The Century Handbook of Writing Part 4

11. Corrupt laws are often the means rich people obtain the earnings of others.

12. A hundred dollars invested in a warning signal, future accidents would be prevented.

13. Electric transmission is sometimes used on automobiles more of an experiment than anything else.

14. Was delighted to hear from you. Glad to hear you entered the wholesale business. Wish you success.

15. As a rule people eat too much. This point should be noticed, and not overwork the digestive organs.

=C. Incomplete Logic=

The following sentences are inadequate statements of cause, comparison, etc. Complete the thought.

1. His neck is as long as a giraffe.

2. His name was David Meek, from New Hamps.h.i.+re.

3. The Pacific Ocean is larger than any ocean.

4. Because he never worked led to his failure.

5. A monitor is where a heavily armored boat of light draft can go near the sh.o.r.e.

6. Democracy is when people, through representatives, govern themselves.

7. The story of _Huckleberry Finn_ is in reality Mark Twain himself.

8. Because a man has money is no reason why he should be lazy.

9. The character of Sydney Carton is the real hero of this novel.

10. A forester leads an interesting life is the reason I want to be one.

11. Tact is where a man antic.i.p.ates the criticism of others, and acts with discretion.

12. The comfort of a modern house is much greater than the old-time house.

13. Free trade is when no revenue is collected on imports, beyond enough to run the government.

14. The cost of room, board, and tuition is low at this school, compared to the more fas.h.i.+onable schools.

15. The theme of this novel tells how a peasant, Jean Valjean, from a convict comes to be a respected citizen.

=D. Undeveloped Thought and Transitions=

Complete the thought of the following sentences, and secure a smooth transition between parts.

1. As you enter this room, to the left is an interesting painting of the Canterbury Pilgrims.

2. Poe delights in fantastic plots. A pirate's treasure chest was discovered in _The Gold Bug_.

3. I got up and ate a bite of breakfast. A few of my friends came over. We went to play golf.

4. All the loose material on the trail is carried off by the rush of the water. The last time I was on it was in early summer, and I found it in this rough condition.

5. I managed to find the softest board in the floor and went to sleep. Some of the boys found pleasure in arousing me with a shower of cold water.

6. Under guise of friendly escort the Indians accompanied the inhabitants of the fort a few miles. Only three escaped the ma.s.sacre.

7. Many people say that in civil engineering it depends on the prosperity of the country; in hard times they do not build and in good times they do build.

8. Canada has more forests than minerals. Canada has made only a start in the lumber industry. The minerals are found, for the most part, in the mountain district near Lake Superior.

9. Thanksgiving day, as we are told, is a day on which our Puritan forefathers gathered round the roast turkey and gave thanks to G.o.d for his goodness. Last Thanksgiving I was at home.

10. The old method was to dig the holes by hand, and drop two or three kernels in each hole. Corn has become a staple crop.

Machinery is used. The preparing of a field for corn has become a science.

UNITY OF THOUGHT

Unity means oneness. A sentence should contain one thought. It may contain two or more statements only when these are closely related parts of a larger thought or impression. A writer should make certain, first, that his thought has unity; and second, that this unity will be obvious to the reader.

=Unrelated Ideas in One Sentence=

=10. Do not combine ideas which have no obvious relation to each other.

Place the ideas in separate sentences. Or, write the ideas as one sentence, making their relation obvious.=

Wrong: The Spartans did not care for literature, and lived in the southern part of Greece.

Wrong: The coffee business is not difficult to learn, and the most important work in preparing coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries.

The simplest method of correction is to divide the sentence.

Right: The Spartans lived in the southern part of Greece. They did not care for literature.

Right: The coffee business is not difficult to learn. The most important work in preparing the coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries.

Another method of correction is to subordinate one idea to the other, or to change the wording until the relation between the ideas is obvious.

Right: The Spartans, who lived in the southern part of Greece, did not care for literature.

Right: The coffee business is not difficult to learn, since the only important work in preparing the coffee for the market is the roasting of the green berries.

Exercise: