unite to make it complete. Thoughts having little connection should not be presented in the same sentence. Improve the sentences below, by making as many sentences as there are complete thoughts.

1. After we reached the station the conductor assisted me to the platform where I found my friends who had come to see me as the news of my coming had preceded [After we reached the station the conductor assisted me to the platform. There I found my friends who had come to see me, as the news of my coming had preceded me.]

me.

2. Their march was through an uncultivated country, whose savage inhabitants fared badly, having no other riches than a breed of lean sheep, whose flesh was rank and unsavory by reason of their continual feeding upon sea-fish, and having no other water than that afforded by the brackish streams.

3. Neither is any condition of life more honorable in the sight of God than another, otherwise He would be a respecter of persons, which He has often assured us He is not.

4. For, notwithstanding his having gone in winter to Moscow, where he found the cold excessive, which confined him without intermission six weeks to his room, we could not induce him to return home.

5. Men who have looked at the different kinds of rocks and have studied the work of the sea, the tides, and the waves, have tried to make a science of it all; and this science they call geology, which is a delightful and most instructive study.

6. Christopher Columbus, old and very poor, died at Valladolid in 1506, which was thirteen years after the discovery of San Salvador, where thousands of the Indians had been killed by the cruel Spaniards, who desired to satisfy their selfish greed for gold.

XIII. BREVITY. — SUPERFLUOUS WORDS.

Brevity in writing is a main element of force.

Be careful not to repeat the same word needlessly, nor the same meaning in different words.

1. The time for learning is in the time of youth.

I.

2.

The time for learning is in the period of youth.

In these two sentences the italicized words are the same, or have the same meaning. Omitting the superfluous words, the sentences become, "Youth is the time for learning."

Exercise.

Omit all unnecessary words in the following sen

tences:

1. A second round was again fired.

2. An idle man is generally looked upon with eyes of distrust and aversion.

3. Every man on the face of the earth has duties to perform.

4.

Before you write you must first think what to say. 5. I looked for mistakes throughout the whole essay, could find none.

6. He seldom ever has his lesson.

but

7. The past two months have brought us an abundant plenty of rain.

8. For the first time he gazed upon the limitless expanse of the boundless prairie.

9.

Is it the universal desire of all in the class to have a half holiday?

10. She has a very winsome and charming manner, although her face is plain and not handsome.

II. By the Portuguese law every person is legally obliged to join the army.

12.

13.

I like the old original tongue best.
Did you see that poor widow woman?

1. By the omission of conjunctions which are readily understood; as:

Break the latch; [and] force open the door.

2. By avoiding the repetition of a subject common to several verbs; as:

He rushed amidst them with his sword drawn, [he] threw them into confusion, [he] pushed his advantage, and [he] obtained a complete victory.

3. By avoiding the repetition of an object common to several verbs; as:

All desire [a happy old age], but not many attain, a happy old age.

4. By omitting in the last part of a sentence a verb which has been expressed in the first part; as:

Reading makes a full man; conference, [makes] a ready man; and writing, [makes] an exact man.

Exercise.

Make the following sentences briefer and more forcible by the omission of words:

1. The Egyptians gave us architecture and agriculture; the Hebrews gave us religion; the Hindoos gave us philos

ophy; the Arabs gave us mathematics; the Chinese gave us filial reverence; the Greeks gave us beauty; the Romans gave us law.

2. Charles Dickens, a noted English novelist, was born in 1812; and he died in 1870.

3.

It is by instinct that birds build their nests, and bees build their honeycombs, and beavers build their dams and huts.

4. After he had disposed of his merchandise, he bought a cargo of grain, and he then set sail, and he came to another port where he soon sold this second cargo.

5. Is there anything in the world more active than water as it rushes along in the swift torrent, or as it spouts up in the fountain, or as it beats against the sea-cliff?

6. Be ready to aid such people as need help and deserve help.

7. Death does not spare the rich, and as little does death spare the poor.

8. In his family he was dignified and gentle, and in his public life he was dignified and gentle also.

9. One sun shines by day, by night ten thousand suns shine.

10. The shrub is taller than the flower which grows in its shade; the tree is taller than the shrub; the rock is taller than the tree; the mountain is taller than the single rock; and above all are the sun and the heavens.

II. It has wonderful ferns, it has dark caves, and it has beautiful grottoes.

XV. BREVITY.— WORDS INSTEAD OF PHRASES OR

CLAUSES.

Brevity, and hence force, is secured by using a word instead of a phrase, or a word or a phrase instead of a clause.

Exercises.

I. Make the following sentences briefer and more forcible:

1. The soil in this region is of such a nature that little can be raised. [A more forcible sentence would be, The soil in this region is barren.]

2. A spoon which was made of wood and a plate which was made of pewter were his only utensils. [A wooden spoon and a pewter plate were his only utensils.]

3. When he heard of the dangerous position in which we were placed, he hastened at once to our relief.

4.

heard.

The noise of feet that seemed in a great hurry was

5. The rains which we have had of late, and which have been so heavy, have caused the waters of the rivers to overflow their banks.

6. The seasons, as they change, bring us a variety of fruit.

7. Have you ever read "Little Men"? It was written by Louisa Alcott.

8. When we were at Boston, we went one day to Cambridge. It is in Cambridge that Harvard University is situated. In that city also is to be seen Longfellow's house.

9. The ostrich is unable to fly, because it has not wings in proportion to its body.

10. When darkness broke away, and morning began to dawn, the town wore a strange aspect indeed.

II. Persons that are inclined to be quarrelsome are despised.

12. If he had possessed a sufficient amount of patience, he might have succeeded.

13. As I did not know that you had returned from your vacation, I did not call.