How to Write Clearly, Edwin A. Abbott [most recommended books TXT] 📗

be reversed" can be expressed in one word; or else "the supreme … reversed" may be condensed into a personification: "a very Minos of contemporary criticism."

22. "With the intention of fulfilling his promise, and (40 a) intending also to clear himself from the suspicion that attached to him, he determined to ascertain how (40 a) far this testimony was corroborated, and (a) (40 a) the motives of the prosecutor, (b) (43) who had begun the suit last Christmas."

(a) "what were." (b) Begin a new sentence, "The latter &c.," or "The suit had been begun &c."

23. "The Jewish nation, relying on the teaching of their prophets, looked forward to a time when its descendants should be as numerous as the heavenly (11) bodies, and when the products (a) (11) of the earth should be so increased as to create an abundant (54) plenty, when each man should rest beneath the shade of his own (a) (11) trees, and when the instruments (11) of war should be converted to the (11) uses of peace."

(a) Mention some "products," "trees" of Palestine.

24. "He replied (32), when he was asked the reason for his sudden unpopularity, that he owed it to his refusal to annul the commercial treaty, (a) (8) which(10 a') gave great displeasure to the poorer classes."

(a) Point out the ambiguity, and remove it by (8) or (10 a').

25. "I saw my old schoolfellow again by mere accident when I was in London at the time of the first Exhibition, (19) walking down Regent Street and looking in at the shops."

Point out and remove the ambiguity.

26. "He remained in the House while his speech was taken into consideration; which (52) was a common practice with him, because the debates amused his sated mind, and indeed he used to say (a) (6 b) that they were sometimes as good as a comedy. His Majesty had certainly never seen a more (17) sudden turn in any comedy of intrigue, either at his own play-house or the Duke's, than that which this memorable debate produced."

(a) "and were sometimes, he used to say, as good &c."

27. "The Commons would not approve the war (20) expressly; neither did they as yet condemn it (20) expressly; and (a) (18) the king might even have obtained a supply for continuing hostilities (19) from them, on condition of (b) redressing grievances connected with the (c) administration of affairs at home, among which the Declaration of Indulgence was a very important (d) (15_a_) one."

(a) Write "they were even ready to grant the king &c." (b) Use the verb with a subject, (c) Condense all this into one adjective, meaning "that which takes place at home." (d) End with a noun, "importance," or "foremost place."

28. "Next to thinking clearly, (a) (5) it is useful to speak clearly, and whatever your position in life may hereafter be it cannot be such (54) as not to be improved by this, (b) so that it is worth while making almost any effort to acquire (c) it, if it is not a natural gift: (d) it being an undoubted (d) fact that the effort to acquire it must be successful, to some extent at least, if (d) it be moderately persevered in."

(a) "Next in utility … comes speaking clearly—a power that must be of assistance to you &c." (b)" If, therefore, you cannot speak clearly by nature, you &c." (c) "this power." (d) Omit "fact;" "for undoubtedly, with moderate perseverance &c."

29. "It (a) (38) appears to me (15) a greater victory than Agincourt, a grander triumph of wisdom and faith and courage than even the English constitution or (b) liturgy, to have beaten back, or even fought against and stemmed in ever so small a degree, those basenesses that (c) (10_a_) beset human nature, which are now held so invincible that the influences of them are assumed as the fundamental axioms of economic science."

(a) Begin with "To have beaten &c.," and end with "liturgy." (b) Repeat for clearness and emphasis, "the English." (c) "The besetting basenesses of &c."

30. "The (a) (2) unprecedented impudence of our youthful representative reminds us forcibly of the unblushing and (54) (40) remarkable effrontery (c) (which (26) he almost succeeds in equalling) of the Member for St. Alban's, whom our (b) (1) neophyte (b) (1) alluded to, in the last speech with which he favoured those whom (47_a_) he represents, (19) as his pattern and example."

(a) Show that "unprecedented" is inconsistent with what follows. (b) What is the meaning of "neophyte," "alluded to"? (c) Begin a new sentence, "Our young adventurer &c.," and end with "and he almost succeeds in equalling his master."

31. "The (a) (1) veracity of this story is questionable, and there is the more reason for doubting the (a) (1) truth of the narrator, because in his remarks on the (1) observation of the Sabbath he distinctly (a) (1) alludes to a custom that can be shown never to have existed."

(a) Distinguish between "veracity" and "truth," "observation" and "observance." Show the inconsistency between "allude" and "distinctly."

32. "It (a) (5) is a most just distribution, (10 a) which the late Mr. Tucker has dwelt upon so (b) largely in his works, between pleasures in which we are passive, and pleasures in which we are active. And I believe every attentive observer of human life will assent to (c) this position, that however (d) grateful the sensations may occasionally be in which we are passive, it is not these, but the latter class of our pleasures, (8) which constitutes satisfaction, (e) (38) which supply that regular stream of moderate and miscellaneous enjoyments in (10 c) which happiness, as distinguished from voluptuousness, consists."

(a) "There is great justice in &c." (b) Omit "so." (c) "admit." (d) Not often now used in this sense. (e) Repeat the antecedent, "I mean those (pleasures) &c."

33. "The prince seemed to have before him a limitless (54) prospect of unbounded prosperity, carefully (33) trained for the (a) tasks of the throne, and stimulated by the (a) pattern of his father, (b) who (43) breathed his (3) last suddenly at the age of sixty-two, just after the conclusion of the war."

(a) Find more appropriate words. (b) Begin a new sentence.

34. "On his way, he visited a son of an old friend (a) (25) who had asked him to call upon him on his journey northward. He (b) (5) was overjoyed to see him, and (c) he sent for one of his most intelligent workmen and told (d) him to consider himself at (e) his service, (30) as he himself could not take (f) him as he (g) wished about the city."

(a) If you mean that the "son" had "asked him," write "An old friend's son who;" if you mean that the "friend" had "asked him," write "He had been asked by an old friend to call, on his journey northward, upon his son. Accordingly he visited him on his way." (b) Use, instead of he, some name meaning "one who entertains others." (c) Use participle, (d) "The man." (e) "the stranger's." (f) "his guest." (g) Write "could have wished" to make it clear that "he" means "the host."

35. "Tillotson died in this year. He was exceedingly beloved both by King William and by Queen Mary (43), who nominated Dr. Tennison, Bishop of Lincoln, to succeed him."

36. "(a) The entertainment was arranged with a magnificence that was (b) perfectly stupendous and (c) most unprecedented, and which quite kept up his Lordship's unrivalled reputation for unparalleled hospitality, and, thanks to the unequalled energy of Mr. Smith, who is rapidly becoming one of the most effective toast-masters in the kingdom, the toasts were given with a spirit quite unexampled on occasions of this nature; and indeed we were forcibly reminded in this respect of the inimitable entertainment of three years ago (2)."

(a) Omit most of the epithets, or soften them down. Point out the contradictions in the sentence as it stands. (b) Write "a remarkable magnificence that quite &c.," thus dispensing with the following "and." (c) Show that "most" is superfluous.

37. "If we compare Shakespeare with the other dramatic authors of the Elizabethan era, his wonderful superiority to them in the (15) knowledge of human nature is what (15 a) principally strikes us."

38. "The prince found himself at once in sore perplexity how to provide himself with the commonest comforts or even necessaries of life, when he landed on this desolate coast, being (33) accustomed to luxury."

39. "This make-shift policy recommended itself to the succeeding ministers (a) (50), both because they were timid and because they were prejudiced, and they were delighted to excuse (b) (13) themselves by quoting the example of one who (c) (34) had controlled the Liberals and humoured the Conservatives, (37) commended himself to the country at large by his unfailing good-humour, and (d) (44) (37) done nothing worthy of the name of statesman."

(a) "to the timidity and prejudices of &c." (b) "shelter themselves behind." (c) "while he had at once." (d) "had yet done."

40. "William Shakespeare was the sun among the lesser lights of English poetry, and a native of Stratford-on-Avon (14 a)."

41. "(15 b) I think, gentlemen, you must confess that any one of you would have done the same (32), if you had been tempted as I was then, placed starving and ragged among wasteful luxury and comfort, deliberately instigated to acts of dishonesty by those whom I had been taught from infancy to love, (a) praised when I stole, mocked or punished when I failed to (15 a) do (b) so."

(a) Insert another infinitive beside "love." "Love" produces "obedience." (b) Repeat the verb instead of "do so."

42. "So far from being the first (54) aggressor, he not (22) only refused to prosecute his old friend when a favourable opportunity presented itself for revenging himself thus upon him, but also his friend's adviser, John Smith. Smith (a) at all (23) events suspected, if he did not know of the coming danger, and had given no information of it."

(a) If "at all events" qualifies "Smith," the sentence must be altered. "Yet, however innocent his friend may have been, at all events Smith suspected…." If the words qualify "suspected," place them after "suspected."

43. "It is quite true that he paid 5_s._ per day to English navvies, and even 6s., (19) in preference to 2_s._ 6_d._ to French navvies."

44. "Having climbed to the apex of the Righi to enjoy the spectacle of the sun-rise, I found myself so incommoded by a number of illiterate individuals who had emerged from the hotel for a (a) (1) similar purpose, that I determined to quit them at the earliest practicable period; and therefore, without stopping to partake of breakfast, I wended my way back with all possible celerity." (3)