A, 1, a. Joining related thoughts. Perhaps the most common violation of unity is the long, loose sentence of related thoughts without subordination:

1. Faulty: Some white-winged sea gulls are skimming over the water, and others circle round a lighthouse standing on a small island and having a quaint little window at the top, and from this window a light streams out to warn approaching vessels of the dangerous rocks along the shore. (Say 'Some white-winged sea gulls skim over the water; others circle round a lighthouse standing on a small island. At the top of the lighthouse is a quaint little window, from which a light . . . shore'.) (Exercise XXX, § 575.) 2. Faulty: I came home, and I found that my cousin had arrived. (Say 'When I came home, I found', etc.)

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NOTE. On the other hand, the sentence 'In the evening my mother sews, and my father reads aloud' is a unit, because the two thoughts are united to form the larger single thought of 'how my parents spend the evening'.

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A, 1, b. Joining unrelated thoughts. Such a sentence as Harry was born in Europe, and he has one sister' is not a unit, because it contains two principal thoughts which have no logical connection with each other; Harry's being born in Europe has nothing to do with his having one sister. Similarly, 'Harry is five years old, and lives in Pennsylvania' lacks unity, because it has a predicate of two parts which are not logically connected. But the sentence Harry is five years old, and has begun going to school' has unity, because it makes a connection between the boy's age and his going to school.

In the following sentences observe the lack of unity caused by joining unrelated thoughts:

1. Faulty: Miss Warner was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Warner, and had spent all her life in North Hampton. (Say 'Miss Warner was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Warner. She had spent all her life in North Hampton'; or 'Miss Warner, the daughter... Warner, had spent', etc.)

2. Faulty: The prisoners had a roast-pork dinner, and spent the afternoon in their cells. (It looks as if the eating of pork caused them to go to their cells. Say 'The prisoners... dinner in the dining room. They spent... cells'.) (Exercise XXXI, § 576.)

A, 2, a. Using subordinate clauses for sentences:

1. Faulty: He likes to read. Because it increases his vocabulary and broadens his sympathies. (Say 'to read, because', etc.)

2. Faulty: She said that she lived in a wild country. Where she was free to do as she pleased. (Say 'country, where', etc.) (Exercise XXXII, § 577.)

A, 2, b. Using detached sentences. To expand closely related thoughts into detached, abrupt sentences is no less a violation of unity than to crowd unrelated thoughts into one sentence; pick out the principal thought, and then make the others subordinate to it (for an example of the proper use of short sentences, see § 375, 6; read § 372):

Faulty: The observer watched from an airplane. He saw patches of woods. The villages were ruined. There were trenches. The most important things he saw were the enemy's batteries. (Say 'The observer, watching from an airplane, saw patches of woods, ruined villages, trenches, and, most important of all, the enemy's batteries'.) (Exercise XXXII, § 577.)

B, 1. Changing subject. Every sentence should present its thought from but one point of view. This means, for example, that there should not be any unnecessary shifting from one subject to another; for the reader, even if he is able to follow such mental gymnastics on the part of the writer, grows weary, loses the impression of unity of action, and becomes perplexed and displeased. "As in an instrument," says Ben Jonson, "so in style, there must be harmony and consent."

The sentence 'When he opened the window, he heard a moaning' is a unit, because the two clauses have the same subject (he), and hence keep to one point of view; but the

sentence 'When he opened the window, a moaning was heard lacks unity, because the shifting from he to moaning changes the point of view.

In the following sentences observe the violation of unity caused by a change of subject:

1. Faulty: When I went to your office, the clerk informed me that you were out of town. (Say 'I learned that you', etc.)

2. Faulty: The highway was now left, and we entered the woods. (Say 'We now left the highway, and entered the woods'.)

3. Faulty: If he did not talk so much, it would be better for him. (Say 'he would be better off'.)

4. Faulty: Immediately after eating our breakfast, the horses were saddled. (This sentence states that the horses ate our breakfast. Say 'we saddled the horses'; § 229.)

5. Faulty: Rising suddenly, the canoe upset. (The canoe did not rise. Say 'I upset the canoe'; § 231.) (Exercise XXXIII, § 578; Exercise XXV, c, d, § 570.)

B, 2. Changing mood, voice, tense, etc. In the following sentences observe the violation of unity caused by a change in mood, voice, tense, person, or number; in narration the past tense is generally better than the so-called historical present (the present is common in the headlines of newspapers, to bring the narrative vividly before the reader):

1. Faulty: Strangers are always welcome, and would not be asked to contribute anything. (Say 'are not asked', etc.; § 340.)

2. Faulty: When he dashed from the room, he was caught by a policeman. (Say 'he found himself in the arms of a policeman'. The active voice is preferable to the passive; § 208.)

3. Faulty: When he opened the window, he hears a moaning. (Say 'he heard', etc. Do not say 'When he opens the window, he hears a moaning'; see § 370, C.)

4. Faulty: Strangers are welcome, and you do not have to contribute anything. (Say 'and they do not', etc.)

5. Faulty: Everybody did their best. (Say 'his best'; § 120.)

6. Faulty: Students should rewrite their work, again and again. Thus the student learns the value of revision and enjoys the satisfaction of having accomplished something. (Say ' Thus they learn', etc.) (Exercise XXXIII, § 578.)

356. Unity in paragraph. Paragraphing, used as a mere mechanical device, aids the reader by furnishing resting places for the eye. But paragraphing is much more than a mechanical device; it indicates the transition in the thought from one part of the subject to another, and by thus marking the divisions and subdivisions of the whole composition leads the reader step by step in the development of the entire subject.

A paragraph may contain a single sentence (as it often does in dialogue) or a group of sentences. It should be short enough to afford a resting place for the eye and the voice. The transition from one paragraph to another is often indicated by a transitional word or phrase, such as also, too, but, however, so, thus, therefore, first, (secondly, etc., § 275), for example, on the other hand. Read aloud (§ 361) such books as the teacher may name, and study the sentences and the paragraphs. Study the paragraphs in § 1 of this book.

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357. Topic sentence. Every paragraph, whether short or long, should have the qualities of the sentence, namely, clearness, force, smoothness, unity. When a paragraph is composed of several sentences, one of the sentences (usually the first) often sets forth, in brief form, the particular point (or topic) of the entire paragraph. Such a sentence is called the topic sentence of the paragraph. The other sentences in the paragraph develop the thought expressed by the topic sentence (§ 579).

358. Coherence. If a paragraph is to have unity, it must, like the sentence, have coherence (§ 366); that is, it must be developed in such a way that the sentences composing it will not merely touch each other, like marbles in a bag, but will hang together like links in a chain (§ 577).

In the following paragraphs observe the topic sentence and the unity of the paragraphs as a whole :

1. You might wear natural flowers. At this season of the year they are particularly stylish. For ten francs you can get two or three magnificent roses. DE MAUPASSANT.

2. When I came to my castle, for so I think I called it ever after this, I fled into it like one pursued. Whether I went over by the ladder, as first contrived, or went in at the hole in the rock, which I called a door, I cannot remember; no, nor could I remember the next morning, for never frightened hare fled to cover, or fox to earth, with more terror of mind than I to this retreat. DEFOE.

3. I am not the last boy in the school. I have risen, in a few months, over several heads. But the first boy seems to me a mighty creature, dwelling afar off, whose giddy height is unattainable. Agnes says "No", but I say "Yes", and tell her that she little thinks what stores of knowledge have been mastered by the wonderful Being, at whose place she thinks I, even I, weak aspirant, may arrive in time. He is not my private friend and public patron, as Steerforth was; but I hold him in a reverential respect. I chiefly wonder what he'll be, when he leaves Doctor Strong's, and what mankind will do to maintain any place against him. - DICKENS.

4. The life of Johnson is assuredly a great, a very great work. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatists, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second. He has distanced all his competitors so decidedly that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere. MACAULAY.

5. It has been remarked that Mr. Pecksniff was a moral man. So he was. Perhaps there never was a more moral man than Mr. Pecksniff: especially in his conversation and correspondence. It was once said of him by a homely admirer, that he had a Fortunatus's purse of good sentiments in his inside. In this particular he was like the girl in the fairy tale, except that if they were not actual diamonds which fell from his lips, they were the very brightest paste, and shone prodigiously. He was a most exemplary man: