Part 261 (2/2)

PRECEPT VII--Avoid unintelligible, inconsistent, or inappropriate expressions: such as, ”I have observed that the superiority a these coffee-house politicians proceeds froallantry and fashi+on”--”These words do not convey even an _opaque_ idea of the author's ”

PRECEPT VIII--Observe the natural order of things or events, and do not _put the cart before the horse_: as, ”The scribes _taught and studied_ the Law of Moses”--”They can neither _return to nor leave_ their houses”--”He tumbled, _head over heels_, into the water”--”'Pat, how did you carry that quarter of beef?' 'Why, I thrust _it through a stick_, and threw _my shoulder over it_'”

SECTION III--OF PRECISION

Precision consists in avoiding all superfluous words, and adapting the expression exactly to the thought, so as to say, with no deficiency or surplus of terms, whatever is intended by the author Its opposites are noticed in the following precepts

PRECEPT I--Avoid a useless tautology, either of expression or of sentiain_?”--”We returned _back_ ho _into_ the room, I saw _and discovered_ he had fallen _down_ on the floor and could not _rise_ up”--”They have a _o, he _always_ meets me there”--”Where is he _at? In_ there”--”His faithfulness _and fidelity_ should be rewarded”

PRECEPT II--Repeat words as often as an exact exhibition of your ant, if it be not useless The following example does not appear faulty: ”Moral _precepts_ are _precepts_ the reasons of which we see; positive _precepts_ are _precepts_ the reasons of which we do not see”--_Butler's analogy_, p 165

PRECEPT III--Observe the exactof words accounted synonymous, and eent scholar ain_ celebrity, _obtain_ rewards, _win_ prizes, and _get_ high honour, though he _earn_ no , and yet no two of theed

PRECEPT IV--Observe the proper form of each word, and do not confound such as resee,” in treating of the ”Peculiarities of the cockney Dialect,” says, ”The Londoner soious_ for _contiguous; eeniously_ for _ingenuously; luxurious_ for _luxuriant; scrupulosity_ for _scruple; successfully_ for _successively_”--See _Fowler's E Gram_, p 87; and Pref, p vi

PRECEPT V--Think clearly, and avoid absurd or incompatible expressions

Example of error: ”To pursue _those_ remarks, would, _probably_, be of no further _service_ to the learner than _that of burdening his _ peculiarities; _whichinforht's Gram_, p 122

PRECEPT VI--Avoid words that are useless; and, especially, a multiplication of them into sentences, members, or clauses, that may well be spared Example: ”If one could _really_ be a spectator of what is passing in the world _around us_ without taking part in the events, _or sharing in the passions and actual perfore; if we could set ourselves down, as it were, in a private box of the world's great theatre, and quietly look on at the piece that is playing, no more moved than is absolutely implied by sympathy with our fellow-creatures, what a curious, what an a spectacle would life present”--G P R JAMES: ”_The Forger_,” cohty-seven_ words, ”of which _sixty-one_ are entirely unnecessary to the expression of the author's idea, if idea it can be called”--_Holden's Review_

OBSERVATION

Verbosity, as well as tautology, is not so directly opposite to precision, as to conciseness, or brevity From the manner in which lawyers usually multiply terms in order to express their facts _precisely_, it would seem that, with them, precision consists rather in the use of _al instru ridiculous A terse or concise style is very apt to be elliptical: and, in some particular instances, must be so; but, at the same time, the full expression, perhaps, reeable For example: ”A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, _is called_ a dissyllable: a word of three syllables, _is called_ a trisyllable: a word of four or more syllables, _is called_ a polysyllable”--_O B Peirce's Gram_, p

19 Better, perhaps, thus: ”A word of one syllable is called a _monosyllable_; a word of two syllables, a _dissyllable_; a word of three syllables, a _trissyllable_; and a word of four or more syllables, a _polysyllable_”--_Brown's Institutes_, p 17

SECTION IV--OF PERSPICUITY

Perspicuity consists in freedouity It is a quality so essential to every kind of writing, that for the want of it no merit of other name can compensate ”Without this, the richest ornah the dark, and puzzle in stead of pleasing the reader”--_Dr Blair_ Perspicuity, being the e, and an exe defects, seeree of positive beauty We are naturally pleased with a style that frees us fro; that carries us through the subject without embarrassment or confusion; and that always flows like a lih which we can ”see to the very bottom” Many of the errors which have heretofore been pointed out to the reader, are offences against perspicuity Only three or four hints will here be added

PRECEPT I--Place adjectives, relative pronouns, participles, adverbs, and explanatory phrases near enough to the words to which they relate, and in a position which willsentences are deficient in perspicuity: ”Reverence is the veneration paid to superior sanctity, _interree of awe”--_Unknown_ ”The Romans understood liberty, _at least_, as well as we”--See _Murray's Gram_, p 307 ”Taste was never _made to cater_ for vanity”--_J Q

Adams's Rhet_, Vol i, p 119

PRECEPT II--In prose, avoid a poetic collocation of words For exa known If it be attacked, the best way is, to join in the attack”--KAMES: _Art of Thinking_, p 75 This ht be expressed more poetically, but with so known Attacked in this, the assailants join”

PRECEPT III--Avoid faulty ellipses, and repeat all words necessary to preserve the sense The following sentences require the words which are inserted in crotchets: ”Restlessness of mind disqualifies us, both for the enjoyment of peace, and [_for_] the performance of our duty”--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p 166 ”Double Comparatives and [_Double_] Superlatives should be avoided”--_Fowler's E Gram_, 1850, p 489

PRECEPT IV--Avoid the pedantic and sense-di style of charlatans and new theorists, which often demands either a translation or a tedious study, to ible to the ordinary reader For example: ”RULE XL Part 3 An intransitive or receptive _asserter_ in the unli on a word in the possessive case,the sa: And, when it acts the part of an assertive na on a relative, it may have after it a word in the subjective case EXAMPLES:--John's being my _friend_, saveda _slave_ to party prejudice”--_O B Peirce's Gra of this _third part of a Rule_ of syntax, is, in proper English, as follows: ”A participle not transitive, with the possessive case before it, ; and also, when a preposition governs the participle, a noreement with one which precedes” In doctrine, the former clause of the sentence is erroneous: it serves only to propagate false syntax by rule See the fore 531 of this work