"He may be taken as the type of what was best among the men of rank and fashion at the English Court, and that he himself felt the poetry of his life the lines written while imprisoned at Windsor for some misdemeanor occasioned by his hot-blooded temper, bear witness."1 "At this moment the clang of the portal was heard, a sound at which the stranger started, stepped hastily to the window, and looked with an air of alarm at Ravenswood, when he saw that the gate of the court was shut, and his domestics excluded." 2 8 "Passing now to the wind-instruments, the exhibit of the French makers stands first, although it is small, they having sent none but first-class instruments; and they have captured nearly every prize, which is worthy of note, even if it is not a circumstance which is very creditable to native industry and intelligence.” 1 66 Nicholas, taking the insensible girl in his arms, bore her from the chamber and down stairs into the room he had just quitted, followed by his sister and the faithful servant, whom he charged to procure a coach directly while he and Kate bent over their beautiful charge and endeavoured, but in vain, to restore her to animation."4 "On the present occasion, fifteen hundred ladies and gentlemen were invited; and the attendance, comprising about one thousand, was a full representation of the fashionable part of Liverpool society, but did not include any persons of rank from a sphere beyond the locality, except Lord Claud John Hamilton, M. P. for Liverpool, while Lady Claud Hamilton was unable to be present, and none of the county nobility could attend.” 6 "Among the principal events of Monday were Mrs. George Place's musicale, several receptions, and an elegant dinner given by Mr. Wilson at Kebo to eighteen guests, the decorations being beautifully done in deep red roses.' "7 "So at eleven o'clock I called, and we had a lovely drive, sauntering later through the Medici galleries, and I parted with her at her door, at which I again presented myself at seven.” 8 1 Student's theme. 2 Scott: The Bride of Lammermoor, vol. ii. chap. ii. 8 With what word is this participle connected? 5 See page 89. American newspaper. 8 William Graham: Chats with Jane Clermont. The Nineteenth Cen tury, November, 1893, p. 764. By recasting the last sentence, it would be possible to put into it all that occurred in the course of the morning; but the fact of the evening visit belongs in another sentence. 66 Coningsby, who had lost the key of his carpet-bag, which he finally cut open with a pen-knife that he found on his writing-table, and the blade of which he broke in the operation, only reached the drawing-room as the figure of his grandfather, leaning on his ivory cane, and following his guests, was just visible in the distance.” 1 The details about Coningsby's carpet-bag do not belong in the same sentence with the details of his arrival in the drawing-room. It would have been better to divide the sentence into two, the first enumerating the circumstances that detained Coningsby, the second the facts connected with his arrival in the drawing-room. This, of course, is on the supposition that the particulars about the carpet-bag were worth mentioning at all. 2 The opposite fault to that of putting heterogeneous ideas into one sentence is that of scattering matter which belongs in one sentence through two or more. For example: "If you were to talk of my health, it would be more to the purpose,' he said, with grim inconsequence. And raising his heavy lids he looked at her full." 8 "He hesitated, struck with the awkwardness of what he was going to say. But Marcella understood him." 4 "With all the force of her strong will she had set herself to disbelieve them. But they had had subtle effects already." " "He has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of others." "96 In each of these cases, the relation between the two propositions connected by "and," "but," or "for," would be brought out more clearly if the two sentences were thrown into one. 1 Disraeli: Coningsby, book i. chap. v. 2 See pages 167, 168. 8 Mrs. Humphry Ward: Marcella, book i. chap. vii. 4 Ibid., book i. chap. iv. Ibid., book ii. chap. ii. • Emerson Essays; Spiritual Laws. When several short sentences, each of which is a unit in itself, are so closely connected in thought as to form parts of a larger unit, they may be put into one sentence. The advantages of putting several short sentences into a long one are exemplified in the following passages: "It is nothing, that the troops of France have passed from the Pyrenees to Cadiz; it is nothing that an unhappy and prostrate nation has fallen before them; it is nothing that arrests, and confiscation, and execution, sweep away the little remnant of national resistance. There is an enemy that still exists to check the glory of these triumphs. It follows the conqueror back to the very scene of his ovations; it calls upon him to take notice that Europe, though silent, is yet indignant; it shows him that the sceptre of his victory is a barren sceptre; that it shall confer neither joy nor honor, but shall moulder to dry ashes in his grasp. In the midst of his exultation, it pierces his ear with the cry of injured justice; it denounces against him the indignation of an enlightened and civilized age; it turns to bitterness the cup of his rejoicing, and wounds him with the sting which belongs to the consciousness of having outraged the opinion of mankind.”1 "Do you mean to say he [the painter or the sculptor] does not study his subject? does he not make sketches? does he not even call them 'studies'? does he not call his workroom a studio? is he not ever designing, rejecting, adopting, correcting, perfecting?”2 In a sentence that has unity in expression, ideas are not only homogeneous, but they are so expressed as Unity in to appear homogeneous and to show the true expression. relation of one to another. Unity in expression often suffers from an unwarranted change in the point of view. For example: 1 Daniel Webster: The Revolution in Greece, a speech in the House of Representatives, Jan. 19, 1824. 2 Cardinal Newman: The Idea of a University; University Subjects, Literature. "The train left us at Russell, and we climbed to the rear seat of Had the writer said, "We left the train at Russell," he would have avoided a clumsy change in the point of view. "I found my friend Owen at liberty, and, conscious of the refreshments and purification of brush and basin,2 [he] was of course a very different person from Owen a prisoner, squalid, heartbroken, and hopeless." 4 In this sentence, the omission of "was" would remove the difficulty. In each of the following sentences, the italicized words indicate the two points of view : "It is not probable, judging from all Asiatic history, that Abbas II. will content himself long merely with being sulky, and we fancy at the next explosion it has been determined to remove him." 5 "I received the letter you wrote from Chicago yesterday, and, without a moment's delay or waiting for dinner, proceeded at once to Mr. Bunsby's office, though it was raining at the time, and the clerk said he had just telegraphed his acceptance.' " 6 Unity in expression sometimes suffers from an arrangement that makes a grammatical connection between words that are not connected in thought. For example: "Being the belle of the town, he lost no time in making Miss McCarthy's acquaintance." This sentence is so framed as to force a reader to make the absurd supposition that "he" is "the belle of the town." The difficulty would be removed if the sentence read, "As Miss McCarthy was the belle of the town," etc. In each form there is a change in the point of view; but in the second form the sentence begins in such a way as to prepare the reader for the change. In each of the following examples the italicized words are grammatically, but not logically, connected: 1 American magazine. • See page 70. 4 Scott: Rob Roy, vol. ii. chap. vii. 2 See pages 164-166. 5 The [London] Spectator, Feb. 10, 1894, p. 181. • Student's theme. "After eating a hearty dinner our carriages were brought to the door." 1 "And, now, he approached the great city, which lay outstretched before him like a dark shadow on the ground, reddening the sluggish air with a deep dull light, that told of labyrinths of public ways and shops, and swarms of busy people. Approaching nearer and nearer yet, this halo2 began to fade, and the causes which produced it slowly to develop themselves.” 8 "This dispatch contained a proposition to Mr. Phoebus to repair to the court of St. Petersburgh, and accept appointments of high distinction and emolument. Without in any way restricting the independent pursuit of his profession, he was offered a large salary." 4 "Riding on a mule, clad in a coarse brown woollen dress, in Italy or Spain we should esteem him a simple Capuchin, but in truth he is a prelate." "5 "Lost in prolonged reverie, the hours flew on." • "But it is not untrue, the illustration having come under the personal observation of the writer. Moreover, in discussing this subject a few years ago with an officer of that state, and a resident of one of its principal cities, he acknowledged that the clannish feeling referred to existed to some extent in his city.” "There is no necessity for three or four dozen of each garment, as, possessing this number, many will grow yellow awaiting their turn to be worn."8 The fault exemplified in these sentences the fault of coupling a participial phrase with a word with which it has no connection in thought is an offence against clearness as well as against unity. Unity in expression sometimes suffers from an arrangement which presents the main idea of the sentence in false relations with subordinate ideas. For example: 1 Student's theme. 8 Dickens: Barnaby Rudge, chap. iii. 4 Disraeli: Lothair, chap. lxxv. Ibid.: Tancred, book v. chap. ii. 6 Ibid., book vi. chap. xi. 7 American newspaper. • American periodical. 2 Is this the proper word? |