When the news of the victory came, the people exhibited the greatest enthusiasm, as it was natural that they should.

There are all sorts and sizes of

them [bumble-bees]. They are dull and clumsy compared with the honey-bee.

We close at 5 P. M. during July and August.-Advt.

Irving, in his Rip Van Winkle, has given us a charming picture of colonial New York.

When the news of the victory came, the people—as was natural— exhibited the greatest enthusiasm.

They are of all sorts and sizes. Compared with the honey-bee, they are dull and clumsy.

During July and August we close at 5 P. M.

In Rip Van Winkle Irving has given us a charming picture of colonial New York.

The following examples, selected from writers of high standing, will illustrate the force to be acquired through skillful management of the beginning and end of the sentence:

Even his countrymen thought him blunt. To foreigners he often seemed churlish. In his intercourse with the world in general he appeared ignorant or negligent of those arts which double the value of a favor and take away the sting of a refusal.-MACAULAY.

Of geometry he learned as much as was necessary for the construction of a ravelin or a horn-work.-MACAULAY.

From the outset the government of the township was vested in the Town-meeting, etc.—JOHN FISKE.

In very small townships the selectmen themselves may act as assessors of taxes or overseers of the poor.-JOHN FISKE.

From the seventh or eighth year, according to the quality and capacity of the child, plane and solid geometry, the science of form, should find a place among the school studies, and some share of the child's attention that great subject should claim for six or seven successive years.-C. W. ELIOT.

Of the notices which have appeared regarding Lord Macaulay the reader should not deny himself the pleasure of looking especially at two.-THACKERAY.

Other hope, in studying such books, we have none. -CARLYLE.

28. Parenthetic Expressions.-Much is gained in Force, and also in Ease and Clearness, through the use of so-called parenthetic expressions. If we write :

I think (that) he is very accomplished.

we make "I think" the principal assertion; "(that) he is

very accomplished" is the object of the verb, and is called by grammarians a noun-clause. Yet in reality we ought to make "he is very accomplished" the principal assertion. This we do by means of the construction:

He is, I think, very accomplished.

"I think " now becomes subordinate and parenthetic.

The number of expressions which may be used parenthetically is very great. Only a few can be given here as speci

A word of caution is necessary.

one or two other words are not always to be treated as parenthetic; sometimes they are decidedly emphatic. The student should contrast:

I greatly fear that your education has been too long neglected.

He is, no doubt, prepared to act.

There can be no doubt that somebody's blundering at Santiago cost many lives.

"No doubt" parenthetic means "probably"; emphatic, it means absolute certainty.

29. Climactic Order. When two or more expressions of the same kind are closely connected, they should always be

arranged in climactic order; the law of thought requires that we pass from the less significant to the more significant. The only exception is the intentional anti-climax, used in humorous writing. For example:

That pensive, severe, and solemn aspect.

From a child he had been weak and sickly.

Upon the platform, decorated by the Ladies' Aid Society with taste, piety, and goldenrod, sat the Council. (Humorous anti-climax.)

All seems vigorous, youthful,

and prosperous.

All seems youthful, vigorous, and prosperous.

The order of thought is: "youthful," therefore "vigorous"; "vigorous," therefore "prosperous.”

Her heart was full of bitterness, and her face flushed with heat, and her muscles aching with fatigue.

* The natives often set upon them with sticks, stones, dogs, and maledictions.

Melancholy, gray, leprous walls.
Dark, narrow, silent,

serted streets.

de

Her face was flushed with heat, her muscles ached with fatigue, her heart was full of bitterness.

The natives often heaped maledictions on them, and even attacked them with stones, sticks, and dogs.

Gray, melancholy, leprous walls. Narrow, dark, silent, deserted streets.

Even where there are only two terms, the more impressive should follow.

* She was excited and pale.

* Our unprofitable and tiresome journey was at last at an end.

* Such a derangement must have reduced society to its elements and led to a conflict of interests.

She was pale and excited.

At last our tiresome and unprofitable journey was at an end.

Such a derangement must have led to a conflict of interests and reduced society to its elements.

When society is reduced to its elements, what is left?

If several details or items are given, together with an expression which sums them up, the summing up should come last.

He was a picturesque young fellow with his broad sombrero, open

With his broad sombrero, open shirt, fringed buckskin breeches,

shirt, fringed buckskin breeches, high-heeled boots and heavy spurs.

high-heeled boots, and heavy spurs, he was a picturesque young fellow.1

When two expressions, one negative, the other positive, are used in contrast, the negative should precede. In other words: Say what a thing is not, before saying what it is. After the reader has learned what a thing is, he does not care to learn what it is not.

In the train, as he saw it, was the bride of that afternoon, borne away by the side of her husband. But it was the bride he saw, and not the husband. He saw her pale face, etc.

In the train, as he saw it, was the bride of that afternoon, borne away by the side of her husband. But it was not the husband he saw, it was the bride. He saw her pale face, etc.

Where, however, a negative expression is not used in direct contrast, but is merely one term in a climax, its position is determined by the general sequence of the climax.

He is regular, attentive, not hasty, anxious to make the most of his opportunities.

Occasionally a sentence seems to contradict the principle of putting the negative first. For example:

The horrors of the scene may be imagined, not described.

Certainly this is not lacking in force. Examining into the thought more closely, however, we shall find that it is not a contrast between imagination and description but is merely an admission that the imagination is at a loss for adequate words. The thought might be expressed more fully :

The horrors of the scene were such that although the imagination may see them it cannot find words for them.

Further, in many abrupt imperative sentences the negative is properly placed at the end. For example:

Take that book, not this.

A different order would necessitate a longer and less direct form:

Do not take this book but that.

1 Hill, Foundations, p. 246.

30. Stability of Structure;' Active Voice. In acquiring force nothing is more helpful than preserving uniformity of structure throughout the sentence. Conversely, nothing is more enfeebling than an uncalled-for change of structure. Further, in the statement of individual facts, the active voice is usually more forcible than the passive. The passive is better suited to general facts.

The beginner is apt to err in both directions.

He uses the He begins the

passive voice where he should use the active. sentence with one structure and then suddenly shifts to another structure, also changing perhaps from the active voice to the passive.

The following, from Macaulay, illustrates the principle of stable structure, and also the skillful use of both active and passive:

Since Octavius the world had seen no such instance of precocious statesmanship. Skillful diplomatists were surprised to hear the weighty observations which at seventeen the Prince [William of Orange] made on public affairs, and still more surprised to see a lad, in situations in which he might have been expected to betray strong passion, preserve a composure as imperturbable as their own. At eighteen he sate among the fathers of the commonwealth, grave, discreet, and judicious as the oldest among them. At twenty-one, in a day of gloom and terror, he was placed at the head of the administration. At twenty-three he was renowned throughout Europe as a soldier and a politician.

is

Week by week Mrs. Mappraising the merits of certain poets. Last week she wrote of Gray's Elegy, this week Cowley was examined.

* They began to march through the woods and did not halt until a small hill was reached.

He vowed that he would never lie down in bed or that a pillow should never be under his head until he had begun his search for the Grail.

is

Week by week Mrs. Mappraising the merits of certain poets. Last week she wrote of Gray's Elegy, this week she examined Cowley.

They began to march through the woods and did not halt until they reached a small hill.

He vowed that he would never lie down in bed or rest his head on a pillow until he had begun his search for the Grail.

1 Compare the remarks on Repeated Structure, 50.