360. Clearness; good usage. To attain clearness in speaking or in writing, we should choose the words which best express our thought, and arrange them in such a way that those which are grammatically related stand together. In our choice of words we should be guided by good usage; that is, we should choose such words as are used by our best speakers and writers of the present day. (For the study of words and the use of the dictionary, see §§ 378-402.)

361. Reading good authors aloud. To know good usage, we should live with those who speak and write our language correctly. If we cannot have this environment, we should create such an atmosphere by reading good authors aloud; for by constantly seeing, pronouncing, and hearing proper words and phrases we unconsciously make them a part of ourselves.

If the pupil in the elementary school should spend one hour a day in reading aloud, whether to his teacher, to his classmates, to a member of his family, or to himself, he would be astonished at the result, not only in his acquirement of language, but in his other studies. He would understand his lessons better, and learn them more easily; impropriety in his speech would give way to propriety; and his difficulties of expression, both in speaking and in writing, would gradually be smoothed away. Furthermore, reading aloud would train his voice, and make it more agreeable.

362. Language an imitation. Language is, at the beginning, purely imitation. Just as the carpenter's apprentice imitates his master in learning the ordinary uses of chisel and plane before he employs them in his own way, so, in learning the mechanism of speaking and writing, the apprentice begins by imitating others. Individuality of expression, like the invention of new patterns of chisel or plane, does not begin until the early apprenticeship is over.

363. Speaking; writing. The attainment of clearness is easier in speaking than in writing; hence the necessity of practice in writing. When we speak, we choose and arrange our words with a good deal of freedom, and by means of pause, modulation of the voice, phrasing, and emphasis make them mean to our hearers what they mean to us; but when we write, we must, without having any of these external aids to assist us, put our thoughts on paper for others to read; and if we would be understood, we must so choose and arrange our words that they will mean what we intend, and nothing else. We should not break the unity of our sentences by introducing foreign and heterogeneous matter, or cover up the main points by a mass of subordinate and unimportant details.

364. Reading aloud; rewriting. The importance of reading aloud, and of rewriting again and again, can hardly be overestimated. Newman once wrote in a letter, "When I have read over a passage which I had written a few days before, I have found it so obscure to myself that I have either put it altogether aside or fiercely corrected it."

Rousseau said, "Nor can I express my thoughts on the most trivial subjects save at the cost of hours of fatigue. If I write immediately what strikes me, my letter is without beginning or end, a long, confused string of expressions, which, when read, can hardly be understood."

Tennyson corrected his work with infinite pains, and often read his poems aloud, first to his family and afterwards to visitors. When his poems were in type, he usually kept them by him for a long time, months or even years, reconsidering and perfecting every part.

Balzac, perhaps the greatest novelist of the world, showed no cleverness at school, and possessed no literary gift. When he began to write, he sometimes despaired of ever being able

to put his thought on paper. He spent countless nights in composing books which he never acknowledged. A man of less dauntless will would have been vanquished; but Balzac, happily, had unshaken faith in his genius, which others ignored. He usually began writing at midnight, and continued till almost any hour of the following day. Sometimes he would spend a whole night on a single sentence, weighing it, twisting it, kneading it, hammering it, lengthening it, shortening it, writing it in a hundred different ways, until he found the proper form. Oftentimes, with a single stroke of his pen, he would courageously destroy the result of four or five nights of toil.

365. Fair speaking; faulty writing. The writer of the following letter was a man thirty years old. He was a successful manager. He owned three automobiles, dressed well, had good manners, and was agreeable in conversation. Observe in his letter the violation of good usage in regard to arrangement (§ 535), abbreviations (§ 543), punctuation (§§ 535, 542, 460), capitalization (§ 424), spelling, and grammar:

Dear Sir. I write You again in reference to representing You with the Carbuerator. I have resigned with the - and would like to here from You before I close up with some one elce, which I have had several offers, but I am willing to wait to here from you. I would rather represent the - then any Carbuerator

I know about. I want to represent You in My usual work. to appoint Dealers. and to install & Teach the Dealer all about Carbuerators I am well known all over the U. S. A. and My acquaintence is Valuable to You, I knowe of You being with the Regester, My Home is in Dayton. Right oppisit No Building and what I knowe I will feel honord to Sell the Carbuerators with You.

as I stated before in My last letter Mr Με

knows Me and also

and I am sure they will be able to tell You of My System of Selling. I am so well known as a Carbuerator Man that the People believe Me when talking Carbuerators. Mr made me

an Offer, but I can not talk with him. I was anxious to speak a word with You, when You was in his Office. but we only had a Chance to say howdoue. You promised him to be back at 5 Pm which I was their at that time hoping I could see You I hope to here from You. I remain Your

Resp J——

366. Coherence in sentence. Cohere means stick together (see hes-, § 407). A sentence should be so arranged that those parts which are related stand next to each other, or that they otherwise show clearly their grammatical relation to each other (§ 358). To test the coherence of a sentence, use the following outline (some faulty examples are given after the outline):

A. Position of words, phrases, and clauses.

If the words, phrases, and clauses do not stand next to those which they modify, they should be made to do so. See the examples below, A. (Exercise XXXVI, a, § 581.)

B. Reference.

1. Of infinitive, gerund, and participle.

If an infinitive, gerund, or participle does not refer to the proper word, it should be made to do so. See §§ 222, 229, 231, 570.

a. If a pronoun does not suggest at once the antecedent to which it refers, the antecedent should be repeated. See §§ 65, 66, 94-97. (Exercise X, § 555.)

b. If a pronoun has no definite and clearly expressed

antecedent, it should receive one. See §§ 61, b, N., 65, 74, 94, 95. See the examples below, B, 2, b. (Exercise XXXVI, b, § 581.)

C. Coördination and subordination.

I. In sentence.

If the ideas in a compound sentence are not of equal value, the sentence should be made complex, with the proper subordination. Compare § 355, A, 1, a.

2. Of word, phrase, and clause.

If ideas of equal value are not expressed in parallel construction, that is, in parallel words, phrases, or clauses, the construction should be made parallel. See §§ 96, 97, 375, 376.

A. Misplacing words, phrases, and clauses:

1. Faulty: George L. Dunn died in his seventeenth year of blood poisoning and typhoid fever. (Say 'George L. Dunn died of blood poisoning and typhoid fever. He was in his seventeenth year'.)

2. Faulty: I am requested to announce next Wednesday evening that there will be a second meeting held in this room. (Put the that after announce.)

3. Faulty: The explosive was discovered by a private detective concealed under a settee in the women's parlor. (The explosive was concealed, not the detective; furthermore, the word discovered makes the word concealed tautological (§ 413).) (Say 'A detective discovered the explosive under a settee in the women's parlor '.)

4. Faulty: Good should have told the teacher that Bad broke the window when she asked him. (Say 'When asked by the teacher, Good should have said that Bad broke the window '.)

5. Faulty: It is regretted that Mr. Gardner was forced to retire by the alumni and students. (The alumni and students had nothing to do with the matter; nor did anybody force Mr. Gardner to retire. Say 'The alumni and students regret that Mr. Gardner felt obliged to retire '.)

6. Faulty: A special train will convey the remains of B. Sanders Walker, the banker who died early this morning as a result of taking bichloride of mercury to his boyhood home, at Monroe, Georgia. (Say 'A special train will convey to his boyhood home, at Monroe, Georgia, the remains of ', etc.)