One of the means by which Macaulay secured that clearness which distinguishes all his writings is noted by a later historian. "I learned from Macaulay," says Mr. Freeman, 'never to be afraid of using the same word or name over and over again, if by that means anything could be added to clearness or force. Macaulay never goes on, like some writers, talking about 'the former' and 'the latter;' 'he,' 'she,' 'it,' 'they' through clause after clause, while his reader has to look back to see which of several persons it is that is so darkly referred to. From the point of view of clearness, it is always better to repeat a noun than to substitute for it a pronoun which fails to suggest that noun unmistakeably and at once. No fault is, however, more common than the use of an obscure or equivocal pronoun.
Examples: "I must go and help Alice with the heifer; she is not very quiet yet, and I see her going out with her pail."
Corrected: "I must go and help Alice with the heifer; the heifer is not very quiet yet, and I see Alice going out with her pail."
Example: "Steele's father, who is said to have been a lawyer, died before he had reached his sixth year."
Corrected: "Steele's father, who is said to have been a lawyer, died before his son had reached his sixth year."
Example: "There was also a number of cousins, who were about the same age, and were always laughing, though it was never quite clear what it was about."
Corrected: * * * * "though it was never quite clear what their laughing was about."
Example: "Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty emperor in whose dominions the Fathers of Waters begins his course; whose bounty pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over half the world the harvests of Egypt."
Corrected: * * * "the rivers bounty pours down, etc." (Hill's Rhetoric, p. 84-5.)
Let the student, then, remember this the first essential to thought-expression in speech or writing is clearness. It is not enough that one may be understood, one must be understood—less than this is dire failure. To secure the quality of clearness in thought-expression sacrifice anything, everything, seeming elegance, high sounding phrases, harmonious sounding sentences, brave tautology even, but make yourself understood.