Garland Greever, Easley S. Jones

The Century Handbook of Writing

EAN 8596547205197

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info

Table of Contents

PREFACE

TO THE STUDENT

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT

UNITY OF THOUGHT

CLEARNESS OF THOUGHT

EMPHASIS

GRAMMAR

DICTION

SPELLING

MISCELLANEOUS

PUNCTUATION

INDEX

PREFACE

Table of Contents

This handbook treats essential matters of grammar, diction, spelling, mechanics; and develops with thoroughness the principles of sentence structure. Larger units of composition it leaves to the texts in formal rhetoric.

The book is built on a decimal plan, the material being simplified and reduced to one hundred articles. Headings of these articles are summarized on two opposite pages by a chart. Here the student can see at a glance the resources of the volume, and the instructor can find immediately the number he wishes to write in the margin of a theme. The chart and the decimal scheme together make the rules accessible for instant reference.

By a device equally efficient, the book throws upon the student the responsibility of teaching himself. Each article begins with a concise rule, which is illustrated by examples; then follows a short parallel exercise which the instructor may assign by adding an x to the number he writes in the margin of a theme. While correcting this exercise, the student will give attention to the rule, and will acquire theory and practice at the same time. Moreover, every group of ten articles is followed by mixed exercises; these may be used for review, or imposed in the margin of a theme as a penalty for flagrant or repeated error. Thus friendly counsel is backed by discipline, and the instructor has the means of compelling the student to make rapid progress toward good English.

Although a handbook of this nature is in some ways arbitrary, the arbitrariness is always in the interest of simplicity. The book does have simplicity, permits instant reference, and provides an adequate drill which may be assigned at the stroke of a pen.

TO THE STUDENT

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When a number is written in the margin of your theme, you are to turn to the article which corresponds to the number. Read the rule (printed in bold-face type), and study the examples. When an r follows the number on your theme, you are, in addition, to copy the rule. When an x follows the number, you are, besides acquainting yourself with the rule, to write the exercise of five sentences, to correct your own faulty sentence, and to hand in the six on theme paper. If the number ends in 9 (9, 19, 29, etc.), you will find, not a rule, but a long exercise which you are to write and hand in on theme paper. In the absence of special instructions from your teacher, you are invariably to proceed as this paragraph requires.

Try to grasp the principle which underlies the rule. In many places in this book the reason for the existence of the rule is clearly stated. Thus under 20, the reason for the rule on parallel structure is explained in a prologue. In other instances, as in the rule on divided reference (20), the reason becomes clear the moment you read the examples. In certain other instances the rule may appear arbitrary and without a basis in reason. But there is a basis in reason, as you will observe in the following illustration.

Suppose you write, He is twenty one years old. The instructor asks you to put a hyphen in twenty-one, and refers you to 78. You cannot see why a hyphen is necessary, since the meaning is clear without it. But tomorrow you may write. I will send you twenty five dollar bills. The reader cannot tell whether you mean twenty five-dollar bills or twenty-five dollar bills. In the first sentence the use of the hyphen in twenty-one did not make much difference. In the second sentence the hyphen makes seventy-five dollars' worth of difference. Thus the instructor, in asking you to write, He is twenty-one years old, is helping you to form a habit that will save you from serious error in other sentences. Whenever you cannot understand the reason for a rule, ask yourself whether the usage of many clear-thinking men for long years past may not be protecting you from difficulties which you do not foresee. Instructors and writers of text books (impressive as is the evidence to the contrary) are human, and do not invent rules to puzzle you. They do not, in fact, invent rules at all, but only make convenient applications of principles which generations of writers have found to be wisest and best.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

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COMPLETENESS OF THOUGHT

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The first thing to make certain is that the thought of a sentence is complete. A fragment which has no meaning when read alone, or a sentence from which is omitted a necessary word, phrase, or idea, violates an elementary principle of writing.

Fragments Wrongly Used as Sentences

1. Do not write a subordinate part of a sentence as if it were a complete sentence.

Wrong: He stopped short. Hearing some one approach.

Right: He stopped short, hearing some one approach. [Or] Hearing some one approach, he stopped short.

Wrong: The winters are cold. Although the summers are pleasant.

Right: Although the summers are pleasant, the winters are cold.

Wrong: The hunter tried to move the stone. Which he found very heavy.

Right: The hunter tried to move the stone, which he found very heavy. [Or] The hunter tried to move the stone. He found it very heavy.

Note.—A sentence must in itself express a complete thought. Phrases or subordinate clauses, if used alone, carry only an incomplete meaning. They must therefore be attached to a sentence, or restated in independent form. Elliptical expressions used in conversation may be regarded as exceptions: Where? At what time? Ten o'clock. By no means. Certainly. Go.

Exercise:

My next experience was in a grain elevator. Where I worked for two summers.

The parts of a fountain pen are: first, the point. This is gold. Second, the body.

The form is set rigidly. So that it will not be displaced when the concrete is thrown in.

There are several reasons to account for the swarming of bees. One of these having already been mentioned.

Since June the company has increased its trade three per cent. Since August, five per cent.

Incomplete Constructions

2. Do not leave uncompleted a construction which you have begun.

Wrong: You remember that in his speech in which he said he would oppose the bill.

Right: You remember that in his speech he said he would oppose the bill. [Or] You remember the speech in which he said he would oppose the bill.

Wrong: He was a young man who, coming from the country, with ignorance of city ways, but with plenty of determination to succeed.

Right: He was a young man who, coming from the country, was ignorant of city ways, but had plenty of determination to succeed.

Wrong: From the window of the train I perceived one of those unsightly structures.

Right: From the window of the train I perceived one of those unsightly structures which are always to be seen near a station.

Exercise:

As far as his having been deceived, there is a difference of opinion on that matter.

The fact that he was always in trouble, his parents wondered whether he should remain in school or not.

People who go back to the scenes of their childhood everything looks strangely small.

It was the custom that whenever a political party came into office, for the incoming men to discharge all employees of the opposite party.

Although the average man, if asked whether he could shoot a rabbit, would answer in the affirmative, even though he had never hunted rabbits, would find himself badly mistaken.

Necessary Words Omitted

3. Do not omit a word or a phrase which is necessary to an immediate understanding of a sentence.

Ambiguous: I consulted the secretary and president. [Did the speaker consult one man or two?]

Right: I consulted the secretary and the president. [Or] I consulted the man who was president and secretary.

Ambiguous: Water passes through the cement as well as the bricks.

Right: Water passes through the cement as well as through the bricks.

Wrong: I have had experience in every phase of the automobile.

Right: I have had experience in every phase of automobile driving and repairing.

Wrong: About him were men whom he could not tell whether they were friends or foes.

Right: About him were men regarding whom he could not tell whether they were friends or foes. [Or, better] About him were men who might have been either friends or foes.

Exercise:

When still a small boy, my family moved to Centerville.

Constantly in conversation with some one broadens our ideas and our vocabulary.

It was a trick which opposing teams were sure to be baffled.

They departed for the battle front with the knowledge they might never return.

At the banquet were all classes of people; I met a banker and plumber.

Comparisons

4. Comparisons must be completed logically.

Wrong: His speed was equal to a racehorse.

Wrong: Of course my opinion is worth less than a lawyer.

Wrong: The shells which are used in quail hunting are different than in rabbit hunting.

Compare a thing with another thing, an abstraction with another abstraction. Do not carelessly compare a thing with a part or quality of another thing. Always ask yourself: What is compared with what?

Right: His speed was equal to that of a racehorse.

Right: Of course my opinion is worth less than a lawyer's.

Right: The shells used in quail hunting are different from those used in rabbit hunting.

Self-contradictory: Chicago is larger than any city in Illinois.

Right: Chicago is larger than any other city in Illinois.

Impossible: Chicago is the largest of any other city in Illinois.

Right: Chicago is the largest of all the cities in Illinois. [Or] Chicago is the largest city in Illinois.

Note.—After a comparative, the subject of the comparison should be excluded from the class with which it is compared; after a superlative, the subject of the comparison should be included within the class.

Wrong:

taller of all the girls.

tallest of any girl.

Right:

taller than any other girl [comparative].

tallest of all the girls [superlative].

Exercise:

The climate of America helps her athletes to become superior to other countries.

This tobacco is the best of any other on the market.

You men are paid three dollars more than any other factory in the city.

I thought I was best fitted for an engineering course than any other.

Care should be taken not to turn in more cattle than the grass in the pasture.

Cause and Reason

5. A simple statement of fact may be completed by a because clause.

Right: I am late because I was sick.

But a statement containing the reason is must be completed by a that clause.

Wrong: The reason I am late is because I was sick. [The reason is not a because; the reason is the fact of sickness.]

Right: The reason I am late is that I was sick.

Because, the conjunction, may introduce an adverbial clause only.

Wrong: Because a man wears old clothes is no proof that he is poor. [A because clause cannot be the subject of is.]

Right: The fact that a man wears old clothes is no proof that he is poor. [Or] The wearing of old clothes is not proof that a man is poor.

Note.—Because of, owing to, on account of, introduce adverbial phrases only. Due to and caused by introduce adjectival phrases only.

Wrong: He failed, due to weak eyes. [Due is an adjective; it cannot modify a verb.]

Right: His failure was

due to

caused by

because of

weak eyes.

Right: He failed

owing to

on account of

weak eyes.

Exercise:

The reason why I would not buy a Ford car is because it is too light.

My second reason for coming here is because of social advantages.

Because John is rich does not make him happier than I.

Because I like farming is the reason I chose it.

The only reason why vegetation does not grow here is because of the lack of water.

is when or is where Clauses

6. Do not use a when or where clause as a predicate noun. Do not define a word by saying it is a when or a where. Define a noun by another noun, a verb by another verb, etc.

Wrong: The great event is when the train arrives.

Right: The great event is the arrival of the train.

Wrong: Immigration is where foreigners come into a country.

Right: Immigration is the entering of foreigners into a country.

Wrong: A simile is when one object is compared with another.

Right: A simile is a figure of speech in which one object is compared with another.

Note.—A definition of a term is a statement which (1) names the class to which the term belongs, and (2) distinguishes it from other members of the class. Example. A quadrilateral is a plane figure having four sides and four angles. To test a definition ask whether it separates the term defined from all other things. If the definition does not do this, it is incomplete. Define California (so as to exclude other states), window (so as to exclude door), star (exclude moon), night, rain, circle, Bible, metal, mile, rectangle.

Exercise:

The pistol shot is when the race begins.

A snob is when a man treats others as inferior socially.

The wireless telegraph is where messages are sent a long distance through the air.

The definition of usury is where one charges interest higher than the legal rate.

Biology is when one studies plant and animal life.

Undeveloped Thought

7. Do not halfway express an idea. If the idea is important, develop it. If it is not important, omit it.

Incomplete: We were now quite sure that we had lost our way, and Jack said he had a business engagement that night.

Better: We were now quite sure that we had lost our way, a fact which was all the more annoying as Jack said he had a business engagement that night.

Puzzling: Since McAndrew had inherited money, his suitcase was plastered with labels.

Right: Since McAndrew had inherited money, he had traveled extensively. His suitcase was plastered with the labels of foreign hotels.

Careless: In looking for gasoline troubles, we forgot to see whether the tank was supplied.

Right: In looking for the cause of the trouble, we forgot to see whether the tank was supplied with gasoline.

Note.—In giving information about books, do not confuse the title with the contents or some part of the contents. Be accurate in referring to the time, scene, action, plot, or characters.

Loose thinking: Shakespeare's Hamlet occurs in Denmark [The scene is laid?]. Many passages are powerful, especially the grave-digging [Is grave-digging a passage?].

The character of Horatio is a noble fellow [conception], and the same is true of Ophelia [Ophelia a fellow?]. The drama takes place over several weeks. [The action covers a period of several weeks.]

Exercise:

The victrola brings to the home the world's musical ability.

The user of Dietzgen instruments is not vexed by numerous troubles that accompany the inferior makes.

To the picnicker rainy weather is bad weather, while the farmer raises a big crop.

Some diseases can be checked by preventives, and in many cases can be of great use to an army.

This idea of breaking all records held for eating is naturally harmful to the digestion, and these important organs may thank their stars that Christmas does not come very often.

Transitions

The state of mind of a writer is not the state of mind of his reader. The writer knows his ideas, and has spent much time with them. The reader meets these ideas for the first time, and must gather them in at a glance. The relation between two ideas may be clear to the writer, and not at all clear to the reader. Therefore,

8. In passing from one thought to another, make the connection clear. If necessary, insert a word, a phrase, or even a sentence, to carry the reader safely across.

Space transition needed: We were surprised to see a house in the distance, but we went to the door and knocked. [This sentence does not give a reader the effect of distance.]

Better: We were surprised to see a house in the distance. But we hastened toward it with thoughts of a warm meal and a good lodging. We entered the yard, and went up to the door, and knocked.

Exterior-interior transition needed: We noticed that the house was built