CHAPTER II.

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF THE SENTENCE.

9. Introductory Remarks.-Every sentence should have four general properties: Unity, Clearness, Force, Ease. These four are best arranged in two groups: Unity and Clearness; Force and Ease. The two groups may then be compared. Unity and Clearness are the indispensable and invariable qualities; they constitute the logical side of the sentence. Without them, the sentence cannot in strictness be called a sentence; it is rather a loose collocation of words through which the reader struggles to get at the sense. Being indispensable and invariable, then, Unity and Clearness should be demanded of every sentence of every writer. It matters not whether the writer be a boy at school or an experienced author of valuable books. Every sentence, spoken, penned, or printed, should be an absolute unit, should be perfectly clear.

What is meant by Unity of the Sentence? The most satisfactory definition is that given by Professor A. S. Hill: '

A well constructed sentence contains one and but one leading thought, and presents it from one and but one point of view.

What is meant by Clearness? The only true definition was given eighteen hundred years ago by the Roman orator and teacher of oratory, Quintilian: "Non ut intellegere possit, sed ne omnino possit non intellegere, curandum." This may be rendered, somewhat freely :

It is not enough to be understood; make sure that you cannot possibly be misunderstood.

1 Foundations of Rhetoric, p. 270.

Force and Ease, on the other hand, are relative properties; relative, at least, in the sense that we cannot demand them from every one in the same measure. For example, Daniel Webster and Washington Irving, being good writers, exhibit in their sentence-structure all four properties: Unity and Clearness, Force and Ease. Unity and Clearness they have in equal measure; that is, all their sentences are units, all are clear. The exceptions are so few as almost to escape detection. But Force and Ease are not shared by Webster and Irving equally. Webster has a much larger measure of Force; Irving, of Ease. The explanation is obvious: Webster was a man of power, Irving was a man of grace; the sentencestructure of each represents the man himself.

In other words, the final measure of Force and Ease which the individual writer may put into his expression will depend upon his individual gifts. Nevertheless we have the right to demand of every writer, young or old, a certain moderate measure of Force and Ease. Approaching the question from the negative side, we must assert that every writer should be

taught to avoid tameness and awkwardness.

wearies the reader, awkwardness frets him.

Tameness

UNITY.

10. In General.-In order to apply successfully Professor Hill's definition of Unity, we must bear in mind the several forms of sentence described in Chapter I.

a. In the sentence of unconditioned statement everything is subordinated to one leading assertion.

b. In the sentence of conditioned statement the governing thought is the dependence of one member upon the other.

c. In the balanced sentence the governing thought is the parallelism or contrast between two assertions.

Each one of these sentence-forms will be discussed at some length.

Unity in the Unconditioned Statement.

11. Specimens of Unity.-A few will suffice for illustration :

The gallant Ichabod now spent at least an extra half hour at his toilet, brushing and furbishing up his best and indeed only suit of rusty black and arranging his looks by a bit of broken looking-glass that hung up in the schoolhouse.-IRVING.

Leading assertion: Spent half an hour at his toilet. The rest consists of the details of the toilet.

It was full of pits and quagmires, partly covered with weeds and mosses, where the green surface often betrayed the traveller into a gulf of black, smothering mud.-IRVING.

Leading assertion: It was full of pits and quagmires.

One sunshiny morning, in the good old times of the town of Boston, a young carver in wood, well known by the name of Drowne, stood contemplating a large oaken log, which it was his purpose to convert into the figure-head of a vessel.-HAWTHORNE.

Assertion: A young carver stood contemplating a log.

Meantime, the purpose of the Governor, in disturbing the peace of the town, at a period when the slightest commotion might throw the country into a ferment, was almost the universal subject of inquiry, and variously explained.—HAWTHORNE.

Assertion: The purpose of the Governor was the subject of inquiry.

Every profession, not excepting the glorious one of a soldier, or the sacred one of a priest, is liable to its own particular vices.-BURke.

The awful state of the time, and not myself, or my own justification, is my true object in what I now write; or in what I shall ever write or say. -BURKE.

In the same year in which the "Drummer" was acted, and in which the first numbers of the Freeholder appeared, the estrangement of Pope and Addison became complete.-MACAULAY.

Of the Psalms, his [Addison's] favorite was that which represents the Ruler of all things under the endearing image of a shepherd whose crook guides the flock safe, through gloomy and desolate glens, to meadows well watered and rich with herbage. - MACAULAY.

Assertion His favorite psalm was the twenty-third; the rest is description of the psalm.

12. Violation of Unity; General Faults.-We violate the principle of unity whenever we append to the leading assertion another assertion which cannot be truly subordinated. The remedy for such loose writing is to construct two independent sentences.

He [Tillotson] was exceedingly beloved both by King William and Queen Mary, who nominated Dr. Tennison, bishop of London, to succeed him.

*During a short rest which Magua allowed his band, Hawkeye and his friends overtook them, and in a short fight all of the Hurons were killed except Magua, who escaped.1

*The Indians, led by Magua, discovered their location, and a fight ensued, in which Gamut was wounded.

*The three men consented to act as their guides and conducted them to a cave in an island, where Magua and his friends attacked them.

He was exceedingly beloved both by King William and Queen Mary. They nominated Dr. Tennison, bishop of London, to succeed him.

During a brief rest which Magua allowed his band, Hawkeye and his friends overtook them. In the fight which ensued all the Hurons except Magua were killed; he, however, escaped.

The Indians, led by Magua, discovered their hiding-place. A fight ensued, in which Gamut was wounded.

The three men consented to act as their guides and conducted them to a cave in an island; here Magua and his friends attacked them.

"where the green

In the sentence quoted from Irving, § 11, surface," where is correct, for it introduces a necessary description of the swamp. But, in the sentence just corrected, the attack upon the party in the cave is not an essential feature of the cave itself; the coming to the cave and the fight there are separate incidents.

In the following the unity is marred by the shifting of the point of view (see Hill's definition, § 9) produced by the unnecessary change of the grammatical subject. This subject is (1) Tradesmen, (2) Bribes:

1 All the examples hereafter printed with an * prefixed have been taken from school and college papers. The original is in the left-hand column, the correction in the right-hand.

never care

But tradesmen to indulge us in matters contrary to our true interest, which they always know better than ourselves, nor can any bribes corrupt them to go out of their way, whilst they are consulting our good in our own despite.-FIELDING.

Observe, also, the following:

*His sweetheart refused him [Marner] and his betrayer married her.

But tradesmen .. never care to indulge us in anything contrary to our true interest, which they always know better than ourselves, nor can they be bribed to go out of their way whilst they are consulting our good in our own despite.

His sweetheart jilted him and married his false friend.

In the following quotation the second sentence is faulty in making two assertions of equal grammatical and rhetorical value, instead of making one principal assertion and one subordinate. The first sentence is not clear. See $21.

She [Elizabeth] accepted services such as were never rendered to any other English sovereign without a thought of return. Walsingham spent his fortune in saving her life and her throne, and she left him to die a beggar.-J. R. GREEN.

Services such as were never rendered to any other English sovereign she accepted without a thought of return. Walsingham, who spent his fortune in saving her life and her throne, she left to die a beggar.

The following is defective in unity, inasmuch as the grammatical subject does not mark the real subject. The writer is describing a girl seated on top of a loaded wagon and surrounded by objects of all sorts:

There was also a cat in a willow basket, from the partly opened lid of which she gazed with half-closed eyes, etc.

There was also a willow basket, from the partly opened lid of which a cat gazed with half-closed eyes,

etc.

In the following the leading thought, the father's grief at his son's present dissipation, is obscured by the failure of the relative clause to mark the difference between past and present conduct:

The good old man soon grew weary of the gay life in the house of his son, who had taken high

The good old man soon grew weary of the gay life in the house of his son, who, though he had