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The sportsman may track his game to its retreat by the aid of his dog, but in hunting the honeybee one must be his own dog and track his game through an element in which it leaves no trail.

She [the bee] will not touch honey as long as honey-yielding flowers can be found.

* They captured Chryseïs, whom they gave to Agamemnon, and Bryseïs, who was allotted to

Achilles.

If we survey Byzantium in the extent which it acquired with the august name of Constantinople, the figure of the Imperial city may be represented under that of an unequal triangle. —GIBBON.

* He [Will Wimble] had caught a large fish one afternoon, and sent it to Sir Roger; a note was also sent with it, inviting himself to dinner.

* Emma persuades Harriet that Mr. Elton is much in love, and that it is only a question of a short time before Harriet will be asked to be his wife.

* Chingachgook lost his paddle, but it was soon recovered.

* As Sir Launfal rode away, a leper raised his eyes to him begging for alms. A piece of gold was thrown to the leper.

* They got much information from the inn-keeper about the customs of the students, and who also provided them with dresses in which they gain admission to the college.

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Emma persuades Harriet that Mr. Elton is deeply in love, and that it is only a matter of a short time when he will ask Harriet to be his wife.

Chingachgook lost his paddle but soon recovered it.

As Sir Launfal rode away, a leper raised his eyes to him and begged for alms. Sir Launfal threw to the leper a piece of gold.

The innkeeper gave them much information about the customs of the students, and also provided them with [women's] dresses in which they might gain admission to the college.

It would not be correct, of course, to say that the active voice is always more forcible than the passive. It is correct, however, to say that in narration the active voice is nearly always more forcible than the passive. It is better to say that somebody did something than to say that something was done by somebody. For example:

Here, among wild mountain scenery, were passed the first ten years of his life.

Here, amid wild mountain scenery, he passed the first ten

years of his life.

For description no general rule can be given. The following sentence shows the active and the passive side by side, each used properly:

The houses are divided from the hill by a vein of stiff clay, yet stand on a rock of white stone.

The nominative "houses," it will be observed, governs the

sentence.

In exposition the passive is always proper for general facts. The student may contrast the general statement :

In the United States more than 200,000,000 tons of coal are mined annually.

with the individual statement:

In our house we burn twenty tons of coal every winter.

31. Conditioned Statement. In a sentence of conditioned statement the member containing the condition (protasis) usually precedes the member containing the consequence (apodosis). For example :

When Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the population of London was less than a million and a half.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.-Job xiii. 15.

If the instinct for beauty is served by Greek literature and art as it is served by no other literature and art, we may trust to the instinct of selfpreservation in humanity for keeping Greek as part of our culture.MATTHEW ARNOLD.

Putting the consequence-member first without any special reason makes the sentence tame and awkward.

He was determined not to take offence at his reception, though it was anything but hearty.

* Dryden was a very thorough student of Chaucer, although he did not take up the study of his works until late in life.

Men will quarrel, fight, and take one another's life, though citizens of the same city and professing to love the same country.

* Marner had not a single friend when he took up his abode in Raveloe.

*The next member was the clergyman, who seldom visited the Club, but who made it very pleasant when he did so.

Though his reception was anything but hearty, he was determined not to take offence.1

Dryden, though he did not take up the study of Chaucer's works until late in life, became a thorough Chaucer student.

Though citizens of the same city and professing to love the same country, men will quarrel, fight, and take one another's life.2

When Marner took up his abode in Raveloe, he had not a single friend.

The next member was the clergyman, who seldom visited the Club, but when he did come made himself very agreeable.

In mathematical and other problems the conditioningmember stands almost invariably at the beginning. For example:

If gold is at a premium of 20, what will be the price of a £100 draft on London?

An actual business question, however, is frequently, perhaps usually, put in the opposite order:

What is the price of a £100 draft on London, when gold is (at a premium of) 20?

When the conditioning-member is in the participial construction, it usually comes first, especially if it states the cause of the action expressed by the consequence-member or narrates an action which has preceded that of the consequencemember.

Marner tied up the bag carefully, having counted over his shining gold pieces.

1 Hill, Foundations, p. 245.

Having counted over his shining gold pieces, Marner carefully tied up the bag.

2 Clark, Practical Rhetoric, p. 77.

If the participial member, however, is long and complicated, it should come last. The student may compare:

Brandishing his sword, he sprang across the room.

He sprang across the room, brandishing his sword and crying: Death

to the traitor.

Finally, the order of members in a sentence of conditioned statement is often determined by the thought-sequence in the paragraph. (See § 48.)

32. The Periodic Sentence. From the purely grammatical point of view a periodic sentence is one which does not make complete grammatical sense if stopped anywhere before the period. For example:

On whatever side we contemplate Homer, what principally strikes us is his invention.

A loose sentence, from the grammatical point of view, is one which makes complete grammatical sense at one or more places before the period. For example:

The proposed change of law does not seem to us adequate, although perhaps public opinion would not sanction a more radical one.

Stopping at "adequate," we get a complete grammatical

sentence.

Carter Harrison was elected mayor of Chicago last week for the third time, by a majority of nearly 30,000.

Stopping at "Chicago," "week," and "time," we get complete grammatical sentences.

In general, the periodic structure of the sentence is conducive to force; only in general, however. Certainly the converse is not true: it is not true, namely, that the grammatically loose sentence must be more or less deficient in force. Many a loose sentence is all the more forcible because it is loose.

The skillful writer obtains his force by ending the sentence with that expression which he deems the most significant.

1 See ? I. sentence,

Sometimes in modern punctuation the semicolon marks a

Thus, in the first example quoted, the writer intended to lay stress on his estimate of public opinion. In the second example, the writer intended to lay stress on the size of Mayor Harrison's majority.

Further, as will be shown in § 48, the proper structure of any one sentence is not always a matter for that one sentence by itself, but may depend largely upon the surrounding sentences in the paragraph.

Quite independent of the paragraph, however, the individual sentence may be forcible because of its looseness-that is, because the conspicuous thought is put at the end. For example :

From start to finish, the seniors rowed a plucky race.

The seniors rowed a plucky race, from start to finish.1

Which of these two sentences is the more forcible? Few will hesitate to say that, for both race and sentence, the chief thing is the "finish.”

To teach is to learn: according to an old experience, it is the very best mode of learning-the surest, and the shortest.-DE QUINCEY.

Emerson and Carlyle criticize themselves and one another in a way which leaves little for any one else to do in the way of formulating their defects.-MATTHEW ARNOLD.

Such situations bewilder and unnerve the weak, but call forth all the strength of the strong.-MACAULAY.

Almost the last words which Sir Walter [Scott] spoke to Lockhart, his biographer, were : "Be a good man, my dear!" and with the last flicker of breath on his dying lips he sighed a farewell to his family and passed away blessing them.-THACKERAY.

These examples will demonstrate that a sentence, though grammatically loose, may yet be rhetorically strong. Nevertheless, the beginner ought to be thoroughly trained in the art of writing periodic sentences, for such training is the best, perhaps the only, means of curing him of certain chronic infirmities of the present age. Among these infirmities may be mentioned the tiresome constructions with "and," "so," "and so," "but." They will be treated at greater length in

1 Hill, Foundations, p. 296,

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