EXERCISE

Study the picture on page 204. Write a theme of about three hundred words, describing this scene as it would appear in real life. Make as vivid as possible all appeals to the senses. What does the ploughman enjoy as he follows the plough, what sounds, what colors, what smell of earth, what sensations of warmth, and of muscular exertion? After writing your introduction, give a paragraph to each of these subjects, the ground, the sky, the oxen, the man, the method and the purpose of his ploughing. Bring out all you can of form, color, and motion.

CHAPTER IX

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Sentence Structure: Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis. A sentence (Latin, sentire, to feel, to think) is the expression, in words, of a complete thought. Every sentence should contain one thought, expressed in such a way as to be absolutely coherent and clear. Study the following sentences, noting that each is a complete, coherent unit.

The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his chaplain, and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is the more remarkable because the very next village is famous for the differences and contentions that rise between the parson and the squire, who live in a perpetual state of war. The parson is always preaching at the squire, and the squire, to be revenged on the parson, never comes to church. The squire has made all his tenants atheists and tithe-stealers; while the parson instructs them every Sunday in the dignity of his order, and insinuates to them in almost every sermon that he is a better man than his patron. In short, matters are come to such an extremity that the squire has not said his prayers either in public or private this half-year; and that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend his manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole congregation.

JOSEPH ADDISON: The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers.

The death of Nelson was felt in England as something more than a public calamity; men started at the intelligence and turned pale, as if they had heard of the loss of a dear friend.

ROBERT SOUTHEY: The Life of Nelson.

It is physically impossible for a well-educated, intellectual, or brave man to make money the chief object of his thoughts.

RUSKIN.

Violations of Unity. In our common conversation and in letters we often allow ourselves to be careless about expression. We put into one sentence ideas that should properly be expressed in two sentences. Study the following examples of mistakes very frequently made, and reshape each sentence so that there is no violation of unity.

1. Henry went to Baltimore and Venus crossed the sun. 2. My pencil cost ten cents but I found a bird's nest. 3. When I began to study woodcarving I thought I should never like it but I did learn to like it better than painting in water-colors, a pastime that I found very amusing last winter when I was getting well from an attack of the grip that lasted several weeks and kept me out of school for a long time, longer than I ever was out before except when Mary had scarlet fever and we couldn't leave the house.

4. A dog is more expensive than a cat if you like dogs. 5. The exhibition of pictures was very widely advertised and many people came to see them at the risk of much personal inconvenience because the night was stormy and a high wind was blowing.

6. The narrative is illustrated by a dozen photographs and is one of my favorite books.

7. Like Scott, Dickens enjoyed writing long stories and had many friends.

8. When I go to New York I mean to see the harbor but I like Chicago.

9. We live by bread and we have a new cook.

10. History is interesting because it includes so much about great men who succeeded in what they undertook and who were sometimes of foreign birth.

Be sure that every sentence you write has one, and only one, central idea in it. Do not drag into one sentence two topics that are not vitally related.

Coherence. Study the following sentences. What is the fault in each in order of words, use of relatives, or of modifying phrases and clauses? In which sentences do the participles modify the wrong noun or pronoun? Would changes in the punctuation improve any of these sentences?

1. When nearly dry do not open the umbrella or it will stretch out of shape while drying.

2. How little we know the people we eat and go to church and talk with!

3. The humor is rather obscure but when you have acumen you see it.

4. He tried to catch Richard's steed but he kills ten of their steeds and escapes.

5. The Monthly Magazine will offer twelve prizes of $250 each, three a year, for four successive years, to college graduates receiving the degree of bachelor of arts for the best poem, the best essay and the best short story. 6. Yale fears Princeton more than Harvard.

7. Shoes are blacked and oiled inside.

8. Orders are coming every day for shoes, some of large size.

9. Mr. Hays has in preparation a work on the Ruminants of North America to be fully illustrated by himself.

10. She grew up a healthy, vigorous child, a good scholar, and a hard worker in the house and on the farm, sometimes driving the cows barefooted by starlight before the sun was up.

11. A young turkey, which I had adopted when chirping within the uncracked shell, died.

12. The papers pleased the boys that were illustrated. 13. The will leaving $100,000 to Williams College for a library which has been sought for 16 months at the home of the testator in White Plains, N. Y. with such zeal that the floors were taken up and the house was practically dismantled, has been found in an old-fashioned brown silk bag on a closet shelf.

These sentences illustrate ambiguity (Latin ambigare, to wander about aimlessly). Rewrite them so that they will be properly coherent. Make a list of all the faults that appear here and avoid these faults in your own themes. In order to gain coherence, write grammatically and, further, observe the following rule. If the opening phrases and clauses in your sentence begin with one construction, keep to that construction and do not disturb your reader by sudden and unnecessary changes. Change constructions only when you wish to avoid monotony. Do not write thus:

"Having a little leisure and since I had some curiosity, I went to see the aeroplane." The sentence should be: "Having a little leisure and some curiosity, I went to see the aeroplane."