONTENTS Exclamation Points

19d. Unnecessary

319

19e.

Overuse of Quotation Marks

319

19f.

Wrong Use

319

Dashes

of

SPELLING 20.

20a.

320

The Spelling Problem The Spelling List

320 323

326

20b. Spelling Rules 21. Similar

Forms

330

WORDS AND PHRASES 22. Exactness

and Use

334 334

of Dictionary

334

22. Exactness

Key Words Words Used in Inexact Sense Vague, Blanket Words

335

22a. Defining

22b. 22c.

336 337 337

22d. Boners

Use

of the Dictionary

338

L The Meaning of a Word 2. The Spelling of a Word 3. The Pronunciation of a Word

340

22e.

Subject, Geographical,

340 340

Usage

Labels:

5.

Derivation of a

6.

Grammatical Information

7.

Idiomatic Phrases

343

8.

Synonyms and Antonyms

343

Word

342 342

346

23. Appropriateness 23.

Use

of Appropriate

Use

23a. Inappropriate

Words

346

of Slang

347

23b, Inappropriate Mixture of Styles 24.

Use

349

of Idiomatic English

24b. Idiomatic

Use

of Prepositions

Value of Concrete,

Specific,

Homely Words

Economy

in

Words Same Word Words with Same Meaning

Use

26a. Repetition of

26b. Repetition of

of

26c.

The Double

26d.

Roundabout Expressions

26e. PufTers

xviii

352 357

26. Conciseness 26,

350 352

Concreteness

25.

347

349

Idioms

24a.

25.

342

4.

that

357

358 360 361 361

361

CONTENTS and Other Modifiers Sounds

26f. Intenslves

361

26g. Repetition of Similar

362

26h. "Fine Writing"

362

and Metaphor and Dangers 27a. Nouns, Modifiers, Verbs 27b. Metaphors 27c. Trite Metaphors and Phrases

27. Vividness

27. Possibilities

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES 28.

Sentence Unity

28a.

Not Enough

Too Much

28c.

Overloading with Details

in Sentence

29b.

The Choppy

Minor Ideas

371

371 371

372 375

378

Style

380

Pronouns

30a. Antecedents Immediately Clear

30b.

368

374

Subordination

29a. Subordinating

30. Reference of

364

366

371

Sentence

in

28b.

29.

364

364

Ambiguous Reference

30c. Indefinite you, they, this, etc.

380 382 383

30d.

Awkward same,

30e.

Agreement with Antecedent

386

30f.

Awkward Reference

386

31.

such, above, etc.

to Title

Proper Arrangement

387

387

1.

Arrangement of Sentence Parts The Problem of only, not

2.

Phrases

388

3.

Clauses

389

4.

Squinting Modifiers

389

5.

The Split Infinitive Words Belonging Near Each Other

390

31. Clear

6.

32.

385

Dangling Modifiers

32a. Dangling Modifiers

Exceptions

390 392 392 393

1.

Absolute Phrase

393

2.

Idiomatic Phrases

393

Objectionable Danglers

Gerund

1.

Participle or

2.

Infinitive

3.

Phrase of Result

32b. Misrelated Elliptical Clauses 32c.

387

Other Misrelated Elements

393

394

394 394 395 395

xix

CONTENTS 33.

Emphasis

in the Sentence

33. Devices to

Show

397

Relative Importance

The Emphatic Position The Periodic Form 33c. The Overused Passive Voice 34. Shift in Point of View 33a.

33b.

From

Active to Passive Voice

34b. Shifts in Tense 34c. Shift in

34f.

34g.

Person

From Indirect to Direct From Formal to Colloquial Mixed Constructions

34i.

Mixed

Figures of Speech

35a. Parallel Structure for Parallel Ideas

35c. 36.

The and which Construction The False Parallel

and Complete Comparisons 36b. Unfinished Comparisons for Clearness

404 405 405

407

409 410 411

413

414 414 415

1.

Omission of that Omission of Part of Verb Phrase

3.

Words in Parallel Series Words Understood in Double Capacity

415

4. 5.

Idiomatic Prepositions

415

38. Variety in Length, Structure

Awkwardness and Obscurity Confused and Obscure Sentences

39.

THE PARAGRAPH Adequate Development

415

416 416 420

420

422 422

40a. Paragraph Length

422

40b. Concrete Details in Paragraph

425

41.

XX

404

2.

38. Variety

40.

403

414

37.

39.

402

411

Comparisons

36a. Logical

Words Left Out 37. Words Necessary

402

407

Parallel Structure

35b.

401

403 Style

34h. Unintentional Absurdity

35.

398

400

402

Number and

34d. Shift in Subject or Perspective 34e.

397

401

34. Illogical Shifts Undesirable

34a.

397

Paragraph Unity

426

41a. Unity in Paragraphs

426

41b. Topic Sentence as Aid to Unity

428

CONTENTS 42.

Coherence in Paragraphs Arrangement of Details

42a.

42b.

Use

43. Point of

of Connectives

43. Consistent Point of

43a. In

and Transitions

View

429

429 431

433

View

Time and Space Tone

433 433

43b. Consistent

436

43c. Consistent Attitude

437

GLOSSARY

439

A

439

44.

INDEX

Glossary of Usage

461

XXI

/

THE EXPRESSION /

AND COMMUNICATION OF THOUGHT

Part

1

/

1

LANGUAGE /

THE ENGLISH

me

chapter

J?is andwearde llf manna on eorgan to uncuS is, swylc swa ]?u aet swaesendum sitte mid Jpinum ealdormannum gnd Jpegnum on wintertlde, gnd sie fyr onseled gnd 1pm heall gewyrmed, gnd hit rine, gnd sniwe, gnd styrme ute; cume an spearwa gnd hraedlice ]:>aet hus J^urhfleo, cume ]:>urh oJ:>re duru in ]?urh Hwaet he on J^a tid Ipe he inne biS, ne biS hrinen mid ]?y 6J?re ut gewite. storme J?aes vvintres; ac ]paet bi3 an eagan bryhtm gnd ]:>aet Isesste faec, ac he sona of wintra on Jpone winter eft cymeS. Swa }?onne Ipis mgnna lif to medmiclum faece aetyweS; hwaet ]?aer foregange, ogge hwaet Jpaer ^efterfylige, we ne cunnan. For Son gif )?eos lar owiht cuSlicre gnd gerisenlicre br^nge,

"Jjyslic

is

wiSmetenesse

}?a2s

weorjpe

It is

gesewen, }?u cyning,

|?aere

is ]:>aet

tide

we

];>e

us

|?£Ere fylgen."^

a long road that our English language has traveled since

that day

more than

thirteen centuries ago

and, with the dignity of one good to his king,

"Now,

in the native

known by

this

is

the

way

it

man

when

the old thane arose

speaking to another, said

looks to me.

..." He spoke

tongue of the inhabitants of England, a language

scholars as

Anglo-Saxon or Old English.

than any other tongue, in the additions of

new

blood,

is

more and all

This,

spite of all the intermarriages

the one important great-ancestor of

which you and I speak and The Family of Languages. The position

the English language

write.

of

English in the

shown by the table on page 8. English is one of a number of West Germanic languages. The Germanic group of languages is one of a number of groups, family tree of Indo-European languages

*

is

See page 17 for a free translation.

3

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE descended from a hypothetical parent language, the Indo-

all

European.

All this

is

true yet highly misleading unless

we

re-

member

that, although English is mainly Germanic in its original and in the way it relates words in sentences, the words themselves come mostly from other languages. Less than a quarter of modem English words are Germanic in origin, whereas over half are derived from Latin. The rest of our English vocabulary has been borrowed from a whole range of miscellaneous languages ancient Greek, Scandinavian, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Arabic, Persian, American Indian, and many others. It was a very long time ago when families or tribes first broke away from the parent Indo-European group of people and, through

history

made inevitable the formation of separate languages. how this must have happened, and about the relaamong the various languages, have been dug up and

separation,

The

facts

tionships

about

pieced together comparatively recently, with a ratiocinative

an infant. No has ever heard or seen an actual Indo-European word.

makes a

that

fictional detective look like

that this language

documented it

existed

sort of guess

a

is

— and

yet, like

almost as good as a proved

is

European language did

home

the

plants of

who

fact.

—a

most

Very

man

The

idea

particularly well-

scientific hypotheses,

likely

a parent Indo-

scholars are even willing to place

exist;

somewhere in central east words for animals and a temperate European cHmate and the absence of any of those

A

Europe.

hypothesis

skill

living

few

words relating

spoke

it

as

clues, like the existence of

to sea or ocean,

gave the philologists their interesting

lead.

And as

how language itself originated, your guess is as good Nobody knows, and at present there does not

as to

anybody

else's.

Scholars to be any possibility that anybody ever will know. amuse themselves with ingenious guesses, but they do not pre-

seem

tend that their guesses are hypotheses. Periods of Linguistic Change.

Students of the English language

growth into three main periods: the 450 to 1100; the Middle English Period, from 1100 to 1500; and the Modem English Period, from 1500 to the present time. It must not be assumed, however, that in any have divided

Old English

its

historical

Period, from

THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD one year the people of England stopped speaking one kind of language and began speaking another.

and

were

yet there

The change was

gradual,

definite historical events occurring at the times

mentioned which caused a more rapid change

in the

language of

These events were the invasion of England

the people of England.

by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes

in 449, the

Norman Conquest

in

1066, and the coming of the English Renaissance about 1500.

There were, of course, people in England before 450. known inhabitants of England were the Britons, a

earliest

branch of the Indo-European family, with

whom

Caesar's

The Celtic

Roman

Almost a cenarmies came into contact in the summer of 55 b.c. tury later the Roman armies of Claudius returned to England and proceeded in earnest to conquer and enslave the native Britons.

Four centuries

Roman

of

rule left the natives so thoroughly

manized and dependent upon

home

Romans

forced the

colonies,

Britons were

the

their masters that

against

helpless

when

from

to pull in their armies

the

Ro-

trouble at

their distant

attacks

of

their

northern neighbors.

According in

to a later historian,

some Saxon

tribes

northern invaders.

a native prince, Vortigern, called

from the mainland

of

Europe

to fight the

Unfortunately for the Britons, these liberators

quickly took the entire country into protective custody and proved that spears as

and axes can be instruments

What

an atom bomb.

retreated westward

of genocide as devastating

Britons survived the wars

and massacres

and northward; a few must have remained, unhappy servility. First Britons and

existing as best they could in

Romans occupied

then Britons and

dred years of known history and

The

English language.

the Angles, the Saxons,

coming

of the

practically

real history of

and the

The Old English Period. first

the English land for five hun-

left

no trace upon our

our language begins with

Jutes.

From

449, the legendary date of the

Saxons to England, to 1066, when William the

Bastard defeated and killed the Saxon King Harold at the Battle of Hastings,

is

a period of 616 years

as long as the present life

Many

things can

England became

happen

in

— a time span almost four times

span of the great American republic.

616

years,

and many things did happen. and largely Christianized.

civilized, prosperous,

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Under

and the organand monasteries were set up. PoHtically, the EngHsh land was divided up among four important kingdoms Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and Kent which at various times rose to temporal importance and then declined, as kingdoms do in a space of six hundred years. These kingdoms, too, were visited by trouble of the kind that they had brought upon the Britons. Another Germanic people, the Danes, descended upon the island in raids of growing magnitude over two centuries of time and came close to drawing the final curtain over the first scene of what was to become the great drama of the English-speaking peoples. The Danes and the Anglo-Saxons were, in a way, kinsfolk, and although kinship did not mellow the savagery of feud or war, it may have been one reason why the two people could arrange to live together at first in a sort of cold war and later in an armed friendship. Gradually the Danes were absorbed by the more stubborn and also more civilized breed, and although the Danes, like most invaders, wantonly pillaged libraries and burned books, enough of ized

the influence of the Christian missionaries

church,

schools

—

we

the written language of the Anglo-Saxons survived so that

know

pretty well

what

sort of

speech our ancestors used.

guage remained predominantly Anglo-Saxon; the Norse additions

present vocabulary.

words as the verbs skirt; the

names

amounted

From

to less

than

the Danish

is

it

five

The

lan-

estimated that

per cent of our

we have such everyday

want; the nouns sky, sister, them; and hundreds of place

give, hit, raise, take,

pronoun forms

they, their,

in the eastern part of England,

which was once known

as

the Danelaw.

The Middle English Period. About a century and a half before Old English Period, another Scandinavian people, the Normans (Norsemen), landed on the Normandy beaches, took over the country, settled down, and adopted the language and culture of the French. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy,

the end of the

after a

tempestuous and unsavory career in

his

own

country, laid

claim to the EngHsh throne. The Norman Conquest followed his What eventually hapdecisive victory at the Battle of Hastings. pened to the language of England can be better understood if one

remembers that the Norman Conquest was not a mass migration

of

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD one people intent upon displacing another, but rather the personal adventure of a dictator grasping for more power and distinction.

William the Conqueror proceeded to subdue Anglo-Saxon England from above, killing and replacing the native rulers, confis-

what property was worth taking and parceling it out to his Meanwhile, life followers, promulgating new laws and decrees. went on; the work was done, crops were grown, trade revived, and the common people continued to speak their native Anglo-Saxon speech. The language of the court and the upper classes was cating

Norman

French.

The language

was Latin, the

of the church

universal language of that day.

For a time England continued to be time a

number

of things

In the course of

trilingual.

happened which tended

to separate the

English people from their neighbors across the Channel. rulers

it

became

increasingly

more important

to

For the be kings of Eng-

land than to remain dukes of a small French province.

Wars with

France and Scotland, the Crusades, a break with the Church of

Rome,

the

rise of

the middle classes,

all

tended to foster a sense of

and importance.

By the middle of the fourteenth became the accepted language of the ruling classes, the law courts, and the church. More than that, one dialect of the three which had persisted since the earliest Anglo-Saxon times, the East Midland dialect of London and its governmental agencies, emerged as the leading language of England, a position which it has held to this day. The fact that

national unity

century, English, not French or Latin,

Chaucer, a Londoner, wrote his popular

may have

helped to establish

stories

in

this

dialect

it.

emerged was greatly enriched by additions of Norman French words. As one might expect, most of these words came out of the social, political, and economic life in which the Normans dominated. From the language of government we get such words as parliament, crown, duke, sovereign; from the law courts judge, jury, justice, jail, plaintiff; from feudal Naturally, the English that

life

and the

vassal,

chamber.

names

life

liege,

And

of the

of the higher social classes castle, count, baron,

war, prison,

barber,

grocer,

as an example of the fact same object survived, there

tailor,

mantle, labor,

that often is

two

sets of

the old joke that

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sanskrit

Indian

Prakrit, etc.

Iranian

Gypsy Old Persian Zend

Hindustani, 1.

Indo-Iranian

Modern 2.

Armenian

3.

Hellenic

etc.

Persian, etc

Ionic Attic

Modern

Doric

Greek

^olic 4.

Albanian

Oscan; Umbrian 5.

French Spanish

Italic

Latin

Italian

Portuguese

Roumanian Icelandic

Indo-European

Norse

Danish Swedish

(North)

Norwegian

Gothic 6.

Germanic

(East)

High

West

Low

German Austrian

Old Saxon Dutch; Flemish Frisian

Anglo-Saxon (English) Prussian Lithuanian,

Baltic

7.

etc.

Russian Bulgarian

Balto-Slavic Slavic

Czech Polish

Gallic

(old Gaul) Irish

Gaelic

Scotch-Gaelic

Manx

I Celtic

Welsh Cymric

Cornish Breton

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD whereas the Saxon knew

domestic animals on the hoof as and deer (all of Anglo-Saxon derivaknew them on the table as pork, mutton, his

swine, sheep, cow, calf, ox, tion), the

Norman

beef, veal,

and venison

By

lord

(all of

Norman

derivation).

the end of the fourteenth century the language

on a

modem

distinctly

samples, the

first

look.

If

we examine

had taken

closely the following

Anglo-Saxon, the second from the time of

in

Chaucer, the third from the time of Shakespeare and King James of

Great Britain, and the

begins to

come

come

strange

less

last

into focus.

from the

The

present, the

I

whole thing

strange Anglo-Saxon words be-

and puzzling, and we seem

be observing, in

to

a fashion, the coming of age of our language.

And

eft

he ongan hi

gegaderod, swa

):)aet

And

])2l

laeran.

And him

waes mycel wass;

sae

m^negu

and

call

to

sco

And he hi fela on bigspellum iSrde, and GehyraS: Ut eode se saedere his saed to sawenne. he seow, sum feoU wig j^one weg, and fugelas comon and hit Sum feoU ofer stanscyligean, J^ar hit naefde mycele eor^an, and

m^negu ymbe ]?a him to cwaeS on fraeton.

aet J^aere sae

he on scip eode, and on baere

sae

waes on lande.

his lare,

sona up eode; and for )?am hit naefde eor^an Jpiccnesse,

sunne hit forswaelde, and

sum feoU on wasstm ne

hit forscranc, for

]:)omas; Jpa stigon

baer.

And sum

fcoll

)?a hit iip

eode, seo

}7am hit wyrtruman nasfde.

And

Sa Jjomas and forSrysmodon ]?aet, and hit on god land, and hit sealde uppstigendne

and wexendne waestm; and an brohte

J^ritigfealdne,

sum

syxtigfealdne,

sum

hundfealdne.

— From the Anglo-Saxon translation of the Gospels, about the year 1000. And eft Jhesus bigan to teche at the see; and myche puple was gaderid to hym, so that he wente in to a boot, and sat in the see, and al the puple was aboute the see on the loond. And he taughte hem in parablis many thingis. And he seide to hem in his techyng. Here ye. Lo, a man sowynge goith out to sowe. And the while he sowith, summe seed felde aboute the weie, and briddis of heuene camen, and eeten it. Othere felde doun on stony places, where it had not myche erthe; and anoon it spronge vp, for it had not dcpnesse of erthe. And whanne the sunne roos vp, it welewide for heete, and it driede vp, for it hadde no roote. And othere felde doun in to thomes, and thornes sprongen vp, and strangliden it, and it yaf not fruyt. And other felde doun in to good loond, and yaf fruyt, springynge vp, and wexynge; and oon broughte thretti foold, and oon sixti fold, and oon an hundrid fold.

—From

translation

about 1388.

by John Wycliffe, about 1380, revised by John Purvey,

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

And he began him

again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto

a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea: and

the whole multitude things by parables,

was by the sea on the land. and said unto them in his

And he

taught them

many

doctrine, Hearken; Behold,

And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell and the fowls of the air came and devoured it. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a there went out a sower to sow:

by the way

side,

hundred.

— From King James Version of 1611. sea.

And

about him, so that he got into a boat and

sat in

Again he began to teach beside the

a very large it

on the

crowd gathered and the whole

sea;

crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

— From

the Revised Standard Version of 1952.

tional Council of

Nelson

&

Sons.

By permission

of the

Na-

United States and Thomas Copyright 1952 by the National Council of Churches of Churches of Christ

in the

Christ in the United States.

Modern

English.

beginning of the

two events set

up

10

Modem

English Period because near that time

William Caxton and England began to impulses from the continental European Renaissance. of the English language since 1500 is one of gradual

his printing press in

history

year 1500 has been arbitrarily set for the

of superlative importance took place:

feel the first

The

The

England

in 1476,

MODERN ENGLISH growth and enrichment, not of \iolent change, mainly because

no foreign invader has again succeeded in setting foot on the tight There have been, it is true, "movements," like the

Uttle island.

swinging of a pendulum, which hurried or retarded the change.

The Elizabethan Age enriched structure

lowed,

the language in both flexibility of

The

and added vocabulary.

stressed

correctness,

Classical Period,

conciseness,

and

which

simplicity.

fol-

In the

Romantic Period the pendulum swung to the other extreme. In addition to this rhythmic swing from the liberal attitude to the conservative and back to the liberal, there were other influences at work. The simple dignity of the King James Bible of 1611 acted as a brake upon the exuberancy of both Romanticists and Latinists. From time to time some writer rediscovered the virtues of the speech of the common people. England became first a world empire and then the mother country of a world commonwealth of nations, and the speech of the people who inhabited one half of a little island became a world language. Several other profound influences upon the course which the English language took must be mentioned here. One is the standardizing influence of the dictionaries, the grammars, and the printing houses, which beginning in the eighteenth century set up standards of correctness first in spelling, then in pronunciation and meaning, and more recently in good usage. Another is the elevating influence of almost universal education. A third, and now probably the most powerful influence,

is

that of television, radio,

and motion pictures. The speech of the radio and television announcer and newscaster has emerged as the standard speech of the nation today and tomorrow, it seems probable, of the whole

—

English-speaking world.

powerful;

regional

This standardizing influence

differences

always remain, tend to grow

Two

wars have done their

in less

bit to

is

extremely

America, although they

prominent and

less

scramble dialects in

may

important.

this country,

and, on the international scene, to mix Australians, Americans,

and

British;

hence

it

need not be rash prophecy

tional differences in pronunciation less

and usage

to

assume that na-

will in

time become

noticeable.

n

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

When

Our Changing Language.

guage, he should be able to discern a

The

—

one looks back upon the

hundred years which are the Ufe span

fifteen

number

of the

EngHsh

history of our language has been a history of constant

at times a slow, almost

been a

living,

growing organism

At one extreme folk,

Our language

has never been

been the possession not of one

at all times has

norant

it

;

who

used

it

it

was the property

it

down

to give

a

beauty.

little

it

Another

static. is

that language

group but of

of the

common,

in the daily business of their living,

was the ward

strument and a sign of

has always

class or

as they used their animals or their kitchen pots

other extreme

change

at other times a

which emerges from such a study

significant truth

many.

an imperceptible change,

between two languages.

violent collision

lan-

of significant truths.

and pans.

ig-

much At the

who respected it as an inand who strove by writing it

of those

civilization,

some permanence,

order, dignity, and,

if

possible,

As we consider our changing language, we should note here two developments that are of special and immediate importance to

One

is

us.

that since the time of the Anglo-Saxons there has been an

almost complete reversal of the different devices for showing the relationship of

words

in a sentence.

Anglo-Saxon was a language

many inflections. Modem English has few inflections. We must now depend largely on word order and on function words to of

convey the meanings that the older language did by means of changes in the forms of words.

Function words, you should under-

and a few others which are used primarily to show relationships among other words. A few inflections, however, have survived. And when some word

stand, are

words

inflections

come

like prepositions, conjunctions,

in conflict

may be trouble when we turn whom and me or /. The

with word order, there

we who

for the users of the language, as

shall see later

our attention to such matters as

or

second fact attitudes tury, fix

we must

consider

that as language

toward language forms change

for example,

also.

itself

The

changes, our

eighteenth cen-

produced from various sources a tendency

the language into patterns not always in accord with the

people actually used

12

is

it.

At the present time there

is

to

way

a strong

LEVELS

OF USAGE AND FUNCTIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of

and speak. Usage and Functional Varieties of

the ways in which people write Levels of

English.

It

has

been customary to divide the living language of the present into three

main levels of usage, each characterized by certain distinctive and conventions. At the top is "formal" English; at the

practices

bottom

the spoken language

is

informal writing and everyday speech.

however,

like

most attempts

human

of

behavior,

somehow

habits of people

as they refused to

grammarians.

One

to classify

conform

refuse to

conform

The word

This

it

the

is

the

classification,

The language

to these classifications,

to the rules of the eighteenth-century

"level"

does not climb upstairs

—

itself is

none too

culturally, that

congressman, or descend to

his cultural

oil-burner repairman.

fact,

In

call

and formalize the complex-

too neat, too precise.

is

—

Between the two extremes

"vulgate" or the vernacular. level of

ities

uneducated

the

of

is

—

felicitous here.

to write to his

basement to gossip with the

our unpredictable

in

society,

we

might find that the repairman speaks beautiful English and reads Shakespeare on his weekends.

One

three "levels" instead of three:

could readily distinguish thirty-

below the "vulgate" one might

and the obscene, and one might also and formality. Furthermore, the classification is misleading because from it the

place the profane, the vulgar,

distinguish various important degrees of informality

student might infer that each level has

inappropriate on the other stock of each level

is

levels.

its

The

own

appropriate also at

exclusive vocabulary,

main word Such the other levels.

truth

is

that the

words as bread, meat, mother, church, prayer, dress, work, sleep, and thousands of others are the property of all people speaking English at any

level.

And

finally the classification

because

it

to stress

unduly the differences among

You must understand scientists

new

is

unfortunate

tends to obscure the basic unity of standard English and

in

other

fields,

its

varieties.

that serious students of our language, Hke

new ideas, The "levels of usage" forOne should speak of "levels" as

are constantly propounding

hypotheses and generalizations.

mula has been recendy modified. "cultural levels" on the lower levels the language :

is

characterized

13

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE by

carelessness, illiterate speech, excessive slang, profanity,

on the higher

sort of thing;

levels

we have

and that

the language of the

educated, characterized to some degree by care, precision, order,

and good taste. The newer formula is based not on culture but on functions, that is, differences due to place, situation, occasion, or purpose.^

Perhaps the most useful way for us

when

ous "occasions"

would be

what

ask ourselves just

to

author and the reader.

easy, friendly, or

up

as distant

know how

is

by

Is the author,

gesting a relation between himself

self

among

to discriminate

vari-

various "levels" of English are appropriate

and

happening between the his choice of

words, sug-

his reader that is intimate,

he by a more formal use of language setting him-

is

from

his reader,

detached and impersonal?

We all

everyday conversation we can utter the same words ways and imply very different relations with the persons we are speaking to. For instance, we can say "Hello" in many We different ways with different meanings everyone understands. in

in different

can

stress the

second syllable

in such a

way

as to

!"

We

to see the other person.

—

— "Hel-/o —and can

mean,

indicate

we

stress the first syllable

"Oh

—

Lord, you again?"

are glad "//^/-lo"

We

can

even (using our eyebrows) say "Hel-lo-o-o" and mean "What a cute chick you are!" it is

ity,

This

is

a basic method by which interest or

boredom,

what

is

meant by tone

we demonstrate

of voice,

and

friendliness or hostil-

in the various occasions that confront us

every day.

Words tainly

written

on a page,

no eyebrows.

of course, have

is

cer-

addressing the reader, and the reader

who

is

It

often possible so to control one's

is

—and

Yet they carry tone too; they imply a relation

between the "voice" that being "spoken to."

cise relation

no sound

Let us consider two examples: employment

of language that a pre-

between speaker and addressee becomes absolutely defined.

You can often use words carefully enough so as to let your reader know whether you're being easy and informal with him, or formal and stiff; you can show him just where he stands with you. ^ John S. Kenyon, "Cultural Levels and Functional Varieties of English," College English, pp. 31-36, October, 1948.

14

OF USAGE AND FUNCTIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

LEVELS

These two sentences mean, more or their tone

utterly different.

is

In the

less,

first

same

the

addressed formally by a writer whose whole air

is

are being

very serious.

how

Notice the relatively long words he uses; notice

thing, but

we

sentence

carefully he

avoids the split infinitive, "to so control," in order not to sound

we

In the second sentence, however,

colloquial.

and the whole

the writer,

way

vocabulary and the

relation

is

are very close to

Notice the simple

informal.

the direct address in the second person

supports a conversational manner.

In

we may quote from

connection

this

1831, under the

printed as early as

title

a

little

"pocket book"

The Universal

Letter

Writer and Complete Correspondent, which expresses in a quaint but surprisingly

To

lay

modem manner

down any

particular rule for this sort of composition

patible with

its

speech, so

should resemble in

it

the doctrine of "functional va-

nature; but as a letter

is

its style,

is

incom-

nothing more than a substitute for as near as possible, the

language

we

should use in discourse. In commands, our language would naturally be concise without arrogance; in requests, pleasing without cringing; in supplication, tender,

much

out servility; in narration, plain without rich

moving, with-

embellishment; in description,

and glowing without exuberance; upon matters of importance, it should affliction, condoling; in mirth, light and jocose; in advice,

be dignified; in

serious without austerity.

The

style

must

responding, thus

adapted

also be

—among

friends

to the relative situation of the parties cor-

and equals,

it

would be

familiar; to our

superiors, respectful; to our inferiors, courteous; to the aged, reverential; to

and joyous.

the youthful, gay It

will be thus perceived that to lay

species of composition,

ideas on passions

is

— every

ner of expression.

impossible.

down any

particular style for this

be almost as variable as our

It will

different thought requiring a variation in the

Indeed,

it

must possess the

versatile

in adapting itself at all times, to all occasions, to all ages, ject.

It is

man-

powers of Alcibiades,

and

to every sub-

not to be restrained within any particular limits, and, therefore,

cannot be confined to one definite requires plainness

and

style; for,

simplicity, yet there

although, in general, is,

its

nature

perhaps, no species of com-

which all the various styles, from the most plain and unadorned most rich and embellished, can be used with more propriety than in

position in to the

epistolary correspondence.

15

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Let us see

EngHsh are guage

now what the and how they

differences in the varieties of standard affect

our choice of appropriate lan-

to use in various situations.

The

Standard English.

EngHsh For a tennis match

differences between varieties of

have often been explained by likening language

to clothes.

we put on our formal clothes; for we dress in sports clothes; for plowing com or driving a tractor we put on overalls or dungarees. Similarly, we suit our language formal occasions

and

to the occasion, to the subject,

far the

comparison

we

is

good.

to

our readers or

When we

listeners.

So

pause to analyze the anal-

word "formal," which to most people means "tails and white tie," a costume which millions of Americans have never worn, or perhaps never seen worn except ogy, however,

are trapped by the

by actors on a motion-picture or

television screen.

And

yet every

American home which can afford a radio set or a newspaper has been exposed daily to both written and spoken formal English. We must amend our analogy by a further definition of terms, by extending the range of "formal" clothes to include the well-pressed business suit.

It is

misleading to try to confine the main current

and lonely heights of formal and and scholarly language."^ The language which we call "formal" for want of a term with less unfortunate connotations It has is far from cold and lonely. warmth, strength, beauty, and an infinite range and variety. It is not confined to a few scientific and scholarly treatises. The great body of our literature, from Shakespeare down to the latest book on the international crisis, is written in formal English. It is the of our language to "the cold

highly specialized scientific

—

—

language of most books of botany, chemistry

—every

history,

sociology,

political

science,

textbook that you use in college.

It is

the language of the professions, such as law, medicine, teaching.

good part of all novels and commentaries. Most business letters are written in formal English. So are the news and editorial sections of many newspapers. As a matter of fact, a good share of the nation's private and public daily work is done It is the

and

language of

of poems,

and

all

serious essays, of a

of radio newscasts

with the help of formal English. ^Arthur G. Kennedy, Current English,

16

p. 17,

STANDARD ENGLISH What, then, are the distinguishing marks of standard English in more serious and dignified uses? First, the restrictions upon voIn contrast cabulary are so slight as to become almost negligible. to the incredibly vast riches of the "word hoard," as the AngloSaxons called it, the inappropriate or unacceptable words are few

its

indeed.

Slang and vulgarity, of course, are inappropriate.

In

modem

un-

more formal

situations,

most of the words which a

abridged dictionary labels as colloquial are inappropriate. is

a general feeling

among

students that formal English

There

demands

only "big" words, bookish words, words with a Latin ancestry.

That

The

not true.

is

much

simple, homely, everyday

words are as

a part of the vocabulary of formal English as the multi-

syllabic words.

Notice carefully, for instance, the words used in

each of the following excerpts

—

in

most of

these,

words actually

spoken on occasions as formal and solemn as any in the long and tragic history of

We

mankind.

the People of the United States, in

Order

to

form a more perfect

Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the com-

mon

promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of

defence,

Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this

STITUTION And

for the

CON-

United States of America.

then one of the older men,

O

who agreed

with the king, arose and

man, in comparibanquet table in the wintertime, with your chiefs and your men about you, and a fire burned and the hall was warm, while outside it rained and snowed and stormed. There came a sparrow and swiftly flew through the hall. It came in through one door, and it flew out through the other. Now, so long as he is inside he is not cuffed by the winter's storm, but that is for only a moment, the twinkling of an eye, and at once again he goes from winter back into winter. So this life of man appears but for a moment. What went before it or what comes after it, we do not know. Therefore if this new teaching brings anything more certain or fitting, it deserves to be folspoke: "It seems to me,

son with that which

is

King, that this present

unknown

to us,

is

as

if

you

life

of

sat at the

lowed."

—From I

the Anglo-Saxon version of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.

went

to

the

woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,

the essential facts of

u

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." and

not,

to live

—From

Thoreau's Walden.

I see a

book kissed which

Testament, which teaches should do unto me,

I

me

suppose to be the Bible, or at least the

should do even so to them.

I

would

that all things whatsoever I It

teaches

me

New

that

men

further to

remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. as I I

did no wrong, but right.

forfeit

my

life

I

have done

Now,

in this slave country

whose

just enactments, I say, let

—From John Brown's

last

it

my

just

deemed necessary

is

my

by wicked,

cruel,

and un-

charity for

all,

him who

with firmness in the right

work we are

in, to

bind up

and which may achieve and cherish a peace among ourselves and with all nations.

widow and lasting

that I should

and mingle

speech.

gives us to see the right, let us finish the

and a

have done,

children and with the blood of millions

rights are disregarded

the nation's wounds, to care for for his

it

as I

His despised poor,

be done.

With malice towards none, with

God

if

in behalf of

for the furtherance of the ends of justice

blood further with the blood of

as

have interfered

I believe that to

have always freely admitted

his orphans, to

do

shall

have borne the

battle,

all

—From Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. I

expect that the Battle of Britain

depends the survival of Christian

is

about to begin.

civilization.

Upon

it

Upon

this battle

depends

all

our

and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole British

18

life,

a

STANDARD ENGLISH all that we have known and new Dark Age made more sinister,

world, including the United States, including

cared

will sink into the abyss of a

for,

and perhaps more protracted, by the

Empire and its Commonwealth say, "This was their finest hour."

British still

—Winston Churchill, From

1940.

Churchill.

I

work

a speech delivered to the

a thousand years,

House

of

the

if

men

will

Commons June

18,

Copyright 1941 by Winston

S.

Courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons.

in the

—

award was not made to me as a man but to my work agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and

least of all for profit, but to create

something which did not It will

so bear ourselves that,

last for

Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

feel that this

life's

and

Let us

of perverted science.

lights

therefore brace ourselves to our duties,

out of the materials of the

exist before.

So

this

award

not be difficult to find a dedication for the

mensurate with the purpose and significance of

its

is

human

spirit

only mine in trust.

money

it comwould like

part of

But

origin.

I

do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing. Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one question: when will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all to

things

is

no room

to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget

workshop

it

forever, leaving

and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and worst of all without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands. Until he relearns these things he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure; that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe in his

for anything but the old verities

—

that

man

will not

cause he alone

merely endure: he will prevail.

among

He

is

immortal, not be-

creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he

19

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE has a soul, a help

man

duty

endure by

is

to write

about these things.

lifting his heart,

it

The

poet's voice

can be one of the props, the

—William

Random

sacrifice

which have been the

need not merely be the record of man,

pillars to

Faulkner's Nobel Prize

by courtesy of

It is his privilege to

by reminding him of the courage and

honor and pride and compassion and pity and glory of his past.

The

capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

spirit

poet's, the writer's,

Award

help him endure and prevail. speech, Dec. 10, 1950.

Reprinted

House, Inc.

In the second place, standard English on the more formal levels is

characterized by orderly structure.

munication of ideas pouring.

The

of ideas.

com-

Ideas are grouped and arranged in some logical seis a serious attempt to show As a consequence, paragraphs tend

There

quence.

expression and

a planned process, not a spontaneous out-

is

the interrelationship to

be more

fully de-

veloped than in informal writing; sentences acquire increased complexity as the thoughts they express

Third, those

who

become more mature.

use the language in formal situations, in the

serious discussion of serious ideas, tend, as a rule, to be relatively

toward matters of grammar and who write for a living, among those who write occasionally, and among those to whom a "talk" to be given before the Rotary Club or the Chamber of Commerce is an event conservative in

their

Among

those

usage.

attitude

is a tendency to appeal to an authority, to someone who knows what current usage is. The deference to "correct usage," in the sense of what other writers and speakers are doing, is strong among all users of the language. Grammarians may argue over the question of whether "It is me" is a solecism,

of magnitude, there

a peccadillo, a sign of

deadly

sins.

The busy

to the author of a

life

in the language, or

scientist

one of the seven

with a radio talk to prepare turns

handbook, or grammar, or Webster's

national Dictionary with the attitude, "I

know

make the language, but it is your business usage is. You are paid for that sort of thing."

don't

And

finally,

New

Inter-

that you people to find out

what

standard English in the more formal situations

generally tends toward an impersonal, objective attitude toward

the subject matter expressed

20

and communicated.

One must

not

STANDARD ENGLISH: INFORMAL assume that the exclusion of the writer's or speaker's

they are personal because

substance of what

sonal element

More

is

not

is

vital,

is

it

the personal element which

being said.

which you

however, are usually treated objectively.

term

examine the

English:

Informal

and

and

essays,

objectively.

Varieties.

Before

characteristics of "informal" English,

we

begin

we must

the statement that the essential unity of standard English

more important than the

difTerences

dis-

your various courses

will write in college for

are usually best treated impersonally

Standard

the

is

Subjects in which the per-

specifically, the sort of papers, reports,

cussions

a requi-

In most cases

formal writing are intensely personal in nature.

vital

self is

Indeed, some of the finest examples of

of the formal style.

site

VARIETIES

among

its

to

reaffirm is

varieties.

much One

does not stop writing formal English and begin writing informal

English as

if

he were stepping through a door from one

room

to

another.

In some writing traditionally labeled informal, as for instance in those informal essays that are written

with

skill

and good

taste,

the total extent of informality consists of the attitude of the writer

toward the

his material

and toward

same discriminating

same mature

difTerence ject

is

grammatical correctness and

structure as in the best formal writing.

that the writer frankly

through

find in

own

his

and

them

words, the same respect

taste in choice of

for present-day standards in

the

You may

his reader.

in usage,

The

only

freely interprets his sub-

personality or through his

own

likes

and

prejudices.

From the writing that is informal only in attitude one may move down the scale through a large variety of levels and gradations of informahty to writing that as slacks

is as unceremonious and unconventional and sweater and a corncob pipe. Much of the writing

that you will do in your college composition course will be informal in style

and

among

others,

in

attitude. all

of

In this classification can be included,

your autobiographical papers and sketches,

and attitudes and

sketches of persons

places, profiles, personal experiences, dis-

cussions of

likes

and

dislikes,

that you have read, your personal letters,

and

your reactions to books

and

talks before clubs

organizations.

21

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE In the following specimen of the informal

words are chosen and arranged in order

notice

style,

how

the

dramatize a particularly

to

easy sort of speaking voice, a voice that implies an easy, familiar relation with

its listener.

do not mean to suggest that the nature writer is or always should be on mountain tops, either literally or figuratively. No one who actually

I

the

some fancy projected upon or read into her can some ultimate things-as-they-are, not some ideal of things-as-he-thinks-they-ought-to-be. There is in her what we call cruelty and also, even more conspicuously, what we call grotesqueness and what we call comedy. If she warns the so-called realist how limited his conception of reality is, she is no less likely to bring the sentimentalist looks at nature rather than at

ever

fail

to realize that she represents

back, literally, to earth.

How much given

man

of the cruelty, of the grotesqueness, or of the sublimity any

will see

depends no doubt to some considerable extent upon

own temperament and confess that

what

I see

I

suppose

it

is

most often and

marvel and, second, the comedy.

To

some indication most

relish the

of

first,

is,

be reminded that one

his

mine when

I

the intricate is

very

much

members of the animal kingdom is often funny though it is never, like being compared to a machine, merely humiliating. I do not too much mind being somewhat like a cat, a dog, or even an insect but I resent havlike other

ing

it

said that even

an electronic calculator

Not very long ago spiders in a web just

is

like

me.

was pointing out to a friend the courtship of two outside my door. Most people know that the male is often smaller than his mate and nearly everybody knows by now that the female of many species sometimes eats her husband. Both of these things were true of the common kind beside my door and the insignificant male was quite obviously torn between ardor and caution. He danced forward and then darted back. He approached now from one side and now from He would and he wouldn't. the other. My friend, no nature student and not much given to observing such creatures, was gratifyingly interested. Presently he could contain himself no I

longer.

"You know," he that

spider and

That,

I

a

said thoughtfully, "there

human

maintain, both

male. Is

The

and ought

is

spider to

only one difference between

knows

be as

it's

much

dangerous."

grist

for a nature

writer's mill as a sunset or a bird song.

— From

Wood Krutch. "Some Unsentimental Confessions of a NaNew York Herald Tribune Book Review, June 15, 1952. 1952 by the New York Herald Tribune. Reprinted by permis-

Joseph

ture Writer,"

Copyright

sion of the publisher.

22

STANDARD ENGLISH: INFORMAL The sion

following, too,

is

informal, the attitude of the writer

is

concern for quality

his

he says

A

written in the informal

clear

is

enough

in

is

VARIETIES

The

style.

occa-

obviously personal, but

what he

says

and

in

how

it.

publisher in Chicago has sent us a pocket calculating machine by which

we may

test our writing to see whether it was developed by General Motors, who, not

now dream

a Cadillac,

chine

(it is

satisfied

of

calculator

with giving the world

of bringing perfect understanding to

simply a celluloid card with a dial)

and shows four grades

Calculator

The

intelligible.

is

The ma-

men.

called the Reading-Ease

is

"reading ease"

—Very

Easy,

Easy,

You count your words and syllables, set the dial, and an indicator lets you know whether anybody is going to understand what you have written. An instruction book came with it, and after mastering the simple rules we lost no time in running a test on the instruction book itself, to see how that writer was doing. The poor fellow! His leadHard, and Very Hard.

Very Hard. on the face test Reading-Ease of written matter." There is, reading ease of written matter. There is the

ing essay, the one on the front cover, tested

Our next

"How

to

thing as

was

step

to study the first phrase

matter can be read, but that

of the calculator: of course, no such

which

ease with

a condition of the reader, not of the matter.

is

Thus the inventors and distributors of this calculator get off to a poor start, Hard instruction book and a slovenly phrase. Already they

with a Very

have one foot caught

Not only did

in the brier

cover, but inside the

how

to

book score badly on the front book he used the word "personalize" in an essay on

A man who likes the word "personalize" is we wonder whether he should be in the business

improve one's writing.

entitled to his choice, but of

patch of English usage.

the author of the instruction

"Whenever

giving advice to writers.

your writing by directing

possible,"

to the reader."

it

As

he wrote, "personalize

for us,

we would

as lief

Simonize our grandmother as personalize our writing. In the same envelope with the calculator, for writers

This,

too,

—a we

booklet called studied,

and

it

"How

to

we

received another training aid

Write Better," by Rudolph Flesch.

quickly demonstrated the broncolike ability^

throw whoever leaps cocksurely into the saddle. The language not only can toss a writer but knows a thousand tricks for of the English language to

more gay than the last. Dr. Flesch stayed in the saddle Under the heading "Think Before You Write," he

tossing him, each

only a

moment

wrote,

"The main

you

sitting

or two.

down

thing to consider

to write?"

And

is

your purpose in writing.

echo answered: Because,

sir,

Why it

is

are

more

comfortable than standing up.

Communication by the written word is a subtler {and more beautiful) and General Motors imagine. They contend that the

thing than Dr. Flesch

23

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE "average reader"

capable of reading only what

is

writer should write at or below this level.

This

is

Easy, and that the presumptuous and de-

tests

a

no average reader, and to reach down toward this deny that each of us is on the way up, is ascending. ("Ascending," by the way, is a word Dr. Flesch advises writers to stay

There

grading idea.

mythical character

Too

away from.

is

is

to

unusual.)

our belief that no writer can improve his work until he discards the

It is

dulcet notion that the reader

not a trick of grammar.

feeble-minded, for writing

is

Ascent

an act of

is

at the heart of the matter.

is

A

faith,

country

whose writers are following a calculating machine downstairs is not ascending if you will pardon the expression and a writer who questions the capacity of the person at the other end of the line is not a writer at all, merely a schemer. The movies long ago decided that a wider communication could be achieved by a deliberate descent to a lower level, and they walked proudly down until they reached the cellar. Now they are groping

—

—

hoping

for the light switch,

We

to find the

way

out.

have studied Dr. Flesch's instructions

patience,

may

more confidence.

limits of I

my

may

the sense of

Run

.

.

.

asleep,

But

B.

it

will

expression

not wander far enough beyond the

Why

level

common

downward to our dullest The commonest sense

sense?

which they express by snoring."

that through your calculator!

out Easy.

—E.

men

my

return for

daily experience, so as to be adequate to the truth of

have been convinced.

perception always, and praise that as is

with more

"I fear chiefly," he wrote, "lest

not be extra-vagant enough,

narrow which

but we who wrote

diligently,

guidance in these matters to an earlier American,

It

may come

come out whole, and

it

White, "Calculating Machine," from

Corner, published by Harper

&

Brothers.

out Hard,

it

may come

will last forever.

The Second Tree from

the

Reprinted by permission of the

author and publishers.

What are the characteristics of "informal" standard One notices immediately that informal English is not the

English?

language

of the uneducated or the unintelligent, or of a lower social class if

there

still

are social classes.

It is

rather the English written

and

spoken by educated persons in situations where well-bred ease

more important than informal English.

No

dignity or high seriousness.

vocabulary of formal English

There

is,

is

part of the

excluded from the vocabulary of

in addition, a certain

freedom permis-

sible in the use of occasional colloquial or slang expressions. ple,

everyday words are perhaps more

scientific,

24

or technical terms.

is

common

than

Sim-

literary,

Contractions, Hke "they're," "can't,"

— THE VERNACULAR

more

"didn't," are used

freely.

It is

evident, however, that there

same conscientious regard for the conventions of corgrammar, in spelling, and in punctuation as in formal English. Sentences, too, are carefully built, and ideas are organized into paragraphs, although in some of the more journalistic types of informal writing both sentences and paragraphs may be in

is

it

the

rectness in

shorter.

The Vernacular.

There

is

a language below standard English

—much more accurately, there

is an endless variety of languages which the college student has only an academic interest. There have been times in the history of English, in the days before the radio, television, the airplane, the automobile, the daily newspaper and the weekly newsmagazine, a digest for every pocket, and an

in

education for every child,

when

rustics

English.

when

there

still

were

social "classes,"

spoke dialects and educated persons spoke literary

Now,

the specialized vocabularies of small groups, like

the language of jive, of the sub-debs, of racing, of airmen

and

marines, of various occupations, are made-to-order dialects of peo-

who when the

ple

usually

occasion

know standard demands

English well enough and use

it

it.

There have been many attempts to write entire books in the vernacular, notably Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, James Stevens'

Brawnyman, Vincent McHugh's Caleb Cat-

lum's America, and, in a way, Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt, and the result

has usually been an illusion

remarked

—rather

Mark Twain make

—

"slightly

phony," as one

than a transcript of actual speech.

belongs to an older period, he was

his interpretation

of the vernacular of

artist

more

critic

Although

enough

to

than passing

importance. This place was a tolerable long, steep

hill

or ridge about forty foot high.

We

had a rough time getting to the top, the sides was so steep and the bushes so thick. We tramped and dumb around all over it, and by and by found a good big cavern in the rock, most up to the top on the side toward Illinois. The cavern was as big as two or three rooms bunched together, and Jim could stand up straight in there. We spread the blankets inside for a carpet, and eat our dinner there. We put all the other things handy at the back of the cavern. Pretty soon it .

.

.

25

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE darkened up, and began

begun

thunder and lighten; so the birds was right about

to

and it rained like all fury, too, and I never was one of those regular summer storms. It would get so dark that it looked all blue-black outside, and lovely; and the rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees of! a little ways looked dim and spiderwebby; and here would come a blast of wind that would bend the trees down and turn up the pale underside of the leaves; and then a perfect ripper of a gust would follow along and set the branches to tossing their arms as if they was just wild; and next, when it was just about the bluest and blackest fst! it was as bright as glory, and you'd have a little glimpse of treetops a-plunging about away off yonder in the storm, hundreds it.

Directly

see

the

it

wind blow

to rain, It

so.

you could see before; dark as sin again in a second, and now you'd hear the thunder let go with an awful crash, and then go

of yards further than

rumbling, grumbling, tumbling,

down

the sky towards the underside of the

world, like rolling empty barrels downstairs

bounce a good

—From

deal,

Mark Twain, The Adventure

When

a skilled writer

slang, profanity,

produce an

to

genuineness.

—where

it's

long

and what a

effect,

The

sets

of

and they

as

"bad grammar," he does

it

perhaps, an impression of reality and

following scene

after three years in the

9.

out to color his writing by using

known

is

mood

Huckleberry Finn, Chapter

is

from a book that does use the

vernacular very well indeed, although the private

GI vocabulary

stairs

you know.

army

is

now

to civilian standards

first

class

who

patiently trying to trim his

might smile a

bit cynically at

restraint.

its

While the doctor and others worked on the bandages and the

splint for

the shattered arm, the medic with the pencil said:

"What "God,

"You

got you, Jack?" I

don't know.

It

was a

tank.

Where's the chaplain?"

don't need the chaplain. Jack," said the medic.

What

"You're going to be

There weren't any tanks around a while ago." "It was a grenade," said Jack, his hand still reaching for his face. "Where's the chaplain? God, why do you let me hurt like this?" "How old are you. Jack?" asked the medic persistently. He had already marked "grenade," because the wounds showed that. It had been a German potato-masher grenade, because the holes in his body looked like bullet wounds, but didn't go clear through him, and they weren't as jagged as shell or mortar fragment wounds. Evidently the German had sneaked up while the boy was down in his hole. Jack said he was twenty years old, he was a staff sergeant, and he was okay.

from Texas.

26

got you?

THE VERNACULAR The

questioning seemed heartless at this time, but there

answer,

If the patient is able to

it.

it

distracts

him from

the information isn't gained here, they have to get

it

a reason for

is

his pain;

and

if

back at the hospital.

Jack had guts. Of course he was scared. He knew he was hurt bad, and But when they told him he shouldn't a shock to anybody to get hit.

it's

reach for his face, he said okay a

little sleepily,

because the morphine was

taking effect.

"Hold a

the

flashlight,"

"The

doctor said to me.

lantern

isn't

strong

enough." I

grabbed a flashlight and held

on the boy while they worked on him.

it

I

thought, "Christ, twenty years old!" I felt like an old

I

looked at the holes which had riddled his right

severed his leg.

I

little

and

finger,

man

at twenty-three.

arm and

practically

looked at the swollen bloody gashes on his

I

looked at his horribly wounded face and head, and

how twenty minutes ago he was

sitting quietly in his hole

I

thought of

wondering how

soon he could get home. I

and and at

handed the flashlight to the medic who had finished filling out the slip, I went over to the litter and sat on it with my head between my knees tried to keep from being sick on the floor.

The medic took the flashlight without even a glance, and nobody looked me. They went right on working. Pretty soon Jack's face was fixed and

bad with a neat bandage and the blood washed off. His and it looked very neat indeed. He was wrapped up in blankets, and the ambulance came up and took him away. He was full of morphine and probably dreaming of home. it

didn't look so

arm was

fixed in a splint

"I don't I

know what we'd do without morphine,"

guess I looked a

mouth.

I

know what

don't

taken the flashlight turned to "It's

funny.

I

I

the doc said.

and white, and

was going me and said: I

to say,

I

started to

but the medic

my

open

who had

handle these guys every night, and some of them are

But

really in awful shape.

Jack and

foolish

little

last

night one

came

in not hurt half as

bad

as

did the same thing you did."

Another medic

said,

"We

keep some medicine

to

take

care of those

things."

—

They brought out a miracle a half-filled bottle of Pennsylvania Rye. I know damned well one of those guys got that bottle in a Christmas package, and I know he could have sold it for a hundred dollars cash any-

Now

Or he could have kept it to himself, and nobody would have blamed him. But we all had a slug of rye the doc with his bloody hands and his eyes which were bantering once more, and the medics who were kidding each other again. place between Florence and Bologna.

—

— From

Up

Front by

Bill

Mauldin.

Copyright 1945 by Henry Holt

&

Co.,

Inc.

27

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Whether the following scene

illustrates the use of the

or merely a type of fractured English

debatable, but there

is

nothing debatable about the fact that the book

and worth reading

lightful

Naturally I

went

my

when

itself is

is

wholly de-

it.

engaged myself for marriage with Helena Gerbertovna

I

away with

right

for the fun of

vernacular

heartful of happiness to carry the

good news

to

friends.

Vactangi showed long horse Even Illarion, practically American himself now, didn't give me any support. Only Dzea shaked my hand and that sadly. "You take a big chance, Bijo, to marry with an American

But seemed

All he said.

girl."

"First

place," Vactangi pointed out,

Now

foreigner names.

him

you have

to

"American young

change yours.

One

ladies don't like

Russian, I

knew

immediately he married American young lady she made him go

well,

in court take the

bert

they weren't so pleased.

like

Challico sat dark blue in a corner.

face.

name

of Gerbert Goover.

Goover don't wins.

How

he

For honor.

feels then, that

Next election GerBe same

Russian fellow?

with you."

"Main

thing," Illarion said, "the

American

girls I

met

so far can only

cook out of books." "See.

Something

No

Ph-i-i-i-t-t.

else

eat.

you didn't know," Vactangi

"I can buy another book,"

"And

said.

"Lose the book.

You'll starve." I said.

what's more," Challico had his turn, "American cooking every day

just enough.

Two

peoples, two steaks.

Three peoples, three

cooking one extra piece for the pot's good luck. pected they gonna

sit

hungry.

You'll

die

steaks.

Company comes

Never unex-

from shame before you're

six

months married." "Yes," Vactangi said, "and after your funeral there won't be any table

Maybe a cup of tea for who carries your burial box. I won't come." "Never enjoy the pleasure at mealtime to call in strangers passing on the road to share your table." Challico shook his head. "Won't even be any use to get rich. You'll have a shiny five-hundred dollar, pull-a-button, push-a-button refrigerator and not one extra piece of baloney to keep ineither.

side."

"But you don't know the worst that's gonna happen in your house," "American young ladies all keep bodguts." "Helena Gerbertovna has dog," I said. "Irishman setter named Veleike

Vactangi warned.

Kneeaz.

Comes 'Duke'

in English.

But

that's all."

"Bodguts means writing down moneys before you spending," Vactangi explained. "Suppose you not feeling good, we take for example. You

28

THE STUDENT'S CHOICE want for

to stop In Russian

your stomach.

Fm

Club drink

You have

drinking

glass of vodka, eat piece herring

down

to write

..... .....

whiskys

Eating piece herring, too

"Where you ever knew American young lady tions?"

I

35^ IO4

to find out such Informa-

asked him. "If they promised to each other can't

"That's enough, boys," Dzea said.

Damage

help now.

Is

He

done."

shook

my hand

stood your friend twenty years, BIjo Goglo, and

— From

maybe,

In bodguts first:

I

again.

"Never mind,

I

don't stop now."

George and Helen Papashvlly, Anything Can Happen, Harper Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

&

Brothers, 1945.

A student of the

The Student's Choice.

know something and be

of

history,

its

The

It is still

realistic attitude in the face of is

by people of education, of opinions

I

value?"

It

is

a changing language.

changes in usage?

"What

to ask,

is

to

importance, people whose

not sensible, for instance, to use a double

know

past have used double negatives.

—

in-

What is the The comxmon-

being done at the present time

taste, of social

negative merely because you

pate future changes

will

been a history of

history of the language has

numerable changes. sense procedure

varieties, its resources

toward self-improvement

limitations, so that his attitude

realistic.

English language should

forms and

its

that

many

Neither

is

great writers in the it

sensible to antici-

be so progressive that you want to be on

welcome the future when it arrives. If you say, "Sir, I nobody nowhere; I think it was only me and him putting away the goods," your employer will rudely set you right. The standards of the educated must be your standards for the simple reason that you as a college graduate will live among and comthe spot to can't see

municate with those

What

who have

these standards are

these standards.

you can discover for yourself by wide

reading and by long and careful observation of the practices of

educated

men and women.

books, grammars,

usage

is.

Some

and

That

dictionaries

of these

men have

is

the

way

the authors of hand-

have found out what current spent a lifetime doing

but reading, checking, analyzing, and

filing

little else

examples of usage.

29

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Of

course you do not have the time or the opportunity for this

you are

sort of individual research;

ment

of those

"who

do not give up

may

observation, for that

books that you read;

may

you

That

are paid to do that sort of thing."

reaUstic attitude, too, but

entirely

a

in the

men and women whom

prominent

hear on television, and always,

is

your research and

Observe current usage

be fun.

listen to

judg-

satisfied to defer to the

if

you are

in

doubt or

in

New ColNew World

a hurry, remember that a good dictionary, Hke Webster's

American College Dictionary, Webster's Dictionary, or the Thorndike-Bamhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary, will provide a pretty good reflection of general usage. legiate,

the

In most of the papers that you

make a

conscious choice of

Many

view.

you by the

times,

it is

situation.

If

will

language, attitude, or point of

style,

true,

you

will write in college

your choices

will

be determined for

your instructor in history asks you to write

a discussion of the causes of revolutions, you will naturally decide to give him, not a slangy, breezy sketch, but a serious, well-planned,

and well-constructed to see that

essay in standard formal English.

any other decision

is

Similarly, a professional writer writing for the

the

New

Yorker

style;

To

returned to him.

Either he does this

that extent he has

choose the language, the

each

New

style,

hard

Yorker uses

a writer writing for Harper's uses a

appropriate for Harper's. is

It is

appropriate in such a situation.

and the

no

style

—

or his manuscript

But he does

choice.

structure appropriate for

situation.

Frequently you will have to decide between a formal and an informal treatment of a subject.

A

subject Hke

"Women

can be handled either with deep seriousness or with a with a humorous, touch.

It

light,

whom

you are writing.

Your

—you

final analysis,

who

and on the

choice, whatever

should always consider writing as communication.

merely writing

perhaps

depends on the particular phase of

the subject that you decide to use, on the situation,

reader for

Drivers"

You

it

is,

are not

someone to read. In the the reader, more than anything else,

are writing for

perhaps

it

is

determines the appropriateness of the choice of language,

point of view, and treatment that you make.

The

30

following books dealing with various aspects of the English

THE STUDENT'S CHOICE language

—

etc.

Harold

Allen,

growth,

its

vocabulary,

various levels of usage, the sources of

its

—may be found Readings

B.

New

Applied English Linguistics.

in

its

in almost ever\' college Hbrary:

York:

Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1958.

Language.

Bloomfield, Leonard.

M.

Bryant, Margaret

Modern

New

&

York: Henry Holt

Co., 1933.

New

English and Its Heritage.

York: The

Macmillan Co., 1949. Curme, George O. Syntax. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1931. Evans, Bergen, and Cornelia Evans. A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage.

W.

Fowler, H.

New York: Random House, 1957. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.

New

York: Ox-

ford, 1926.

New

American English Grammar.

Fries, C. C.

York: D. Appleton-Cen-

tury Co., 1940.

The

.

Structure

of

English.

New

York:

&

Harcourt, Brace

Co.,

1952.

Gray,

Louis H.

Foundations of Language.

New

The Macmillan

York:

Co., 1939.

and George Lyman Kittredge. Words and Their New York: The Macmillan Co., 1901, 1923. Growth and Structure of the English Language, 9th ed.

Greenough, James

Ways

in

B.,

English Speech.

Jespersen, Otto.

Oxford: Blackwell, 1948.

Kennedy, Arthur. Current English. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1935. Krapp, George Philip. The English Language in America.

The Centun/

McKnight, George H. English Words and Their Background. D. Appleton & Co., 1923. Nicholson,

York:

New

York:

New

York:

Usage.

New

Co., 1925.

Margaret.

A

Dictionary

Oxford University

American-English

of

1957.

Press,

[Based

on

Fowler's

Modern

English Usage.] Pei,

The Story

Mario.

Philadelphia:

of English.

J.

Lippincott Co.,

B.

1952. Potter,

Simeon.

Our Language.

Harmondsworth, England

:

Penguin Books,

1950. Pyles,

Thomas.

Random Robertson,

Words

and

Ways

of

American

English.

New

York:

Modern

English.

New

York:

House, 1952.

Stuart.

The Development

of

Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1934.

Smith, Logan Pearsall.

Words and Idioms.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,

1925.

31

/

Chapter 2

THE SENTENCE /

GRAMMATICAL PATTERNS

A.

What

Is

Grammar?

Grammar,

as

we

use the term here,

is

a

and analysis of the facts of language as it is used today/ must remember, however, that the term "grammar" has meant

description

We

more things to more people than any panel of linguists on a TV program could untangle in hours of discussion. One may speak of historical grammar, comparative grammar, or descriptive grammar. In its more inclusive aspects it may mean the study of word forms, pronunciation, syntax, parts of speech, the past history of the language,

grammar, a

and

Our primary

so on.

interest here

of the scientific

grammarian.

the facts; then he tries to

A

formulate certain generalizations that he similarly, the facts of usage

alizations are based

Unfortunately,

and

Its

linguist,

In

the gener-

we use the definition of the scientific gramwe are up against a real problem. If we study it

becomes obvious that there can be no Everyone, from or bad grammar.

grammar

you wish, the definitions used by: Robert C. Pooley, Teaching 1957, pp. 104-107; Margaret M. Bryant, Modern English Heritage, 1949, p. 190; Charles F. Hockett, A Course in Modern if

Grammar,

Linguistics, 1958, p. 129.

32

calls laws. first;

on usage.

our definition carefully, Compare,

always come

if

such thing as good ^

methods

and gathers organize and analyze his facts, and

grammar,

English

descriptive

scientist first observes

finally to

marian or

is

label that explains not only itself but also the

WHAT

IS

GRAMMAR?

the college professor to the illiterate, speaks grammatically, for the

way each

words for communication

uses

complication arises

who

cluding perhaps most of those very important ones

mankind,

destinies of

do not believe

still

And

means good grammar.

still

The

grammar.

his

is

from the fact that most educated people,

that,

are

control the

them grammar

this; to

we

if

in-

realists, is

a "fact

we cannot brush away by a definition. grammarian or linguist makes a distinction between grammar and usage; the ordinary person does not. When of language" that

The

we

scientific

point out that certain speech patterns are inappropriate or un-

acceptable on formal or dignified occasions

a grammarian,

sons, that, to

of choice, of preference,

among

the educated

is

among educated

a question of usage.

a matter of what

and what

is

observe the distinction between

not.

In

book we shall try to knowing very

this

usage,

We

well that occasional confusions are inevitable.

we cannot by

terms, but

per-

a matter

socially acceptable

is

grammar and

It is

can define our

that act immediately change the

mind-

habits of everybody else.

we go on with a

Before

which

tence,

is

grammar

of the sen-

let us clear up another some time or other, question the value grammar as an aid to better writing. What

the concern of this chapter,

Most

problem.

discussion of the

students, at

of a

knowledge of

part

of

grammar

is

useful?

What

part

useless?

is

The

Many

swer must be different for every different person.

an-

people

and speak well without knowing much about grammar, but for those who by reading this book admit their capacity for self-improvement, grammar is both a convenient chest of tools and write well

a practical code of communication. that

it

ones.

enables It is

them

this clearer

by a few examples.

student correct a sentence like I,"

if

tions,

and

to repair faulty

a code or a technical vocabulary, understood by both

teacher and learner, necessary in learning

make

a chest of tools in

It is like

to build effective sentences

he does not

this,

"This

and

How,

teaching.

is strictly

between he and

know something about pronouns, about

and about the

uses of the objective

Let us

for instance, can a

case?

How

preposi-

can a

and clauses in a series the student does not know what phrases and clauses are? When

teacher explain the punctuation of phrases if

33

THE SENTENCE a person says, "I done pretty good in the

thought with absolute clearness

his

How

ways enough.

among educated if

there

The

is

least

terms

people,

—but

today," he expresses

clearness

itself is

person learn what

this

not

al-

acceptable

is

and how can a teacher help him learn

it,

not some understanding of verb forms in current usage?

we can

that

is

can

test

say in defense of a knowledge of grammatical usually well for teacher

is

it

same language. The Parts of Speech.

Words

and student

to speak the

are classified according to their

function or use in the sentence into what are called parts of speech.

Notice that in this system of classification

it

is

the use in the sen-

tence which always determines the part of speech to which a

The

belongs. tives,

word

parts of speech are nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjec-

adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions,

and

interjections.

If

you

wish to group these parts of speech according to their functions,

you

may

think of

them

as follows:

nouns and pronouns are nam-

ing words; verbs are asserting words; adjectives

and adverbs are

modifying words; prepositions and conjunctions are joining words; interjections are independents.

1.

A

noun

is

a

word

names something.

that

object, a person, a place, or a quality.

son, a place, or

names a

an object,

it

is

this

a

It

it is

called

may name an

noun names a

called a concrete

quality or a mental concept,

For the practical value of

When

per-

noun; when

it

an abstract noun.

information, see sections 22, 25,

Nouns are also classified as proper and common. A proper noun is the official name of some individual person, place, or object; a common noun names any one of a class or kind.

and

27.

Proper nouns are capitalized;

common nouns

are not.

See sec-

tion 8.

Between me and my friend what unfathomable distance! All mankind, like motes and insects, are between us. Thoreau. Petrified forests consist of trees which time and circumstance have changed

—

into stone.

On

the trip to Arizona,

the desert.

34

Gadsden ran

into trouble

when

his car stalled in

— THE PARTS OF SPEECH

A

2.

verb

word

a

is

being, or state of being.

group of words) that

(or

See sections 3 and

asserts action,

6.

The sun shines. It rained yesterday. The children did not go to school. They should have braved the weather. My aunt thinks that they are being spoiled. They will take the bus today. ^Ve shall be waiting for them at the corner.

A

3.

pronoun

nouns are tive,

and

is

a

word

that takes the place of a noun.

See section

indefinite.

4.

they, we, them, thee, thou.

Personal:

I,

Demonstrative:

this, that, these, those.

Relative:

who, which, what,

Interrogative:

who, which, what.

you, he, she,

one,

Indefinite:

none,

it,

Pro-

demonstrative, relative, interroga-

classified as personal,

that,

whoever, whatever, whichever.

some, any, anyone, anybody, some one, some-

body, no one, nobody, each,

everyone, everybody, either,

neither, both.

4.

noun

An

adjective

is

a word that modifies (describes or limits) a

probably most useful here to consider the and the possessive forms of nouns and pronouns, when used to modify nouns, as in the classification of adjectives. Pronouns have two forms of the possessive: the first form {my, our, or pronoun.

It is

articles a, an, the,

your, her,

his, its, their)

adjective; the second

when placed

form {mine,

before a

noun functions

ours, yours, his, hers,

its,

as

an

theirs)

functions as a pronoun. Adjective: It

was an eloquent, sharp,

ugly,

earthly

countenance.

His hands were

small and prehensile, with fingers knotted like a cord; and they were continually flickering in front of

him

in violent

and expressive pantomime.

R. L. Stevenson.

The

place

through which he

made

way

at leisure was one of those seem to crouch in odd corners musty treasures from the public eye in jealhis

receptacles for old and curious things which of this town,

and

ousy and distrust.

One

to hide their

—Dickens.

of our boys found your kitten

and noticed that

its

paw had been

hurt.

35

THE SENTENCE Pronoun: Yes, that kitten

welcome

are

An

5.

Is

Please

ours.

tell

that boy of yours that any friends of his

here.

adverb

clause, or a

a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or

is

Occasionally an adverb will modify a phrase, a

another adverb.

Adverbs express the following

whole sentence.

rela-

manner, degree, affirmation or

tions in a sentence:

time, place,

negation, frequency.

See also section

5.

Time:

He

will

come tomorrow.

They

will soon

be here.

Leave your dog

outside.

May

now?

leave

I

Place:

Put

it

Come

down.

in.

Your son was

here.

Manner:

He

answered quickly.

played better yesterday.

I

She smiled happily.

Degree:

You

He

are very kind.

too good.

is

They

are rather dull.

Affirmation or negation:

Do

not go there.

Certainly, he will return.

Yes, he

is

No, you must

here.

not see him.

Frequency:

She

is

6.

A

preposition

noun or pronoun,

Many

sentence. for,

She called twice.

always pleasant.

from,

a

is

word used

called

its

It rains often.

to

object,

It

never snows.

show the relation between a and some other word in the

prepositions are single, short words:

at,

by, in,

off, on, up, above, after, around, before, behind, between,

There means of,

below, during, except, over, through, under, until, without.

number

are also a in front of,

7.

A

clauses.

of so-called "group" prepositions: by

on account

conjunction

is

of, in

place

of,

with respect

a word which connects words, phrases, or

Conjunctions are co-ordinating and subordinating.

junctions used in pairs are called correlatives.

36

to,

Con-

Adverbs used

as

THE VERBALS connectives, either co-ordinating or subordinating, are called con-

junctive adverbs.

The .

chief co-ordinating conjunctions are: and, for, but, or, nor,

both

yet, .

.

.

.

and, not only

.

At

nor.

.

.

but also, either

.

the present time, so

.

.

.

or,

neither

used as a co-ordinating con-

is

junction in loose, informal writing and in colloquial speech, but use should

Look up "so"

tion.

The

its

be avoided in most writing except in direct quota-

still

in section 44.

some

of the subordinating conjunctions:

if,

although, though, that, because, since, so that, in order that,

as,

following are

where, when.

unless, before, than,

Correlative conjunctions are: both also, either

.

,

or, neither

.

Some adverbs used before, less,

In

.

.

and, not only

.

.

.

.

.

but

nor.

.

as conjunctions are

Such connectives

after.

.

as

:

how, why, where, while,

however, therefore, neverthe-

hence, accordingly, are often classified as conjunctive adverbs.

modem

prose they are

There

sions.

is

no

commonly used

as transitional expres-

profit in quibbling over the question of

whether

they are transitions or conjunctive adverbs; the only important fact here

that in

is

modem

writing these expressions, with the exception

of hence, are not placed at the beginnings of clauses in

sentences.

They

are tucked

away

compound

neatly within the clauses.

See

14 for a discussion of the punctuation which should be

section

used with these transitional expressions.

8.

An

interjection

is

a word (or group of words) used as an

Note that an

exclamation expressing sudden or strong feeling. exclamation point tion.

For mild

The Verbals.

is

not the inevitable punctuation of an interjec-

interjections a

The

—are hybrid forms.

comma

or a period

is

sufficient.

—

verbals gerunds, participles, and infinitives They come from verbs and have some of the

forms and functions of verbs, but they serve primarily as other parts of speech.

They may have

modified by adverbs. verbals

is

One

tense forms,

and they may be

important thing to remember about

that they are not used to

make independent

statements.

37

THE SENTENCE

A gerund is a verbal used as a noun.

1

He

It is

as

its

tried

not easy.

is

is

the object of the verb

faster].

[Writing

is

the subject of the verb

It

is.

has

object.]

without

there

get

to

[Note that running

faster.

modified by the adverb

poem

Writing a

poem I

running

started

started.

breaking the

speed

[Object

laws.

of

the

preposition without.]

His

eligibility for office

was established by

having been so successful as

his

governor.

He was

proud of having won the cup. [Note the tense form of the gerund two sentences.]

in the last

2.

A

participle

is

a verbal used as an adjective.

also used as a part of a verb phrase, as in:

we

but

are here concerned primarily with

The

also such sentences as:

phrase in the

its

is,

of course,

reading a book;

Note

adjective use.

teacher was asking you a question, and

Teasing him was asking for trouble, the verb

It

He was

first

in

which asking

is

a part of

combination and a gerund in the

second.

The it

excited boy kicked at the barking dog.

after

Having

told us his story, he

he.

takes

It

Picking up a

stick,

he threw

Feeling safer, he started to walk home.

the frightened animal.

went

to bed.

[Note that having told modifies

an indirect object us and a direct object

story.

Observe

the different tense forms illustrated.]

3.

An

infinitive

which precedes

Mary wanted

to drive

may be The infinitive may

a verbal which

an adverb.

adjective, or

sign to,

is

it.

a car.

used as a noun, an

be recognized by

Occasionally the sign

Used

as a

noun object

is

its

omitted.

of wanted.

Note

its

object, car]

She had no car

to drive.

She was happy

To watch

We

to

[Used as an adjective

come with

us.

to

modify

car.]

[Modifies an adjective, happy]

her happiness was a pleasure.

did not dare

let

her drive.

[Note the omission of the sign

to.]

38 li

THE ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

Exercises Exercise

Parts of Speech.

1,

In the following sentences

speech to which each word belongs.

You

elementary.

The

name

the part of

made

sentences are purposely

should have no difficulty with this exercise.

It

is

just

a preliminary workout.

2.

Tom Tom

3.

Wearily he implored the ceiling for inspiration and knowledge.

4.

Sandra,

5.

She knew that spiritual courage was important. Moreover, she had studied her lessons carefully.

1.

6. 7.

8.

9.

10.

and Sandra took wrote his name

who had

their examinations in the morning.

in a

heavy hand

at the top of the paper.

great fortitude, smiled sweetly at him.

Tom often depended on the impulse of A golden opportunity was undoubtedly

the

moment.

his.

Alas, he did not feel equal to the challenge.

With

Exercise

a sigh of resignation, he bent over his paper.

Identify the verbals in the following sentences.

Verbals.

2,

The

verbals are gerunds, participles, and infinitives. 1.

Going home is no fun; I hate saw the girls going home as

2.

I

3.

The

contract, signed, sealed,

to

do

it.

was coming in. and delivered, made me glad

I

to take over

the business. 4.

The crowd having been finally

5.

began

scattered by the embattled police, the streets

to look as usual.

He it

appeared to remember what he was supposed was another matter.

6.

Many

7.

Mother took my

to

be doing, but doing

people like going to church, but others seem to be indifTerent. protesting father to church to

watch two strangers being

married. 8.

Wishing

9.

Sitting in the next

10.

to avoid

Having bowed

an argument, Father pretended

pew were two

politely,

to be enjoying himself.

old and respected friends of his family.

he began to study the expressions on the faces

of the assembled guests.

The Elements of the Simple Sentence. Defined in terms of form or pattern, a sentence is a basic unit of language, a communication in words, having as its core at least one independent verb with is

its

subject.

It gives

the reader or hearer a feeling that

it

a relatively complete unit, capable of standing independently

or alone.

Now

this

may sound

a

bit

complicated, but

it

will

39

THE SENTENCE gradually clear

itself

up

as

of

the

you study the explanations and examples

below.

For a discussion

various verbless, subjectless,

mentary units that are acceptable to section

A

sentence

is

one which contains a single independent

simple sentence

noun or pronoun and

may have

as predicate

as subject

more than one

V

S

Men

or frag-

in speech, turn

1.

The simple clause.

and

in writing

Boys

m

are working.

S

more than one

verb.

ore wording girls

V

S

>

play

Boys and gids play.

S

V

S

V

Boys and gids laugh and shout.

1

—

.

Complements.

With certain and verb

complete expression.

a

types of verbs a third element

—

in addition to subject

is

essential to the

This element

There are three main kinds

of

is

called

complements

—

a

formation of

complement.

direct objects, in-

and subjective complements. Less common are the objective complement and the retained object. a. The direct object of a verb denotes that which is immediately direct objects,

acted upon.

V

S

O

Mary bought

V Read

V

a hat.

Mary

boughf

hai I

O book.

this

S

V

o

(You)

I

read

\

book

Did you hear him?

b.

The

the one to

40

indirect object names, without the use of the preposition,

whom or for whom the

action

is

done.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE Mother

He I

told

me

a

stor>'.

A/lof/ier

taught us a lesson.

s/ory

fo/c/ I

gave the dog a bath.

Note that when

to or jor are expressed, the substanti\'e following

becomes the object to

the

of the preposition, as in:

me; Dr. Jones taught mathematics man.

The

c.

or limits

subjective

complement

noun or pronoun, and a predicate See also section

Tom The

is

and describes

predicate substantive adjective

if

it

to

is

if

it

is

a

an adjective.

5.

a major now.

Tom

is

\

mo/or

price seems right.

The milk It

told a story

She gave a dollar

to us;

refers to the subject

It is often called the

it.

Mother

looks

d.

W

tastes sour.

good

The

to

They made him

their chairman.

e.

The

him

A

appoint, or the hke, refers to the direct object.

^,

i

They

foolish.

\

made // chairman ,

i

.

I \

»

.

hi

I

retained object

They were given some

He was

good

objective complement, used with verbs such as elect, call,

called

\

me.

choose, make,

They

looks

food.

is

used with a verb in the passive voice.

They

were given

|

food

taught a good lesson.

simple sentence

may have

adjectives, adverbs,

and phrases as

modifiers.

41

THE SENTENCE The

little

boy gave

his

mother a red

rose.

boy

gove

I

X In

Phrases.

2.

its

mofher

general, loose sense, a phrase

is

any group of

Thus we say that a man "phrases his thoughts" when he puts them into words, or that he expresses his ideas in "wellbalanced phrases" when his sentences are well-built or rhythmical. The word "phrase" in its general sense has its place in the language. In the study of grammar, however, the word refers to one words.

the verb phrase, the prepositional phrase, or the

of three kinds:

verbal phrase.

a.

A

prepositional phrase consists of a preposition,

and modifiers

of the phrase or

any of

its

object,

parts.

its

A prepositional phrase may be used as an adjective. The boy with boy.

the books under his

Within the phrase

is

arm

is

my

brother.

another phrase, under

his

[The phrase modifies arm, which modifies

books.]

She married a

The

man

of great wealth.

[The phrase modifies man.]

father of the child [adjective] watched

jrom the window watched

faiher

v. \

\i

\

child

\'.

A prepositional phrase may be He

[adverb].

plunged into the pool.

window

\*

used as an adverb.

[The phrase

is

an adverb of place or direction,

modifying plunged.]

For an hour he played in the water. [Both phrases modify played. first is an adverb of time, and the second is an adverb of place.] Francis was true to his word.

42

[The phrase

is

an adverb modifying

The

true.]

THE ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE Under

had

the bridge two tramps

built a fire.

tramps

had

\

built

\

fire

\

bridge

\% A prepositional The

phrase

best time for study

place for

it.

the second

The

is

[The

is

first

may

be used as a noun.

morning.

in the

phrase

On

the mantel

used as the subject of the verb would

best time for study

is

in the

would be

a

good

used as a noun subjective complement;

is

be.]

morning.

morning

X

time

t^^yb.

A

study

verbal phrase consists of a participle, a gerund, or an

infinitive

A

^X

and

its

complements and modifiers.

participial phrase consists of a participle,

its

complement,

has one, and any modifiers of the phrase or any of

used as an adjective. participial phrases

is

misuse results in a fier."

A

of practical \'alue to

if it

It

fault

known

is

of

any writer because their "dangling modi-

as the

of this see section 32.

The boy now playing center The participle is modified by noun

parts.

thorough understanding of the uses

stylistic

For a discussion

its

is

a

substitute.

the adverb now,

[The phrase modifies boy. and it has for its object the

center.]

Frightened by the sudden noise, the deer plunged into the brush.

[The

phrase modifies deer.]

His face, freshly scrubbed, shone in the morning

light.

[The phrase modifies

face.]

43

THE SENTENCE Having given him the

participial

the required amount, I left the store.

phrase

there

another

is

participle,

[Notice that within required,

modifying

amount.] left

1

V'">'^

A

W""^^

him

of a substantive followed

from the usual single

word

by a

participial phrase in that

it

grammatically

in the sentence;

An

element.

We

\

amounf

special kind of participial phrase, called the absolute phrase,

made up

is

given

V

store

1

absolute phrase cannot

participle.

it

is

differs

an independent

become a dangling

hunted toward the north, each taking one side

It

does not modify any

modifier.

of the ridge.

Their navy having been destroyed, they were forced to surrender.

The game

A one,

being over,

we

returned to our rooms.

gerund phrase consists of a gerund, its complement, if it has and any modifiers of the phrase or any of its parts. A gerund

phrase

is

always used as a noun.

Staying out late at night will not help your reputation. is

Harry enjoyed mowing the lawn.

You can I

as

[The gerund phrase

used as the subject of the verb will help.]

should

[Object of the verb.]

get the address by stopping at our house. call that violating the spirit of

an objective complement referring

[Object of preposition.]

our agreement.

[The phrase

to that^^

Hearing that song brings back sad memories

to

me.

song

IV 44

%. brings

memories

is

used

THE ELEMENTS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE Man.- objected to

my

telling the story.

ob/ecfed

tAary

sfory

.\n infinitive phrase, like other \-erbal phrases,

plement and modifiers.

assumed subject finitive

as

a

com-

it may have what is called the The assumed subject of the in-\n infiniti\-e phrase may be used

In addition

of the infinitive.

in the objective case.

is

may have

an adverb, an adjective, or a noun.

Tommy

did not stop to pick up his toys.

\\n adverb, modifying the verb

did stop.]

Their attempts

cut

to

the line

were

futile.

\\n adjective, modifying the

subject attempts.]

Whether

to

belieie

him

or to call

mother was a

real

problem

for

me.

[A

noun, used as the subject of the sentence.]

We knew

him

to

be the most hardened gambler of the regiment,

that the infinitive to be has

My

him

as

its

assumed

orders were to deliver the guns.

guns

deliver

am happy

to see

^

\

orJe

I

^'otice

subject.]

you again.

im

\^

happy you

45

THE SENTENCE She wanted me

•

to drive the car.

me

She

'!^

Y \

^or



;^

X.2

G

.

,

(J

3^2*-

344

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345

23

WORDS AND

Exercise

2.

PHRASES

Look up each

Decide whether both

of the following words.

spellings are in use in your locality, or

whether one

is

more common than

the other.

honor, honour

sulfur,

theater, theatre

adviser, advisor

Exercise

Look up

3.

where the accent nunciation

is

pronunciation of the following words.

your dictionary,

in

Which pronunciation do you

way.

color, colour

night, nite

Notice

Where more than one protry pronouncing the word in each in your own conversation?

placed in each word.

is

listed

the

sulphur

use

acumen

decade

finance

aspirant

decadence

formidable

lamentable

combatant

despicable

gondola

preferable

culinary

exquisite

inquiry

superfluous

irreparable

APPROPRIATENESS 23.

The skilled writer uses words that are subject of his paper, with the occasion, is

of the papers that

your occasion

We

and with

the readers he

you write are formal some are informal. ;

you write a serious discussion of a serious subject, you should

use language that If

keeping with the

addressing.

Some

When

in

is

is

dignified

though not pretentious or

affected.

informal, you write in an informal, easy manner.

have mentioned before (Chapter

usage with manners or dress. styles of writing at his

Every

1), the

analogy of

levels of

intelligent person has different

command just as he has clothes appropriate You do not attend a formal dinner in

for different occasions.

sweater and slacks, or a football

game

in a tuxedo, unless

you are

determined to make a spectacular and probably unfavorable im-

and conventions in the use of language, just as there are conventions and decencies governing human intercourse everywhere else at a dinner table, at a football game, on a street corner, anywhere. A writer's good sense, wide awake to the situation around him, is his best rule of conduct. Here are a few examples of failure in appropriateness: pression.

There are

rules

—

346

23

APPROPRIATENESS Inappropriate in formal writing:

The

college selects

its

students on the basis of their demonstrated ability to

accomplish high-level academic work, their personal and social maturity,

and

it. [The "occasion" of this and the original phrasing was "potentiality growth and development."]

their potentiality for getting a lot out of

sentence

is

a college catalogue,

for further intellectual

The

and

social

was would keep

State Department's difficulty

for ensuring that the press

ment,

[remain

that

had failed to find any device on the new international agree-

it

mum

silent]

.

Inappropriate in informal writing: I certainly

hope you are having a good time

ing your potentiality for intellectual growth

the "occasion"

is

s.n

"getting a lot out of

He

told

23a,

me what

informal

letter,

at college this year

and

and development.

[This time

realiz-

and an appropriate phrasing would be

it."]

to

do and

I

accomplished the operation.

[I

did

The inappropriafe use of slang should be avoided

in

it]

serious

writing.

Slang has been defined as a kind of made-to-order language,

Some

characterized by extravagant or grotesque fancy or humor.

examples are hep, beat, savvy, take the rap, gripe, jalopy, snide,

baloney,

scram,

vamoose.

The

last

three

jive,

examples also

show what often happens to slang: it gets pretty corny, Webster's New World Dictionary points out that slang is "generally shortlived but may survive and become part of the colloquial or informal vocabulary." Slang is usually inappropriate in serious or formal writing, but some writers use it with telling efTects. Actually, most students are

less

college papers than

Hkely to get into trouble by using slang in

by using

stilted, general,

vague, and pompously

bookish words under the impression that a simple and direct style is

not good enough for important ideas.

23h,

A

mixture of the colloquial and the formal styles

inappropriate

in

is

usually

serious writing.

Most dictionaries use colloq. as a usage label for certain words and phrases. The editors of these dictionaries are careful to point out that the label implies no condemnation of the word or phrase.

347

23

WORDS AND

means informal, or

Colloquial style,

PHRASES characteristic of

as opposed to a formal,

a conversational

Now

literary style.

of course, as

everyone knows, there are thousands upon thousands of other words, not so labeled in any dictionary, that are also appropriate in conversation, in informal writing, in familiar letters, in all the

situations of everyday living in

which language

is

educated person uses colloquial English, and, what tant to

remember, he uses

it

correctly

if

he uses

it

used. is

Every

very impor-

appropriately.

In the writing of college students the importance of the problem of colloquialism has

been

some word or phrase

in his

through

it

question

his dictionary.

much

The

appropriateness.

its

overrated.

If

a student suspects

more formal papers, he can easily check If it is marked colloq. there, he should dictionary will usually supply

a formal equivalent.

Exercises Exercise

The

1.

a formal context.

The prime

1.

following sentences contain expressions inappropriate in

Revise each sentence.

minister explained patiently that the nations of the

West did

not ever scheme to gang up on the Soviet Union. 2.

He

3.

As the

lost

a fortune in the stock-market game. session

shake a 4. 5.

was nearing adjournment, the President asked Congress

to

leg.

When

Father spoke sternly to me, I found it wisest to make like a rabbit. There was a man who was obviously looking for trouble, but he was run in by the police before he could do any damage.

Exercise

Half of the following

2.

formal writing; half are not.

which are more appropriate 1.

The

girl

said

that she

would not run out 2.

3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

8.

italicized expressions are appropriate in

With

the

help of your dictionary, decide

in colloquial than in formal usage.

was driving

at

an excessive speed so that she

home. was irritated, he would take it out on his students. The dean was slightly under the weather. One of the boys was unruly, and the teacher gave him the works. I believe that he had had words with him before this. He was readmitted to class after he had promised to make good. After that the teacher made him work to beat the Dutch. No boy likes to eat his own words even if he knows he is wrong.

When

348

of gas before she reached

the professor

24

IDIOMS poor sportsmanship

It is

9.

10.

to

jump on

a

boy for every

Adults should not try to squelch a boy's

spirit

trifling offense.

and imagination.

IDIOMS

24a

Idiomatic English should be cultivated

in

preference to formal,

bookish English,

An

idiom

may be

an expression peculiar

is

(it is

How

grammatical.

who

is

to a language.

An

idiom

not always so) irrational, untranslatable, even un-

can one,

literally,

beside himself with anxiety?

pick a quarrel with a person

How

can one translate

"How

do you do?" into French or German?

Because idioms are created

out of the day-to-day living of ordinary

men and women,

They

themselves alive, pungent, racy.

But

language.

it

is

said, that idiomatic

Many

they are

are truly the heart of the

highly misleading to say, as has often been

speech

is

that used by cultivated Englishmen.

idioms border on slang;

many

now

of the idioms

accepted

were roundly denounced by cultivated

as part of the language

but squeamish English gentlemen of a former day.

You must not itself

with a few

think that the study of English idiom concerns illogical

phrases like those just mentioned, or with

a score or so of verbs that must always be used with certain prepoVizetelly

sitions. list

and De Bekker

the English language.

you

if

in

Idioms and Idiomatic Phrases

You cannot memorize

498 pages of idioms.

all

the idioms in

Idiomatic speech will come naturally to

you have grown up with the language;

if

you haven't, you

have something of a problem on your hands.

Many

idiomatic phrases have

—

everyday living

and

so on.

grown up around

to go, to do, to catch, to get, to

Notice the following examples.

Some

more appropriate in speech and informal appropriate on all occasions.

are

To The

the verbs of

make,

to take,

of these phrases

writing; others are

catch:

pile of rags

caught

fire,

[ignited]

[be punished]

You'll catch

it!

They caught

sight of a plane,

[saw]

349

24 I

WORDS AND

To

do:

am

done

PHRASES

[vanquished, ruined]

for.

We

shall

He

did himself proud,

do away with poverty,

[abolish]

[distinguished]

To make: She made faces

He made He made He made I

at

free with

good,

her mother,

my

money,

[succeeded]

with the jewels,

off

cannot make out what he

Please

make

sure of

Webster's

it.

New

matic phrases.

Here

[grimaced]

[squandered]

is

[escaped]

[understand]

.saying,

[be certain]

International

The

desk-size

lists

a very large

dictionaries

list

number

fewer,

a comparison of what three of the dictionaries

is

of idio-

of course. list

under

hang:

WNWD hang hang hang hang hang hang hang

24b,

WNCD

ACD

hang fire hang together hang out hang up

around fire it

on

hang hang hang hang hang

out

back in the balance

out together

up

together

up

Observe the idiomatic use of prepositions after and nouns.

certain verbs,

participles, adjectives,

The

following

will not take the place of

It will serve

tionary.

guard.

list

merely as a check

list

an unabridged dicto put you on your

Consult the dictionary for more complete information.

abstain from

agree to (a thing)

accede to

agree with (a person)

acquiesce in

agreeable to

acquit of

angry at (a thing)

addicted to

angry with (a person)

adept in

averse to

adhere to

capable of

350

IDIOMS characteristic of

Identical with

compare to (for illustration) compare with (to examine qualities)

independent of

concern in (be interested)

initiate into

from

infer

concerned for (troubled)

inseparable from

concerned with (involved)

jealous of

concur in (an opinion)

obedient to

concur with (a person)

oblivious of

desire for

preparatory to

desirous of

prerequisite to

from

desist

prior to

devoid of

proficient In

differ

about

profit

differ

from (things)

prohibit from

differ

with (a person)

protest against

different

from

by

reason with

disagree with

regret for

repugnant

disdain for

from

dissent

24

to

sensitive to

distaste for

separate from

empty

substitute for

of

envious of

superior to

expert in

sympathize with

foreign to

tamper with

guard against

unmindful of

hint at

vie with

Exercises Exercise

1.

In your desk dictionary find the idioms

of the following words.

You

type, usually after the synonyms.

Try

discussion.

decide

to

listed

under several

will find idiomatic phrases printed in boldface

Bring to

why some

number of these for class marked colloq. and some are

class a

are

without a label. eat

go

head

mouth

foot

hand

heart

pick

take

get

have

horse

run

word

Exercise

2.

Supply the idiomatic preposition

in

the

stand

space indicated by

parentheses In each of the following sentences. 1.

When

2.

I

3.

It Is

must

who can

she smiles, differ

(

)

you

in

be angry

my

(

)

her?

interpretation of this poem.

obvious that Mother was concerned

(

)

our safety.

351

25

WORDS AND

4.

Surely he will profit

5.

Tonight the Bears

Exercise 3.

PHRASES (

)

will vie

your advice. )

(

the

Gophers

for

place.

first

Point out and correct the errors in idiom in the following

sentences.

4.

He was acquitted from the charge of nepotism. There is no substitute to victory. She is adept about misinterpreting whatever you My aunt had become sensitive against drafts and

5.

The new

1.

2. 3.

refrigerator

is

much

say.

noises.

superior than the old one.

CONCRETENESS The concrete or specific or homely

25,

the reader's imagination than

word is more

likely to

touch

abstract or general or bookish

its

counterpart.

General words name

classes or

groups; specific words

name

the

individual objects, actions, or qualities which compose the group.

The terms chair

are to

more

is

Weapon

is

some extent

relative: furniture

is

a class of things;

than furniture, more general than armchair.

specific

When

a general noun.

you

say,

"She assaulted him

with a deadly weapon," just what control do you have over what goes on in your reader's mind?

What

picture do your words call

Did she stab him with a hatpin, club him with a brass book him with a safety razor blade that she had picked out of her sewing basket, or shoot him with a 22 target pistol? You say that the police found an ornament that she had dropped in the scuffle. It was probably a piece of jewelry which is more specific than "ornament" but it would have been more specific and more up?

end, slash

—

—

effective to say

The are

all

eral;

"a green jade earring."

verb move

more

when you

general; stride, amble, creep, glide,

is

specific

ways

try to

of moving.

make

it

more

The

specific,

fly,

adjective large

is

you discover that

lope

gendif-

ferent varieties of largeness are associated with different nouns.

For instance, bulky, towering, brawny, monstrous, hulking are applicable to which of these child, a

352

room?

—a

fat,

spacious,

building, a

man, a

25

CONCRETENESS

A

concrete

any of the

noun names something

senses,

name

Abstract words

clatter.

that can be perceived through

such as pencil, robin, cloud, smoke, shoe, ideas,

detached from any particular thing bearing those beauty,

empiricism,

whiteness,

truth,

devotion,

hair,

more or

or quahties,

less

as

qualities,

weariness.

Now

of course you can seldom give a concrete equivalent of an abstract

word, but you can

—and

To

abstraction that you use.

easygoing"

is

should

—

spell

out your concept of the

say "Father

is

both stubborn and

not enough; bring him out on the stage for us to

and show him in a typical action. Homely words are those associated with

the objects

and

see,

activities

of everyday Uving; bookish words are those associated with Uter-

ary formality.

The

following pairs of words

and

expressions will help to

make

the distinctions clearer:

General words

Specific words

An

armchair, a smock, a carving

knife,

frying

a

pan,

murder,

a

welder, a violet, our old black cat

Furniture, apparel, cutlery, kitchen utensil,

crime,

an

industrial

Abstract words

Concrete words

She served him like a dog; my mother hummed a lullaby; a splinter of shrapnel ripped open his right

a

worker, a flower, an animal

The the

faithfulness

harmony

of

an

of music,

animal,

a misfor-

tune of battle, extreme intoxication

arm; he was drunk as a

lord

Bookish words

Homely words Marriage, a bed, breakfast,

our church, a to

lie,

my

son,

to eat, to dig,

plow

Matrimony, a couch, the matutimeal, a male descendant, a

nal

religious

organization,

prevarica-

tion, to devour, to delve, to culti-

vate

Let us hasten to say at entific classifications of all

this point that these are

words

in the language.

by no means

We

sci-

arc merely

picking out handfuls of words as samples, and saying in effect:

353

25

WORDS AND PHRASES

"Look

at these.

This type seems to do something more to your

Abstract and general words are not bad words; they are necessary for the expression of abstract quaUties and general ideas. But in the writing of the average student abstract and general words are used too often where concrete and specific words would do a better job.

imagination than that one."

The

following examples will help to

make

the idea clearer

General and ineffective:

The

inconvenience of taking a bath in these old English homes

is

hard

to

realize.

Concrete and

specific:

I do not mind taking sectional baths with two pints of water in the country, where it seems unexceptional and goes along with fresh air, old clothes and being sleepy by nine o'clock in the evening. But segmented bathing in this weary, constricted, suburban household has nothing of rural simplicity about it, only skimpiness and inadequacy, and it makes you feel when you

finish

a postage stamp that has been licked and then not used.

like

—Margaret

Halsey,

With Malice Toward Some, Simon

&

Schuster 1938.

Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

General and

effective:

When we

returned to America,

and smells

of springtime.

we found renewed

pleasure in the sights

Concrete and specific:

From out of war, from out of death, we three came home to the North American continent. Here in spring we watched the yellow and the purple crocuses appear, the purple polyanthus and violets, the pussy willows, plum blossoms, and forsythia. The trees that were dead swelled with life, and the plants that had withered turned green. The rain smelled of new life, and new earth; death and decay seemed far removed.

—Agnes

Newton Keith, Three Came Home. Copyright 1946, 1947 by Agnes Newton Keith. Courtesy of Little, Brown & Company and the Atlantic Monthly Press.

Ineffective:

He removed

354

his shoes

and walked more comfortably

in his

bare

feet.

25

CONCRETENESS More

He

vivid:

leaned

the other.

down and untied the laces, slipped off first one shoe and And he worked his damp feet comfortably in the hot dry

until little spurts of feet tightened

it

came up between

his toes,

and

until the skin

then dust

on

his

with dryness.

—^John Steinbeck, The Grapes

of

Wrath.

Ineffective:

We

drove happily through the countryside, admiring the beautiful scenery

along the road.

More

vivid:

As the

and

horse's back rose

countryside

slipped

mansion with

past

fell

gently, like a ship,

—misted

woods,

glimpses

between the of

shafts, the

park land,

a

grey

chimneys, terraces and glasshouses, amongst the steam-

tall

ing trees.

—A.

J.

The Green

Cronin,

Years.

Ineffective:

We

noticed a

More

a chair and crying.

girl sitting in

vivid:

She was

sitting

deep down

together, while her

in the chair,

head was

a handkerchief to her eyes.

with her knees high up and pressed

down on her lap and her two hands held And her body heaved spasmodically as she

cast

sobbed.

—Liam O'Flaherty, Spring Sowing. General and vague:

The

repulsiveness of the

man

body and features and the Specific

On

A

of

most.

I

noted the fatness of his

first

time directly at him

I

experienced a feeling of

figure inclined to corpulence, dressed with care,

—

remarkable only

and then what a head! It was large, and had a copious limp hair combed back from the high forehead hair of a disagree-

above the neck

mop

me

and concrete:

gazing for the

nausea.

impressed

oily quality of his gestures.

able blonde

tint,

to the shoulders.

—

dutch-cut behind, falling over the pinkish soft neck almost

In his pianist's or

artist's hair,

which shook en masse w hen

355

25

WORDS AND

PHRASES

owner walked, two large and outstanding and altogether brutal white The face, a cross between Greek and Jew, had a Reynard expression, something distinctly wily and perfectly disagreeable. And equally with the hair blonde moustache or rather moustachios projectingly important waved beneath the prominent nostrils, and served to partially conceal the pallid mouth, weak and large, whose lips assumed from time to time a smile which had something almost foetal about it. Over the even weaker chin was disposed a blonde goatee. The cheeks were the

ears tried to hide themselves.

—

—

The

fatty.

continually perspiring forehead exhibited innumerable pinkish

In conversing with a companion

pockmarks.

this

being emitted a disgusting

He wore a pair of which he smoothed time. He was speaking low and effortless French, comthe developing ideas which issued fluently from his

smoothness, his very gestures were oily like his skin. bloated wristless hands, the knuckles the air from time to pletely

absorbed

in

lost

in fat, with

About him there clung an aura of cringing. His hair, whiskers and neck looked as if they were trick neck, whiskers and hair, as if they might at any moment suddenly disintegrate, as if the smoothness of his eloquence alone kept them in place. moustachios.

—E.

E.

Cummings, The Enormous Room.

Copyright renewed E. E.

Cum-

mings, 1949.

Exercises Exercise

1.

Find several

specific

words

for

each of the following general

words.

animal

grass

tree

vehicle

ship

bird

flower

to

building

road

furniture

to clean

Exercise

2.

to play

laugh

to hit

to fasten

Construct sentences in which you give concrete examples of

each of the following abstract terms.

Exercise

stubbornness

thoroughness

dullness

efficiency

fear

humility

3.

Rewrite the following sentences, making them more specific

and concrete. 1.

Two

2.

In front of the theater a long line waited for the ticket

3.

The The professor became irritated by the questions. The sounds at midnight are interesting to hear.

4. 5.

356

high-school girls were studying in their room.

little

boy had been playing in the back yard.

window

to open.

26

CONCISENESS

CONCISENESS Avoid

26,

more words than are necessary

using

adequate

for the

expression of your thought

The and

stylistic

been a concern of writers

fault of wordiness has

many

rhetoricians for

by many names

—

centuries.

Wordiness has been called

verbosity, pleonasm, redundancy, prolixity, dif-

By whatever name, wordimore words than you need in a partic-

fuseness, circumlocution, periphrasis.

ness simply

means

the use of

To

ular situation.

achieve the goal of conciseness, the student

must ask himself whether every word he writes is doing its work, carrying its proper load of meaning, and helping its neighbors with their loads. Busy editorial officers have a favorite phrase: "Boil

it

down !"

may

This

be an unconscious metaphor borrowed

from the process of boiling down maple sugar. use this metaphor as a helpful

ing

still

watery and

have you "boiled

Do

it

flat, like

down"

way

Perhaps you can

to self-criticism.

your writ-

Is

Or

the sap fresh from a maple tree?

so that

what remains

not mistake brevity for conciseness.

A

is

pure sugar?

sentence

not con-

is

words necessary not only for the adequate expression of the idea but also for the effective communication of the idea cise if it lacks the

to the reader. ness.

with

Cutting out words will not always result in concise-

You may summarize The the Wind in five hundred

Brothers

Karamazov or Gone

words, but can you persuade

three million persons to read your five-hundred

word summary?

Cutting out words in a good essay might also cut out of qualities

which make

it

good

—

it

those

strength, variety, maturity, grace,

cleverness, even accuracy.

Study the difference pairs of sentences. clearer, stronger,

1.

Objects, on our integrity

of

in

the effect produced by the following

Notice that the

Our

first

although longer,

is

always

richer.

first

acquaintance with them, have that singleness and

impression

that

it

seems as

if

nothing could

stamped and riveted on the impressions of objects are the most lasting.

obliterate them, so firmly are they 2.

first,

and

destroy

or

brain.

357

26 1.

WORDS AND PHRASES

The

ant and the

ones

lie

moth have

homes

night by night, from the corners of

homeless

—"I was a more

each of their young, but our

cells for

in festering heaps, in

and ye took me not in." young than are human

stranger,

careful about their

2.

Insects arc

1.

When we had done

there

all this,

erate evening; so that as

we

little

consume them like graves; and our streets, rises up the cry of the

that

fell

upon us

beings.

the beneficent and delib-

while together near the rakes,

sat a little

we

saw the valley more solemn and dim around us and all the trees and hedgerows quite still, and held by a complete silence. Hilaire Belloc. When we had finished, it was evening; so that we sat a little while near the rakes and looked out upon the quiet valley.

—

2.

Now

study the following

Do

sets of sentences.

you see what

is

meant by conciseness?

2.

Whenever anyone called Jim was always the first Whenever anyone called

1.

This

1.

spirit

had what it took. Jim had the spirit

to help him do some certain thing, and lend his help for the cause. help, Jim was always the first to volunteer.

someone

for

of co-operation

in order to get along

2.

for

to volunteer

is

essential

and necessary

with other people, and

of co-operation

which

is

this

is

necessary

for

anyone

to

a quality that

if

have

Jim

one wishes to get

along with people.

1.

Jim was one

of those people of

whom

there are few in this world like

him. 2.

There are few people

1.

Lumbering is placed in the upper ten industries in the United States from the standpoint of importance. Lumbering is one of the ten most important industries in the United

2.

like

Jim.

States.

This section will concern

which are

to be avoided

direct,

and

26a,

Repetition of the

A

word

tence.

358

itself

with several kinds of wordiness

by the writer who hopes to be concise,

to the point.

same

wore/.

carelessly repeated

Careless repetition

is

weakens the

effectiveness of a sen-

frequently associated with wordiness,

a

26

CONCISENESS

may

as

The

be seen in the following examples.

fault

may

be cor-

rected by using synonyms, by using pronouns, or by completely

rewriting the sentence. Poor: I

have been asked

troversy

among

on a subject that has been the subject of concommentators for years. That subject, as you have none other than the question of which is the most

to write

sports

probably guessed,

is

interesting, basketball or football.

Better: I

shall try to

determine which

is

more

interesting to

watch

—basketball

or

football.

Poor:

A

person

who

has seen each

game

game

for the first time

would probably prefer

game because this game comprehend and can be understood much more quickly. the

basketball

to

the

football

is

easy to

Better:

A

game

person seeing each

ball because of

its

The importance tract the writer

the reader.

It is

oratory,

as the

suggests,

and

time might prefer basketball to foot-

first

of avoiding

from the

and true device

tried

for the

greater simplicity.

it

dared, as

from

it

But the learning of

his

day would

did burn his dead body afterwards.

Phillips.

nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by

and made an instrument of was

as scholars that

that

you return.

We

shall

seas

—

from Winston Churchill below

selection

the knowledge of wrong, of ideals

It

dis-

emphasis

for securing certain kinds of attention

Wycliffe was, no doubt, a learned man.

The

must not

used sparingly by most contemporary writers.

have burned him, had

—Wendell

repetition

perhaps especially appropriate in persuasion and

famous

it is

awkward

possibilities of repetition for

evil.

lost,

of

—Woodrow

you were here;

—George William

it is

government too often debauched AVilson.

to the feeling

and

life

of scholars

Curtis.

go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing

359

26

WORDS AND

PHRASES

air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall

strength in the

we

shall fight

shall fight

never surrender, and even Island or a large part of

beyond the

if,

it

which

do not

I

armed and guarded by the

seas,

for a

were subjugated and

the struggle, until, in God's good time, the

and might,

steps forth to the rescue

—Winston

Churchill, Blood, Sweat,

moment

believe, this

Empire would carry on World, with all its power

starving, then our

British Fleet,

New

and the liberation of the

and Tears, G.

P.

old.

Putnam's Sons, 1941.

Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

The

efTectiveness of a sentence, or of a series of sentences,

may

be strengthened by repeating the same form of construction.

To is

differ

grotesque and eccentric.

is

incendiary and revolutionary.

Made drunk

To

protest

tions of a silly one.

life of

preposterous.

To

defy

with the freedom of ideas, college students should charge de-

world and

structively against all the institutions of a faulty

The

is

— George William Curtis.

Man

is

all

the conven-

— Bernard DeVoto. a long

surrounded by invisible

march through

the night,

foes,

tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that

few can hope

to reach,

and where

none may tarry long.

—Bertrand

Russell.

To make

parallels clearer,

junctions, articles,

When

he was

jor his

and

at the beach,

humid

such signal words as prepositions, con-

auxiliaries

may

be repeated

he longed

office in the city,

joT the sweltering crowds jor the hurried

They

left

on the subways, noonday snack at the drug

the world

as

wicked and

as ignorant as they

26h,

Repetition of

store.

found

it.

words with the same meaning

(tautology).

Wordy:

The

analysis

was thoroughly and wholly complete. and honest candor made

All the requirements of frank

360

his speech popular.

26

CONCISENESS The

fundamental

basic

essentials

of a

college

education are simply and

briefly these.

He woke up

at six a.m. this

morning.

The double that before a clause (pleonasm).

26c. Wordy: I

was very glad that when [Omit the second

in order.

I

came

in to the house that I

Roundabout expressions (circumlocufion or

26d,

found everything

that.]

periphrasis).

Wordy:

The

reason

[reason

why

I

was

—why—because]

was because she seemed so angry with me. was upset because she seemed so angry

so upset

[Revise: I

with me.]

26e.

Puffers.

A

college professor once prefaced the giving out of final exami-

nation questions with this story:

"I

ing marine animal, the squid, which

enemy

and

am

reminded of an

when

closely

interest-

pursued by an

manages to escape in the cloudy murk." The following samples illustrate what is meant by puffing up a simple idea by means of words. Despite the fact that one

releases a flood of ink

who can

it is still

bad

usually

write like this will often qualify for a political career,

writing.

Wordy:

Most people will agree, if they give the situation their careful consideration, that the commodity which is most plentiful in this world and which usually is

most thoughtlessly wasted

realm, or by whatever

It

name

has been observed by those

rivers,

and

so forth, that

the exact equivalent of currency, coin of the

is

it is

legal tender.

who

possess a

It is

Intensives

is

money.]

wide familiarity with streams,

water which presents a deceptive surface appearance

of placidity usually conceals a great depth.

26f.

[Time

and other

waters flow deep.]

modifiers.

a wise idea to question

and adverbs), because

[Still

it is

critically all modifiers

(adjectives

often here that wordiness gets a foot-

361

26

WORDS AND The

hold.

PHRASES "intensives"

so-called

cially likely to

much,

very,

etc.

—

are

espe-

weaken a sentence.

Wordy: I

was very much pleased when they told me they were so much [I was very pleased when they told me they were interested.]

certainly

interested.

He was

absolutely

impressively

and completely surprised by the very great size of the church. [He was astounded by the size of the

beautiful

beautiful church.]

Repetition of similar sounds.

26g.

The awkward

may

repetition of similar sounds in prose

seriously

your reader from what you are trying to communicate.

distract

Consider the

following warning on

the

subject,

and note the

examples Bad prose

is

bad

business, even

way

if

the badness be nothing worse than discord.

rhythms and inharmonious sounds will drag; as we read we resent something wrong, so that we hesitate, and look back to see where was the jar or the limp. E.g. "A more accommodating dcnommation is commonly given to it." Let the ear then have

its

as the phrases are conned; rougher

"Gratitude for his rectitude"; "an organisational centre of crystallisation"; "necessarily

temporary";

menced"; "the native

known he could

''very

rulers

at least

near/y entire/)^"; "so that

were as a

hold his own,"

rule," is

etc.

.

.

it

at

"Of

.

once comall

I

have

not only an untimely assonance

but imparts the alien rhythm of verse.

—From

Notes on the Composition of Scientific Papers, by Sir T. Clifford (London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1923).

Allbutt, 3rd ed.

26h.

'Tine writing."

"Fine writing" writing. to

be

is

not,

as the phrase

It is flowery, artificial,

seems to indicate, good

overblown writing.

literary, the writer loads his style

with too

In an effort

many

adjectives

and adverbs, with big words, awkward repetitions of high-sounding (See also Section 27c.) phrases, and trite figures of speech. "Fine writing" is often the result of an over-complicated sentence structure. Its effect is a voice that sounds pompous and stuffy,

362

26

CONCISENESS and no

sensitive reader will listen to

such a voice for very long.

In exercise 2 below you will find five examples of "fine writing."

See what you can do with them.

Exercises Exercise

1.

In the following sentences, underline the awkward repetitions

and examples

Make

of wordiness.

the sentences

more

concise by cutting or

by other revision, 1.

There are many elements

problem.

the

in

Of

the element of politics.

all

One

of them, politics

elements

the

of

is

is

the most significant

element. 2.

We

were absolutely positive that

have said goodbye 3.

if

he had gone home that he would

first.

In regard to this check,

is

it

perfectly all right to endorse :hc check

on the back? Naturally the very large amount of time and

4.

wasted

by

students

college

and

money

that

virtually

is

amounts

undergraduates

to

a

very-

great deal indeed.

She had a

5.

set rule for

almost everything that she did and for anything

on which she had made up her mind

it

was very hard

to convince her

otherwise. 6.

The main reason for the domestic of money and financial troubles.

7.

Jones

and 8.

9.

is

troubles in

my

family

on account

is

chiefly interested in the line of mathematics, physics, chemistry,

etc.

My

grandmother she didn't think I should ought to study English. She had got along perfectly all right and she couldn't hardly read

a

word. 10. I

thought that

if

I

could not take chemistry that

I

would not have the

necessary prerequisites for pharmacology.

Exercise

2.

Simplify and strengthen the following sentences: espouse the

1.

At the tender age of fourteen he left his paternal hearth wandering life of the wayfarer over the briny deep.

2.

In the case of friendship, before a person can accomplish these other factors

that are

mentioned, he must commit himself

to

first

to

the right

point of view psychologically and mentally. 3.

The m.odem young

lass

of today

is

steadily ascending rung by rung to

rhe status formerly held by the sterner sex in the business world. 4.

After the war, youths

Mater

who had

to engage in strife

on

forsaken the shady walks of their

far-flung battlefields

Alma

around the world came

363

27

WORDS AND

PHRASES

trooping back to seek knowledge and wisdom in the cloistered seclusion of the campus. 5.

In recognition of the historical fruition of us should be proud to be citizens of,

doubt,

if

defend

it.

VIVIDNESS

A

27,

we were always

in a

it

state

which all of would help, without any readiness and preparation to

this great nation,

certainly

of

AND METAPHOR

writer should use words

and phrases

that give

life

and

freshness to his style.

There are of course dozens of ways to make a style "vivid." Some of them were discussed in previous sections under the head-

and "conciseness." In this section we consome other devices available to the writer who wishes to produce fresher, livelier language. Such a writer, first, should be aware of the possibilities for freshness in the various parts of ings of "concreteness"

sider

speech

—nouns,

modifiers,

aware of the

possibilities

Then he must

also

ularly since so

has

in

Second, the writer should be

figurative

language,

or metaphor.

be aware of the dangers of metaphor, partic-

much

lost its freshness.

lem

verbs.

figurative language has been used before

and

Finally, he must recognize the related prob-

of overused language generally:

the problem of triteness

and

cliches.

27a,

Use the parts of speech with awareness of possibilities for lively, specific

The

their different

language.

various parts of speech offer to the careful writer different

problems, different advantages and dangers, in achieving freshness.

Here we will consider very briefly some of the issues at stake when you use nouns, when you use adjectives and adverbs, and when you use verbs. 1. When you use nouns, obviously, a vivid style is more likely When you to be produced by specific than by general words. say, "I heard a bird singing," your words may call up a definite but you sense image in the mind of your reader or they may not

—

364

—

VIVIDNESS

do not know what that image

If instead of

is.

27

AND METAPHOR

"bird" you say

"meadow

lark" or "hermit thrush," your reader will at least

an

to

effort

meadow

the song of the

recall

Whenever you use a your reader's mind to create a thrush.

make

lark or the hermit

specific

noun, you make

specific

image.

it

easy for

You do more

than

suggest images by your words; you direct the picture-making that

goes on in your reader's brain. 2.

V/hen you use modifiers (adjectives and adverbs), you must

be aware of some special dangers. part of speech, generally speaking,

is

Ue down and You say, "That

likely to

die than a flat, uninspired adjective or adverb.

was a good

lecture,"

when you mean

that

it

was

witty, stimulating,

eloquent, instructive, entertaining, or informative. is

a nice

girl,"

generous,

when you mean

vivacious,

modest,

that she

is

big,

"She

say,

friendly, sympathetic,

What

conventional.

or

talented,

You

you find that are more vivid than pleasant, easy, hard? A book of synonyms will help you

adjectives can swell,

No

(See also section 26f.)

more

dull,

find

In the case of adverbs, note that often a weak verb-adverb

them.

group may be replaced more

effectively

Study

by a single verb.

the following examples:

He ran quickly. [He fled, sprinted, trotted, rushed, surged.] He was breathing rapidly. [He was panting, blowing, wheezing,

pufBng,

gasping.]

He

cut through

[He pierced

it.

it,

sliced

it,

tore

it

open, split

it,

ripped

it

open.]

He threw 3.

it

down

violently.

[He hurled

it,

flung

it,

heaved

it,

pitched

it.]

V/hen you use verbs, you should consider replacing genmore specific and de-

eral or abstract verbs with verbs that are scriptive.

He moved

Here are some examples: toward the door.

drifted, flitted

[He

crept,

crawled, strolled, sidled, inched,

toward the door.]

spoke several words. [He whispered, roared, shouted, hissed, mumbled, muttered several words.] We put it on the wagon. [We tossed, lifted, pitched, threw it on the

He

wagon.]

He

got on the horse.

[He scrambled, leaped, jumped, vaulted on the

horse.]

365

27

WORDS AND

PHRASES

Metaphors are an

27b,

essential technique for adding freshness to

language,

A as

metaphor, very simply,

were something

if it

says the poet, "that's

that his love

is

a device for talking about one thing

is

my

"Oh,

else.

newly sprung

love

not a red, red rose, and she

To

is

a red, red rose,"

like

Now we

all

know

only "like" a rose in

This suggests the delight and the

a very limited, qualified way.

danger of metaphor.

is

in June."

suggest a likeness, while at the

time defining the limit of that likeness,

is

same

the delicate process of

making a metaphor.

Many ness

people speak of a metaphor as a "simile"

directly expressed

is

The

ference.

language as

—

that

when

is,

point

it is

is

the like-

the connectives "like" or

Actually this distinction makes

"as" are used.

when

little

practical dif-

that metaphorical language, or figurative

often called, can appear in a

huge variety

of

ways

with vast differences in the effects produced. Similes:

The water

My

lay gray

and wrinkled

like

an elephant's

skin.

—Nancy Hale.

—Joseph Conrad. —Marby

very thoughts were like the ghostly rustle of dead leaves.

She barged

in with the children like a

bomber

escorted

fighters.

garet Halsey.

Sending

men

to that

army

is

like shoveling fleas across a

barnyard.

—Lincoln.

Here the wind took on a wild dignity lashing the island-dotted reaches Bay into waves that fled up the Hudson like a herd of gray horses with white manes swimming steadily in from the sea. Elizabeth Page. .

.

.

of the

.

.

.

—

Metaphors: Life

is

a tragedy wherein

our part in

it.

The burning

we

sit

as spectators for a while,

and then act out

—Jonathan Swift. geyser was sending out comrts of flame which were igniting

the dry fiber of the surrounding trees.

—Caroline Mytinger.

Figures of speech are frequently used for humor, as the following

examples

366

will

show:

VIVIDNESS

He had He was

a voice like a coyote with bronchitis.

up like a Christmas tree. Her mouth opened like a folding bed. She had a large Wagnerian mother with

27

AND METAPHOR

—O. Henry.

all lit

a voice that

would

shatter glass.

—From My Fair Lady. We

must be

careful, however, not to

pepper a writing

useful to the student

More

fear chiefly lest

it

home, where we can

at

see

how

they

my

may

expres.sion

may

not be extra-vagant enough,

not

enough beyond the narrow limits of my daily experience, so as be adequate to the truth of which I have been convinced. Extra vagance! depends on how you are yarded. The migrating buffalo, which seeks new

wander to

the observance of figures of speech in con-

into their surroundings.

fit

I

is

where they look more

text,

with

style

isolated figures of speech that are merely clever or cute.

far

pastures in another latitude,

is

not extravagant like the

cow which

over the pail, leaps the cowyard fence, and runs after her time.

I desire to

moment,

to

men

speak somewhere without bounds; in their

waking moments;

for I

like a

am

calf, in

man

in

kicks

milking

a waking

convinced that

can-

I

not exaggerate enough even to lay the foundation of a true expression.

— From Walden, by H. D. Thoreau. Then suddenly

the starlings attacked the tree behind which she had hidden.

In one flock they pelted

hummed

First published in 1849.

it

like

many winged

so

with the whizz they made, as

if

stones.

The whole

tree

each bird plucked a wire,

A

whizz, a buzz rose from the bird-buzzing, bird-vibrant, bird-blackened tree.

The

tree

became

a rhapsody, a quivering cacophony, a whizz and vibrant

rapture, branches, leaves, birds syllabling discordantly

measure, without stop devouring the

— From Between

tree.

Then

the Acts by Virginia Woolf.

up!

life,

Then

life,

life,

without

ofl'!

Copyright 1941 by Harcourt,

Brace and Company, Inc.

Then like

the creeping murderer, the octopus, steals out, slowly, softly,

a gray mist, pretending

lump

of decaying

meat while

now

to

its evil

be a bit of weed,

now

goat eyes watch coldly.

a rock, It

moving

now

a

oozes and

and as it comes close its yellow eyes bum and body turns rosy with the pulsing color of anticipation and rage. Then suddenly it runs lightly on the tips of its arms, as ferociously as a charging cat. It leaps savagely on the crab, there is a pufl" of black fluid, and the struggling mass is obscured in the sepia cloud while the octopus murders flows toward a feeding crab, its

367

27

WORDS AND PHRASES On

the crab.

the exposed rocks out of water, the barnacles bubble behind

their closed doors

—From

and the limpets dry

Cannery Row.

permission of

out.

Copyright 1945 by John Steinbeck.

The Viking

Reprinted by

Press, Inc.

was a street of uniform bald houses of four rooms and scullery. Its parwindows bayed out to the street, without the grace of one yard of green or the gentility of a gate. Some of the houses, at that time, in a spasm of discontent with their estate, had turned themselves into shops, and had made a bad job of it, being neither good shop nor honest house; but though it was

It

lour

down

it

cheery

Always there was the noise

grinned.

call of

of dogs

and

babies,

and the

neighbor to neighbor and the occult cries of coal-man, winkle-

man, milk-man, and balloon-and-flag man.

—Thomas

The Wind and

Burke,

Doran and Company,

27c,

Inc.

the Rain.

Copyright 1924 by Doubleday,

Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

Metaphors and other phrases that have become

trite

must be

avoided.

A that

made up

great deal of our everyday language

is

were

have become so famil-

originally figures of speech, but

iar to us that they

have become "dead"

—

that

is,

of phrases

they have

lost

and refer simply to single items of experience. Examples are touch and go, guidepost, halcyon days, beyond the pale. The originally metaphorical character of these words is pretty well lost, and there is no particular objection to their use if

their doubleness,

More dangerous

they are not overused.

are the metaphors that are "dying" slight doubleness of

—

that

for the writer, however, is,

they

still

retain

watered down and weakened by time that the phrases are to

some

meaning, but the doubleness has become so irritating

Examples are budding genius, the table groaned, fit money was burning a hole in my pocket. Such

a reader.

as a fiddle, the

uses of language are to be avoided

Many modem cliches in

writers

make

:

they are cliches.

ingenious use of the thousands of

our contemporary language for purposes of comedy or

irony or satire.

Here

is

a simple example by the humorist, S.

J.

Perelman takes a phrase like "burning a hole in my pocket" (a dying metaphor), and brings it back to life by pretend-

Perelman.

ing to take

368

it

literally.

:

AND METAPHOR

VIVIDNESS I

27

down Fifth Avenue the other afternoon when sevwhich had been burning a hole in my pocket suddenly burst flame and I found myself in Brentano's. By the time my pants had

was

strolling aimlessly

dollars

eral

into

stopped smoldering

I

discovered

I

owned

a

profusely

illustrated

set

of

Brantome's spicy "Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies."

—

S.

Perelman, The Most of

J.

S. /.

Perelman.

Simon &

Schuster, Inc.,

1958.

This of course

moral

is

clear:

is

unless

a very special use of

not use phrases like "burning a hole in

A ing

full

treatment of cliches could

may

list

fill

my pocket." a big book.

But the follow-

clear as crystal

conspicuous by his absence

acid test

been said

course of true love

all in all

devouring element

work and no play a long-felt want

discreet silence

all

among

those present

arms of Morpheus as luck would have at a loss for words at one fell swoop

doomed to disappointment downy couch drastic action

ardent admirers

dull, sickening it

thud

each and every one easier said than

done

equal to the occasion

beat a hasty retreat

fair sex

beggars description

familiar landmark

better half

favor with a selection

better late than never

festive occasion

blissfully ignorant

few and

blushing bride

filthy lucre

bolt

from the blue

far

between

goes without saying

bountiful repast

great open spaces

breathless silence

gridiron warriors

briny deep

grim reaper

budding genius busy as a bee by leaps and bounds

hands across the sea holy bonds of matrimony

caught

The

help to put you on your guard

aching void

after all has

language.

trite

you know very well what you are doing, do

like rats in a trap

in all

its

glory

in the last analysis

checkered career

irony of fate

cheered to the echo

justice to the occasion

369

27 last

WORDS AND

PHRASES

but not least

riot of color

lonely sentinel

ripe old age

long-felt

want mantle of snow

sadder but wiser

meets the eye

silence reigned

method in his madness monarch of all he surveys mother nature motley crowd nipped in the bud

single blessedness

shadow

of the goal posts

supreme

specimen of humanity

sumptuous repast sweat of his brow sweet

girl

graduate

none the worse for his experience none the worse for wear no sooner said than done

vale of tears

table groaned tired but

happy

partake of refreshments

venture a suggestion

pleasing prospect

watery grave

powers that be

wee small hours wends his way where ignorance

presided at the piano

proud possessor psychological reigns

moment

bliss

is

with bated breath

supreme

words fail to express worked like a Trojan wrought havoc

rendered a selection replete with interest

Exercises Exercise

1.

statement." is

little

Here

a

is

short

The language

or no metaphor.

is

paragraph of what might be called "plain unembellished and not particularised; there

Rewrite

this

passage to

make

it

more

"vivid," by

giving attention to the parts of speech and to the possibilities for metaphor.

The boy walked home from

and he As he approached his own house, he paused to talk to his neighbor, who was putterFinally he turned and walked indoors, for he was ing about on his lawn. school very slowly.

It

was

April,

observed as he went the various signs of the spring season.

hungry. Exercise 2.

Now

dying metaphors, Exercise

3.

cliches.

Then

Exercise

4.

You

rewrite this passage again, this time using just as

cliches,

and

trite

Select a sports story

from a newspaper, and underline

Do

the

same

for a

news

one of the

370

its

story about the international situation.

difficulties

ing this operation arises from the fact that cliches,

all

translate the story into plain statement.

will observe that

many

many

phrases as you can.

you (and he) simply cannot

tell

you

may

when

encounter

a writer

what he

is

is

in

perform-

using a great

talking about.

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

SENTENCE UNITY The problem

of

unity in a sentence concerns

itself

primarily

with either "not enough" or "too much." 'G'

NOT ENOUGH 28a,

In

standard English, the structural unity of the written sentence

depends on the presence of a

The on

its

verb with

completeness or unity of a sentence structure.

As we

The

thought or content.

shall

see

later,

it

contrary,

it is

its

subject.

based, in one sense,

is

sentence, however,

On the

unchangeable pattern.

and

finite

is is

also

based on

its

not a formula or an

a unit of such variety

no rule, only the good sense of the writer, can enough" becomes "complete," and when "complete" becomes "too much." Obviously, a sentence is "not enough" when it is not grammatiflexibility that

decide

when

"not

cally complete; that

plied subject see section

and

is,

when

it

does not have an expressed or im-

For a discussion of sentence fragments

verb.

1.

TOO MUCH 28b,

may

be destroyed by the inclusion of words, phrases, or clauses that have no direct bearing on the Sentence unity

principal thought of the sentence,

A

sentence

may have

"too

much"

in several ways.

unrelated ideas of the same weight and importance

may

First,

two

be thrown

371

28

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

The proper cure for this The methods of subordination are Second, a sentence may appear bulging discussed in section 29. and baggy from having too many related minor details thrown make a compound

together to

sort of fault

into

tence

may

lated

minor

sentence.

subordination.

For the cure of

it.

was

is

this fault see section 28c.

lack unity because the writer tossed into detail

which happened

pop

to

into his

Finally, a senit some unremind while he

writing.

Unrelated details:

My

uncle, short of

temper and of breath, eighty years old

at this

weighing two hundred pounds, swore angrily at the tramp,

may be The

time and

[The swearing

related to "temper" but not clearly to his weight and his age.]

destructiveness of the termite,

instincts for social organization,

is

which

is

very great.

an

insect with almost

[The

human

relative clause has noth-

ing to do with the termite's ability to do harm.]

After the Spanish Civil War, free speech, which is guaranteed to every American by our Constitution, was suppressed by the Franco regime. [If this is about Spain, the reference to America is merely thrown in.] Unified:

My The

uncle, a short-tempered

man, swore angrily

destructiveness of the termite

After the Spanish Civil

War

is

at the tramp.

very great.

free speech in

Spain was suppressed by the

Franco regime.

28c.

Overloading a sentence with details obscures destroys

If

its

clearness

and

its

unity

and

order.

the details are important, they should be told in separate

sentences,

where they can be given proper value.

unimportant, they

may

If

they are

be omitted.

Confused: Military training teaches a person to stand up straight and walk with his

head up; this helps in future life because it becomes a habit and so many people have the bad habit of walking stooped and this leads to poor health and poor appearance.

372

28

SENTENCE UNITY common

Military science teaches also officers

but to everyone to

whom

your superior

courtesies, not only to

courtesy

is

due; for instance

when you

enter offices, or the courtesies you should use

when you

are using firearms

while hunting or shooting in the presence of another person.

you write sentences

If

the

time; say

as simply

it

your remedy

like these,

principles of thought

first

and

is

to

go back

communication: say one thing

clearly as

you can; say

it

so that

to

at a

can-

it

not be misundei"stood.

Let us try to dissect these sentences in order to discover what the writer tried to say. Revised: Military training teaches a person to stand erect and to walk with his head up.

is enough for one sentence.] Good posture [Is that what the meant by "this" and "it"?] becomes habitual. It leads directly to health and better appearance.

[That

writer better

Military science also teaches

common

For instance,

courtesy, not only to officers superior

[Are there some persons to

in rank but also to everyone.

teaches one

is

not due"?]

to

handle firearms with safety to others.

chosen that no sentence can

it

how

to enter

whom

an

"courtesy

office,

or

how

[These two examples are so badly

make them apt

or congruous.]

Exercises Exercise

1.

Determine which

of

the

following

are

sentence

fragments.

Correct them by supplying the missing elements.

1.

Being of sound mind and a ready

wit,

Belinda was occasionally accused

of being catty. 2.

Her sharp claws

in

their velvet sheath being harmless except in self-

defense. 3.

Giggling in delight, she read to them a

poem about

the adventures of

Mehitabel. 4.

The

natural

dignity

and

self-respect

of

cats

leading some

people to

think that cats are two-faced. 5.

The

only two-faced cat on record being sacred to the Egyptian goddess

Isis.

6.

our old black cat, came in late one morning, glanced Belinda out of his good eye, and looked about for his favorite chair.

Arbutus,

at

373

29

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

7.

His other eye having been temporarily closed during a fearful encounter

8.

The

in the night.

astonishing thing being, as Belinda observed, that cats should have

two holes cut

in their coats exactly at the places

Having dislodged me from

9.

his favorite chair,

where

their eyes were.

Arbutus was soon snoring

happily.

Before drifting

10.

"Wake me up

Exercise tails

1.

off into oblivion,

he opened his good eye and murmured,

in time for his funeral, will you, sir?"

Reorganize and rewrite the following sentences.

2.

Discard de-

that do not belong.

Getting

lost in the

woods

after the

first

which happens

snowfall,

people than you imagine, especially in the northern woods,

is

to

more

a horrify-

ing experience. 2.

One

such experience which happened to

ing the Thanksgiving

taught 3.

me

Day

vacation while

me I

in

northern Minnesota dur-

was a senior

in high school

a valuable lesson.

had been hunting rabbits with a 22 rifle, and these rabbits, unlike those which are often infected with tularemia, are good to eat, and suddenly everything was changed by a heavy snowfall. I tried to remember what my father, who disliked to go out in the woods himself and absolutely refused to hunt, told me when he talked to our Cub Scout group once; it was to try to remember the last familiar landmark you had seen and retrace your steps to it. I closed my eyes, trying to visualize a familiar scene, just as I had once seen a man do in a TV Western, and when I opened my eyes everything I

in western states,

4.

5.

snapped into place because

I

recognized a familiar tree through the

fall-

ing snow.

SUBORDINATION Subordination of sentence elements

is

ideas or facts into

minor ideas or

main

may be

a device which

used to correct two types of sentence faults

:

(

1 )

clauses within the sentence

facts into a succession of short,

putting minor

and

(

2

)

putting

choppy sentences.

See also section 28c.

The

subordinate elements to which a main clause

may

be

re-

duced are an appositive, a phrase, and a clause. Occasionally something which the writer has expressed in a main clause may be reduced to a single word.

374

29

SUBORDINATION Dependent or minor ideas should be placed

29a,

in

subordinate

constructions in the sentence.

Too much

co-ordination

A

is

a sign of immaturity, in thinking as

"We had a birthday party, and Bobby and Jackie came to the party, and we had ice cream, and we played games." A mature person will not assume that all ideas, details, or facts are of the same importance or that they He knows that some should be expressed on the same level. well as in writing.

thoughts are of

first

child will say,

importance, that

are supporting or

othei-s

explaining details, and he will write sentences that

show

the proper

relationship of one part of the sentence to another.

Immature:

The opening and

iron,

it

to the tunnel

was covered by a

grating,

and

this

was made of

was very heavy.

Better:

The opening to the tunnel was covered by a word in place of the clause.]

a very hca\y iron grating.

[Use

Poor: Grasshoppers, for instance, have a keen sense of hearing, and this

is

centered

in their front knees.

Better:

Grasshoppers have a keen sense of hearing, centered in their front knees. [Use a participial phrase.]

Weak:

The Smithsonian

Institution

is

ing of nature for man's benefit,

constantly working for a better understand-

and

it

gets little or

no

publicity.

Better:

The Smithsonian

Institution

is

constantly working, with

for a better understanding of nature for

man's

benefit.

little

or no publicity,

[Use a prepositional

phrase.]

Weak:

The

great god Jupiter

yards,

and he was the

was honored

for bringing rain to the farms

and

vine-

ruler of the gods.

375

29

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Better:

The

great Jupiter, the ruler of the gods,

to farms

and vineyards.

was

also

honored

for bringing rain

[Use an appositive.]

Poor:

Rocky Mountain

goats

supplement their

diet.

come

on

to feed

white clay, and they need

this

it

to

Better:

Rocky mountain need

to

goats

come down

supplement their

to feed

on

this

white clay, which they

[Use an adjective clause.]

diet.

Poor:

We

have given away

ship of

many

we have

billions of dollars, but

not gained the friend-

foreign peoples.

Better:

Although we have given away gained the friendship of

many

billions of dollars in foreign aid,

foreign peoples.

we have

not

[Use adverbial clause.]

ineffective. They should The weakness of a long senits length. A long sentence may be highly effective easy flow and rhythm. The weakness lies in its Notice how these sentences by E. Amot Robertson

Long, straggling sentences are often be broken up into compact tence

is

not in

because of

its

shapelessness.

units.

are built on a pattern of parallel clauses, each one adding to the single effect of the whole.

Example: London, sprawling over so many miles, was impossible to miss for the bombers: if they were not picking their targets in detail there was no need for them to come low enough for the few guns or searchlights to matter; and the people knew it. It was disturbing beyond expression, the emanation of close-packed, controlled fear from millions of human beings cowering in shelters, in cellars, keeping their

own homes,

they were workers

up a

fine pretence of indifference in

nervously carrying on with gaiety or trying to sleep,

who must

sleep,

with vaselined cotton wool in their

if

ears,

or their bedclothes over their heads, or their windows closed in the stuffy night; striving to shut out the noise of death

which was

all

they could shut

out.

—E.

Arnot Robertson, The Signpost.

millan Company.

376

Printed by permission of

The Mac-

29

SUBORDINATION

The

cure for the disease of the straggling sentence

nate and divide"

—subordinate

importance, and divide

what seems

is

"subordi-

be of secondary

to

you cannot subordinate.

if

Straggling:

When

was a

I

little girl,

into high-school age I

high school

I

I

did not care for motion pictures, but as

began

to

now

go every week and

do not go so often and

am more

I

that I

am

I

grew

out of

particular about the quality

of the pictures that I see.

Revised:

My

motion pictures has developed through three stages: a comthem in my childhood, a movie-a-week phase in my

in

taste

plete indifference to

high-school

and

days,

my

present discriminating enjoyment of a few of

the best.

Straggling:

my

In

sophomore year the teacher thought that we needed more drill in which was the same course we had had the previous year, my junior year we did not have any English course but instead spent

creative writing,

but in

two terms studying

literature.

Revised:

My

high-school training in English consisted of a two-year course in creative

writing, the second year a repetition of the

first,

and a

year's study of litera-

ture.

Co-ordination and subordination are devices by which a writer

may

give different degrees of emphasis to different parts of his

No one but the writer can know what his intentions were when he wrote a certain sentence. All that we can do is

sentence.

what you really meant to say? Try combining Try subordinating one of them. There will be a difference in the emphasis that you get, but your revised sentence may be closer to what you meant to say." to say,

"Is this

your main clauses.

The

English language has evolved certain sentence patterns that

often go contrary to the norms. this:

living

"It

is

room

For instance,

assumed that what a is

more important

man

to

in a sentence like

on the walls of his him than what he throws into displays

377

29

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

a corner," the important idea

Yet we accept that pattern.

obviously in a subordinate clause. is

good English. There

is

wide ob-

however, to putting the main idea into a "when" clause, as

jection,

in:

is

It

"One day

was pulling weeds

I

timber wolves near the corral."

They Here

You

choice.

There

is

is

I

saw two

usually called

It

say you should have written,

pulling weeds in corral."

garden when

makes many educated people "One day, as I was the garden, I saw two timber wolves near the another instance of the necessity of making a

"upside-down subordination." squirm.

in the

This sort of thing

is

are the one

who

has to

make

it.

a type of excessive subordination, often called "over-

lapping" or "tandem" subordination, that usually results in awk-

ward

sentences.

It is best to

avoid

it.

Poor: I

had heard the warning so often that I was so used to hearing it that I [Three "that" clauses in succession] it was important.

failed to realize that

Better:

Repeated warnings had dulled my appreciation of warnings had been repeated so often that I failed to

One

29b.

should avoid expressing

sentences precisely

in

short,

their importance.

The

realize their importance.

choppy, co-ordinate

a group of ideas that can be expressed more by using subordination.

Again, the reader cannot look into the writer's mind to see what his intentions

were when he wrote a sentence.

In the following

examples, the revisions seem to represent more precisely what the writer

meant

to say.

See also the

comment on

the primer style under section 29a.

Poor:

The performance was to sit down on a chair.

I arose to

over.

Soon

I

go out.

I

was

so nervous that I

had

grew calm again.

Better:

After the performance was over, I arose to go out, but I

had

378

to sit

on a chair until

I

became calmer.

I

was

so nervous that

29

SUBORDINATION Poor:

Back

of the grandstand are the stables.

Each barn

story barns.

accommodate one

is

The

divided into box

stables are long, rambling, onestalls.

Each

stall

is

enough

to

horse.

Better:

The

situated behind the grandstand, are long, rambling, one-story

stables,

barns, each barn divided into stalls large

enough

to

accommodate one horse

apiece.

Exercises Exercise

Use an appositive

1.

to subordinate

one of the clauses

in

each of

the following sentences.

The

1.

girl

looked at the carbon smear on the back of the

typed; she was our

new

first letter

she

had

secretary.

Mr. Ford; he was our

2.

She

3.

4.

The girl's name was Loma, and it was her first job, but she wanted to make a good impression. Her teacher in secretarial science had impressed upon her the importance

5.

Now,

cast a quick, nervous glance at

of three virtues; these to

were neatness, speed, and

her chagrin, she had

made one good

copy, in reverse, on the back of her

Exercise

typed

efficiency.

impression;

it

was a carbon

letter.

Subordinate one of the clauses in each of the following sen-

2.

tences by reducing 1.

first

boss.

to a prepositional or verbal phrase.

it

There are many kinds of birds that winter them is the Alaska robin.

in

our back yard, and

among

3.

They spend the summers in the high altitudes, and then they come here to a warmer climate for the winter. The hummingbird is small and frail, but it travels vast distances.

4.

It

2.

from Central America

flies

supply of food as 5.

The of

grosbeaks

elm

Exercise

it flies

to

Canada, and

it

must have a constant

north.

come here

a

little later,

and they feed on the green seeds

trees.

3.

In each of the following sentences change one of the main

clauses to a subordinate clause. 1.

My

new

boss started out as an office boy,

and he believes

in

hard work.

[Use an adjective clause.] 2.

He

did not have

much formal

position of responsibility.

education, but he advanced rapidly to a

[Use an adverb clause.]

379

30

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Hard work makes up

3.

for a lack of education; that

his firm belief.

is

[Use a noun clause.] with my head held high, and I almost tripped over shadow on the floor. [Use an adverb clause.] Mr. Ford quickly explained what my work would be; it would consist of taking dictation and typing. [Use a noun clause.] I found my desk, hung up my coat, spoke to another girl in the room, and then the buzzer rang. [Use an adverb clause beginning with after.] I had practiced taking dictation for three years, and so I was not nervous when I re-entered his office. [Use an adverb clause with beI entered his office

4.

a

5.

6.

7.

cause.] I could have been in real trouble, but he was careful to spell out names and technical terms slowly. [Use an adverb clause with if.]

8.

started to type the

I

9.

10.

of

my

I

reversed the

work.

first

letter;

this

should have been the easiest part

[Use an adjective clause with which.] carbon;

first

I

am

still

[Use a noun

wondering why.

clause.!

REFERENCE OF

PRONOUNS

The antecedent of a pronoun

30a,

in

a sentence should be imme-

diately clear to the reader.

As a

rule,

pronouns should have

definite antecedents

special situations.

it

There

rained is

noun you,

number

of idi-

visible antecedent,

such

is

time to go home.

of clearness in these sentences.

Second, the pro-

last

no lack

a

First, there are

omatic phrases in which a pronoun has no as:

in

represented by the phrase "as a rule," refers to

this last sentence,

two or three

and should

The hedging

be placed as near their antecedents as possible.

night;

it's

the climate;

it

in the sense of one, or a person, has

wide currency

in

informal written and spoken English, and occasionally in good

formal writing. to

an idea or

Third, the pronouns which,

fact expressed

a part of a clause,

if

this,

that

may

refer

by a whole clause or a sentence, or by

the reference

is

unmistakably

clear.

In good writing, the meaning of a sentence should be clear to

an

intelligent reader

hesitate,

noun

it

first

reading.

If the

reader has to

he has to search for the substantive to which the pro-

refers, or if

cedents

380

if

on the

he has to puzzle over which of two possible ante-

does refer

to,

the sentence

is

not as good as

it

should be.

REFERENCE OF

And we may add

here that even

muddled sentences

if

you can find a bucketful of

in the writing of great scientists, great educators,

or great public servants, those sentences as

good

30

PRONOUNS

as they could

are

still

muddled and not

have been.

Indefinite: I

can remember that

[To what does

we met many

people, but I did not enjoy

it

very much.

refer?]

it

Clear: I

can remember that we met many people, but

very much.

[Supply the word for which

it

did not enjoy the reception

I

stands.]

Indefinite:

My

mother was a school teacher; therefore it my profession. [The antecedent

chosen that as

no wonder that

is

of that

I

have

only vaguely im-

is

plied.]

Clear:

My

mother was a school teacher; therefore

chosen teaching as

my

it

no wonder that

is

I

have

profession.

Misleading:

Each damaged [The reader

is

article

is

marked

confused because

it

in such a

way

that

it

cannot be erased.

seems to refer to article]

Clear:

Each damaged

article

is

marked

in such a

way

that the

mark cannot be

refer to

an antecedent

erased.

It is usually

awkward

to

in a subordinate position.

have a pronoun

The

reader will instinctively associate a

pronoun with the most prominent substantive just

read.

fusion but

The still

result

is

confusion

—

in the clause

possibly a

he has

momentary con-

an undesirable one.

Confusing:

Men

have lounged and crouched around their fires; they have been the companions of their dreams and meditations. [The reader will hesitate when he comes to "they have," because he will assume that the subject of the sentence

is still

"men."]

381

30

H

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Clear:

Men

have lounged and crouched around dreams and their meditations.

their fires

Men

have lounged and crouched around their companions of their dreams and meditations.

30b,

—the companions of

fires,

their

since fires have been the

The reference of a pronoun should not be ambiguous.

Ambiguous

He

crossed his other leg, took out a handkerchief from a back pocket, wiped

his forehead,

placed

blew

[Does

it.

his nose,

it

and carefully and methodically folded and

re-

refer to nose?]

Clear:

He

crossed his other leg, took out a handkerchief from a back pocket, wiped

his forehead,

blew

his nose,

handkerchief and replaced

and then carefully and methodically folded the

it.

Ambiguous: Almost

all

of calling

of the merchants

know

their customers

and they are

in the habit

them by name.

Clear:

In a small town everyone knows everyone else so well that even the merchants usually address their customers by name.

Ambiguous At the breakfast social error.

table,

Dorothy told Mary that she had committed a bad Dorothy or Mary?]

[VVho had committed the error?

Clear:

At the breakfast

table,

Dorothy accused Mary of committing

a

bad

social

error.

It is

neither customary nor necessary to resort to an explanatory

antecedent in parentheses after a pronoun. Poor:

Father told the doctor that he (Father) did not think that the war would greatly affect his (the doctor's) profession.

382

30

PRONOUNS

REFERENCE OF Better:

Father said to the doctor, "I do not think that the war

is

going to affect

your profession very much."

30c,

formal and serious writing, the indefinite reference

In

common

We

than

informal writing

are here referring to

you

of the indefinite to

in

mean

people,

to

and

two particular

mean

in

situations:

less

(1) the use

and the indefinite they and which to refer

one^ a person

and (2) the use

is

speech.

of this, that,

to a clause, sentence, or a general idea. 1.

The

indefinite

many forms of The

v/riting.

you and they are

common

informal writing; they are

and

in speech

in

appropriate in formal

less

student should guard against

making

their use a

habit, especially in papers of explanation.

Formal: First

the seed

is

scattered evenly over the ground; then the soil

Hghtly and firmed with a roller.

is

raked

[Note the passive voice here.]

Colloquial: First

you scatter the seed; then you rake

it

and firm the

in

soil

with a

roller.

Formal:

When

a soldier salutes, he must stand

up smartly

up

straight

and bring

his right

hand

to the visor of his cap.

Colloquial:

\Vhen

saluting,

you must stand up straight and bring your

right

hand up

smartly to the visor of your cap. Form.al: Fraternities are not permitted in

some

colleges in the East.

Colloquial:

They

(or

You) do not have

fraternities in

some

colleges in the East.

Form.al:

In the a^rmy, a soldier does not ask; he obeys.

383

30

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Colloquial:

In the army, you do not ask; you do what you are told.

A

pronoun may have a clause or a sentence for its antemay even refer to a thought expressed by a part of the preceding sentence. As long as the reference is unmistakable, the 2.

cedent;

sentence

it

is

But the

clear.

careless writer

may

stringing together a series of "this," "that,"

without

troubling

Whenever the

himself

fall into

the habit of

and "which"

clauses

about either clearness or exactness.

writer suspects the clearness or definiteness of

an

antecedent, he should try to summarize the general idea of the clause referred to

by using some expression

a fact which, and so forth.

tion,

like this fact, this condi-

If the result is

still

unsatisfactory,

he should rewrite the sentence. Notice that the references are entirely clear in the following sentences. Clear:

have given up smoking. That should please my mother. So you have decided to support my candidate. This is indeed a Father suggested that I keep the money, which I did without a I

Now notice the vague references in

surprise. protest.

the following.

Vague: After locking the beasts in the bam, is

one of the

sleep," but

which could

I

hunting cows.

effects of

refer to

went to bed and slept soundly, which [The writer evidently means "sound

two other things

in the sentence.]

Clear:

After locking the beasts in the barn,

sound sleep

is

one of the

effects of

I

went

to

bed and

slept soundly, for

hunting cows.

Vague: If a girl suspects that

her roommate needs help or a friendly word of en-

couragement, she should do

it

before

it is

too late.

[Do what?]

Clear: If

a

girl suspects that

her roommate needs help or a friendly word of en-

couragement, she should offer assistance before

384

it is

too late.

PRONOUNS

REFERENCE OF

30

Vague:

The

fish are kept alive and fresh in glass tanks, and it also attracts people, which helps the business considerably. [What do it and which refer to?]

Clear:

The

fish

are kept alive

and

fresh in glass tanks.

The

display of live fish

helps business by attracting people to the place.

30d,

The careless use of same, such, above, and said as refer-

ence words often produces an

These words are used

awkward

as reference

words

sentence.

in legal or technical

writing; in ordinary writing they should be avoided, not because

they are incorrect but because they usually lead to awkwardness of expression.

or the

name

Use one

common pronouns

them,

this)

monkey wrench and oil can in my hands. same to the engine room.

The

of the

of the thing to

which you

(it,

refer.

Poor: I

stood there holding the

foreman ordered

me

to return the

Better: I

stood there holding the

foreman ordered

me

monkey wrench and

oil

to return the tools to the engine

can in

my

hands.

The

room.

Poor:

The

significance of said decision

is

not yet fully comprehended.

Better:

The

significance of the decision referred to

is

not yet fully comprehended.

Poor: Please return same to

me

by bearer.

Better:

Please return

it

[or

name

the object] to

me

by the bearer of

this note.

Poor:

The above

is

a complete refutation of their arguments.

Better:

These

facts

completely refute their arguments.

385

30 30e.

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

A

pronoun should agree with

its

antecedent

in

number,

gender, and person.

For a discussion of the agreement of pronouns and antecedents "Pronouns," section 4j. Note also that the "everybody-their"

see

construction

common

is

in conversational usage.

Poor: advise every beginner to purchase the best instruments they can afford.

I

[Every

is

singular

and therefore must be followed by a singular pronoun.]

Better:

advise every beginner to purchase the best instruments he can afford.

I

Poor:

When of

an orchestra becomes

upon

successful, their success reflects

leadership they have had.

[You must be

consistent.

If

the type

you begin by

considering orchestra as singular, you must continue to refer to

it

as

one

unit.]

Better:

When

an orchestra becomes

ship

has had,

it

30f.

It is

the

usually

successful,

awkward

its

success reflects the kind of leader-

to begin an essay with

a reference

to

title.

If the title

is

the

same

as the subject of the

better to repeat the w^ords of the

title.

first

For instance,

sentence, if

your

it

is

title is

"Trout Fishing," do not begin your paper, "This has always been

my

favorite sport."

Say, "Trout fishing has always been

my

favor-

ite sport."

Exercise 1. In each of the following sentences underline the pronoun or pronouns with faulty reference. Rewrite each sentence so as to correct the

Exercise

error. 1.

The

2.

Dynamite

dean's duties are that of a mother. is

placed on the rock, and after breaking the rock

into cars to be taken away.

386

it is

loaded

31

PROPER ARRANGEMENT Although one would think that he

3.

lives

on excitement, they would be

mistaken. 4.

The

5.

We

here

soil

sandy and loose, which makes

is

it

easy digging.

Many

often see peculiar resemblances between people and animals.

times

it

is

not meant to be uncomplimentary, and this

one of those

is

instances,

When

6.

a person

first

meets her, they notice that she has a scar over her

right eye.

We

7.

many

built

bridges over small

swamps which kept

us constantly oc-

cupied.

He seldom reprimands

8.

us for anything, but

when he

does,

is

it

always

taken seriously. If I

9.

meet a person and they

sit

and constantly complain,

it

doesn't

make

a good impression on me. 10.

would prefer

I

getting a job at the

Medical School

this year,

doing odd

jobs for them.

PROPER ARRANGEMENT The parts of a sentence should be so arranged that the meaning

37.

of the sentence Since English

is

is

clear at the

in

it.

reading.

not a highly inflected language, the meaning of

an English sentence depends words

first

The

largely

on the arrangement of the

reader naturally assumes that the parts of a

sentence which are placed next to each other are logically related to

each other.

You must therefore be careful to arrange words such a way that its meaning will be clear on the The rule which will guide you may be stated in two

in a sentence in first

reading.

parts

:

( 1 )

place

all

modifiers,

as close as possible to the

these elements near other

7.

THE PROBLEM

whether words, phrases, or

clauses,

words they modify; (2) avoid placing

words they might be taken

to modify.

OF ONLY AND NOT.

These two adverbs are here singled out for comment because they have been problem children for a long time.

adverb should be placed near the word

it

Logically,

an

modifies; idiomatically,

For instance, would you say, "We have room for only two more," or, "We only have room for two it

is

often placed elsewhere.

387

31

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

more"?

The person with a logical mind says that "only" modifies the person who prefers the second form answers that idiom

"two^';

much

does not pay

by calling

of "only"

and

of the sentence,

He

attention to logic.

explains the position

a "sentence adverb," modifying the thought

it

therefore

its

proper position

The second

Both forms are used.

is

is

before the verb.

used generally in speech,

and often in formal writing. and speakers who are disturbed

in a great deal of informal writing,

The

form

first

is

used by writers

No

by the sound of the other form.

statistical

study of the inci-

dence of each form in formal writing has been made.

The same

Would you

explanation applies to "not."

everyone can be tions the first

first,"

say:

"Not

or "Everyone can't be first"? Logic sanc-

form; idiom sanctions the second form

—

at least in

speech and informal writing.

Only

slightly less controversial

is

the placing of several other

adverbs, such as almost, nearly, merely, scarcely.

Common He He

in

speech:

merely said only took

it

fifth

because he did not stop to think. place in the race.

Every student cannof win honors in

The

college.

canteen only contained about two cups of water.

Harry almost weeded the whole garden

More

He He

logical

said

it

merely because he did not stop to think. fifth

place in the race.

Not every student can win honors

in college.

canteen contained only about two cups of water.

Harry weeded almost the whole garden

2.

morning.

and preferred by many:

took only

The

this

this

morning.

PHRASES,

Misplaced:

He began

to lose his desire to reach the

to to reach or I

began

was dressed and ready

to start climbing within

being dressed or to starting to

Every

388

girl

was

summit

after a time.

[Does

it

refer

to lose?]

really sorry to

an hour.

[Does

it

refer to

climb.'']

have the

trip

end for more reasons than one.

31

PROPER ARRANGEMENT Clear:

He began

after a time to lose his desire to reach the

Within an hour

I

was dressed and ready

For more reasons than one, every

girl

summit.

to start climbing.

was

have the

really sorry to

trip end.

[Refers to being sorry, not to the trip ending.^

3.

CLAUSES,

Misplaced:

When you were

a child do you

remember

all

the interesting toys you had?

[Does the clause refer to remember or to toys you had?] Clear:

Do

you remember

i.

SQUINTING MODIFIERS.

all

the interesting toys you

had when you were a child?

Modifiers so placed in a sentence that they

may

be understood

with either the preceding or the following words are called squinting modifiers.

means

As a

rule,

it is

better not to try to cure the fault

by

of punctuation.

Squinting:

Because ing the

we covered more ground with

a tractor in six days

we

finished plow-

field.

Clear:

Because we covered more ground with a

tractor,

we

finished plowing the

field in six days.

Squinting:

we had stopped at a service station with the help we found our position on the map. [Putting a comma After

of a lady attendant after station

is

not

a satisfactory correction.]

CI ear: After

we had stopped

locate our position

at a service station,

a lady attendant helped us to

on the map.

389

31

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Squinting:

As we drove westward every now and then the blinding shone into our eyes. rection.

[Putting a

comma

after

westward

is

rays of the sun

a makeshift cor-

does not eliminate the confusion entirely.]

It

Clear:

As we drove westward,

the blinding rays of the sun frequently shone into our

eyes.

THE SPLIT INFINITIVE.

5.

Placing an adverbial modifier between the sign to and the verb of

an

infinitive results in

infinitive."

The

what

known

traditionally

is

split infinitive is

seven deadly sins of college composition

—

ever was.

if it

true that the parts of an infinitive are inseparable. infinitive

split

suffering,

it is

still

causes

many

as the "split

no longer considered one of the It

is

not

But since a

persons discomfort,

if

not actual

better for the student not to split his infinitives too

rashly or promiscuously.

A

good

when such an arrangement

rule to follow

and the verb

adverbial modifier between to is

of

this:

is

an

place the

infinitive only

necessary to avoid an

awkward

phrase. Split infinitive:

A

writer should

remember

to not carelessly split his infinitives.

Better:

A

6.

writer should

remember not

to split his infinitives carelessly.

ANY WORDS THAT NORMALLY BELONG NEAR EACH OTHER SHOULD NOT BE SEPARATED.

IN GENERAL,

This statement applies particularly to subject and verb, verb and object, the parts of a verb phrase, substantives fiers,

and substantives and

and

adjective modi-

appositives.

Awkward:

The

explorers had, after

many

adventures and

headwaters of the Salmon River. phrase]

390

much

suffering,

reached the

[Verb had reached separated by long

PROPER ARRANGEMENT

31

Improved:

many

After

much

adventures and

had reached the

suffering, the explorers

headwaters of the Salmon River.

Awkward: Before

became

it

dark, the stragglers caught

discouraged.

wet,

[Adjective

up with the main party, from the word

separated

modifiers

tired,

they

modify]

Improved: Before

became

it

dark, the tired, wet,

and discouraged

stragglers caught

up

with the main party.

Awkward: Holmes,

Justice

Amendment,

in

a

brilliantly

written

interpretation

of

the

Fourteenth

[Subject and verb split by a long phrase]

dissented.

Better: Justice

teenth

Holmes dissented Amendment.

in a brilliantly written interpretation of the Four-

Exercise Exercise

misplaced element in each of the following

Point out the

1,

sentences.

Correct each sentence.

Do

not use punctuation as a means of

correcting an error. 1.

Twenty

years ago girls used to

come

where

to school

I

was principal

without any stockings on. 2.

I shall

attempt to explain the function of the least known, to one

who

does not play the game, section of the football team. 3.

Their activity and progress in recent years have surprised the world.

4.

At one time

5.

Masefield has

6.

We

were

I

He

many

that she

had three engagement

when

rings.

ideas about things that are difTerent.

finally settled in seats that cost twice as

for our tickets 7.

remember

much

as

we had paid

the play began.

usually has a lapful of food at the close of the dinner which he

brushes to the floor to be stepped on by some other boarder. 8.

9.

If you should disturb her by coming in late, you will hear that she was awakened for the next three months. There is a telephone at the end of the counter which is constantly in

use.

391

32

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Freshman English courses are taught by

10.

to

have

at least a master's degree in

11.

He would

12.

A

tell

me

crowd gathers

to look

most

up words

to sorrowfully gaze

instructors

who

are required

colleges.

could not spell in the dictionary.

I

upon the destruction

of the

mag-

nificent structure.

He

13.

finally

had

to

prove that his rival was a coward in order to hold

his wife.

The

14.

pleasant, merry-faced girl seems exactly like a

violet with

its

up-

turned face to the sun.

16.

The woman was arrested Wood can be kept for

17.

woodshed or the basement. A year later I went to several

15.

for shoplifting by a private detective.

a long time without danger of rotting in the

classes

with

five

or six other children

conducted by our minister. 18.

The freshmen

19.

Why

20.

only have to wear their green caps one year. do they spend all their money, time, and effort to please a man with a new dress and a fingerwave? The new laboratory at Dairen has found new uses too numerous to mention for the soy bean.

DANGLING MODIFIERS 32a,

Awkward

dangling modifiers should be avoided.

At present there

is

"dangling modifier."

Some

say that

results in it

wrong word.

calls attention to itself it is

bad.

it

should be called the "mis-

When

it

it

actually attaches

does, especially is

it

When

bad.

and away from the intended meaning of that it can be bad because

many educated persons have been slovenly way of writing. Here are some examples While reading

it

itself

when

One might add

so

When

as the

traditionally

confusion or in unintentional humor,

the sentence,

known

is

related modifier," for instead of dangling

too easily to the

among

considerable diflference of opinion

educated people over the use of what

taught to regard

it

as a

of danglers

my

delicately

morning paper, the toast burned. browned on both sides and sizzling

hot, she called to the

guests to bring their plates.

Driving along the park highway, an old brown bear could be seen squarely in the middle of the road.

392

sitting

:

32

DANGLING MODIFIERS In each of these sentences, dangles because related because

tence

A

is

it

it

it

does not matter whether the phrase

not attached where

is

attaches

itself

where

it

it

should be or

should not be.

mis-

is

Each

sen-

bad.

dangler

may

be corrected in two ways

:

(

1 )

by changing the

phrase to a clause and (2) by providing a noun or pronoun to

which the dangler can properly attach

itself.

Examples:

While I was reading my morning paper, the toast burned. While reading my morning paper, I burned my toast. When the steak was delicately browned on both sides and

sizzling hot, the

hostess asked the guests to bring their plates.

Driving along the park highway, in the

we

Before

old

brown bear

sitting squarely

the various types of "dangling" or "misrelated"

list

two or three

modifiers, let us look at

The word

1.

the

we saw an

middle of the road.

special situations.

In the absolute phrase

absolute phrase does not dangle. that the participle attaches

itself

to

is

in the phrase

itself.

Examples:

The The

day's

work being

over,

guests having arrived.

Three more

returned to town. to the door.

wet hair plastered down over

their

girls,

we

Mother went

their eyes,

stumbled

into the classroom.

2.

Certain idiomatic phrases, especially those that express a gen-

eral action

and those

that serve as directive

always acceptable in

are

These are phrases

either

like generally

and

transitional links,

formal or informal situations.

speaking, looking at

it

from another

point of view, taking everything into consideration, providing that .

.

.

,

failing

.

.

.

,

and

others that are similar.

Examples: Failing agreement, the meeting

was adjourned.

Generally speaking, the worse a pun

The

is,

the better

it is.

following are types of objectionable verbal phrases

393

32

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

OR GERUND.

THE PARTICIPLE

7.

Dangling:

Having a Chinese name, Chinese customs.

my

me

asked

teacher

write a

to

paper about

[The reader associates having with teacher.

Actually the

participle refers to the person represented by me.]

Upon

asking

him

to explain,

he told

me

was born and brought up

that he

in Seattle.

Revised: Since

have a Chinese name,

I

my

teacher asked

me

paper about

to write a

Chinese customs.

When

me

asked him to explain, he told

I

was born and brought up

that he

in Seattle.

THE DANGLING INFINITIVE.

2.

Awkward:

To

succeed as a coach, the style of play must be adapted to

fit

the available

material.

To To

appreciate this poem,

it

must be read aloud.

enjoy outdoor sports, sensible clothing must be worn.

Revised:

one

If

is

to succeed as a coach,

the material at his

To

appreciate this poem, one must read

poem can be

This

A

he must be able to adapt his

better appreciated

if

THE DANGLING PHRASE

OF

aloud.

it

you read

person can enjoy outdoor sports better

3.

style of play to

command.

if

it

aloud.

he wears sensible clothing.

RESULT.

Awkward: I

my

helped

my

English

I sold

my

money

to

mother wash clothes

class.

[Who caused me

this

morning, thus causing

to miss

my

me

to

miss

class?]

automobile for three hundred dollars, thereby giving

pay

my

my

English class this morning because

me enough

debts.

Revised: I

missed

my

help

The pay

sale all

394

mother wash of

my

my

debts.

I

had

home

to

enough

to

to stay at

clothes.

automobile brought

me

three

hundred

dollars,

32

DANGLING MODIFIERS Misrelated

32b,

elliptical clauses

may

produce an unintentionally

ludicrous meaning.

In an

is

associates the clause with the

In

implied or understood.

elliptical clause the subject is

such a construction there

sometimes a danger that the reader

wrong word

in the rest of the sentence.

Awkward: His foot was injured while swimming in Wild Cat Hole.

[Was the

foot

swimming?]

When

six years of age,

[Who was

my

father took the family to a farm near Calgary.

six years of age?]

While on a tour

Mexico,

of

my

expensive camera was stolen.

Revised:

His foot was injured while he was swimming in Wild Cat Hole.

When I was six years old, my father took the family to a farm near Calgary. While we were on a tour of Mexico, my expensive camera was stolen.

A

32c,

sentence with any sort of expression,

oppos/f/Ve, that

sentence

is

awkward and

is

like

a phrase or an

not easily understood with the rest of the usually misleading.

Illogical:

A

gentleman farmer,

his

four-buckle rubber boots. in apposition

wardrobe ranges from faultlessly tailored suits to [The expression a gentleman farmer seems to be

with wardrobe.]

After five years in a city school, a country school presents in

adjustment.

many problems

[One naturally associates the opening phrase with a country

school.]

Revised:

As he suits to

A

is

a gentleman farmer, his wardrobe ranges from faultlessly tailored

four-buckle rubber boots.

person

who

has spent

five years in a city

school encounters

many

prob-

lems in adjustment when he goes to a country school.

The dangling

or misrelated modifier,

examples offered,

is

a

stylistic

even momentary confusion, or

blunder. if it is

it

can be seen from the If

it

causes confusion,

associated with an unasked-

395

32

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

for ludicrous image,

many

used by

For a discussion of danglers

undesirable.

it is

professional writers, see Pooley's Teaching English

Usage, pp. 107-113.

Exercises Exercise

Which

1.

of

following

the

objectionable

contain

sentences

Correct any error that you find.

danglers? 1.

Moving

2.

After moving to Arizona, her health improved.

3.

6.

had started to rain. it from spreading. The fire having been extinguished, everyone went to sleep again. Meeting him by chance on the street, he told me he had decided to quit

7.

Being

8.

After asking

9.

Entering the North Gate, the

4. 5.

to a drier climate, her

After eating our dinners,

We

threw sand upon the

we

asthma improved quickly.

noticed that

it

thus preventing

fire,

school.

10.

late,

my entrance made a deep impression upon the class. my name, the professor repeated the next day's assignment.

Being too small for

worth Exercise

its

up

in,

I

stands out prominently.

thought the

new

car was not

Some

contain

Pick out the faulty sentences and correct them.

my camera

accompanies

me on

trip.

The camera being rest of the

3.

new chapel

Being an enthusiastic photographer, every

2.

sit

of the following sentences are correct.

objectionable danglers. 1.

to

price.

Some

2.

me

a delicate instrument,

it

is

never packed with the

equipment.

After putting

it

on the car

seat beside

me,

I

usually cover

it

with a

sweater. 4.

Being thus exposed

to the hot sun,

you may discover that your film has

been ruined. 5. 6.

To get When

an

the conditions must be right.

artistic picture, all

taking

pictures

with

color

film,

autumn

foliage

is

a

favorite

subject. 7.

After driving almost to the rim of Crater Lake crater, the clouds drifted

8.

Being

away and the sun shone at a

brilliantly.

high altitude, a polarizing

filter is

attached to the lens, thus

increasing the contrast between the blues and the whites. 9.

To

use a polarizer successfully, the sun must be at your right or your

left as

10.

you take the picture.

After using the polarizer, filter,

396

thereby doubling

my

I

took some more pictures with a skylight

chances of getting some unusual pictures.

:

EMPHASIS IN THE SENTENCE

33

EMPHASIS IN THE SENTENCE The relafive importance of ideas

33,

by

various devices of structure.

a sentence may be shown is known

in

The principle used

as "emphasis/'

"Emphasis"

A

sense.

is

may

a word that

be understood in more than one

may emphasize some of his words by shouting may emphasize words by indicating italics Some writers and speakprinted in or capitals.

speaker

or screaming

that they be

them; a writer

ers

have used these methods.

we

use the

But that

not the sense in which

is

word here. By "emphasis" we mean using rhetorical that show the relative importance or prominence of ideas

devices

in a sentence or a

paragraph.

Some

we have

of these devices

al-

ready discussed in connection with other quahties of good writing

—

clarity,

Two

directness,

coherence,

order,

conciseness,

directness.

or three others will be pointed out here and in the following

sections. It

may be

relative

1.

2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

8.

9.

10.

By By By By By By By By By By

well to restate here the various devices by which the

importance of ideas can be shown

placing an important idea by

main

placing the idea in the

itself in

a short sentence.

clause of a

changing the usual order of a sentence. using parallel structure.

complex sentence. (Sympathy I did not want!)

(See section 35.)

using the order of climax.

repeating key words.

(See section 26a.)

using the active instead of the passive voice. giving an important idea a fuller treatment.

placing important words in prominent positions. using periodic structure.

THE EMPHATIC POSITION 33a,

The relative importance of ideas can be indicated by placing the important

words

The most conspicuous and the end.

in

the important positions

in

the sentence.

positions in the sentence are the beginning

These are the positions that should be used for ideas

that deserve attention

and emphasis.

The

less

important

details,

397

33

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

the modifiers, the transitional phrases should be placed within the sentenc^e.

No

writer can consistently rearrange his sentences so as to begin

and end them with important ideas. Many sentences are so short the reader's mind comprehends them as units. In many others the word order is determined by the nature of the English language. For example, we write: "He is a good man." "Her son was killed in France." "The day's work is done." "The that

President saluted the flag."

emphatic position cannot

Whenever

In sentences Hke these the question of

arise.

possible without sacrificing clearness

and smoothness,

place explanatory phrases or minor details within the sentence.

Weak: However, the general disclaimed any

The

who

student

responsibility for the order.

cheats in an examination

is

cheating only himself in the

final analysis.

Public speaking should be taught in freshman English,

I think.

Better:

The

general, however, disclaimed any responsibility for the order.

The

student

who

cheats in an examination

is,

think, should be taught in

freshman English.

in the final analysis, cheating

only himself. Public speaking,

I

THE PERIODIC FORM 33b,

Occasionally one

may

express a thought more effectively

by

changing a sentence from the loose to the periodic form.

A

not complete until the end

is

effect of the periodic sentence

is

sentence in which the thought

called a periodic sentence.

The

is

Your reader, in other words, is forced to wait for main idea until after he has comprehended the subordinate Not all sentences in details upon which the main idea is based. one of suspense.

the

English are periodic; a large majority of them, in fact, are loose. It is precisely is

emphatic.

398

because of

this that

an occasional periodic sentence

—

33

EMPHASIS IN THE SENTENCE Study the difference

in effect

produced by the following:

Loose:

Stop talking

if

you have nothing more

of course impractical to legislate for those

It is

while completely ignoring those

The

to say.

who

who

will

behave themselves

will not.

catalytic agents of college life are athletics, forensics, musical organiza-

tions,

journalism, parties, and dances.

Periodic: If

you have nothing more to

To

who

legislate for those

those

who

will not

is,

say, stop talking.

will

behave themselves while completely ignoring

of course, impractical.

Athletics, forensics, musical organizations, journalism, parties, dances

are the catalytic agents of college

—these

life.

Here are two examples of long periodic sentences. Notice in how suspense is built up by delaying the main statement until

each

the end.

In the almost unique intimacy and good-fellowship of Oxford for the

moment men from

life,

where

every nation and every class are living together

and surveying the nations of the earth in human and humorous companionship, the Rhodes Scholar, if he has in him the capacity for wisdom, learns the difference between an abstract formula and a living point of view. Frank Aydelotte, "What the American Rhodes Scholar Gets from Oxford."

—

To

from the thing possessed to its possessor; to conmere possession of material wealth makes of its possessor a

transfer admiration

ceive that the

proper object of worship; to feel abject before another such emotions do not so

much

as enter the

who

American mind.

is

wealthier

—Hilaire

Belloc.

Exercises Exercise

1.

Using the principle of "emphasis by position," improve the

following sentences.

2.

Duty is what we expect from others, American youth is more interested

3.

Generally speaking,

1.

as

someone has

said.

in security than in adventure, accord-

ing to the writer's opinion.

modem

youth has had

all

the adventure

it

can stand.

399

33 4.

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

The

great adventures of the future will be in outer space, according to

the convocation speaker. 5.

The

challenging

new

mind and

frontiers are those of the

the soul, the

speaker pointed out. Exercise 1.

Why

2.

Change

the following loose sentences to periodic sentences.

are not mountain tops

warmer than

their bases since they are closer

to the sun? 2.

The

sun's heat rays pass right through the air at the top of a

because the air at such altitudes 3.

4.

5.

is

mountain

very thin.

Modern, American-style motels are being built in some of the Western European countries. Many American tourists will enjoy their conveniences after they had spent the day walking and driving. Let the others have their quaint hotels if they value atmosphere more than comfort.

OR

ACTIVE

PASSIVE VOICE

The passive voice should be avoided where the active

33c.

more natural and

The fault;

use of the passive voice it

is

the overuse of

properly used

when

( 1 )

is

direct.

it

is

that

not a grammatical or a is

a

The

fault.

stylistic

passive voice

is

the object or receiver of the action of the

more important than the doer, (2) the doer of the action is not known, (3) the writer wishes to place the emphasis on the receiver instead of on the doer. verb

is

Examples: Several priceless old manuscripts were destroyed.

The wounded

prisoner was dragged into the trench.

But notice the difTerence

in the following sentences

when

the

active voice replaces the passive.

Weak: Other games are

also played by the guests.

As the top of the stairs is approached, a quickening is announced by the trembling of the floor.

The Supday immensely by

400

dinner all.

is

a meal at which everyone

of the steps of the person

is

present and

is

enjoyed

34

EMPHASIS IN THE SENTENCE

agonizing minutes are spent by the student in deciding on a subject

Many

for a speech.

Better:

The

guests also play other games. of the stairs, the trembling of the floor

As the intruder approaches the top announces the quickening of his

Sunday dinner

steps.

a meal at which everyone

is

is

present and which everyone

enjoys.

The

student spends

many

agonizing minutes deciding upon a subject for a

speech.

Exercise Exercise

Improve the following sentences by changing the verbs from

1.

the passive to the active. 1.

But

2.

A

his suggestion

was received by me with disdain. which momentarily illuminates the boy's

last pufT is taken,

a glowing arc

is

noticed

when

the cigarette

is

face,

and

flicked across the lawn.

was to be just a "kid dance," but it was soon was great fun. With his help the mistake was soon corrected by us. Here and there are heard whispered explanations and giggles. My courses were not given much thought by me. Three women came in, and the question "Are you relatives of the groom?" was asked. A daily trip is made to the attic to wipe the dust from her keepsakes, and then she sheds a tear or two over them. The tractor cannot be driven and the mowing machine manipulated by one man at the same time. I

3.

had heard

that the party

found out that

4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

9.

it

In the laboratory

10.

all

this extensive study,

in detail. out,

If

is

studied by chemists.

The data

no satisfactory

results are obtained,

trials

are carried

SHIFT IN POINT

Any

on

first

trial

After

are recorded

another study

but this time the data obtained from the

These

34,

available information

experiments are performed.

is

carried

are included.

until satisfactory results are gained.

OF VIEW

unnecessary and

illogical shift in point

of

vie}/>^

should be

avoided.

The most common passive voice,

(

2

)

shifts in

from past

point of view are

to present tense,

(

3

( 1 )

)

from active

from one

to

to you,

401

34

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

(4) from indirect to direct discourse, (5) from formal to colloquial

Writing

style.

is

more pleasing

of view unless, of course, he has

if

the writer maintains his point

some

logical reason for

changing

to another.

Unnecessary

34a,

shifts

from active to passive voice are undesir-

able. Shift:

Every boy

up

rolls

his sleeping

doused with water and earth

We

is

bag and carries

it

to the truck; fires are

spread over them.

swept the room carefully, and the furniture and shelves were also

dusted. Better:

Every boy

rolls his sleeping bag, carries

it

to the truck, douses the fires

with

water, and spreads earth over them.

VVe carefully swept the room and dusted the furniture and the shelves.

Needless

34b,

to

shifts in

past—are

tense

—from past

to present or from present

usually objectionable.

Shift:

mother but receives an evasive reply. (This must be watched for in narrative accounts.] I begin to get a little curious and stuck my head from under the blanket [The to see who should be prowling around at that time of the night. writer shifts from present to past to future.] Elsie asked the doctor about her sort of shift,

,

from past

to present,

Better: Elsie asked the doctor about her

mother but received an evasive

[Both

reply.

verbs in the past tense] I

began to get a

blanket to see

little

curious and stuck

who was prowling around

my head

out from under the

at that time of the night.

[All

three verbs in past tense]

A

34c,

needless

shift in

number and person should be avoided.

Shift:

You must make

yourself interesting to the group that listens to you

constantly trying to detect your mistakes. once,

402

it

[If

group

is

and are

used as a singular

should not be used as a plural in the same sentence.]

SHIFT IN POINT

34

OF VIEW

Better {informal style):

You must make

yourself interesting to the group that listens to you

and

is

constantly trying to detect your mistakes.

Correct in a formal context:

One must always make and

himself interesting to the group that listens to

him

constantly trying to detect his mistakes.

is

Shift:

mouth

is

dry, eat a

mouth

is

dry,

If one's

lump

of sugar or

chew gum.

[Shift

from one

to you.]

Better: If one's

doubtful, however,

if

one should eat a lump of sugar or chew gum. [It is any person who used one with such formal precision

would chew gum.]

An

34d,

unnecessary

shift

in

subject or perspective

usually

is

awkward. Shift:

Miller was a great athlete, but studying was not his strong point. I

am

taking a course in forestry, though

life

in the

woods does not

greatly

appeal to me. Better:

Miller was a great athlete but a poor student. I

am

taking a course in forestry, although I

am

not especially fond of a

life

in the woods.

34e,

A

needless

shift

from indirect to direct discourse

is

awkward.

Illogical:

The

He

girls

my

wonder, "Is

asked us would

we

find

hair

him

combed?

Will

this

dress suit

my

figure?"

a room.

Consistent:

The

He

girls

wonder, "Is

my

hair

asked us to find him a room.

combed?

He

asked

Will us,

this dress suit

"Will you find

my figure?" me a room?"

403

34

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

A shift from the formal to the colloquial style in serious writing

34f,

is

usually inappropriate.

Inappropriate:

The main

fault of the League of Nations was that the big shots would not gang up on any large nation that was breaking the peace.

The Russian upon

their

Formal

authorities

merchant ships

seemed in the

to

be steamed up about another attack

Mediterranean.

style:

The main

fault of the League of Nations was that the great powers refused combine against any one of their group that was breaking the peace. The Russian authorities seemed to be angered by another attack upon their merchant ships in the Mediterranean. to

A

34g,

constructions in

A

two

writer should guard against mixing

a

The

separate

sentence.

"mixed construction"

writing.

distinctly

is

and careless and immediately, look back on what he has written,

usually the result of hasty

writer begins one construction,

without troubling himself to

continues with another construction. Mixed: In our basement front,

made

not remove

it

its

we found

a small

resemble a fireplace.

own

front,

wood

stove,

[Which

nor can the stove

which upon removing the

refers to stove.

make

itself

The

stove can-

resemble anything.]

Clear:

In our basement

we found

place by removing

In our basement

made

it

its

a small

wood

stove,

which we made

a small

wood

stove.

By removing

into a fire-

front.

we found

its

front,

we

resemble a fireplace.

Mixed: She did not say a word, but took me to the back yard in what seemed to a bit hurriedly. [The writer has forgotten his original intention. He could say either took me in what seemed a hurried manner or took me a

me bit

hurriedly^

Occasionally a writer will run an independent clause into a sentence in such a

404

way

that

it

appears to stand as the subject of a verb.

SHIFT IN POINT

OF VIEW

34

Mixed: had no money was the reason I did not buy it. was disliked by her stepmother was the reason why she

I

Elsie

left

London.

Clear: I

It because I had no money. London because she was disliked by her stepmother.

did not buy

Elsie left

A

34h,

writer should be on his guard against unintentional

or absurdity

humor

serious writing.

in

Poor: In

my

case I apply golf to myself as others apply stamps or antiques to

themselves.

saw a spout of water and I thought it was a whale, but I don't know what kind of fish it was. To build a good model takes time and patience to have a good model when I

you are

finished.

34i,

Mixed

figures of speech are inappropriate in serious writing.

In the teaching of writing, warnings against scrambled meta-

phors

may have been

A

prominence. It is surely

a

mixed metaphor

lesser hterary

uninspired prose.

probably need phors

are

given an undeserved and an unfortunate

If

little

is

often a sign of mental vitality.

crime than page after page of dull and

you scramble two incongruous images, you

more than a

inappropriate.

It

is

hint to

show you

"watering the spark of originality," or "blazing a of

knowledge," or of "being blinded by a

Even Shakespeare spoke If

of taking

that your meta-

absurd to speak of

manifestly

trail

for revenge."

up arms against a

sea of troubles.

your instructor points out a mixed figure of speech

ing,

laugh over

He

it.

will

it

with drops of kindness and

the springs of originality their light over

The

many

following

may

your writ-

mixed metaphor foreshadows, fertilize it

blossom forth

illustrate

what

is

with praise, so that

like

arid pages of prose writing

samples

in

laugh with you and then "encourage

the spark of imagination whiich the

water

over the sea

thirst

a tree

and shed

!"

meant by "mixed

imagery."

405

34

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Many

high-school athletes think they can ride on their high-school laurels

on was

right into a position

tlie

The

at

future of jazz

[How can one ride on a laurel?] [Even were the future not trans-

college team.

lowest ebb.

its

ported to the past, a rare feat in

how

itself,

could a future ebb?]

Instead of narrowly pursuing the mechanics of grammar, the clever teacher

which will make the class fairly rock with [Can "mechanics" be pursued, either narrowly or broadly?]

will often digress into anecdotes

laughter.

A

college education enables the graduate to

meet the snares and

pitfalls

of life with a broader point of view.

Exercises Exercise

The

1.

following

are

from

sections

student

papers.

Rewrite

each in the past tense.

The door

1.

closed with

customary protest, and we stand in the dark-

its

ness.

"Hey, quit jiggling

my

bed.

Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" com-

plained a plaintive voice.

Then

hands

at last with groping

blankets, but the

me

the covers pulled snugly around

admitted another freshman,

A

2.

tall,

well-groomed

He

room.

I find

who

man

I

I ease myself into the

bed.

its

prepare to sleep.

in passing, gives

greets the students with a

warm

With

nightly protestation.

my

Then

bed another

wearing a black pin-striped

a friend as well as an instructor.

is

my

bed groaned and squeaked

smile that

suit

the door jiggling.

entered the

made them

feel

His deep voice reassured them.

he

His

brown sparkling eyes were cheerful and mischievous, and his jet black mustache gave him the air of a comic-opera villain. There isn't a bit of curl in his straight black hair. It is neat and always has the look of just having been combed and brushed. Exercise

In each of the following sentences specify the type of illogical

2.

you find

shift that

—

in tense, voice, subject,

number, or person.

Then make

the necessary corrections. 1.

The

train

was two hours

late, so

Mrs. Smith and

I

decide to wait in the

car. 2.

3.

Never before had I operated an elevator, but it surely must be simple because all you had to do was to press a button, which I did. There was just one short half hour of work left. The clerks in the sports department, where I am working, are busy bustling around trying to get rid of the last shoppers.

4.

In some

cases,

when

the person was released from prison he committed

another crime, and from then on usually leads a 5.

Many

girls

becoming a

406

life

of crime.

who live in the poor sections of the town would member of a Camp Fire Girls group.

profit

by

35

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

We

6.

filled

out our registration blanks and attended several lectures; also

tests in English and mathematics were taken. do not mean that the whole day should be spent on one assignment, but do it carefully and thoroughly. The target was kept moving while the men try to demolish it with a

placement

I

7.

8.

well-placed shot.

The

9.

twins were not identical; one

There

10.

is little

is

larger than the other.

However, why should

enthusiasm shown by the students.

they?

Exercise 3,

Mixed

Rewrite the following sentences.

constructions.

be afraid to break them up

Do

not

they can be improved in that manner.

if

There are today possibly two ways of evaluating the Alcan Highway either as a merchant in Canada or Alaska who sees in it as a source of income or a tourist. Concentration upon what I have been doing has been a bad point because my mind is always wandering about thinking of other things. The dust storms had blown the topsoil off the farms was the reason they had become uneconomical to operate. When parents hand out the money whenever their child wants it, is

1.

2.

3.

4.

contributing to the future unhappiness of their son.

The reason movies are so popular is due to their low cost and You may notice an old hound dog lying on the ground and

5. 6.

quality.

looks as

if

he were asleep.

We

7.

were constantly giving group to come.

our

parties that

we never

asked anyone outside

little

8.

The

9.

and a disgrace to work. Is it true what they are saying about her? The more advanced one goes into a subject, the more

10.

ladies of a century

ago thought

it

necessary to lead a

life

of leisure

interesting

it

be-

comes.

PARALLEL STRUCTURE 35a.

Ideas of equal value

in

a sentence should be expressed

in

parallel structure. It is true that

but

when

it

we do

not always need

can be used,

it

is

strict structural parallelism,

a handy device by which the sen-

tence gains in clearness as well as in force.

In

the device can be explained as a balancing of

noun with noun, an

its

simplest form,

407

35

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

infinitive

with another

a phrase with another phrase,

infinitive,

and a clause with another clause. Let us amples from the work of skilled writers You

first

look at a few ex-

the rulers and the ruled,

are

the lawgivers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.

—Adlai

Stevenson

As she passed through the wards

in her plain dress,

so quiet, so

unassuming,

the casual observer simply as the pattern of a perfect lady;

she struck

but

keener

the

eye

perceived

something

more

than

that

the serenity of high deliberation In the scope of the capacious brow,

power

the sign of

in the

dominating curve of the thin nose, and

the traces of a harsh and dangerous temper

something peevish, something mocking, and yet

—

something precise

— from

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey.

of Harcourt, Brace

In

this

in the small

&

Reprinted by permission

Co., Inc.

land the citizens are

to write their plays

and delicate mouth.

still

invited

and books,

to paint their pictures, to

meet

for discussion,

to dissent as well as to agree,

to

mount soapboxes

in the public square,

to enjoy education in all subjects without censorship, to to to

hold court and judge one another,

compose music, talk

politics

with their neighbors without wondering whether the

secret police are listening,

to

exchange ideas as well

to kid the

to read

as goods,

government when real news of

It

needs kidding, and

real events instead of

phony news manufactured by

— E.

B. White,

a paid agent of the state.

"Freedom," One Mans Meat, Harper & Brothers. CopyReproduced by permission of the publisher.

right 1942 by E. B. White.

408

I

35

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

These sentences are written

show what a

they do

The

device

grand manner,

in the

it is

true,

but

can do with parallel structure.

skilled writer

usable at the student level also, as the following

is

examples show: Awkward: Sororities teach a girl to be a lady

[Noun paralleled with

and courteous.

an adjective]

Our

English instructor asked us to close our books, to take pen and paper,

and that we were

Few

[Two

theme.

to write a short

infinitives

and

of the leaders anticipated the bitterness of the strike or

would

a clause]

how

long

it

[A noun and a clause]

last.

Parallel in form: Sororities teach a girl to be

ladylike

and

courteous,

Our

English instructor asked us

[adjective // adjective]

our books,

to close to take

pen and paper, and

to write a short

Few

of the leaders anticipated

theme.

the bitterness or

||

the duration of the strike, II

[noim // noun]

A

35b.

subordinate

which or

joined to a main clause

The "and which"

who

clause should not be carelessly

by and.

who" fault, as it is called, consists of "and who" in a sentence that does not have preceding "which" or "who" clause. or "and

using "and which" or

a

Faulty:

He

is

a

man

wide experience and who

of

is

also very

popular with the

new

and which

farmers. I

am

interested in electronics, because

interesting opportunities to one

is

it

who knows

a

field

offers

science.

Parallel:

He

is

a

man

of

|

wide experience and great popularity

among

the farmers.

I

I

am

interested in electronics

which which

is

a

new

field

and

offers interesting opportunities

409

35

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

— using parallel —should be avoided.

The false parallel

35c.

that

is,

structure for ideas

that are not parallel

and awkward:

Illogical I

realized

finally

my daydreaming was not making me beautiful, [The three words seem to depend on making me, but

that

slender, or friends.

two of them are adjectives and one

is

They

a noun.

are not logically

parallel.]

She has black She has black

hair, blue eyes,

hair, blue eyes,

and is very fair. and wears glasses.

Revised: I

finally realized

that

slender or bringing

She has black

me

my

me

daydreaming was not making

and

beautiful

friends.

and a very

hair, blue eyes,

fair

complexion.

[Series of three

nouns]

She has black hair and blue eyes, and she wears glasses. [Put the and between the two which are similar. Put the third into a separate clause.]

may be

Parallel forms

both

.

and,

.

.

either

used with the correlative conjunctions

.

,

.

neither

or,

Care should be taken

but also.

that the intended

meaning

.

.

.

nor,

not

only

.

.

.

in placing these correlatives so

of the sentence

is

not obscured.

Exercise Exercise

In the following sentences underline the parts that should be

1.

expressed in parallel form. 1.

Vem and

is

Then

rewrite each sentence.

a large boy, blonde hair, very large nose, deep-set blue eyes,

his white teeth flash

when he

smiles.

2.

After I graduated from high school I debated whether to go on to

3.

It

college or is

if I

should enlist at once.

important to analyze these three types of radio broadcasts with

a view to purpose, presentation, 4.

We

try to teach

habits, 5.

and how

them how to get the

6.

In the evening

life.

openings, one for general use and there

can be used

we would

along with people, table manners, good

most from

Chipmunk burrows have two also another one that

and how they are sponsored.

to get

in case of

is

emergency.

play baseball, pitch horseshoes, or some other

type of outdoor game. 7.

My

work

telephone.

410

in his office consisted of typing addresses

and

to

answer the

36

COMPARISONS His students are

8.

taken seriously or

still

if

wondering whether

his advice

was meant

to be

he was merely joking.

The natives are both afraid and they are suspicious also. They do not know whether to hide or if they should co-operate with

9.

10.

us.

COMPARISONS 36a,

In

standard formal English, compartsons should be logical and

complete.

Written English, especially formal written English, requires a

and a

logic

precision in expressing comparisons that

in loose, informal speech.

Some

comparisons have become idiomatic.

illogical

ened comparisons, or

and more common

is

often lacking

In informal speech certain

illogical

elliptical or

of these short-

comparisons, are becoming more

in writing, both formal

other cases of divided usage, the choice

and informal; as

made by

in

the student should

be based on an understanding of the facts of usage.

In informal writing do not omit than or as in a double com-

1.

parison. Usually inappropriate in formal usage: Agriculture

now

is

as important,

if

not more important than mining,

[as

important than mining?]

Clark

The

is

as fast

salaries

if

not faster than Harrison,

[as fast

earned by college graduates vary as

than Harrison?]

much

if

not

more than

those earned by high-school graduates.

Logical but awkward: Agriculture

Clark

The

is

is

now

as fast as,

salaries

if

as important as,

if

not more important than mining.

not faster than Harrison.

earned by college graduates vary as

much

as, if

not more than

those earned by high-school graduates.

The

last

three examples illustrate

pended construction."

Some

the score of awkwardness.

It

what

writers use

can be

is

it;

often called the "susothers object to

it

on

easily avoided.

411

36

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Logical and smooth: Agriculture

Clark

The

is

salaries

graduates,

Do

2.

now

is

as important as mining,

as fast as Harrison,

if

if

not more

so.

not faster.

graduates vary as

college

of

if

much

those of high-school

as

not more.

not omit one term of a comparison.

Misleading: I admire him more than Scott. The United States helped Russia more than England.

Clear: I

admire him more than

I

admire Scott (or more than Scott does). Russia more than England did {or more than

The United States helped we helped England).

Do

3.

not omit other after than or as in comparing two

bers of the

same group or

mem-

class.

Misleading:

Kowalski

is

heavier than any

teani, the sentence

is

clear.

man on If

he

is

the team.

a

member

[If

Kowalski

is

not on the

of the team, he cannot be

heavier than himself.] Clear:

Kowalski

is

heavier than any other

Kowalski

is

the heaviest

man on

man on

the team.

the team.

4. Finish your comparisons so that you will not seem to be comparing something that you do not intend to compare.

Misleading:

The

salary of an English teacher

is

lower than a lawyer.

[Are you com-

paring salaries, or are you comparing salary and lawyer?]

The duties and game warden.

responsibilities of a traffic officer are

more complex than

a

Clear:

The

salary of an English teacher

desire

412

to

escape

is

lower than that of a lawyer,

awkwardness you should not

say,

"An

[In your

English teacher

36

COMPARISONS earns less than a lawyer." logical in expression,

does a lawyer, but he gets

The

and

duties

If

you want

you could

say,

"An

to be accurate in fact as well as

English teacher earns

more than

less."]

responsibilities

[Name

of a traffic officer are

more complex than

those of a

game warden.

36b,

standard English, con^parisons are completed except

In

the second term of the comparison.!

when

the missing term of the comparison can be easily supplied

by Not It

clear:

remain

easier to

is

silent

when

made upon

attacks are

the things one

[Easier than what?]

loves.

who

Students live

the reader.

live in a

[Better than students

dormitory do better work.

who

where?]

Clear: It

is

remain

easier to

silent

when

attacks are

made upon

the things one

loves than to risk criticism by defending them.

who

Students private

homes

There

dormitory do better work than those

live in a

{or

who

live in fraternity

unfinished comparison better to it

tell

the truth"

wiser to agree."

Uke these. speech, as in:

many

however,

are,

is ;

No

in

idiomatic expressions in which an

easily understood,

"her explanation

misunderstanding

The uncompleted

who room

houses).

superlative

is

is is

such as: "It simpler"

;

is

always

"we thought

possible in statements also used, especially in

and its sense is not that of a comparison but of an intensive, "She is the most unselfish woman," "he is a most peculiar

man."

We

must

refers to

also add here that although in general a comparati\e two and a superlative refers to three or more, idiomatically

the superlative

is

use of the superlative in

two persons or objects.^ This undoubtedly more common in speech than

often used with is

formal writing.

'George O. Curme, Syntax, p. 504; Robert C. Pooley, Teaching EngHsk 119-123; Bergen Evans and Cornelia Evans, A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage, pp. 105-107. Usage, pp.

413

37

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

Exercise Exercise

Revise the comparisons in the following sentences.

1.

Use

the

forms appropriate in standard written English.

When

you compare the father's and mother's influence on a child, that mother is always strongest and most lasting. The terms which McVey recommended were as liberal if not more

1.

of the

2.

liberal

than those originally asked for by the unions.

supposed to be one

3.

It is

4.

Morry, their captain,

5.

On

Saturday night more

He

is

6.

of, if

not the hardest course in the university.

as fast,

is

men

if

not faster than any

study their lessons than

man on

their team.

girls.

scorned by the intellectuals, but his poems arc better

known than

any poet in America. Girls are

7.

probably better in flattering their teachers than the best of

the male effort.

His step was as light as many middle-aged men. They have raised their standard of living to

8. 9.

a point higher than any

place on earth.

Our new

10.

professor

themes, and he

WORDS

LEFT

is

the darlingest

is

Two

such a dear about late

for clearness should not

be

left out.

kinds of omissions need be considered here.

The

result of carelessness.

reading.

The second

is

cure for that type

clipped or telegraphic cially serious

and

more

is

One

is

the

careful proof-

the omission that results from the carrying

We

over of speech habits into writing.

The

is

OUT

Words necessary

37.

man; he

so liberal with his grades.

manner than

dignified writing

on

is

often speak in a

more

permissible in writing, espe-

serious subjects.

following are some of the omissions that need to be guarded

against

MISLEADING OMISSION OF THAT.

7.

Misleading: I

soon observed nearly

were carrying strange the

all

little

the

women,

baskets.

especially the

young and pretty ones,

[Did he "observe the women, especially

young and pretty ones^" or did he observe that the

baskets?]

414

women were

carrying

WORDS He

me

told

is

his story in

its

undesirable even

if it is

told

me

37

OUT

had been rejected by

original version

He

[Supply that.

publishers.

LEFT

that his story

....

The

thirteen

confusion

but momentary.]

OMISSION OF A PART OF A VERB OR VERB PHRASE.

2.

Misleading:

The is

patient

was given an anesthetic and the instruments made ready. [It made ready, because patient is singular, and the verb

better to say were

following

ments

is

it

made

cannot be understood with instruments

ready.

Instru-

plural.]

His ideas were progressive and adopted without debate.

The two

The

verbs are not parallel.

the second were

is

first

were

is

[Repeat were.

used as a main verb;

an auxiliary verb, or a part of the verb phrase were

adopted.]

OtMSSION OF V/ORDS V/H1CH WOULD MAKE A PARALLEL

3.

SERIES INTELLIGIBLE. Confused:

He

about fifty-nine years old, gray hair, and very distinctive features.

is

b gray

[He

hair?]

Improved:

He

is

about fifty-nine years old.

features.

4.

He

has gray hair and very distinctive

[Supply the necessary verb.]

NOUNS OR

VERBS

UNDERSTOOD

IN

A DOUBLE CAPACITY.

Illogical:

A

Raisin in the

Sun

is

one of the

[This sort of construction ever,

many

is

people object to

very it.

best, if

common Some

not the best play

I

have ever seen.

in speech; in written English,

writers have used

how-

it.]

Improved:

A

Raisin in the Sun

is

one of the best plays that

I

have ever seen,

if

not the

best.

5.

OMISSION OF IDIOMATIC PREPOSITIONS.

Incomplete:

Winter term a new course winter term .] .

.

in chemistry will

be offered.

[Say During the

.

415

38

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES a good time to show your faith and devotion to your country.

This

is

faith

in,]

Customers have neither respect nor

faith in a

merchant who

cheats.

[Say

[Say

respect for.]

For a more complex sentence in which idiomatic prepositions are used with precise care, examine the following sentence taken

from Galsworthy's essay on drama. This third method requires a certain detachment; with, a love of, and a curiosity as

to,

it

things for their

requires a sympathy

own

sake;

it

requires

a far view, together with patient industry, for no immediately practical results.

Exercise Exercise

1.

Supply the missing words

arrange the wording wherever 1.

Being able

to write well

being turned

down

in

the

following sentences.

Re-

necessary.

it is

may mean

the difference between obtaining

and

a job.

4.

Some men never have and never will understand generosity. He was one of the first, if not the first man taught by the Wright brothers how to fly a plane. The prisoner protested tearfully that he was innocent and he was being

5.

A

2. 3.

mistaken for someone

else.

fraternity house or a dormitory

have

is

a question which

many freshmen

to answer.

VARIETY 38,

Variety

makes

A

writer

in

the length

writing

may

more

and

the structure of sentences usually

effective,

avoid monotony of sentence structure by avoiding

the following

1.

Beginning a

2.

Beginning a

series of sentences series of sentences

3.

Using the same sentence pattern

4.

Beginning each of a clause,

416

with the same word or the same subject;

with participial phrases; in a

group of sentences;

series of sentences

with the same kind of subordinate

:

VARIETY

38

Notice the monotony of the sentence patterns in the following excerpts from student papers: Short sentences beginning with a participial phrase: After cleaning up,

we

lay

down and went

to sleep.

Upon

awakening,

we

heard a mocking bird singing beautifully. Looking out the window, we could see it perched on a limb of a magnolia tree. Feeling much better

by

this time,

we decided

Short sentences,

My

to dress

and go out

in search of adventure.

beginning with the subject:

all

roommate has some very good

She spends most of her study traits. She always has her work done, for she is quite studious. She is very good at giving good advice. She keeps me well informed as to She, being a sophomore, knows the the college rules and regulations. She knows each member of the students and the professors quite well. football team personally. She is what is termed a campus "big shot." time in the library.

may be expressed

The

principle

simple sentences with complex or

in positive

form

1.

Mix

2.

Put a short sentence in the midst of several long ones;

3.

Occasionally begin a sentence with modifiers instead of with the subject;

4.

Occasionally begin with a conjunction instead of with the subject.

compound

sentences;

Observe the pleasing variety of sentences in the following para-

graph from a freshman paper.

During the scorching summer of 1959 I was invited by Russell Towboat and Mooring Company to work in their confectionary at the ferry boat depot, [prepositional phrase] [short sentence] I was thrilled at the thought, Therefore I asked not what my salary would be, what hours I would work, or what my little task would be I accepted, [begins with conjunction] My salary was an enormous fifty cents an hour; I worked a split shift, from six to eight in the morning and from three to five in the afternoon; and my task, not at all little, was selling everything from steaming cups of Maxwell House to trip tickets three for a quarter, nine cents apiece, [long compound sentence] Worse yet was the fact that I pedaled daily to and from work on an old, broken-down single-tired Champion, [begins with adjective]

—

—

More

appropriately should I have been called the champion, for I not only traveled three hilly miles each trip but also lugged along Drd'ersua-

hesitates to

In another sense,

vague and redundant.

Poor: Have you any Better:

Bet-

interest-

Have you any

inter-

wrote epics and other poems along

wrote epics and other narrative poems.

settle, it is

more appropriate

in informal

use.

Widely used colloquially

number, a large amount, a great

454

is

and often

in the line of groceries.

ing books in the line of fiction? esting novels?

slang.

is

it

the following examples,

Poor: ter:

number

is

groups of meanings given in Webster's

International: "characteristic form of glib, sive,

line

for

deal.

many, much, a large Colloquial:

He

has a

44

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE exceptions

of

lots

many .) Mad. Colloquially mad .

usage

.

it

He

{Formal:

lot to learn.

to

much

has

this

There are

to leam.)

There

{Formal:

rule.

are

.

is

In formal

used in the sense of angry.

means "insane."

when used with measures of quantity, time, The appropriate word is most. Example: Most of day {not The majority of the day) we stood in line and Inaccurate

Majority.

distance.

the

waited.

Might

Illiterate for

of.

Most, almost.

might have.

Most, in formal written English,

form of much or many.

Examples:

Much

is

food,

most food; many men, more men, most men. adverb meaning "nearly." substituted for almost.

men have most

is

the superlative

more

Almost

In colloquial use most

Formal: almost {not most)

returned from Korea.

frequently used to quahfy

is

all

food, is

an

often of our

In conversational usage, all,

everyone, everybody,

anyone, anybody, always. Neither, nor; either, or.

Neither should be followed by nor; either

should be followed by

Both neither and

or.

either

may

be

used with more than two alternatives, as: Either past, present, or future

Nice.

A

to

See Nicholson, p. 362.

vague word of mild approval. In informal speech

writing.

No

....

it is

Use sparingly

appropriate

in serious

when you mean

be vague and mild.

good, no-good.

Colloquial

when used

for worthless, useless, o]

no value.

Nowhere

near, nowheres near.

Webster's

New

Labeled archaic and dialectal in

International Dictionary.

In writing and in

more or less formal speech it is better to use not nearly. Example: That was not nearly {not nowhere near) as much as he had expected. O, Oh. O is used with another word, a substantive, usually in direct address. It is always capitaHzed and is not followed by any mark of punctuation. Oh is an exclamation, not capitalized except when it begins a sentence, and is followed by either a

comma

or an exclamation point.

455

44 Off

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE The

of.

Example: Please

unnecessary.

is

of

He

that ladder.

off of)

{not

get off

took the book off {not off of) the

shelf.

Out

Labeled colloquial by

loud.

WNID.

Standard forms, good

both formal and informal situations,

in

Example: He

loudly, audibly.

Outside

loud,

When

Example:

Colloquial for except, besides.

of.

aloud,

are

called aloud for help.

the

robbery occurred, the policeman saw no one except {not out-

mailman on

side of) the

Over Party.

it

the street.

In the sense of finished, ended,

with.

Except in legal and telephone means "a person."

Per cent.

It

may

it

usage,

it is

The

be used after numbers.

colloquial.

is

when

colloquial

sign

%

not used

is

except after figures in tabulations or in technical writing. is

not an exact synonym for percentage.

Examples:

A

It

high

Only ten per cent But Evans and Evans say (or percent) are self-supporting. there is no difference in meaning between the two words percentage of the population

(p.

is illiterate.

363). Colloquial

Plenty.

when used

as

an adverb

in

such expressions as

plenty good, plenty good enough, plenty rich, before a noun.

adjective

The room

Colloquial:

etc.,

He was

or as an

plenty rich.

wood for another fire. Formal: He was very rich. The room is large enough. There is enough wood for another fire. Ten dollars is plenty. There

plenty large.

is

is

plenty

See A.M., a.m.

P.IM.

Poorly.

Colloquial for in poor health, not well, unwell.

Practicable,

practical.

feasible, usable."

perienced." practicable

Practical

means "something possible, means "useful, not theoretical, ex-

may

apply to persons, things, ideas;

Practicable

Practical

may

not apply to persons.

Proposition, proposal.

See

WDS,

page 639.

Proposal implies a direct and explicit act

of proposing; proposition implies a statement or principle for discussion.

The

loose

use

of

proposition

to

thing, a task, a business enterprise, a problem,"

456

many

people.

tion)

to study until three in the

Examples:

It is

mean is

"idea,

disliked

by

a poor practice {not proposi-

morning.

Moving

the

set-

.

44

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE out of the

tiers

osition

Two

Quiet, quite.

with

words

it

may

rise.

Two

You

He

mean

"very, to a con-

quite friendly.

The

verbs often confused.

principal parts are:

Rise:

Raise: 1 raise

In in-

are quite right.

also be used to

The dog seems

siderable degree."

Quiet has to do

In formal standard usage, quite

completely."

"entirely,

formal usage

Raise,

carelessly confused.

or calmness.

stillness

means

was an impractical plan {not prop-

district

)

my

hand.

raised the

They have

I rise in the

morning

They rose before They had risen at

window.

raised the flag.

I did.

sunrise.

Colloquial as an adverb in the sense of really or very.

Real.

was

Colloquial: His playing citing

game.

real brilliant.

Formal: His playing was

It

was a

really

real ex-

brilUant.

It

was a very exciting game. Reason is because, reason is on account of. In informal speech, such constructions as "The reason I came to college was because I wanted to study engineering" are common, and they occur occasionally in writing.

Some educated

persons con-

and speech; them on two counts: they are wordy and

sider the expressions established in both writing

others object to repetitious,

and they are

slovenly.

It is

well to learn

how

to

avoid them.

Awkward: The reason

they were defeated was because the field was

wet.

The The

reason he was late was because the roads were blocked. reason for

my

poor work

in English

is

due

to

my

poor high-school

preparation.

The

reason

I

can't spell

on account of

is

never learned

I

how

in high

school.

Revised: They were defeated because the

He was

My I

late

poor work

am

field

was wet.

because the roads were blocked. in English

is

a poor speller because

I

due

to

my

poor high-school preparation.

did not learn

how

to spell in high school.

457

44

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE In the sense of very,

Right.

it

dialectal.

is

Example: He was

a very (no^ right) good speaker.

Same, such. Appropriate in legal documents. In ordinary speech and writing, it is better to use it, this, that. Example: Please repair the camera and ship it (^not same) to me tomorrow. Seldom ever, seldom or ever. The correct idioms are seldom,, very seldom., hardly ever, Set,

Two

sit.

seldom

if

ever.

Learn the principal parts:

verbs often confused.

down;

down; now he

sits down; I sat down; they have sat down. But of course one may speak of a setting hen, and the sun sets, not sits. You may set the cup on the shelf and then sit down. I sat on the stool after I had set the cup down. Shape. Colloquial for condition. Colloquial: The athlete was in excellent shape. Formal: The equipment was in very good

I set it

have

I

set it

condition {not shape).

As a conjunction between main

So.

clauses, so

much

is

Usually the primary fault

in student writing.

much

ordination instead of too

is

too

overused little

sub-

Examples: The

use of so.

up during the night, and so the attack was delayed. The attack was delayed because the bridge had been blown up during the night. The Russians were not ready, so they waited until August to declare war on Japan. bridge was blown

Since the Russians were not ready, they waited until August to declare

war on Japan.

In clauses of purpose, the standard subordinating conjunction

so that, as in

is

:

They

flew low so that they could observe

the results of the bombing.

But so

is

also used, especially in

spoken English. 6*0 as

a "feminine intensive" can be easily overworked in

—and

speech ever. is

Such.

it

often

is.

Examples: She

is

has a long Hterary tradition, how-

so kind

and

so charming.

The work

so hard.

As an

intensive,

Teaching English clause of result

is

it

is

used

like

awful or

so.

See Pooley,

Usage, pp. 96-98. Such introducing a followed by that. Example: There was

such an explosion that

458

It

it

could be

felt

for

twenty miles.

44

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE

When

introducing a

relati\'e

Example: Such amendments

clause, such

as

you may

followed by

is

as.

stipulate will be in-

cluded in the contract.

Formal: This

Colloquial for certainly, surely, indeed.

Sure.

certainly {not suvt)

Dialectal

Suspicion.

an

interesting

when used

storv'.

The standard form

as a verb.

Example: We suspected something was wrong.

suspect.

suspicioned)

{not

is

that

Slang

Colloquial for stylish, fashionable, smartly clothed.

Swell.

is

and a host of Examother words expressing approval or commendation. swell) evening. It Ls a ples: AVe had an enjoyable {not a for excellent, very good, interesting, enjoyable,

{not a swell

thrilling

Take stock

we

ample: Can

That

)

game.

Colloquial for accept, believe, put faith

in.

Illiterate forms.

there, this here, etc.

are that,

Their

The standard forms

An

To, too, two. too should It's

is

a possessive pronoun.

Example: They're happy because

"they are."

Try and,

Ex-

this, these, those.

Their, they're.

spell.

in.

believe {not take stock in) his promises?

elementary spelling problem.

make two

They're means

team won. Example: He

their

dicdonary to learn

how

to

International labels try

and

as

trips to the

not too hard.

try to.

Webster's

colloq. for try to,

New

but Pooley (pp. 132-133) points out that

and has a long and respectable history. Very, very much. Many educated persons object try

of very

much

a verb phrase.

ticiple in

of

its

to very instead

or very greatly as a modifier of a verb or a par-

Other persons point out examples

use in the works of reputable writers.

See the note

New International. Examples: They They were ven' much pleased. They seemed very disturbed. They seemed ver}- greatly disturbed. Wait on. Regional for wait for, stay for. Standard in the sense under very in Webster's

were very pleased.

of attend,

perform services

for, as:

It

was the other

girl

who

waited on me.

Want

in,

come

want in,

out,

want

to

want

off,

etc.

go out, want

Dialectal forms for

want

to

to get off, etc.

459

44

A GLOSSARY OF USAGE

Way, ways. -

-

Way

colloquial for condition.

is

Formal:

for distance, way.

bad health {not

in

We

a bad way.)

we rested. The at is unnecessary. Where at is he now?)

Ways

When we saw

is

dialectal

him. he was in

walked a long distance

{not ways) before

Where

at.

{not

While.

Example: Where

Frequently overused as a conjunction.

or whereas would be more precise. of at the

same time

It is

as or although.

is

he now?

Usually but, and,

standard in the sense

It is colloquial in

the

sense of whereas.

Without.

You

460

all.

Dialectal for unless.

In Southern speech, you

all is

the plural

form of you.

INDEX TO QUOTED PASSAGES QUOTATIONS

IDENTIFIED HERE BY

AUTHOR ONLY

ARE USUALLY VERY BRIEF.

Adams, James Truslow, 268 Frederick Lewis, The Big Change, 79-80, 95-96, 300 Aydelotte, Frank, "What the American Rhodes Scholar Gets from OxAllen,

Carlyle,

Thomas, 270

Churchill, Winston, Blood, Sweat, Tears, 18-19, 359-360 Ciardi, John, "What Does It Enjoy a Poem." 90

ford," 399

Bacon, Francis, 69 Owen, History in English Words, 269 Barnard, Ellsworth, Edwin Arlington Robinson, 300 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, 2, 17 Bellamy, Edward, The Duke of Stockbridge, 305 Barfield,

Belloc, Hilaire, Hills

and

the Sea,

57-

Clark, Colin, Taxes," 143

and

Take

to

"The Danger Point

in

Clemens, Samuel L. (Mark Twain), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 26 Cobb, Irwin S., 278 Cole, William Morse, "The Profession of Accounting," 136-137

Commager, Henry

Steele, see Nevins,

Allan Conant,

58 Bennett, Arnold. 310

David S., "An Agreement of Subject and Verb in Anticipatory There Clauses," 218 Bible, quotations from, 9-10 Bowen, Catherine Drinker, John Adams and the American Revolution, 310; Yankee from Olympus,

Berkeley,

306 Brooks,

Carson, Rachel, The Edge of the Sea, 312; The Sea Around Us, 282

Van Wyck, 291-292; Opin-

ions of Oliver Allston, 308; Scenes Portraits, 106

and

Brown, John, last speech, 18 Brown, John Mason, Through These Men, 306 Bryant, Margaret M., Modern English and Its Heritage, 32 Burke, Thomas, The Wind and the Rain, 368

James B., Modern Science and Modern Man, 87—88 Conrad, Joseph, Lord Jim, 72, 366 Constable, W. G., "Three Stars for Baedeker," 141 Cowie, Alexander, The Rise of the American Novel, 314 Cronin, A, J., The Green Years, 355

Cummings, E. E., The Enormous Room, 355-356 Curme, George D., Syntax, 413, 445, 449 Curtis,

George WilHam, 359

Daiches, David, 311

A

Study

of Literature,

DeQuincey, Thomas, 270 DeVoto, Bernard, 360 Drucker,

Peter F.,

"How

to

Be an

Employee," 115-116 Caen, Herb, see Yavno, Cargill,

Oscar,

294, 308

Max

Intellectual

America,

Edman,

Irwin,

"Fashions in

Ideas,"

278

461

INDEX Evans, Bergen, and Cornelia Evans, A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage, 241, 413, 442, 453 Faulkner, William, Nobel Prize Award Speech, 19-20 Firkins, Oscar W., 70 Forbes, Esther, Paul Revere and the

World He Lived M., mocracy, 69 Fortune, 314

Forster,

E.

In, 83, 313, 314

Two

Cheers for De-

Gallic©, Paul, 312 Galsworthy, John, Candelabra, "Some

Platitudes Concerning Drama," 94 Gibbs, Wolcott, 292 Gildersleeve, Virginia C, Many a

Kluckhohn, Clyde, Mirror for Man, 94-95 Krapp, George P., The Knowledge of English, 269, 271 Krutch, Joseph Wood, 278, 286; "Is

Common Man Too Common?"

278; 98; Confessions Writer," 22; The

The Great Chain of "Some Unsentimental

Life,

a Nature Twelve Seasons, 418-419

of

Leacock, Stephen, "Lost in the Jungle of Economics," 142 Lewis, Sinclair, Main Street, 205 Lincoln, Abraham, Second Inaugural Address, 18 Lynes, Russell, "The New Snobbism," 144, 148

Good Crusade, 104 E. Thomas, "New Guinea's Rare Birds and Stone Age Men," 75-76 Gunther, John, Inside Russia Today, 88-89 Gilliard,

McGinley, Phyllis, "Ladies on the Highway," 128 McLaverty, Michael, School for Hope, 278 Marshall, Bruce, 280 Masters, Edgar Lee,

Hale, Nancy, 366 Hall, H. Tracy, "Ultrahigh Pressures,"

Margaret, With Malice Toward Some, 354, 366

Halsey,

Harper's Magazine, 218 Frederic,

Memories

and

Thoughts, 218 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Scarlet Letter, 90-91 Hemingway, Ernest, In Our Time, 56 Highet, Gilbert, The Art of Teaching, 80-81 Hockett, Charles F., A Course in Modern Linguistics, 286 Hoover, Herbert, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, 89 Hoyle, Fred, "The Sun and the Stars," 143, 148 Huff, Darrell, "How to Lie with Statistics," 144, 147 Huxley, Thomas Henry, 312

Agnes Newton, Three Came Home, 354 Kennedy, John F., Profiles in CourKeith,

age, 283

462

Maugham, W.

Somerset,

The Sum-

ming Up, 283

148

Harrison,

The Sangamon,

283

Mauldin, Bill, Up Front, 26-27 Mead, Margaret, And Keep Your Powder Dry, 289 Meiklejohn, Alexander, 298 Mencken, H. L., The American Language, 85 Mott, Frank Luther,

Golden Multi-

tudes, 271, 299

Mumford, Lewis, 286 Mytinger, Caroline, 366 Nevins, Allan, and

Henry

Steele

Com-

mager. The Pocket History of the United States, 85, 86 New York Times Magazine, "To the Planets and Beyond," 93 Nicholson, Margaret, A Dictionary of American English Usage, 448, 455

OTlaherty, Liam, Spring Sowing, 355 Page, Elizabeth, 366 Papashvily, George and Helen, Anything Can Happen, 28-29 Pei, Mario. One Language for the World, 143

,

INDEX Perelman, S. J., The Most of S. J. Perelman, 368-369 Phillips, Wayne, 292 Phillips, Wendell, 359 Pooley, Robert C, Teaching English Grammar, 32; Teaching English Usage, 396, 413, 448, 449, 458 Pyle,

Brave Men, Country, 283

Ernie,

Home

Robertson,

E.

376 Rolvaag, O. 280

E,,

Arnot.

The

111-112;

Tharp, Louise Hall, The Peabody Sisters of Salem, 313, 314 Thoreau, H. D., Walden, 17-18 Time, "The Younger Generation," 298 Ulen, Jr.,

Harold

S.,

and Guy Larcom,

The Complete Swimmer, 123

Untermeyer, Louis, 298 Signpost,

Van Doren, Mark, The Autobiography of Mark Van Doren, 105-106

Giants in the Earth,

Vergara, William C., Science in Everyday Things, 82-83, 298

Education and the 66-67; In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays, 60-61

Russell, Bcrtrand,

Good

Life,

Santayana,

George,

Persons

and

Places, 289, 419

Schlesinger, Arthur M.,

The Age

of

Jackson, 284 Spring, Howard, The Houses in Between, 91-92 Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, Hunters of the Great North, 123-124 Steinbeck, John, Cannery Row, 110, 368; The Grapes of Wrath, 355 Stevenson, Adlai, 70-71, 408 Stewart, George R., Fire, 75 Strachey, Lytton, 211; Eminent Victorians,

408; Queen Victoria, 218

Walker, C. Lester, "The Man Who Makes Weather," 144 Walker, Stanley, "Everything's True About Texas," 142, 149 Wells, H. G., Mr. Britling Sees It Through, 278 White, E. B., "Calculating Machine," 23-24; One Man's Meat, 408; "Notes and Comment," 70-71 Wilson, Edmund, Axel's Castle, 311 Wilson, Woodrow, 359 Wolfe, Of Time and the River, 72,

108-109 Woolf, Virginia, Between 367; The Death of a

America, 82. 84

Autumn

Across

Acts,

Other Essays, 108-109 WyclifiFe,

Taylor, Jeremy, 73 Teale, Edwin Way.

the

Moth and

John, 9

Yavno, Max, and Herb Caen, San Francisco Book, 125

Thi

463

INDEX ALL

NUMBERS

A, an, the,

REFER

TO PAGES.

articles, classified as adjec-

tives,

35

A, an, proper use

differentiated, of,

440

Abbreviations:

AD.

and B.C., 364

anon., for anonymous, 176 capitalization of, 261

176 column, columns, 176 e.g., for example, 176 honorary titles before names, 263 ibid., ibidem, 176 i.e., that is, 176 in bibliography, 176 ch., chap., chapter,

col., cols.,

263 176 names of governmental agencies,

list

of usual abbreviations, cit.,

264 176 punctuation with, 277 Reverend, Honorable, not abbreviated, 264 technical terms, 264 op.

cit.,

when

permissible,

263-264

with proper names, 263 when not followed by period, 318 words usually not abbreviated: Christian names, 264 miscellaneous list, 264

names names names Above,

as

264 264 of days, months, 264 reference word, 385 of college courses,

of countries, states,

Absolute phrases, commas with, 291 not dangling, 393 Abstract noun, defined, 34 Abstract word, defined, 353 Absurdity in writing, unintentional, 405 Accent, ascent, assent, defined, 330

464

440

Accordingly, conjunctive adverb, 298 Active to passive, shift, 400 Active voice, for emphasis, 397 Ad., for advertisement, 440 A.D., proper use of, 264 Address of a letter: inside address, 192 forms to be used, 192 punctuation of, 192 Adjective clauses, diagrams of, 51 punctuation with, 50 restrictive

and

nonrestrictive, 50

structural signals with, 50

in footnotes, 176

loc.

Accept, except, defined, 330

Adjectives, defined, 35

diagrams of, 42-46, 238 with copulative verbs, 237 with sensory verbs, 237 wrong use of noun form, 237 Adjectives and adverbs, 236-241 adverb, to modify verb, adjective, adverb, 238

comparison of, 240-241 comparative degree, 240 superlative degree, 240 forms of, 236-237 similarity in form, 236-237 two forms of, 239-240 Adjectives, co-ordinate, punctuation with, 284 Admittance, admission, defined, 330 Adverbial clauses, diagrams of, 52 functions of, 51-52 Adverbial phrases, restrictive and nonrestrictive, 288 Adverbs, see also Adjectives and adverbs

240 comparative forms, 240

classes of,

defined, 31

diagrams

of,

42-46

INDEX distinguished from adjectives, 236-

237 forms of, 236 functions of, 36, 236 misplaced, 387-388 position of, in sentence, superlative forms, 240

387-388

used as conjunctions, 36-37 words modified by, 36, 238 Affect, effect, defined, 330 differentiated, 440 Aggravate, two meanings of, 441 Agree to, agree with, proper uses

Altar, alter, defined, 330 of,

441

Agreement ent,

pronoun with anteced231-233

of

collective noun,

number, gender, 231

pronoun in apposition, 233 who, whose, which, uses of, 233 with each, every, everybody, everyone, either, neither,

etc.,

231-

232 see also Pronouns, Antecedents, Reference of pronouns of subject

and verb, 215-

222 collective noun,

compound

220

subject

joined

by and,

218 introductory it, 217 not with subjective complement,

218 plural subject, 215, 218 plural word intervening, 216 relative pronoun, plural, 221

subject after verb, 217-218 there is, there are, 217 title of book, etc., 220

with each, every, each one, everyone, everybody, anybody, nobody, either, neither, 219 with neither-nor, either-or, 219 words added by as well as, together with, with, in addition to, except, no less than, 216

words ending

in

-s,

221

Agricultural Index, listed, 162

nonstandard use, 441 introducing summary, how punc-

Ain't, All,

tuated, 312

all

together, defined, 442

A.M., a.m., P.M., p.m., 261 proper use of, 442 punctuation with, 277 reference, to be avoided,

382

one as antecedent, 233

Agreement

Altogether,

Ambiguous

232

differences in usage, 231 in person,

used as summarizing word, for clearness, 432 Allow, for assert, say, think, believe, dialectal, 441 All ready, already, defined, 441 All the farther, all the faster, 441 Allude, refer, differentiated, 441 Allusion, illusion, defined, 441 Almost, misplaced, 388 Already, all ready, defined, 441 Alright, nonstandard, 441 All,

Americana Annual, listed, 158 American College Dictionary, speci-

men

from, 341

Among, between, proper use of, 442 Amount, number, proper use of, 442 An, a, see A, an, the Analogy, used in developing paragraphs, 90-91 And, but, so, see Subordination And etc., for etc., and so forth, 442 And which construction, 409 And who construction, 409 Anglo-Saxon Period, 5-6 quotations from: Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Bible, 9 Ante-, anti-, defined, 330

2,

17

Antecedent, defined, 231 Antecedents of pronouns, 231-233 agreement with, in person, number, gender, 386 ambiguous, 382 clause as antecedent, 384 clear,

380

each, everyone, etc. as antecedents,

231 indefinite you, they, 383

in subordinate position, 381 one, 383

reference to an idea, 384 sentence as antecedent, 384 vague, 384

Anybody, anyone, verb with, 219

Any place,

anyplace, for anywhere, 442 correct use of, 442

Anyway, anyways,

465

INDEX Anywheres, everywheres, dialectal, 443 Apostrophes, uses of, 301-303 omitted in titles, 303 to form plurals of figures, letters, 302 to form possessives of: group names (joint possession), 301

224 nouns ending in -s, 302 nouns not ending in -s, 302 to indicate omissions, 302 wrong with possessive of personal pronouns, 302, 226-227 Appear, verb, adjective complement after, 237 Appearance of manuscript, 254-257 Application, letters of, 196-197 Appositive phrase, misused as sentence, 207 indefinite pronouns, 302,

Appositives: as subordination, for better sentences,

64

case of, 233 introductory words with {namely, as, for example) 293 words introducing, 293

such list

of

^

punctuation of: commas with nonrestrictive, 291 dashes with, 292, 311-312 no commas with restrictive, 291 parentheses for, 292, 311 Appropriateness in use of words, 346348 colloquial words and phrases, 346348 slang, 347 Appropriate tone and style, see

Formal English, 16 Informal English, 21 Standard English, 16 Student's choice, 29 Vernacular, 25 Apt, likely, liable, difTerentiated, 443 Arrangement, details in paragraph.

96-97 Order Arrangement, details in sentence. 387-390 adverbs, 387 clauses, 389 phrases, 388 split infinitive, 390 see also

466

squinting modifier, 389 words noraially near each other,

390 Misplaced modifiers 440

see also

Articles, see a, an, the, 35,

Art Index, listed, 162 As, because, differentiated, 443 As, dialectal for that, whether, 443

As ...

..

as, so

as,

.

correct uses

443 As, than, in double comparison, 411 As, as if, like, see Like, 454 of,

Assumed subject tive case,

As well

of infinitive, objec-

230

subject of verb not plural by, 216 as,

made

At, redundant with where, 443 Atlases and gazetteers, listed, 159

Author card, in card catalogue, 153 Auto, clipped forms, 440 Autobiographical incident, writing of, 105-106 examples of, 105-107 Autobiographical sketch, 102—105 Awful, awfully, colloquial uses, 443

Awkwardness and obscurity tences,

how

in sen-

corrected,

420-

421

Awkward

repetition, to be avoided,

358-359 Back

of, in

back

behind, 452

of,

Bad grammar, used

for effect, 26

Badly, colloquial use

of,

444

Balance in sentence, see Parallel structure,

407-410

Balance, rhetorical patterns, 67, 391 see also Parallel structure,

407-410

Balance, use of semicolon with, 299 Balance, rest, remainder, proper use of,

Bank

444

on, colloquial for rely upon, trust,

444

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, listed,

160 B.C., proper use of,

264

Be, subjunctive forms

of,

249-250

Be, verb, adjective complement with,

237 Because of, see Reason is because, 457 Become, verb, followed by adjective complement, 237

INDEX Beginnings of sentences, varied, 140144 announcing specific phase of sub-

comment on need

of

new

treatment,

titles of, italicized,

Borrowed

143 facts

155

skimming and reading, 170

141

ject,

getting information from, 170 how listed in card catalogue, 152-

showing importance of sub143

ject,

incident out of which discussion arises, 141 intention to refute old idea, 144 pertinent story or anecdote, 142

pointing out fascinating nature of

144

subject,

173 see also Footnotes of,

Brackets, to enclose interpolations, 315 Breaking word at end of line, see

Hyphens Breath, breathe, defined, 331 Brevity, not same as conciseness, 357 Bunch, colloquial for several, a group,

444

questions which your essay answers,

Business letters:

143 Being as, being that, for because, since,

body

of letter, 193-194 closed punctuation, 192

444

complimentary

Beside, besides, uses of, 444

Between, among, proper use

of,

442

9-10 Anglo-Saxon version, 9 King James version, 10 Revised Standard of 1952, 10

Bible, selections from,

Wyclifre-Pur\-ey, 9

BibHographic forms, 166-168, 190 abbreviations in, 176 basic parts, 167 cards for, 166 final arrangement of, 190 MLA Style Sheet, 166 nature of, 166 references to:

books, 168 bulletins, 167

blame

it

on,

444

Blanket words {deal, factor,

line,

majority, proposition) to be avoided, 337 Block form, in letters, 192 Bole, boll, bowl, defined, 330 Boners, to be avoided, 337-338 Book review, informal type, 119

example

of,

Bookish words, defined, 353 examples of, 353 160

list

signature,

194

Bust, busted, bursted, burst, 444 But, punctuation with, 282, 284, 317

But what, but

that,

445

Cacophony,

see Repetition of similar sounds, 362

Euphony and rhythm

of reference,

156

Dewey Decimal

System, 156 Library of Congress System, 156 Cambridge History of American Literature, listed, 160 Cambridge History of English Literature, listed, 160 Can, may, proper uses of, 445 Cannot help but, 445 Can't hardly, as double negative, 445 Capital, capitol, defined, 331 Capitals, uses of, 259-263 abbreviations after names, 261

120

Books, classified

194

heading, 191-192 inside address, 192 letterheads, 191 open punctuation, 192 personal titles in, 192-193 salutation, 193

see also,

newspapers, 168 periodicals, 168 Bibliography, examples of, 190 Biography, reference books, 158-159 on,

close,

faults to avoid, 199

Calculate, reckon, 445 Call numbers, in card catalogue, 155-

encyclopedias, 168

Blame

267

acknowledgment

material,

after colon,

157-

310

days of week, months, 260 Father, Mother, etc., when used as

names, 262

467

INDEX Continued

Capitals fii'st

word

honorary

with intervening expression, 225

of sentence, titles

259

with names, 261

255, 260 line of poetry, 259 in

titles,

names

for object of preposition,

of:

260

with

organizations, 260

particular studies

and

courses,

persons and places, 260 political and geographical divi-

260-261

sions,

proper adjectives and nouns, 260 races and languages, 260 religious terms, 260 ivords not capitalized:

common nouns and

adjectives,

261 general names of studies, 262 my father, my mother, etc., 262 points of compass, directions, 261 Capitals, used for italics in typing, 267 Card catalogue, basic guide to library, 152-156 alphabetical arrangement by author, subject, title, 152-156 numbers, 155-156

Dewey Decimal

System, 156 Library of Congress System, 156 list of books, bulletins, pamphlets, periodicals,

152-156

appositives,

233

defined, 223

229

in prepositional phrase (of

we

226

nominative, uses of: after than,

as.,

225

for subject of verb, 225 for subjective

468

adverb, defined, 48 uses of, 51 co-ordinate: co-ordination of dependent thought, 48, 371 of,

punctuation

men), 230 us, etc.,

287-289 287-289

40-52 of,

282, 298

dangling, 392

224

indefinite pronouns,

it's

adjective, defined, 48

excessive co-ordination, 371

following than, as, 225

me,

Cite, site, sight, defined, 331

Clauses

diagrams

40-42

elliptical clauses, 225,

226-227

adjective, uses of, 50

manu-

declension of pronouns, 223

it's

to express possession,

with indefinite pronoun, 226 who, whom, whose, 224, 225, 229 with gerunds, 227 with inanimate objects, 228 Cause of, on account of, 445 Censor, censure, defined, 331 Century Dictionary, listed, 339 Changes in language, realistic attitude toward, 12-31 Charted, chartered, defined, 331 Choose, chose, defined, 331 Choppy style, 378 Chronological order, in description and narration, 76 in paragraph, 96, 430 Circumlocution, 361

restrictive, 50,

Case:

of,

apostrophe with, 226 double possessive, 228 its and it's, Til

nonrestrictive, 50,

Caret, to indicate insertions in

258

230

adjective, punctuation with:

sample author card, 153 sample subject card, 155 sample title card, 154 script,

infinitive,

possessive case, uses of:

262

diagrams

230

in clauses of comparison, 229

historical periods,

call

objective case, uses of: for direct object, 228 for indirect object, 228

compliment, 226

dangling elliptical, 395 dependent: diagrams of, 48-52 main thought in, 48, 371 for variety in sentence structure,

58-61 misused as sentence, 206

INDEX noun

clauses, uses of,

49

subject, object, subjective

com-

plement, object of preposition, object of verbal, appositive,

49-50 overlapping dependence, 378 principal, see Co-ordinate subordinate, see Dependent substantive clause, see Noun clause Clauses, parenthetical, punctuation of,

290

misplaced modifiers, 387—391 mixed constructions, 404 shift in point of view, 401-404 squinting reference, 382

Coherence in sentences, improved by: parallel structure, 67, 407-410, 433 proper arrangement, 96-97, 429431 proper reference, 380-386 transitions, 97-98, 431 use of connectives,

Clearness and order, in sentences:

awkwardness and obscurity, 420421

Coherence

correlatives,

410

presentation, 135-138

348

mixed constructions, 404 mixed imagery, 405 parallel structure, 67, 407-410 proper arrangement, 387-391 reference of pronouns, 380-386 shift in point of view, 401-405

defined, 348 levels of usage, informal,

Colon, uses

310 between two

Comma

284-285 Cliches, see Trite phrases, 369-370 Clipped word forms, see Ad, 440 for,

Closed punctuation, letter forms, 192 Coarse, course, defined, 331 Clearness, words necessary for, omitted, 413, 414-415 in sentence, punctuation with,

211

Coherence in paragraphs: by forecast of arrangement, 98 by proper arrangement, 96-97, 429431

by use of topic sentence, 85 by use of transitions: conjunctions, 97, 431 directive words, 97 parallel structure,

433

pronouns, 97, 432 repetition of key words, 97, 432 transitional phrases, 97, 431 selection analyzed for, 98 Coherence in sentences, destroyed by:

awkwardness and obscurity, 420-

310-311

fault, see

tence,

splice, see

tence,

Run-together sen-

209-212 Run-together sen-

209-212

corrected by: co-ordinating conjunction, 210 punctuation, 210 subordination, 209 when permissible, 211

Commas,

unnecessary, 315-318

after co-ordinating conjunction. 317

between subject and verb, verb and object, preposition and object, adjective and noun, 316 restrictive elements, 318 short introductory modifiers, 318 with conjunction joining two words, 317 Commas, uses of, 281-297 after absolute phrase, 286, 291 after introductory modifier,

285—

286 for clearness, in series,

284-285, 286

283-284

position with quotation marks, 307 table of uses, 282 to indicate contrast, 287

421

danghng

clauses,

capitalization with, 310

Comma,

commas used

21-30

309-311

before enumeration, formal list, quotation, explanation, 309-

431

transitions,

of,

after salutation in letters, 193

squinting reference, 382 subordination, 58-65, 374

Climax

431-432

theme, see Order of

Colloquial, see Appropriateness, 347-

dangling modifiers, 392-395 destroyed by overloading, 372-373 misplaced modifiers, 387-391

Clearness,

in

modifiers,

392-395

to prevent misreading,

284-285

469

INDEX Commas

Continued

to separate co-ordinate adjectives,

284 to separate co-ordinate clauses,

282-

283 with conjunctive adverbs, 290

Complex

verbs,

237-

sentence, defined, 48

diagrams

291-293 dates, 293-294 dialogue guides, 293 directive phrases, 290 appositives,

mild exclamations, 279-280, 287

287-289 nonrestrictive elements, 286-289 parenthetical elements, 289-290 responsives yes and no, 287 sentence adverbs, 287 nonrestrictive clauses,

substantives in direct address, 293

with adverbial clauses, 286 with figures for clearness, 265 with geographical names and ad-

293-294

with participial phrases, 286 with transposed elements, 287 Common nouns, defined, 34 not capitalized, 261

Compare

to, compare with, defined. 446 Comparison of adjectives and adverbs, 240-241

absolute qualities, in comparisons,

241 Comparison, clauses of, nominative case in, 225 Comparison, used in paragraph development, 88-90 Comparisons, logical and complete,

411-413 divided usage in, 411 logically complete, 411

one term of comparison omitted, 412 superlative with two, 413 suspended construction, 411 than, as omitted, 411 unfinished comparisons, 412—413 Complected, nonstandard use of, 446 Complement, compliment, defined, 331

Complements, see Direct object, 40 Indirect object, 40 Objective complement, 40

470

and sensory

tive

238

to set off:

dresses,

Retained object, 40, 41 Subjective complement, 40, 41 Complements, adjective, after copula-

48-52

of,

structural signs of, 48

types of clauses in: adjective, 50

adverb, 51

noun, 49 Complimentary

Compound diagram

close, in letters, 194 sentence, defined, 48

of,

48

punctuation

of,

298-300

Compound-complex

sentence, defined,

52

example

Compound

53 words, see also Hyphens

of,

classes of, 272-274 hyphens with, 271-274 numbers, 273

possessives of, 301 rules for hyphenating,

274

Conciseness, 357-363 not same as brevity, 357-358 see also

Wordiness

Conclusion, see Ending Conclusions, formal, to be avoided, 145 "Conclusion," undesirable as main division in outline, 139 Concrete details, in description, 110 in paragraph development, 425 Concreteness in diction, 352-356 Concrete noun, defined, 34 Concrete words, defined, 353 examples of, 353 Condition contrary to fact, subjunctive with,

250

Conjugation, verb take, 244-245 Conjunctions, classes of, 36-37 co-ordinating, 37 correlatives, 36 defined,

36-37

so, uses of, 37,

458

subordinating, 37 Conjunctions, for paragraph coherence, 431 Conjunctive adverbs, 36-37 placing of, 37

punctuation with, 37, 290, 298-299

INDEX Consequently, conjunctive adverb,

298

before

Considerable, for considerably, 446 Constructions, in sentences: awkward and obscure, 420-421 dangling, 392-395

mixed, 404 parallel, 67,

scrambled

407-410 405

figures,

383, 387 squinting, 382 Consul, council, counsel, defined, 331 Contact, for communicate with, 446 Continual, continuous, defined, 446 split,

Continually, continuously, defined, 331 Contractions (omissions) apostrophe with, 302 :

in

formal

style,

446

Contrast, defined, 88 in paragraph development, 88 Contrasting sentence elements, commas with, 287 Conventions of formal outline, 138 Co-ordinate adjectives, punctuation

with, 284

commas

with,

282-283 Correlatives, defined, 36 of,

of,

would

311-313

namely,

all that,

that

is,

312

compared with comma and parentheses, 311

for parenthetical elements, 311

how formed on typewriter, 311 misused for other marks, 313 to indicate sudden break, 311 with formal appositive, 292, 312 with formal summary, 312 Data, strata, phenomena, plurals of datum, stratum, phenomenon, 447 Date, colloquial uses of, 447 Dates, forms of, in letters, 192 other forms used, 294 punctuation with, 293-294 Deal, vague word, 447 Declension of personal pronouns, 223 Definition, in developing paragraph, 87-88 by examples, 87-88 by use of contrast, 87

marks

with, 269 verified in dictionary, 340

Deletions in manuscript, 255

37

capital

parallel structure with,

Could

of,

all,

Definitions, italics or quotation

Co-ordinate clauses,

list

Dash, uses

410

of, illiterate,

"M"

for,

255

horizontal line in writing, 314

446

Couple, for two, several, a few, 446

meanings of, 446 Crowd, for a set, clique, 446 Cunning, defined, 446 Cute, colloquial use, 446 Criticize,

Danelaw, 6 Danish influences on English language, 6

Dangling modifiers, 392-396 absolute phrases not dangling, 393

parentheses incorrect for, 314 Demonstrative pronouns, see Pronouns, 35

Dependent

clauses, see also

Noun

clause, adjective clause, adverb

clause defined, 48

diagrams of, 48-52 misused as sentences, 206 sign of, 48 used for improving sentences, 58-61

appositives, 395

Derivations of words, value of know-

395 gerund phrase, 394

Description, paragraphing in, 74-76

elliptical clauses,

ing,

342

75-76

idiomatic exceptions, 393

example

394 participial phrase, 394 phrase of result, 394 test of dangler, 395-396 verbal phrases, 394 where acceptable, 393

writing of, 110-112 concrete details in, 110-112 dominant tone in, 110

infinitive phrase,

of,

example of, 110-112 interwoven with narrative, 110 point of view in, 110

471

INDEX Descriptions,

object, indirect,

list of:

Thomas Burke, The Wind and

the

Rain, 367 E.

Thomas

"New

Gilliard,

Guinea's

Rare Birds and Stone Age Men," 75-76 Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, 111-112 John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, 110, 367-368 George R. Stewart, Fire, 75 Virginia Woolf, Between the Acts, 367 Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, 25-26 Details, in developing paragraphs,

81-83 need

of, in

theme, 146

student's sources of, 81

Detract, distract, defined, 331 D:"veloping an idea, defined, 81

Developing a paragraph: by analogy, 90-91 by comparison or contrast, 88-90 by definition, 87-88 by examples or typical instances, 83-86 by methods in combination, 91-96 by particulars and details, 81-83 Device, devise, defined, 331

Dewey Decimal System,

classifying

books, 156 Diacritical marks, used in dictionaries,

340

Diagrams of sentence elements:

41-42

object of preposition, 42-50 object, retained, 41 objective complement, 41 participle,

44

phrases, 42-52 predicate, 40-52

compound, 40 42-52 prepositional phrase, 42—52 pronoun, 40-52 predicate,

preposition,

retained object, 44 sentence, complex, 48-52

compound, 48 simple, 40-47 subject, 40-52 subjective complement, 41, 238 verb,

40-52

verbal phrase, 43-45 Dialects, see Regional differences

vernacular, 25 Dialogue guides, punctuation with, 293 Dialogue, paragraphing of, 305 quotation marks with, 304 several paragraphs in length, 305 several sentences in length, 304305 with narration or description, 305 Diction, 334-370 abstract and general words, 353

appropriate words, 346-348 blanket words to be avoided, 337 boners,

237-238

adjective, 42

bookish words, 349, 353

adjective clause, 51 adjective in predicate, 41, 238 adverb, 42-49

cliches,

adverb clause, 50-52 clause, co-ordinate, 48

347-348 357-363 concreteness, 352-356

clause, subordinate,

49—52

complements, 40-44 compound subject, 40 compound verb, 40 conjunction, co-ordinating, 48 subordinating, 48-52

40-52

direct object,

gerund, 44 indirect object, 42 infinitive,

45-46

noun, 40-50

noun

clause,

49 40-52

object, direct,

472

368-370

collegiate slang in formal context,

347 colloquialisms, conciseness,

definition of key words, need of,

335

334—335 366-367 "fine writing," 362-363 general words, 353, 364-366 glossary of usage, 439-460 hackneyed phrases, 368-370 homely words, 353 idioms, 349-351 intensives, 361-362 levels of usage, 13-30 exactness, value of, figures of speech,

1

INDEX Direct address, words used

metaphors, 366 parallel structure,

pleonasm, 361 prepositions with idioms, 350-351 provincialisms, see Regional differ-

"How

slang, 347

tautology, 360

368-370

1330 vague words, to be avoided, 337 vividness and metaphor, 364-370 varieties of English, functional,

wordiness, 357-360 words similar in sound, 330-333 words twisted out of real meaning, in inexact sense,

Do

to

on on

prefix, suffix,

of,

It" articles,

122-123

336

and described,

159,

339-340

American College Dictionary, 341 Webster's New Collegiate, 344345 Dictionary of American Biography, 158 Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, described,

159 Dictionary of National Biography,

158-159 Dictionary, to be consulted for, 338-

343

antonyms and synonyms, 343 derivation of a word, 342 grammatical information, 343 idioms, 343 meanings of words, 340 plurals of nouns, 343 principal parts of verbs, 343 pronunciation, 340 spelling, 340 synonyms and antonyms, 343 usage, 342 Didn't ought, iUiterate, 447 Differ from, differ with, idioms, 447 Different from, different than, idioms,

272 272

when not to divide, 272 Doesn't, don't, proper use of, 448 Dominant personality trait, as material for themes, 102-103 example

Dominant

sample pages from:

447

Directions, processes, etc., writing

Directive words, phrases, commas with, 290 Discourse, undesirable shift in, 403 Division of words, at end of line, 272 between double consonants, 272 on hyphen, in compound words, 272

358-360 right word, 334-370 similes, 366

Dictionaries, listed

40

of,

Complements 121-124

repetition,

336 words used

diagrams see

1

puffers, 361

triteness,

punc-

Direct object, defined, 40

periphrasis, 361

ences,

in,

tuated, 293

360

103-104

of,

tone, in description, 110

Double capacity, words understood '

in,

415

Double negative,

448 445 Double possessive, 228 Dove, dived, 448 Dramatic Index, listed, 162 Due to, caused by, owing to, 448-449 discussed,

see Can't hardly,

Each, every, everyone, etc., verb wiih, 219 reference to. in agreement, 231 -e, final, dropping of, in spelling, 326 Echo words, for coherence in paragraphs, 97 Economic Almanac, listed, 158 Education Index, listed, 162 Engineering Index, listed, 162 Effectiveness in sentences, helped by: consistent point of view, 401—405 emphatic position for important ideas,

397-398

parallel structure, 67-71,

407

periodic structure, 66-67, 398 proper subordination, 58-65

64-65 58-61 gerund phrases, 62 infinitive phrases, 62 participial phrases, 61-62 prepositional phrases, 62-63 appositives,

clauses,

473

INDEX Effectiveness in sentences

Continued

use of active voice, 400 variation in length, 56-58 variation in order, 65-66 variety of structure, 416-419 E.g., for for example, written out in

formal style, 264 Ei or ie, in spelling, 327 Either, as pronoun, number of, 219 verb with, 219 Either or, agreement of verb with nearer subject, 219 .

.

.

Elegant, excellent, defined, 449 Ellipsis marks, to indicate omissions,

277

395 Emerald, interesting etymology of, 342 Eminent, imminent, defined, 331 Emphasis, use of italics for, 270 Emphasis in sentence, 397-401 by balance, 407-410 by periodic structure, 398 by position, 397 by repetition, 359 by use of active voice, 400 by variety, 416-419 italics for, 397 list of methods to be used, 397 Elliptical clauses, dangling,

Encyclopedias, listed and described, 157 Americana, 157 Britannica, 157 Chambers's, 157 New International, 157 special encyclopedias, 157-158 Ending of theme, 147-149 anecdote, 147, 149 humorous comment, 148, 149 return to opening incident, 148 summary of main thesis, 148 English language, development of, 3— 13

family of languages, 8 Middle English period, 6-10 Modern English period, 10-11 Old English period, 5-6 periods of linguistic change, 4—11 sources of vocabulary, 4 Enthuse, colloquial, 449 Enumeration, order of arrangement in paragraph, 430 in theme, 136 Equally as good, 449

474

Etc., correct use of,

450

Etymologies, interesting, 342

Euphony and rhythm, 71-73 examples of, llL-lZ Evaluating sources, 171 Everyone, everybody, etc., number of, 231 with verb, 219 Exactness, importance of, 334-335 blanket words objectionable, 337 boners to be avoided, 337 need of definition of key words, 335 words used in inexact sense, 336

Exam, clipped form, 440 Examples, used in paragraph development, 79, 83-87 Except, for unless, 450 Excessive co-ordination, in sentence,

375-378 Excessive detail, 371-372

Exclamation point, 279-280 expression of strong feeling, 279 excessive use of,

279-280

not after mild exclamations, 279-

280 with question marks, 307 Exclamations, mild, commas after, 278-280, 287 Exclamation points, double or triple, to be avoided, 319 Experiment Station Record, described, 162 Explicit, implicit, differentiated, 332 Exposition, writing of: beginning the paper, 140-144 limiting the subject, 102, 132-133

order of presentation of material, 135 outlines for, 114-115, 134-135 paragraphs of: how to write them, 79-96 order in paragraph, 96

paragraph defined, 74—77 topic sentence in, 78 transitions in paragraph,

97-98

unity in paragraph, 96 planning a paper, 132-135 types of exposition: autobiographical sketch, 102-105 book review, 119-120 directions, 121 first impressions of college, 107

INDEX interpretation of friends,

home and

113

local color articles, 124 occupations, 114 personal essays, 128 process, explanations of, 121 profiles,

116-119

writing the paper, 144-147 Factor, vague, inexact use of, 337 Fain, feign, defined, 331 False parallel, undesirable, 410 Family of languages, 3, 8

Farther, further, differentiated, 332 Faulty co-ordination, see Subordina-

374-377

tion,

Faze, colloquial use, 450 Feel, verb, adjective complement with,

237 feeling, verbs of,

237

Fellow, for man, hoy,

Fewer,

less,

etc.,

450

For example, introducing appositive, punctuated, 293 Formal varieties of standard English, 16-21 vocabulary of, 16 Formally, formerly, defined, 332 For to, archaic, 451 Fragments, misused as sentences, 203208 correction of, 204 when used correctly, 205 Function words, importance of, 12 Functional varieties of English, 13-31 Funny, for odd, strange, 451 Further, see Farther, 332 Furthermore, conjunctive adverb, 298 punctuation with, 290 Fused sentence, see Run-together sentence, 202-212 Future time, expressed in several ways, 246-248

defined, 450

Figures, used with: dates, decimals, page numbers, street

and room numbers, 265

Figures of speech, see Metaphor, 366-

368 Final consonant, doubling Final -e, dropping, 326 Final -y, in spelling, 329

of,

328

Fine, vague word, 450 "Fine writing," undesirable, 362-363 First impressions of college,

theme

Gazetteers, listed

and described, 159-

161

Gender, agreement in, 386 General to particular, order of details, 430 General words, defined, 352 examples of, 353 Genitive, see Possessive, Case forms Gent, gentleman, lady, 451 Geographical names and addresses,

commas

with, 293-294

107-108 Fix, colloquial uses of, 450

Gerund, defined, 38

Folks, for family, relations, 451 Footnotes, in research paper, 173-177

ML A

Gerund, pronoun or noun with, 227 Gerund phrase, defined, 44 diagrams of, 44, 45 dangling, 394 for improving sentences, 62 Get, have got, etc., various uses of,

Roman

Glossary of usage, 439-460 appropriateness defined, 439

material

in,

abbreviations in, 176 examples of, 174-175 Latin terms in, 174-175, 176 Style Sheet, recommended forms, 174 numbering and spacing of, 173

numerals explained, 176— 177 where needed, 173 where unnecessary, 173 Formal introductions, avoided, 140141 Formal levels of modern usage, 14-21 For, punctuation with, 282, 284 Foreign words and phrases, when itahcized,

268

uses of, 38

451

correctness defined, 439

Grammar, 32-73 adjective and adverb, 236-240 agreement of pronoun and ante-

cedent, 231-233 agreement of subject and verb, 215-222 complete sentence. 203-214 case, 225-230

475

INDEX Grammar

Continued 32-38

Hyphens, 272-274,

definitions,

gramhiatical terms, 32-38 importance of studying, 33-34 parts of speech, 34-37 types of sentences: complex, 45

compound, 48 compound-complex, 52-53 simple, 39-46 verbals, 37-38 verbal phrases, 43—46 verb forms, 243-251 Greetings, in letters, 193 Group prepositions, 36

Guess, suppose, 451 to reference books, 158

Guides

Habitual action, expressed by, present tense, 245 would, 247

Hackneyed phrases, see Trite phrases, 368-370 Had better, had rather, idioms, 451

Had Had

451

of, illiterate,

ought, hadn't ought, 451

Handwriting, legible, 254 Hanged, hung, differentiated, 451 Hardly, in double negative, 452 Harsh combinations of sounds, see Euphony and rhythm, 71-73

Cacophony

see also

Heading,

in a letter,

191-192

Healthful, healthy^ defined, 452 Healthy, healthful, 332, 452 Hence, conjunctive adverb, 298 High-flown language, see "Fine writing"

Himself, see Pronoun

with

-self,

compounded

224

Historical present, use of, 245, 248 Hoards, hordes, defined, 332

Home and

friends,

themes about,

113-114

Homely words,

defined, 353 examples of, 353 Honorable, Reverend, not abbreviated before names, 264 Honorific adjectives, defined, 437 However, conjunctive adverb, 298 punctuation with, 290 Humor, avoidance of unintentional, 405 Hung, see Hanged, 451

476

see also Syllabica-

tion

compound compound

adjectives, 273

modifiers with beginning, 273

fractions, as modifiers,

common

273

numbers (21-99), 273 prefixes -ex, -self, 274 prepositional phrase group, 274 to avoid confusion with similar

words, 274

vowel or tripling consonant, 276 when not used: modifier in predicate, 273 simple fractions, 273 with adverbs in -ly, 273 to avoid doubling

Ibid, ibidem, in footnotes, 174, 176

words ending

in, with verb, 215, 221 Idiomatic phrases, not dangling, list of, 393 Idiomatic prepositions, list of, 350-351 faulty omission of, 415 Idioms, defined, 349 dictionary consulted for, 343 -ics,

lists of,

349-351

prepositions with, 350-351 verified in dictionary, 350 //, whether, in indirect questions, 452 Illusion, see Allusion, defined, 441 Imaginary, imaginative, defined, 332 Implicit, explicit, defined, 332 Importance of topic, methods of indicating, 145-146 In, into, proper uses of, 452 In addition to, subject of verb not

made plural by, 216 In back of, for behind, 452 Incomplete comparisons, 411-413 Incomplete sentences, see Fragments, misused sentences, 203 Incredible, incredulous, defined, 332 Indefinite pronoun, apostrophe for possessive, 226 lists of, 35, 224 you, they, in indefinite reference,

383 Indented forms, in

letters, 192 Indention, in manuscript, 255, 258 paragraphs, 255

quoted poetry, 258 to indicate quoted passage, 305

INDEX Indexes to periodicals,

listed

and de-

scribed Agricultural Index, 162 :

Art Index, 162 Dramatic Index, 162 Education Index, 162 Engineering Index, 162 Experiment Station Record, 162 Index Medicus, 162 Index to Legal Periodicals, 162 Industrial Arts Index, 162 International Index, 161 New York Times Index, 162 Poole's Index, 161 Public Affairs Information Service, 162 Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus, 162 Reader's Guide, 161 Indirect object, defined, 40 diagramed, 41, 42 Indirect question, punctuation of, 278 Indo-European languages, 4, 8 Inductive order, in paragraphs, 431 in theme, 135 Infinitive:

dangling, 394 defined, 38

diagrams of, 45 sequence of tenses with, 248 spHt, 390 tenses of, 245, 248 uses of, 38 Infinitive phrase, dangling, 394 defined, 45 diagrams of, 45-46 for improving sentences, 62 Inflection, definition and examples of: adjectives and adverbs (comparison), 240-241 indefinite pronouns, 224 interrogative pronouns, 224 personal pronouns (declension),

223-224 relative pronouns,

224 verbs (conjugation), 244-245 Informal outline, nature of, 134 Informal varieties of standard Eng-

21-25 vocabulary of, 24-25 lish,

Informant, informer, defined, 332 Information Please Almanac, listed, 158 In regards to, for in regard to, 452

Insertions in manuscript, cated, 258

how

indi-

Inside address, in letters, 192-193 Interjection, defined, 37

O, oh,

uses, capitalization,

punctu-

ation with, 455 punctuation with, 37 Interpolations, brackets for, 315 Interpretation of home and friends.

themes about, 113-114 Interrogation point, see Question

mark, 278-279 Interrogative pronouns, see Pronouns,

35 forms of, 224 Interrupters

in

sentence,

thetical elements,

see

Paren-

289-290

defined, 289 Intrinsic, extrinsic, defined,

332

"Introduction," poor heading in outline, 139 Introductions, kind to be avoided, 145 Introductory modifier, punctuation with,

285-286

Introductory paragraph, see Beginning a theme, 140-146 Invitation, letter of, 198 Invite, for invitation,

452

Irrelevant, irreverent, defined, 332 Is

when,

is

where, in definitions, 453

Italics, uses of,

267-270

differences in usage, 267

foreign words and phrases, 269 for emphasis,

how in

270

indicated in manuscript, 267

quoted

titles,

267

musical, art compositions, 267

names of ships, aircraft, 267 words as words, letters, figures, 269 It's me, it is /, usage of, 226 Its, it's, defined, 453 Jewish Encyclopedia, listed, 158 Joint possession, apostrophe for, 301 Journalistic writing, punctuation in, 281

Key

words, need to be defined, 335 repeated for coherence, 432 Kind, sort, kind of, sort of, 453

Labeling of themes, 255 Lady, for woman, see Gentleman, lady, 451

477

INDEX Language, development

of,

3-30

importance

of books about, 31 Lay, lie, differentiated, 453

Lead, led, use of, 454 Learn, teach, meaning of, 454 Leave, let, proper uses of, 454 Legibility of handwriting, 254 Length of paragraphs, 78 Less, fewer, see Fewer, 450 Letters, business and social, 191-200 application, 196-197 body of letter, 193 complimentary close, 194 faults to avoid, 199-200 formal social letters, 198 heading, 191-192 inside address, 192-193 letterhead in, 191-192

192-193

titles in,

salutation or greeting, 193 signature, 194-195

examples 199

of, 195,

business,

196-197, 198-

195

letter of application,

196-197 196-197

exercises in:

notes on reading, 167-169 outline of, 169, 177-179

162-163 177-190 subjects for, 163-164 value of, 162-163 writing of, 151-190 Library, use of, 152-163 card catalogue, 152-156 purposes specimen

of,

of,

general reference library, 157—160 indexes to periodicals, 161-162 Lie, lay, differentiated,

453

165 importance

of,

132

of examples, 133

Line, vague use of, 454 Linguistic change, periods

of,

4—11

Lists

application for a job, 200 bread-and-butter letter, 200 explaining value of college course, 200 invitation to a friend, 200 request for salary due, 200 to newspaper,

and judging material, 152 useful information acquired, 151 limiting the subject, 164-165 sifting

list

social letters, formal,

151-152

Like, nonstandard use as adverb, 239 Like, as, as if, as conjunctions, 454 Likely, see Apt, 443 Limiting the subject, 132-133, 164-

parts of, hst, 191

personal

of,

practice in writing term papers, 151

list

200

urging members of club to pay dues, 200 Levels of usage, 13-14 functional varieties of, 13-14 reference list of books about, 31 standard English, formal level,

16-21 standard English, informal

abbreviations, 263 abbreviations in footnotes, 176 adverbs, 36 atlases and gazeteers, 159 biographical dictionaries, 158 books about language, 31 broad subjects narrowed, 133 conjunctive adverbs, 298 devices for securing emphasis in

sentences, 397 devices for securing variety in sentences,

dictionaries

416-417 and books

of synonyms,

159 level,

21-30 vernacular, 25-30

directive words and phrases, 290 encyclopedias, general and special,

157-158

Liable, see Apt, 443

faults to look for in revision of

Library of Congress, system of classifying books, 156 Library paper (term paper, research paper, etc.), 162-190 bibliography for, 166-167, 190 choosing subject, 163 deciding on general field, 163—164

manuscript, 258 idiomatic phrases, 343 indefinite pronouns, 224 periodicals, indexes to, 160-162

footnotes for, 173-175

478

prepositions, 36

pronouns, 35 indefinite, reflexive,

224 224

INDEX reference books, 157-160 spelling

syllabication, 271

spacing, 254

255 Merely, position

subordinating conjunctions, 37 trite

titles,

369-370

phrases,

words with interesting

origins,

342

Literature, histories of, 160

"Local color,"

articles, directions for

124-125 125-128 settle, 454

writing,

examples

short sentences, for variety,

56-58 Look, verb, adjective complement after, 237 Loose sentences, 66 broken up, 376 Lot, lots of, for many, much, 454

of,

388

Metaphor: defined, 366 example of, 90 for humor, 366-367

overuse

of,

Locate, for Loc. cit., in footnotes, 174, 176

Long and

258

revision,

330-332 words, 323-324

similar words,

of,

367

relation to analogy, 90 simile defined, 366 Middle English period, 6—10 additions to vocabulary, 7-9

characteristics of, 7

quotation from, 9

Might

of, illiterate, 455 Misplaced sentence elements, 387-390 adverbs {only, not, almost, nearly,

merely, scarcely), 387-388

"M" Mad,

for deletions in typing, for angry,

255

idea in dependent clause, 48,

split infinitive,

modifiers,

259 specimen pages, 256-257 see also Mechanics of printing and writing Margins, in manuscript, 255 Math, clipped form, 440 May, can, differentiated, 445 Meanings, dictionary consulted for,

340 Mechanics of printing and writing, 254-275 abbreviations, 263-266 capitalization, 255, 259-263 deletions, 255 endorsement, 255 hyphens, 271 indentions, 255 insertions in manuscript, 258

390

squinting modifier, 389 Misrelated modifiers, see Dangling

377 Majority, inaccurate use of, 455 Manuscript, form and revision, 254-

267 labels, 255 legibility, 254 margins, 255 numbers, 265 paper to be used, 254 proofreading, 258 quotation marks with

389

phrases, 388

455

Magazines, form for bibliography, 167, 168

Main

clauses,

392-396

Mixed constructions, 404 Mixed imagery, undesirable, 405 MLA Style Sheet, comment on punctuation of series, 283

recommended

footnotes, 174

rule about underlining

titles, etc.,

268

Mode,

see

Modern

Mood

English, characteristics

of.

10-31 functional varieties of, 13-31 levels of usage, 13-16 Monotony in sentence structure,

avoidance

of,

416

Mood,

or mode, indicative, 244 subjunctive, uses of, 249-250

Moreover, conjunctive adverb, punctuated, 290 Most, almost, differentiated, 455

Much

after very in verb phrase, see

Very, very much, 459 Mrs., correct use of in signature, 194195 Myself, for /, me, 224

italics,

Mythology, books on, 160

Namely, dash before, 312 titles,

268

introducing appositive, 293

479

INDEX Names, not abbreviated:

as appositive; as object of verb,

Christian, 264

verbal, preposition; as subject of verb; as subjective comple-

months, days, countries, 264 states, 264

Names

of ships, aircraft, italicized,

abstract, defined,

267

Names, when

260-261 Narrative incident, example of, 108capitalized,

109 Narration, paragraphs

Narrowing the

74

of,

Neither, verb with, 219

number

219

of, .

.

nor, either

.

.

.

.

or,

455 Nevertheless, conjunctive adverb, 298

New

English Dictionary, listed and

described, 339 Standard Dictionary, Nice, vague use of, 455

New No

listed,

good, no-good, colloquial use

339 of,

455 Nominative

case, subject of verb, 225 subjective complement, 226

225-226 None, verb with, 219 Nonrestrictive adverbial phrase,

punctuation

of,

286

commas

with,

287-289 defined, 287

Nonrestrictive prepositional phrase beginning sentence, comma after,

286

on language, 6-9 Middle English period Not, misplaced, special problem of, 387 Notes on reading, 167-169

Normal

influences

see also

care in quoting, 170 identifying sources, 169-170 note cards, form of, 169-170

samples of note cards, 171-172 skimming, 170 summarizing, 170 use of quotation marks for exact quotations, 170

Not only

.

.

.

but also, verb with,

219

Noun

clause,

uses of,

480

diagrams

49-50

of,

49-50

34

34

common, defined, 34 concrete, defined, 34 proper, defined, 34 near, nowheres near, for not nearly, 455 Number of pronoun, agreement with antecedent, 231-233, 386 anybody, everyone, etc., 231 collective nouns, 232 divided usage, 231 he, not he or she, 233 Number, undesirable shift in, 402 Numbers, proper forms, 265 figures used for, 265 hyphen used with, 265

number beginning sentence, 265 punctuation with, 265 O, oh, defined, 455 capitalization of,

uses of,

Nonrestrictive clauses,

classes of,

Nowhere

132-133

subject,

Nearly, misplaced, 388

Neither

ment, 49 Nouns, defined, 34

455

punctuation with, 455 Objects, defined and diagramed, 40-41 see also

Complements

Objective complement, defined and diagramed, 41 Obscurity in sentence, how corrected,

420-421 Occupations, papers about, 114-116 Of phrase to show possession, 228 OfJ

of,

Oh, O,

redundant

use,

456

capitalization, use, punctuation,

455

English, see Anglo-Saxon, 5-6 quotations from, 2, 9, 17

Old

Omission, see Words

left out,

414—

416 Omissions of verb endings, -s, -ed, 249 Omissions, ellipsis marks or suspen-

"One

sion points to indicate, 277 who" construction,

of those

221-222 Only, position of adverb, special problem of, 387 Op. cit., in footnotes, 174, 176 Open punctuation, in letter forms, 192

:

:

INDEX Overloaded sentences, 372-373 with, for finished, 456 Owing to, see Due to, 448-449

Order of

details in paragraphs, 96-97, 429-431

Over

chronological, 430 general to particular, 430 inductive order, 431

order of enumeration, 430 time order, 430 Orders of presenting materials in

theme chronological order, 135 inductive order, 135 enumeration, 136 order of division, 137 order of easy comprehension, 137

Organizations, explanation of, 122 suggested topics for papers, 122

Other, omitted after than, in comparisons,

412

Outlines, examples

of,

102, 114-115,

139, 140

how

writers use them, 145

nature

of,

134

process of synthesis, 134 the "outline-ridden" paper, 145

Outlines for library paper: preliminary, 169

sample

of,

177-180

sentence outline, 178-180 thesis sentence desirable,

177

indention to indicate, 74, 81

177-178 Out loud, for aloud, 456 Outlining, methods of: topic outlines,

in exposition, nature of, 77

length

conventions governing formal outline,

138-139

directions for constructing, 134-

140 "Introduction," "Body," "Conclusion," poor headings, 139 labels, consisting of figures

and

let-

138 no punctuation after topics, 138 parallelism necessary, 138 punctuation in, 138 sentence outline, nature of, 139-140 advantages of, 140 examples of, 140 single subheads undesirable, 139 topic outline, nature of, 138 examples of, 114, 139 vague topics to be avoided, 138 Outside, for except, 456 Overlapping dependence in sentence, ters,

378

Pamphlets (bulletins), form for bibliography, 167-168 Paper to be used for themes, 254 Paragraphs adequate development of, 422— 426 arrangement of details in, 96—97 chronological order, 96-97 from general to particular, 96 from particular to general, 97 as punctuation, 74 coherence in, 428-433 concrete details in, 425 connectives in, 431 defined, 74 developed by: analogy, 90-91 comparison or contrast, 88-90 definition, 87-88 details, 79-80, 81-83 examples, 80-81, 83-86 methods in combination, 91-96 particulars, 81-83 typical instances, 83—86 developing an idea, 77

of,

78

narrative, 74-75

order of details in, 96-97, 429-431 point of view in, 433-437 scrappy paragraphs, how revised,

424 topic sentences in, 78-79, 428 transitions in, 97-98, 431

conjunctions and transitional expressions, 97, 431-432 parallel structure, 97, 433

pronouns, 97, 432 repetition of key words, 97, 432 using a summarizing word, liice

432-433 426-428 used to break up a page, 11-1^ writing of, 79-100 all,

unity

in, 96,

Parallelism, see Parallel structure

and

balance, 67-71 for emphasis, 360 prepositions repeated in, 360

481

INDEX Parallel structure:

"and which, and who" constructions, 409 as means to coherence, 97, 407, 433 examples of, 68-71, 408-409 expressed in terms of grammar, 67, 407-408 false parallel, 410 for parallel elements, 67-68, 407409 for variety in sentences, 68-71 use of correlatives with, 410 Parentheses appositives, 292

inside quotation marks, to indicate omissions,

see also Ellipsis

311, 313 incorrect for deletions, 314

other marks with (comma, semicolon, period, question mark, exclamation point), 314 question mark with, to show doubt,

279 Parenthetical elements or expressions, of,

289-290

commas, dashes, parentheses, 289,

Periodic form, for emphasis, 398-399 Periodic structure, 66, 398 Periods of linguistic change, 4-1 Periphrasis, 361 Person, agreement in, 386

second, third, defined, 223 undesirable shift in, 402 Personal essays, directions for writing,

128-131 examples of, 128-131 Personal pronouns, list of, 35 declension

223-224

of,

no apostrophe

for possessive, 302 Perspective, undesirable shift in, 403

Phrases: see also Prepositional phrase. Verb phrase, Verbal phrase. Gerund phrase. Participial

phrase

tence, punctuation of,

286

appositive, misused as sentence, 207

defined, 42

42-46

diagrams

defined, 43

misplaced, 388

diagram of, 44 for improving sentences, 61-62 restrictive and nonrestrictive, 289 Participle, defined, 38 uses of, 38

and details, in developing paragraphs, 81-83 to clarify a general statement,

Particulars

81-83

junction, 36-37; interjection,

37 Party, for person, 456 Passive voice, overuse of, 250—251,

400 proper uses

of,

prepositional, misused as sentence,

206 verbal, misused as sentence,

206

"Place where" adjective clause, 50 Plagiarism, defined, 173 Planning the paper, 132 see also Outlining Plenty, defined,

456

Pleonasm, 361

Parts of speech, 34-37 see also: noun, 34; verb, 35; pronoun, 35; adjective, 35; adverb, 36; preposition, 36; con-

of,

250-251, 400

Past perfect tenses, conjugation, 244

245-246

Pejorative adjectives, defined, 437 Per cent, percentage, defined, 332,

482

and de-

160-162

scribed,

dangling, 394

456

marks

Periodical indexes, listed

311 Participial phrase, beginning sen-

uses of,

307 277

first,

compared with dashes, commas,

punctuation

Period, uses of, 277-278 after abbreviations, 277 at end of sentence, 277

Plurals of letters, figures, apos-

trophe

for, 302 checked in dictionary, 343 irregular plurals, 329 most nouns, 329 nouns ending in -/, 329 nouns ending in -o, 329 nouns ending in -s, 329 proper names, 330 Point of view, in description, 110

Plurals,

Point of view: 433-438

change

in,

consistent,

435 433

in time and space, 433-436 toward reader, 436-437

INDEX toward subject matter, 437-438 401-407

shifts in,

with passive voice of verb, 251 Poole's Index, described, 161 Poorly, colloquial for in poor health,

456

397-

398 apostrophe with, 301-302 personal pronouns, forms, 223—224 no apostrophe with, 226

Possessives,

226-228

with gerund, 227 Practicable, practical, differentiated,

456 Predicate adjective, 41 see Subjective complement Predicate substantive, 41 Prefixes ex-, self-, with, 274

when hyphens used

list of,

230

223-224

35

35 forms of, 224 two forms of possessive, 35 used to secure coherence in paragraph, 97, 432 Pronunciation, how indicated in dictionaries, 340-341 Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, listed, 342 Proofreading, importance of, 322 Proper noun, defined, 34 capitalization of, 34 Proper nouns and adjectives, capitalized, 260

456

42

diagrams of, 42-43 misused as sentence, 206

Proportion, in theme, 145 Prove, verb, adjective complement

42-43

after,

faulty omission of in idioms, of idiomatic,

415

350-351

Principal, principle, defined, 332 Principal parts of verb, defined, 243

examples of, 243 importance of, 243 Processes, explanations of,

examples

of,

237

Puffers, to be avoided, 361

Preposition, defined, 36 list

infinitive,

Proposition, proposal, differentiated,

Prepositional phrase, defined,

uses of,

with

personal, declension of, relative, list of,

Position, emphatic, in sentence^

uses of,

in clauses of comparison, 229 object of preposition, 230

121—124

122-124

suggested subjects for, 122 types of, 121 Prof, clipped form, 440 Profiles, directions for writing,

116-

117 Progressive forms of verbs,

245

Punctuation, 276-319 apostrophe, 301 brackets, 315

colon, 309-311 commas, 281-297 dash, 311-313 exclamation, 279-280 hyphen, 271-274 parentheses, 313-314 period, 277-278 question mark, 278-279 quotation marks, 304-309 semicolon, 297-301 too much punctuation, 315-319

Pronouns: appositive, case with,

233

Quantity, words denoting, verb with.

220

defined, 35 classes of,

Question, indirect, no question

35

compounded with

-self,

224-225

demonstrative, examples of, 35 forms of, 223-224 he, his, not he or she, 233 list of, 35, 224 possessive of, 224 intensive and reflexive, 224

indefinite,

interrogative,

list of,

35,

224

nominative case, 225-226 objective case, uses of, for objects,

228

228-230

319 Question mark, uses

mark

after,

commands

of,

278-279

279 278 after double questions, 279 after quoted questions, 279 incorrect to show irony or humor. 279 not after indirect question, 278 to show doubt as to fact, 279 with quotation marks, 307 after

as questions,

after direct questions,

483

INDEX Questions, shall and will in, 247 Quiet, quite, defined, 457

Quotation marks, uses

commas always

304-308

of,

inside,

idea as antecedent, 380, 384 indefinite you, they, 383

307

double marks for direct quotations,

304 for words used in special sense, 306 for slang, 306 for titles of shorter units, 306 not with indirect quotation, 305 omission of one set, 304 periods always inside, 307 quotation within quotation, 305 with dialogue guides, 307-308 with other marks, 307 with several paragraphs of dialogue, 305 with several sentences of dialogue,

304-305 words spoken of as words, 306 words used in definitions, 307 Quotations, books

of, listed,

Racial names, capitalization Raise,

rise,

260

defined, 456

Rand McNally Commercial listed,

Atlas,

160

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, described, 161 Real, for very, really, 457 Reason is because, discussed, 457 "Reason why" adjective clauses, 50 Redundance, see Wordiness, Concise-

ness listed,

159

appositives, clauses, phrases,

histories of literature,

with,

160

mythology, 160 quotations, 160 reference books, 158

synonyms, 159 year books, 158 Reference library, described, 157-162 Reference of pronouns, 231-233,

380-387 agreement with antecedent, 231233, 380 ambiguous, 382 clause as antecedent, 380, 384 clearness necessary, 380 definite antecedent, 380

no

287-289

Retained object, defined, 41 diagram of, 41 with passive voice, 41 Reverend, Honorable before names, not abbreviated, 264 Revision of manuscript, directions for,

254-259 importance of, 258 specimen pages, 256-257 Rhetorical patterns in sentences, 5473

euphony and rhythm, 71and periodic, 66-67,

73, loose

subordination, 58-65, variation in length, 56-58, variation in order,

encyclopedias, 157—158

484

defined, 287

see also

157-160 atlases and gazetteers, 159-160 biographical dictionaries, 158—159

Reference books

dictionaries,

Restrictive, see also Nonrestrictive

commas

160 of,

reference to one, 233 remote antecedents, 380 sentence as antecedent, 384 who, which, antecedents of, 233 Relative pronoun, as connective, 48 defined and listed, 35, 224 Remain, verb, adjective complement after, 237 Rend, rendered, defined, 333 Repetition, see Wordiness, 357-363 for effect, 358-360 awkward, 358-359 intentional, 359 similar sounds, 362 Research paper, see Library paper Respectfully, respectively, defined, 333

Rhythm

65-66

in prose sentences,

71-73

Right, for very, 458 Roman numerals, in footnotes, explained, 176-177

Run-together sentences, 209-212 corrected by adding conjunction, 210 subordination, 209 using period, 210 using semicolon, 210 see also Comma spHce Said, as reference word, 385 Salutation or greeting, in letters, 193 formal, 193 informal, 193

INDEX Same,

said, such, above, as reference

words, 385, 458 Scarcely, in double negative, 448 position in sentence, 388

Scrambled metaphors, undesirable, 405-406 Scrappy paragraphs, how revised, 424 Seem, verb, adjective complement with, 237 Seldom ever, seldom or ever, 458 Selecting an appropriate subject, 101 Self,- hyphen with, 274 -self, pronouns, use of, 224—225 Semicolon, uses of, 298-301 between main clauses, 298-300 characteristic of a formal style, 298 frequency of use, 290 to show balance or contrast, 299 with conjunctive adverbs, 298 with internal punctuation, 299 with quotation marks, 307 when not correct, 298 Senses, verbs of, adjective complements with, 237 Sentence fragment, see Fragments misused as sentences, 203 Sentence, improperly used as subject of verb, 404 Sentence sense, rules dealing with, 203-215 Sentence outline, advantages of, 140 examples of, 140 nature of, 139-140 Sentences:

67—71 choppy style in, 378 clear reference in, 380-388 complete and logical comparisons

balance

in,

long and short, for variety, 56 loose

and

in,

411-414

conciseness of expression in, 357 dangling modifiers in, 392-395 defined and diagramed, 39-52 complex, 48 compound, 48 compound-complex, 52 simple, 39

54 397-401 excessive details in, 371-373 faulty co-ordination in, 371-373 improper co-ordinaton of minor details, 372-373

effectiveness in,

emphasis

in,

periodic, 66, 398

misplaced modifiers

in,

387-390

misrelated modifiers in, 392-393 misused as subject of verb, 404 mixed constructions in, 404

mixed imagery in, 405 overlapping dependence overloaded, 372-373

in,

378

parallel structure in, 67, 360, 407-

410 periodic form in, 66, 398 problem of only, not, 387

proper arrangement

387-391

in,

repetition for emphasis in, 359 rhetorical patterns in, 54 shift in

point of view

split infinitive in,

in,

401-407

390

squinting constructions

in,

389

straggling, 376

subordination

in,

transitions in,

98

58-65, 374-380

unintentional humor in, 405 unity in, 371-374 unrelated ideas in, 371-372 upside-down subordination, 378 variety in length, 56 variety in order, 65 variety in patterns, 65, 416-419 weak passive voice, 400

words left Sequence of infinitives

awkward and obscure, 420-421 awkward repetition in, 358

371-373

logical completeness in,

414-416

out,

tenses,

and

shift in tenses,

248

participles,

248

248-249

Series, definition of,

283

283-284 Set, sit, differentiated, 458 Shall, will, should, would, 246-248 punctuation

of,

disputed usage, 247 general rule, 247 in questions, 247 should as ought to, 247 Shape, for condition, 458

401-407 404 in discourse, 402-403 in imagery, 405 in number, 402 in person, 401-402 in perspective, 403 in style, 402, 404 in subject, 403 in tense, 401-402

Shifts in point of view,

in construction,

435

INDEX Continued

view 401-402

Shifts in point of in voice,

Ships, iiames of, italicized, 267 Should, ought, uses of, 247 Signatures in letters, 194-195 legibility, 194 of married woman, 194 of unmarried woman, 194 professional titles with, 194 typed under handwritten, 194 when signed by secretary, 195

tional varieties

330-333 Simile, figure of speech, 366 Simple sentences, 39-47 Similar forms,

Stationary, stationery, defined, 333 Straight, strait, defined, 333 Student's choice of varieties of Eng-

list,

defined, 40

Skimming,

from

reading, 170-171 Slang, inappropriate in formal con-

347 237

So, as conjunction, 37, 458

458

as feminine intensive,

So So that .

,

As

443 458 see Kind, kind of, 453

as, see

.

.

,

.

as,

in clauses of purpose,

Sort, sort of,

Sources, evaluating, 171

Sources of material for writing, 101102 general fields, 102 Spacing, in typewritten manuscript,

254-255 of,

value

352

Spelling,

of,

a teacher, 118-119 "Return to the Old Home," 113114 "Washington Square," 127-128 Style, shift from formal to colloquial, 404 Profile of

Subjects for themes, selection of autobiographical incident, 105 autobiographical sketch, 102 :

descriptions,

110

directions, processes, etc., 121 first impressions of college, 107 informal book reviews, 119

friends,

local color articles, 124 narrative incident, 108 occupations, 114

320-333

326-329 330-333 the "seed" words, 327-328

rules for,

similar forms,

use of dictionary to verify, 340 verbs ending in -y, 329

words ending in words with ie or

home and

113

353

checked in dictionary, 340 doubling final consonant, 328 dropping final -e, 326 importance of, 320-321 list of words for study, 323-326 methods of learning, 322 nouns ending in -y, 329 plurals, rules for, 329 problem analyzed, 320-321 proofreading, importance of, 322

486

104-105

interpretation of

Specific words, defined, 352

examples

Student papers: "My First Taste of Maturity," "Pencil Tracks," 130

Smell, verb, adjective complement after,

29-30

lish,

in gathering material

text,

words most often misspelled, 323326 Split infinitive in modern usage, 390 Squinting modifier, 389 Standard English, characteristics of, 16-25 at formal level, 16-21 at informal level, 21-25 quoted examples from, 17-24 see also Levels of usage and func-

silent -e, ei,

327

326

personal essays, 128 profiles,

116

Subject, agreement with verb, 215-

222

220 218 introductory it, 217 not with subjective complement, 218 plural subject and verb, 215-218 plural word intervenes, 216 relative pronoun, 221 subject following verb, 217-218 title of book, etc., 220 there is, there are sentences, 217 with each, every, etc., 219 with neither nor, etc., 219 collective nouns,

compound

subject,

.

.

.

:

INDEX words added by with, together with, as well as, etc., 216 Subject, undesirable shift in, 403 Subjective complement, defined and diagramed, 41 nominative case for, 226 Subjunctive mood, uses of, 249-250 be, special problem with, 249-250 condition contrary to fact, 250 traditional forms, 250 wish or request, 250 Subordinate clauses, see Dependent clauses, 48-52 Subordinating conjunctions, 48

Swell, as word of approval, 459 Syllabication and hyphens, 271-274 awkward division of word, 271-272

37 Subordination in sentence structure:

Taste, verb, adjective

list of,

by appositives, 374 by clauses, 375-376 by phrases, 375 by reducing to single word, 375 for effectiveness, to correct

comma

58-65 fault,

compound words, 272 272 272 Synonyms and antonyms, dictionary consulted for, 343 prefixes, suffixes,

Take, conjugation of verb, 244

Take stock

Tandem

in, for

accept, believe, 459

subordination in sentence,

378

complement

237 Tautology, 360-361 Tenses after,

how

future time, illustrated,

indicated^ 246

244

past time, indicated by, 245

209

Substance in themes, use of details for,

correct division of words, 272

146-147

Such, intensive, 458 as reference word, 385 Such as, introducing appositive, punctuated, 293 Summarizing word, to clarify antecedent, 384 Superfluous commas, 315-318 after co-ordinating conjunction.

317 between adjective and noun, 316 between subject and verb, 316 between verb and complement, 316 conjunction joining two words, etc., 317 preposition and object, 316 restrictive elements, 318 Superfluous periods, 318-319 Superfluous punctuation, 315-319 commas, 315-318 dashes, 319 periods, 318 question marks, 319 quotation marks, 319 Superlative, idiomatic use for two things, 413 Sure, for certainly, surely, 459 Suspended construction, 411 Suspension points, to indicate omissions, 277 Suspicion, verb, for suspect, 459

perfect,

245

present time, 245

sequence

of,

infinitives

248

and participles, 248 248-249

shift in tenses,

undesirable shift

in,

402

Term papers, see Library papers, 151 Than and as clauses, nominative in, 225 double comparison, 411 That, double, before clause, 361 That, omitted incorrectly, 414 That is, introducing appositive, punctuated, 293, 312

Than,

That

as, in

there, this here,

wordy forms,

459

Theme

subjects:

autobiographical sketch, 102 autobiographical incident, 105 book reviews, informal, 119 descriptions, 110 directions, processes, organizations,

121 impressions of college, 107 interpretations of home and friends, 113 local color articles, 124 narrative incident, 108 occupations, 114 personal essays, 128 first

profiles,

116

Their, they're, confused, 459

487

INDEX Therefore, conjunctive adverb, 298 punctuation with, 290 Thesis sentence, explanation of, 132 examples of, 139, 140 in outlines, 177 in paragraph writing, 422 They, you, indefinite sense, 383

Time

order, see Chronological order, 76, 96,

"Time when,"

430

poetic, vulgar), 342

Vague

awkward

reference to, 386 capitalization in, 255

placing of, on page, 255 use of italics for, in print, 267 Together with, number of verb not

changed by, 216 Tone, importance of, 15 Topic outline: examples of, 114, 139 nature of, 138, 140 punctuation in, 138 Topic sentences: as aid to paragraph unity, 428 as forecast of structure in para-

graph, 96 as a separate paragraph,

colloquial, slang, obsolete,

192-

193 Titles of manuscripts:

reference, to be avoided,

78-79

safeguard of unity in paragraph, 96 used to tie several paragraphs to-

85-86

understood or implied, 79 value of, 79 Topics for themes, see Theme subjects

To, too, two, carelessly confused, 459 Transitional or directive phrases in paragraphs, 97, 431 Trite expressions, list of, 369-370 Try, and, try to, uses of, 459 Type, nonstandard use as adjective,

239

Vague words,

to be avoided, 337 Variety in sentence patterns, 416-419 begin with conjunction, 417 begin with modifier, 417 mix short and long sentences, 5658, 417 mix simple, complex, and compound sentences, 417 see also Euphony and rhythm, loose

and

periodic, subordination, variation in length Varieties of English, functional, 13 Verbals, defined, 37-38

Gerund, 38,

infinitive,

participle, 38,

38

Verbal phrase, defined, 43 gerund phrase, 44 infinitive phrase, 45 participial phrase, 43 Verb phrase, part wrongly omitted, 415 participle a part of, 38 Verbs agreement with subject, 215-222 appropriate form necessary, 243 conjugation of take, 244-245 copulative, adjectives after, 237 defined, 35

gerunds, forms and tenses, 245 historical present,

245

imperative forms, 245 infinitive forms, 245

Uncompleted comparisons, 411-413 Uncompleted constructions, 414-415

irregular,

Underlining, to indicate italics in manuscript, 267 Undeveloped paragraphs, 422-423 Unity in paragraphs, 96, 426-428 destroyed by digressions, 426 how improved, 427

principal parts, defined

488

380-

387

see also

84

positions of, 79

gether,

in sentence, 371—374 not enough, 371 too much, 371-373 Unique, most unique, 241 Upside-down subordination, 378 Usage, popular deference to "correct" usage, 20 Usage labels, in dictionary (archaic,

adjective clause, 50

Titles, personal, use in letters,

defined,

secured by topic sentence, 428

Unity

243

participles, forms

trated,

and

tenses of, 245

and

illus-

243

regular, 243

sensory (feel, taste, sound), adjective after, 237 shall, will, should,

would, 246-248

INDEX Who, whose,

subjunctive, uses of, 249-250 tenses of,

245-248

to express future time,

246-247

245 to express present time, 245 voice, passive, proper uses of, 250251 Vernacular, characteristics of, 25-29 examples of, 25-29 vocabulary of, 25 Very, very much, with verb, 459

-wise, undesirable in

ages,

to express past time,

Vividness in language, 364-370 figures of speech, 366

intensives,

365

passive, uses of,

wrong

of,

4

of,

400-401

pleonasm, 361

for,

etc.,

Webster's

459

for condition, distance,

460

New

New

International Dictionand described, 339

ary, listed

Where

at,

wordy form, 460

clause after preposition, 225

Who, whom,

World Almanac and Book

in informal usage,

Would,

of Facts,

158

in modern usage, to express habitual action, 247

spelhng, 329 listed and described, 158 Yes, no, punctuation with, 287 Yet, co-ordinating conjunction, 37 You all, Southern speech form, 460

-y, final, in

Year books,

Whether, if, see If, whether, 452 While, as conjunction, 460

Who

414-416

415 words necessary for clearness, 414 Words similar in sound, 330-333 listed,

Collegiate Dictionary,

specimen page from, 344-345 Webster's

left out,

part of verb phrase, 415 that, necessary for clearness, 414 word understood in double capacity,

459

in, out, off, dialectal,

Way, ways,

334-370

Words

in parallel series, 415

400

use of passive, 400

Wait on, for wait

English, 12 phrases, see also Diction,

Words and

idiomatic prepositions, 415

Vulgate, see Vernacular, 25-29

Want

361

periphrasis, 361

tautology, 360-361 repetition of same word, 358-359 Word order, importance of in modern

364-365 specific verbs, 365-366 verb-adverb replaced by verb, 365 Voice, active, uses

coin-

Wish, request, command, subjunctive for, 250 Without, for unless, 460 Wordiness, 357-363 circumlocution, 361

specific nouns,

Vocabulary, English, sources

awkward

239

puffers, 361

metaphor, 366 specific adjectives,

of which, reference of,

233

230

You, they, in indefinite sense, 383

489

HANDBOOK KEY GRAMMAR & USAGE 1

Sentence Fragment,

22 Exactness,

203

p.

WORDS &

PHRASEi

334

p.

2 Run-together Sentence, p. 209

23 Appropriateness: Usage,

3 Subject and Verb,

24 Idioms,

p. 21

p.

5 Adjectives

& Adverbs,

26 Conciseness, p.

352

p.

357

p.

236

27 Vividness & Metaphor, 6 Verb Forms,

EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

MECHANICS

28 Sentence Unity,

254

p.

29 Subordination,

8 Capitals, p. 259

1

Syllabication

P 1

p.

& Hyphens,

End Punctuation, p.

14 Semicolon,

p.

p.

271

^

277

15 Apostrophe,

33 Emphasis,

p.

p.

Shift in Point of

35

Parallel Structure, p.

Variety, p.

392

407

41 p.

414

416 Obscurity, p.

PARAGRAPHS

309

40 Adequate Development,

18 Parentheses & Brackets, p. 313

19 Too Much Punctuation,

p.

315

41

Unity, p.

426

42 Coherence,

43

p.

429

Point of View, p.

433

SPELLING 20 Spelling 21

List

&

Rules, p.

Similar Forms, p.

330

380

View, p. 401

p.

39 Awkwardness,

304

p.

397

p.

34

38

301

16 Quotation Marks,

17 Colon & Dash,

374

Modifiers, p.

37 WordsLeftOut,

298

p.

p.

371

Proper Arrangement, p. 387

36 Comparisons,

281 p.

31

32 Dangling

PUNCTUATION

13 Comma,

263

267

Italics, p.

p.

30 Reference of Pronouns,

9 Abbreviations & Numbers, 10

364

p.

243

p.

7 Manuscript,

346

349

p.

25 Concreteness,

223

4 Pronouns,

p.

GLOSSARY

320

44

Glossary, p.

439

p.

420

i 422

1

HANDBOOK KEY Ab

Adjectives, 5

Adv

Adverbs, 5

Agr

Agreement,

Amb Appr Arr

Awk C Cap Case CI Cnst

Coh

Mx

Abbreviations, 9

Adj

Mean

No^ 3, 4,

No pn

30

Om

Ambiguity, 22, 39

P

Appropriateness, 23

Arrangement, 31

11

Pn

Awkward, 39

Par II

Commas, 13

D Diet

Div

Emp Ex Fig

Frag

No No

punctuation, 19

Omission of words, 37 Period, 12

Paragraph, 40 Punctuation,

12-19

Parallel structure,

Period fault,

1

Prep

Prepositions,

24

39

Pron

Pronouns, 4, 30

Clearness,

Construction, 34,

PV

39

Ques Quot

Coherence, 31, 42

Ref

Rep

Danglers, 32

RS

Choice of diction, 22-27

Consdt

dictionary,

Division of word,

22

1

Emphasis, 33

^

27

Sentence fragment, Glossary,

Id

Idioms, Italics,

^

Tnse Trans

Exact word, 22 Figure of speech,

Sp Sub

1

44

24

Tr Trite

Point of view, 34,

Reference, 30

26

Repetition,

Run-together sentence, 2 Spelling,

20-21

Subordination, 29

34

Tenses, 6,

Transitions,

42

Transpose, 31 Triteness,

27

Unity, 28, 41

Vb

Verb forms, 6

Word

choice,

22-27

Awkward, 39

Wdy

Wordy, 26

Ic

Lower case (no caps), 8

WW

Wrong word, 22

Manuscript form,

7

X

43

Question mark, 12

K MS

35

Quotation marks, 16

Un

Wd

10

34

paragraph, 40

Case forms, 4

Capitals, 8

Gl Ital

construction,

Meaning obscure, 39

PF

CF Comma fault, 2 Cmp Comparisons, 36 Dug

Mixed

Obvious error