GRAMMATICAL ORDER.

I shall attempt neither to palliate nor deny the atrocious crime of being a young man.

The gate is wide and the way is broad that leadeth to destruction.

They could take their rest, for they knew that Lord Stratford watched. They feared him, they trusted him, they obeyed him.

The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, and the wild sea-mew shrieks.

RHETORICAL ORDER.

The atrocious crime of being a
young man I shall attempt nei-
ther to palliate nor deny.
Wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruc-
tion.

They could take their rest, for
they knew that Lord Stratford
watched. Him they feared,
him they trusted, him they
obeyed.

The night-winds sigh, the break

ers roar,

And shrieks the wild sea-mew.

III. THE QUALITIES OF STYLE.

46. The principal qualities of style are perspicuity, energy, and melody.

47. Perspicuity, or clearness of expression, is such a use of words that they may readily be understood by those to whom they are addressed.

48. Its Sources. The principal sources of perspicuity are simplicity and precision.

49. Simplicity of style arises from the choice of simple words, and from such an arrangement of words in sentences. as adapts them to easy comprehension. The works of De Foe, Bunyan, Addison, Franklin, and Washington Irving illustrate this quality.

I. Simplicity, in so far as it depends on diction, is best obtained by the employment of specific and concrete terms rather than those that are general or abstract. It is also secured by the use of Anglo-Saxon words (see Def. 61) rather than those of classical origin. And it is to be observed that there is an intimate relation between these two sources of simplicity; for it will be found that most specific and concrete terms are of Anglo-Saxon, and most general and abstract terms of classical, origin. This is well illustrated in the following passage from an essay by Henry Rogers: "Move and motion are gen

eral terms of Latin origin; but all the special terms for expressing varieties of motion are Anglo-Saxon, as run, walk, leap, stagger, slip, step, slide. Color is Latin; but white, black, green, yellow, blue, red, brown, are Anglo-Saxon. Crime is Latin; but murder, theft, robbery, to lie, to steal, are AngloSaxon. Member and organ, as applied to the body, are Latin and Greek; but ear, eye, hand, foot, lip, mouth, teeth, hair, finger, nostril, are Anglo-Saxon. Animal is Latin; but man, horse, cow, sheep, dog, cat, calf, goat, are Anglo-Saxon. Number is Latin; but all our cardinal and ordinal numbers, as far as a million, are Anglo-Saxon."

II. Simplicity, in so far as it depends on the structure of sentences, is best obtained by the use of short rather than long sentences, and of the loose sentence rather than the period (see Def. 57), and by an easy, natural, and inartificial arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses.

50. Precision consists in the selection of such words as may exhibit neither more nor less than the meaning which the writer intends to convey.

51. Its Violations. The most frequent violations of precision are: I. By the faulty use of synonymous words; II. By the improper use of words; III. By the use of vague words; IV. By tautology; V. By circumlocution.

I. By the faulty use of synonymous words, as where modest
(which refers to the habit of mind, and is commendable) is
used for bashful (which refers to the state of feeling, and is
reprehensible).

II. By the improper use of words, as I would not demean my-
self," where "demean," which signifies behave, is, by confusion
arising from the root mean, used for debase or lower.
III. By the use of vague words, as affair, circumstance, remarka-
ble, where used in place of definite and specific words.
IV. By tautology, or the repetition of the same idea in different
words, as “They returned back again to the same place from
whence they came forth;" which is reducible to “They re-
turned to the place whence they departed." A critic has
pointed out that Dr. Johnson's couplet,

"Let observation with extensive view

Survey mankind from China to Peru,"

66

is equivalent to Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively."

V. By circumlocution, or a roundabout mode of speech, in which words are multiplied to an unnecessary extent. The following is an example of circumlocution:

"Pope professed to have learned his poetry from Dryden, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, he praised through the whole period of his existence with unvarying liberality; and perhaps his character may receive some illustration, if a comparison be instituted between him and the man whose pupil he was.”—DR. JOHNSON. Condensed thus by Bain:

"Pope professed himself the pupil of Dryden, whom he lost no opportunity of praising; and his character is illustrated by a comparison with his master."

52. Energy (variously termed by writers on rhetoric vigor, force, strength, vivacity, and persuasiveness) is that quality of style which conduces to arouse the attention, enforce argument, stimulate imagination, and excite the feelings. It is the vital element in style.

I. Among the requisites of energy are simplicity (the simplest words being often the strongest), conciseness, and precision. II. Another important device for securing energy of style is the use of specific and concrete terms rather than of general and abstract terms.

53. Melody, harmony, or music of language is that quality in style which gives pleasure by the use of euphonious words and rhythmical arrangements.

I. While the "harmony of sweet sounds" is an essential of
verse, it is influential in prose also. Prose has its rhythm
as well as poetry, only it is less artificial and more varied.
"Rhythm in prose," says De Mille, "may be defined as the
alternate swelling and lessening of sound at certain intervals.
It refers to the general effect of sentences and paragraphs,
where the words are chosen and arranged so as not only to
express the meaning of the writer, but also to furnish a mu-
sical accompaniment which shall at once delight the ear by
its sound, and help out the sense by its suggestiveness.”
II. The following passage from De Quincey has relation to the
subject of prose rhythm, and is further interesting as in itself
an illustration of rhythmic prose:

"Where, out of Sir Thomas Browne, shall we hope to find music so Miltonic, an intona-
tion of such solemn chords as are struck in the following opening bar of a passage in
the Urn-Burial: 'Now since these bones have rested quietly in the grave, under the
drums and tramplings of three conquests,' etc. What a melodious ascent as of a prel-
ude to some impassioned requiem breathing from the pomps of the earth and from
the sanctities of the grave! What a fluctus decumanus of rhetoric! Time expounded

not by generations or centuries, but by vast periods of conquests and dynasties; by cycles of Pharaohs and Ptolemies, Antiochi and Arsacides! And these vast successions of time distinguished and figured by the uproars which revolve at their inaugurations-by the drums and tramplings rolling overhead upon the chambers of forgotten dead- the trepidations of time and mortality vexing, at secular intervals, the everlasting Sabbaths of the grave!''

III.

TYPES OF SENTENCES.

54. Classification.-Sentences are classified grammatically and rhetorically. Grammatically, they are divided, as regards structure, into simple, complex, and compound; and, as regards use, into declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative. Rhetorically, they are divided into loose sentences and periods.

55. Divisions by Structure.-A simple sentence consists of one independent proposition; a complex sentence consists of one independent (or principal) proposition and one or more clauses;' a compound sentence consists of two or more independent propositions.

56. Divisions by Use. - A declarative sentence is one that expresses an assertion (that is, an affirmation or a negation); an interrogative sentence is one that expresses a question; an imperative sentence is one that expresses a command or an entreaty; an exclamative sentence is one that expresses a thought in an interjectional manner.

57. A loose sentence consists of parts which may be separated without destroying the sense. Thus:

The Puritans looked down with contempt on the rich and the eloquent, on nobles | and priests.

I. The above is a loose sentence, because if we pause at any of the places marked, the sense is grammatically complete. Sometimes, as in this instance, it is necessary to supply ellipses in order to make the latter part complete; in other cases,

'The term clause is in this book always used in the sense of a dependent or subordinate proposition, introduced by a connective. It is never applied to the independent members of a compound sentence.

as in the following, the latter part will make complete sense alone: "It seems, gentlemen, that this is an age of reason; the time and the person have at last arrived that are to dissipate the errors of past ages." Here a full stop might be put after "reason," and the following word begun with a capital, thus converting the sentence into two sentences. II. Some writers so punctuate as to appear to write very long sentences, which are really only a union of short ones in one long loose sentence. Other writers (as Macaulay) are in the habit of breaking up loose sentences into their constituent parts and punctuating them as separate sentences. This practice gives rise to what the French call the style coupé.

58. A period is a sentence in which the complete sense is suspended until the close. Thus:

On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, the Puritans looked down with contempt.

I. Periods, in the strict sense of the definition, are not very nu-
merous, for in most periodic sentences a complete meaning
is reached somewhat before the close. Thus the first sen-
tence of Paradise Lost, if stopped at “heavenly Muse," would
be a period; continued to “in prose or rhyme," it is, strictly
speaking, loose. Nevertheless, sentences which, though not
absolutely periods, yet tend towards that type, are said to be
periodic in structure.

II. Balanced Sentence.-The term balanced sentence is applied
to a sentence in which the words, phrases, and clauses in one
part correspond with the words, phrases, and clauses in an-
other part. The balanced sentence generally consists of a
series of antitheses, and in this case it is identical with the
figure named parison, or isocolon. (See Def., p. xiii.)
III. It often happens that the cardinal distinction between the
style of two writers is simply a difference in the prevailing
type of sentence into which the writers cast their thoughts.
Thus, marked as is the contrast between the style of Hume
and that of Gibbon, analysis will show that the principal char-
acteristic of Hume's style is his habitual use of the loose sen-
tence, and of Gibbon's his habitual use of the period.