*Edmund objects to no purpose to the plan of giving a play. *He worked about when and where he pleased. Cream of wheat. Rarely delicious in flavor.-Adv't. The report of the Commissioner of Pensions contains the rather surprising statement that the number of pensions at the end of June was actually more than 2000 less than it was a year ago. It is not probable that we shall have a revision of Allen's work on American Book-plates at present, Meantime his former book is growing rare, and frequently commands a premium over the publisher's price.-Adv't. The salary is $1500, and the work is such as falls to a man who has everything in his own hands. To state the purpose to which an object is means is to make the most comprehensive description possible by the use of a single term. Add to these Swanky who has varnished boots, wears white gloves on Sunday, and looks out for Miss Pinkerton's school. Do you know, sir, that I am one of the director's wives? * It is not entirely then on the plan of dim intimations that Milton gets his effects. * A man cannot be a poet without being saturated with a sense of beauty. The salary is $1500, and the work can be arranged by the incumbent to suit his own judgment.. To state the purpose for which something is the means is to describe that thing as succinctly as is possible. Add to these Swanky who wears varnished boots andon Sunday-white gloves, and looks out for Miss Pinkerton's school. Do you know, sir, that I am wife of one of the directors? Not entirely, then, by means of dim intimations does Milton produce his effects. A man cannot be a poet unless he is saturated with a sense of beauty. In the last sentence "without" suggests accompaniment or consequence; condition. "unless" expresses a necessary antecedent * Every line of Milton will stand long study. * Nobody has conveyed so much sense of reality into obscure and indistinct impressions as Milton. The following sentences are preventing clearness : * Milton's figures are such as have to be imagined and as never existed. The French people have faults enough, but many of these, if the traveler does not look for them, are not apt to trouble him. This was the view of the case that Godfrey managed to keep before him pretty closely till midnight. -GEORGE ELIOT. The reasonings of Macaulay lead us, if carried out, to absurd results. *It is well enough to say that by all the rules of writing such interruptions [in Milton's Comus] should have an unfortunate effect, but if this result does not affect the reader, what becomes of the rules of writing? * Mr. caught exactly the character of Cloten [in Cymbeline], a difficult task on which he is to be congratulated. Every line of Milton will bear long and close study. Nobody has given such a touch of reality to obscure and indistinct impressions as Milton has given. examples of faulty arrangement Milton's figures are such as never existed but must be imagined. The French people have faults enough, but many of them will not trouble the traveler unless he hunts for them. This was the view of the case that Godfrey managed to keep pretty closely before him till midnight. The reasonings of Macaulay, if carried out, lead to absurd conclusions. It is well enough to say that by all the rules of writing such interruptions should affect the reader disagreeably; but if the reader is not thus affected, what becomes of the rules of writing? In general, the distinction between ambiguity and obscurity is obvious enough. Some sentences, however, are not easy to classify; we may be ambiguous or obscure. puzzled to decide whether they are Fortunately the decision is not at all necessary, and for the beginner is of secondary value. For him the chief thing is to perceive that a sentence is not perfectly clear and to correct it until it is perfectly clear. 25. Wrong Use of Certain Words. 1. Because.—This word occasions much trouble in both positive sentences and negative. Frequently it is used in a wrong sense. Or, especially in a negative sentence, it is put in the wrong place. When used properly, "because " states the cause of a certain effect, the motive of a certain act-in general, the explanation of a phenomenon. For example: Why did you give up smoking? Because I found that it was injuring my health. His words had power, because they accorded with his thoughts; and his thoughts had reality and depth, because they harmonized with the life which he had always lived.-HAWTHORNE. On the other hand, "because is not the proper word for expressing a "condition precedent" nor for logically deducing a conclusion from premises. For example: The Protestants considered Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn valid because his marriage with Catherine had been annulled ab initio. Here "because" is incorrect. The annulling of Henry's previous marriage did not cause his subsequent marriage to be valid, but merely removed an impediment. After this impediment had been removed, in Protestant eyes, his marriage with Anne Boleyn was valid because it was duly contracted between free parties. The sentence should be reworded : The Protestants considered Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn valid inasmuch as (or, since) his marriage with Catherine had been annulled ab initio. * Sidney asserts that the poet cannot lie because he affirms nothing. The logic of Sidney's argument is as follows: a. A lie is the affirming of something. b. The poet does not affirm anything. c. Therefore, the poet cannot lie. All this may be thrown into one sentence: Sidney asserts that the poet, since he affirms nothing, cannot lie. * Sidney asserts that because better is better it (!) does not prove that good is not good. The stress laid on the election and coronation [of King Eadred] should be noted. It shows how rash it is to assume that these things were omitted because they are not mentioned. According to Sidney, to admit that better is better does not imply that good is not good. The stress laid on the election and coronation should be noted. It shows the rashness of inferring a disregard of these ceremonies from the circumstance that they are sometimes not expressly mentioned. In the original sentence because seems to explain "omitted"; whereas the writer intended, though improperly, that it should explain assume. 66 * It would be poor judgment to take Macaulay as a sound reasoner because he was lacking in philosophical thought. * Burke objected to the consideration of this scheme because it was new and wholly untried. If we miss his correspondence with J. R. Green, it is because it is reserved for a separate volume. Since Macaulay was lacking in philosophical thought, we cannot take him to be a sound reasoner. Burke objected to the scheme on the ground that it was novel and wholly untried. We note the absence of his correspondence with J. R. Green; it is reserved, we learn, for a separate volume. Negative sentences are difficult to construct properly with 'because"; frequently the writer has the air of saying the opposite of what he intended. For example: I did not applaud him because I was for the moment carried away. Doubtless the writer meant to say: I was so carried away by the speaker's eloquence that I actually forgot to applaud. In that case the sentence ought to be recast: Carried away for the moment, I forgot to applaud. On the other hand, the writer might have intended to say : I applauded him, not because I was carried away by his eloquence, but because I wished to show what I thought of his opponents. In truth it is seldom perfectly safe to use negative sentence, except in the formula: This formula is well illustrated by Macaulay : The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectator. If the sentence The young writer is advised to put the "not" ("never,' etc.) immediately before the "because." thus constructed says exactly what the writer intends, it may stand. If, however, it says something quite different, it should be rewritten entirely. Another device for testing "because "with a negative is to substitute a positive form for the negative. For example: The book will not fail of a permanent place in literature, because it is badly written. If we substitute for "not fail of" the positive "secure," The book will secure a permanent place in literature because it is badly written. we utter palpable nonsense. matters: Nor would "not because" help The book will fail, not because it is badly written. He In truth, the writer of the original sentence did not mean "because," but "in spite of," "notwithstanding." should have said: Though badly written, the book will not fail of a permanent place in literature.1 2. Only; Merely; At least; Even.- "The fact is, with regard to such adverbs as only, wholly, at least, and the rest of that tribe, that, in common discourse, the tone and emphasis we use in pronouncing them generally serves to show their reference and to make the meaning clear; and hence we acquire a habit of throwing them in loosely in the course of a period. But in writing, where a man speaks to the eye, and 1 Hill, Foundations, p. 220. |