be obscured through failure to use a sufficient number of words. - Some of the words Words which should not be Omitted. that should not be omitted are (1) the when the object is not sufficiently distinguished without it; (2) an, a, or the before each of two or more connected adjectives modifying different nouns; (3) an, a, or the before each of two or more connected nouns denoting things that are to be distinguished from each other or emphasized; (4) a before few and little when these are opposed to none; (5) other when needed to keep an object in its class; (6) that or which or the words for which it stands, when required to complete a contrast or to express the thought fully; (7) the verb or the verb with its subject when needed after than or as to prevent ambiguity; (8) much when needed after very; (9) words required in order that two or more connected words or phrases referring to another word or phrase should each make good sense with it; and (10) adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, and all other parts of speech when their repetition would give distinctness or proper prominence to the ideas expressed by the following words. Direction.· - Find the faults below and correct them: 1. There is a great difference between the language under Charles I. and Charles II., between that under Charles II. and under Queen Anne. Trench. 2. Who never had a taste or emotion or enjoyment. Thackeray. 3. It makes one as hungry as one of Scott's novels. Warner. 4. It is thinking makes what we read ours. Locke. 5. Pompey more strikingly than any man in history illustrates the moral in his catastrophe. De Quincey. 6. The merit of Alfred both in private and public life may with advantage be set in opposition to that of any monarch. Hume. 7. He had had the house thoroughly renovated and furnished it anew. Holmes. 8. Both the ancient and modern idyllists. Stedman. 9. There have been things enough happened in the time. - Austen. 10. Between a higher and lower preference. II. They would be better in the senate than the field. L. Stephen. 12. The ways upon which a ship is launched are very like those. R. G. White. 13. Which made him at once the glory and shame of English manhood. — Church. R. G. White. The thought may be obscured (11) by the ambiguous use of nouns and pronouns in the possessive, (12) by the use of a word in many senses in the same sentence, and (13) by an expression too concise. Direction. The italicized words in these sentences, whether repeated words or not, save the sentences from ambiguity or self-contradiction, or bring ideas into proper clearness or prominence. Read these sentences without such words, and then point out the functions of these words: : I. These have been more distinguished by zeal than by candor or by skill. 2. The poetry of Dante is picturesque beyond any other ever written. 3. The days of Charles II. were the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave. 4. Every ancient and every modern language has contributed something of grace, of energy, or of music to Milton's poetry. 5. Did any brave Englishman who "rode into the jaws of death" at Balaklava serve England more truly than did Florence Nightingale? 6. The works of Clarendon and of Hume are the most authoritative and the most popular historical works in our language. 7. All the various kinds of interest which belong to the near and to the distant, to the present and to the past were collected on one spot and in one hour. 8. Voltaire gambols; he grins; he shakes the side; he points the finger; he turns up the nose; he shoots out the tongue. 9. In America, millions of Englishmen were at war with the country from which their blood, their language, and their institutions were derived. 10. I have always believed and still do believe that the soul is immortal. II. A has travelled more than H, but is not so well educated as H. 12. There was a heart, a kindly feeling, which prevailed over the party. 13. The beating I gave or received (not my beating) did him good. 14. Lovest thou me more than these love me, or lovest thou me more than thou lovest these? 15. Those who drove James from his throne, who seduced his army, who alienated his friends, who imprisoned him in his palace, who broke in upon his very slumbers by imperious messages, and who pursued him with fire and sword from one part of the empire to another were his nephew and his two daughters. The errors hereafter given for correction will not have the authors' names appended. But we may say that almost all of these errors have been found in our reading. Direction. — Find and classify the faults below, and correct them : I. There are few artists who draw horses so well as Mr. Leech. 2. The grave of Robert Bruce was only marked by two broad flag-stones, on which Burns knelt and kissed. 3. Our rebuke had the desired effect. 4. There is a great difference between the dog and cat. 5. She had not yet listened patiently to his heart-beats, but only felt that her own was beating violently. 6. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust. 7. The error has and will again be exploded. 8. One should covet nothing less than the best. 9. Pine is the tallest of our trees. 10. Much to his comfort, few of his creditors met, and gave him little encouragement. II. The brain needs rest as much if not more than the rest of the body. 12. We are charmed by that singularly humane and delicate humor in which Addison excelled all men. 13. He has worn to-day a silk and felt hat. 14. It required few talents to which most men are not born or, at least, do not acquire. 15. Sewal, Archbishop of York, complained of the way in which he had been harassed by suspensions, examinations, and in other ways. 16. Mrs. Horneck and her daughters were very pleased to have with them on this Continental trip so distinguished a person as Dr. Goldsmith. 17. The peasantry of Scotland loved Burns as never people loved a poet. 18. I ask him, you, and every honorable and patriotic man this question. 19. The rhythm of the second and third line is imperfect. 20. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between an interrogative and exclamatory sentence. 21. Platinum is heavier but not so useful as iron. 22. Reform, therefore, without bravery or scandal of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to create good precedents as to follow them. Direction. Bring in sentences illustrating all these errors of omission, and correct them. LESSON 41. ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS, PHRASES, AND CLAUSES. Perspicuity, we have seen, depends, I. Upon the author's mastery of his subject, and II. Upon his use of words. Through nine Lessons we have insisted (1) that you use simple words; (2) that you use words which express your meaning with propriety and with precision; (3) that you use personal pronouns with care; (4) that you avoid words. and constructions which have no good footing in the language; (5) that you avoid an excess of words; and (6) that you use a sufficient number of words. We add that perspicuity depends also III. Upon the Arrangement of Words, Phrases, and Clauses. This is a matter of supreme importance, and one not always carefully attended to even by the best of authors. One cannot rely upon punctuation to correct blunders of position. Place (1) the subject before the object, or object complement, if there would be a doubt which word is subject and which is object in case the positions were reversed. Place (2) all single word modifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs, (3) all phrase modifiers, prepositional and participial, and (4) all clause modifiers, adjective or adverb, where their position will raise no doubt as to what they modify. This rule does not rigidly exclude words from between these modifiers and the words qualified or limited; but it does exclude them in case their insertion would raise a reasonable question as to what you intend these words, phrases, or clauses to modify, or even when a second reading to ascertain this would be needed. Great freedom of |