Business English Part 59

=Exercise 174=

Divide the following into sentences and supply the necessary commas:

Abraham Lincoln was a tall strong powerfully built boy he could lift a load cut down a tree or build a fence more quickly than any one else in the neighborhood his perseverance in his boyhood helps us to appreciate the firm true steady hand that guided our country through its great crisis Lincoln unceasingly showed his wise brain his great courage and his kindness of heart his character was not made in a day nor a month nor a year it was built up after years of yearning years of striving and years of hard work.

In the above point out the instances where the comma is used--

1. When several nouns follow one another, all being in the same case.

2. When several adjectives follow one another, all modifying the same noun.

3. When a succession of phrases modifies the same noun.

This kind of succession is called a _series_. Each new member gives a new idea, the comma being used to help the reader to separate one from the next with ease. Notice that the comma is used between the last two members before the coordinate conjunction as well as between the other members.

2

Dear Sir:[1]

You can make no mistake in buying BCL Power Co. bonds now the company supplies power to mines and towns of Colorado Utah and Idaho it furnishes electric light and power to Ophir Ouray Ames Pandora and other towns in Colorado in Utah it supplies light to Mescal Eureka Provo Logan and Bingham it also furnishes power for the street railway systems of Salt Lake City Farmington and Ogden.

The bonds offer such good security good interest and ready convertibility that we expect our allotment to be heavily oversubscribed will you therefore send us your order before Monday.

Yours truly,

3

Imagine the scene: a little hollow in the prairie forming a perfect amphitheater the yellow gra.s.s and wild oats grazed short a herd of horses staring from the slope I myself standing in the middle like a ring-master in a circus and this wonderful horse performing at his own free will. He trotted powerfully he galloped gracefully he thundered at full speed he lifted forelegs to welcome he flung out hind legs to repel he leaped as if springing over bayonets he pranced and curvetted as if he were the pretty plaything of a girl and finally he trotted up and snuffed about me--just out of reach.

4

Dear Madam:[4]

Our Style Book shows you the best of the season's styles for ladies misses and children it contains ill.u.s.trations of the latest kinds of long coats of skirts in the most fas.h.i.+onable cuts and materials of hats that are new and particularly becoming and of dresses with the newest sleeves and collars we are especially sure that you will like our waists they are artistic in design stylish in cut and excellent in workmans.h.i.+p they are selected from the leading fas.h.i.+on centers are the creations of the best costumers and always have individuality twenty years of selling goods by mail have given us experience skill and knowledge that make it certain we can please you.

The enclosed coupon is good for fifty cents on a five dollar order one dollar and twenty-five cents on a ten dollar order and two dollars on an order for fifteen dollars or more this offer expires September 30.

Yours truly,

5

Increased wages shorter hours and perhaps lower efficiency for the hours worked have done more to raise the cost of living than almost anything else this higher cost of production we see on the farm in the factory in transportation in merchandising and even in domestic service we cannot double the cost of excavating brick-laying plumbing and decorating and expect not to double the rents that we must pay the cost of building has increased as the demands of laborers increased as their hours of work decreased and as their wages advanced the materials that go into a building the transportation of that material the labor of a.s.sembling it and the labor of fas.h.i.+oning it into a building have all advanced in price.

Moreover, high living has a great deal to do with the high cost of living because it has made most of us think that we must have more conveniences more luxuries more clothes and more amus.e.m.e.nts than our fathers had with a return to the thrift of our fathers with a return to their desire for work we shall no longer feel the grip of the high cost of living there is a real danger to our nation in our extravagance in our indifference to cost in our sweep toward ease and idleness and in our growing antipathy for work.

=Exercise 175=

Write five sentences ill.u.s.trating series of words; five ill.u.s.trating series of phrases; and five ill.u.s.trating series of clauses.

=Exercise 176=

Write the following from dictation:

1

THE GOVERNMENT'S LAUNDRY

Some of the paper money in circulation is so dirty that one feels the need of gloves in handling it, and the suspicion that it is germ laden might well be verified. It has often been said that money spreads contagious diseases, nor can such a statement be questioned when one remembers that money goes into every kind of home and is handled by many infected persons. The government has long felt that something should be done to lessen this means of spreading disease, and a machine has finally been invented that will wash and iron the dirtiest bills until they look almost as fresh as new ones. The entire cost of operating the device is hardly fifty cents for each thousand bills, but it is estimated that it will save the government as much as a million dollars a year.

2

LUCK AND LABOR

Luck is ever waiting for something to turn up; labor with keen eyes and strong will turns something up.

Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman would bring him news of a fortune; labor turns out at six o'clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines; labor whistles. Luck relies on chance; labor on character.--_Cobden._

The selections given above ill.u.s.trate the compound sentence. Notice the thought expressed in these sentences. There is usually an idea of balance or contrast, and the two halves of the sentence express the two halves of the idea. The two members are usually distinct enough to require a comma before the conjunction. If the conjunction is omitted, a semicolon must separate the two members, as in the second selection above.

=Rule 3.--The comma is used before the coordinate conjunction in a compound sentence. If the conjunction is omitted, a semicolon must be used.=

=Exercise 177=

Separate the following into compound sentences and punctuate:

1

Sawdust as a fire extinguisher sounds absurd but recent experiments in Boston have proved it to be successful in quenching fires in tanks of oil and other inflammable liquids the Boston experiments were conducted with tanks of burning varnish but the same principles seem to apply to tanks of burning oil the floating sawdust forms a blanket that shuts off the air from the flames and the lack of oxygen causes the fire to die out the experiments were tried with both wet and dry sawdust and the dry material seemed to extinguish the fire as quickly as the wet.

2

Select the kind of business that suits your natural inclination and temperament some men are naturally mechanics others have a strong aversion to machinery because they do not understand it some men are imaginative others are purely practical some prefer active work others like sedentary employment all should select those occupations that suit them best.

3

Certain Western railroads have long felt the need of a new material for sleepers and they have been experimenting for some time past with cocobolo or j.a.panese oak the wood is so hard that it is almost impossible to drive spikes into it and screwed spikes in bored holes are used these sleepers will cost a trifle more than those made from American oak but they are expected to last twenty-five or thirty years the reason for experimenting with foreign woods is that native oak is becoming scarce and it is deemed wise to search in time for a subst.i.tute.

4

Dear Sir:

We wrote you on the third but as yet no word has come of your decision in regard to the investment you were considering at 475 Second Avenue let us have your order and we shall at once prepare the contract of sale the building is an especially attractive offering at $9,500 and we feel sure that you will find the return from it unusually large.

Yours very truly,