CLEARNESS. 19. General Remarks.—Quintilian's ideal (see § 9) is not fanciful; on the contrary, it is eminently practical. It merely formulates the just demand of the reader; namely, that the writer shall spare him, the reader, every unnecessary effort. Whenever the reader is puzzled by the writer's words, phrases, or clauses, he is wasting time which should be expended on the writer's thought alone. Clearness, absolute clearness, then, is the writer's first and final duty. Yet it is the duty most commonly neglected. This neglect is due in part to carelessness and haste; we write too rapidly and we take too little pains. Yet carelessness and haste will not account entirely for the failure. A large share, perhaps the larger share, is due to the writer's obtuseness to the fundamental principle that in writing he is making an appeal to the mind of another person. That other person sees only what is put before him; he cannot look into the writer's mind, cannot follow the writer's half-conscious process of thinking. To the reader the sentence is a collection of words, phrases, clauses, the relations of which are fixed, not by the writer's caprice, but by the laws of grammatical logic. The reader is forced to construe the writer's sentence according to this logic. What, then, is the principle which must govern the reader's interpretation of an English sentence? The principle that juxtaposition implies connection. Since English is a language practically without inflections, the English writer who wishes to tell his reader that two things or two ideas are closely connected must connect closely the words representing those things or ideas. Conversely, from the reader's point of view, the fact that two words or phrases stand side by side implies that the things or ideas behind the words are also side by side. One or two examples will make this evident to the most obtuse: Wanted, a room for a single gentleman, sixteen feet by ten.-Adv't. Passengers are requested to purchase tickets before entering the cars, at the window.-Notice. Being really that dead luggage which I considered all passengers to be in the beginning of this narrative.-FIELDING. * She [Miriam] readily accepted the responsibility of the crime, although her share was but a look, and begged him [Donatello] to throw the care and remorse upon her shoulders. Fastening one end of this [tape-measure] at that point to the trunk of the tree which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it until it reached the peg, etc.-POE. [I] perceived there were innumerable trap-doors that lay concealed in the bridge, which the passengers no sooner trod upon but they fell through them into the tide, etc.-ADDISON. Why did not these several writers, known or unknown to fame, detect their blunders? The dimensions of a room go with the room, not with the occupant; we do not usually enter a car at the window; Fielding did not mean that all passengers are dead luggage at the beginning of a story; the writer upon The Marble Faun intended his "although to condition the whole sentence; the "which" in Poe belongs to "point," not to tree ; similarly, the "which in Addison belongs to trap-doors," not to "bridge." Reconstructed, the sentences would read: 66 66 Wanted, for a single gentleman, a room sixteen feet by ten. Being really that dead luggage which, in the beginning of this narrative, I considered all passengers to be. Although her share in the crime was but a look, she readily accepted the responsibility and begged him to throw the care and remorse upon her shoulders. Fastening one end to the trunk of the tree at the point which was nearest the peg, he unrolled the tape-measure until it reached the peg. I perceived in the bridge innumerable concealed trap-doors, which the passengers no sooner trod upon than they fell through into the tide. Want of clearness is not always due to the position of words— word-order proper. Occasionally certain words are ambiguous in certain peculiar circumstances. See §§ 24, 25. Оссаsionally, even, the sentence as a whole suggests a meaning different from that which the writer intended; in such a case the sentence must be rewritten with a general change of diction. These exceptions, however, do not interfere with the general principle that clearness is secured through the proper position of words. In the following discussion of Clearness, also in the chapters upon Force and Ease, sentences will not be classified according to their form; Conditioned and Unconditioned Statements will be examined indiscriminately. 20. Pronouns and Pronominal Clauses.-In English grammar a pronoun refers to the noun immediately preceding. The rule admits of a few exceptions. Thus, the personal pronoun he can refer to a masculine antecedent only; she, to a feminine only. Also who, whom, must refer to antecedent persons; which, to things. The only safe principle to observe in writing is this: Never let any noun stand between the pronoun and the noun to which the pronoun really refers. To this may be added: Never permit any construction in which the pronoun may refer to more than one antecedent in the same sentence, or even in the same connection. Men do not want to see things as they are. They look at things from their own point of view, and praise or condemn them according as they serve or hinder their ends. If Shakespeare had written a book on the motives of human action, it is by no means certain that it would have been a good one. -MACAULAY. It [this index] arranges foreign fiction as well as English, but in every case where a good English translation of the book exists, it is included in the references. On the first appearance of the volume in 1785, it gave rise to a certain amount of criticism. Men do not want to see a thing as it is. They look at it from their own point of view, and praise or condemn it according as it serves or hinders their ends. If Shakespeare had written a book on the motives of human action, there is no certainty that the book would have been a good one. It includes foreign fiction as well as (no less than?) English ; also English translations wherever good ones are to be found. The volume, at its first appearance in 1785, gave rise to a certain amount of criticism. When the authorities take in hand the "Testa de Nevill" and the "Charta Antiquæ"-both of them, unfortunately, corrupt texts -they will need to be entrusted to scholars with a competent knowledge of the subject, etc. In the anxiety of the German government to push the new navy bill through the Reichstag, it is not careful to make its arguments consistent. *There is no scene in the whole play which does not either go back to some preceding scene or serve to introduce some future scene. * In other places he attempts to produce the same feeling which he has upon the reader. *I do not think that study, in the case of school-children, increases their interest, unless it [i. e., interest] is already sincere. It [i. e., study] only deepens their dislike by making familiar what is already unpleasant. *If it [Decoration Day] becomes a mere form, it would be far better to abolish it entirely. * The University affords a course in English to its entering students, which if properly pursued by them will be of much benefit. The barnyard showed a horrible mixture of mud and mire, through which Howard caught glimpses of the men, slumping to and fro without more additional protection than a ragged coat and a shapeless felt hat. The writer did not mean that Howard saw through the mud, but that the men walked through it. When the work was published on the Franco-Prussian war, written by German officers who took part in it, of which General Maurice is editing an English translation, the Emperor William took ten thousand copies. In the last there is altogether Instead of a hasty appropriation of $115,000,000 to build a canal which it was not yet known whether it would be possible to build at all, or at any rate for twice the money, the compromise provides only for a thorough inquiry, etc. When the work on the FrancoPrussian war, written by German officers who took part in it, was first published, the Emperor William took ten thousand copies. General Maurice is now editing an English translation. too much for one sentence. Instead of a hasty appropriation of $115,000,000 to build a canal which perhaps could not be built at all or if built might cost double that amount, the compromise provides merely for a thorough inquiry, etc. The following are from Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped : And there was a great dimness came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away, etc. It was a small part of the deck that I could overlook. There was a great stillness in the ship, in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices. Here Stevenson is not narrating in the usual form; he is letting David Balfour tell an exciting story. The expression is exactly suited to the situation and to David's unstudied manner of speech. It has even a flavor of dialect, Scottish, perhaps even Gaelic; certainly "there was a great dimness came before my eyes" is not literary English idiom. This gift of Stevenson can scarcely be recommended to the young for imitation; but Stevenson narrating or describing in his own person is usually a model : The waves come in slowly, vast and green, curve their translucent necks, and burst with a surprising uproar, that runs, waxing and waning, up and down the long key-board of the beach. * In order to get the child to understand Milton, it would take To get the child to understand Milton would take more time |