48. Q. Who is quoted as authority for the saying that “He who is acquainted with no foreign tongue knows nothing of his own?” A. Goethe.
49. Q. What fact is stated as contradicting this statement? A. Among the most distinguished representatives of the mother tongues of different nations are men who were not general linguists.
50. Q. What is idiom? A. It is the peculiar mould in which the sentences of a given tongue naturally shape themselves.
51. Q. Where do Cicero and Quintilian assert that purity of idiom is to be found chiefly? A. Among women and children.
52. Q. Of what does syntax treat? A. The choice and arrangement of words into sentences according to established usage.
53. Q. Concerning what is there a general agreement in regard to the length of sentences? A. That long sentences are more majestic, short ones more emphatic; continuous long sentences fatigue, continuous short ones distract the mind.
54. Q. What is the only rule generally agreed upon in regard to the close of a sentence? A. Avoid concluding a sentence with an insignificant word.
55. Q. In what three ways, in written speech, are the construction of a sentence, and some peculiarity of thought or some peculiar use of words, indicated to the eye? A. By the use of capital letters, by the use of italics, and by the use of punctuation marks.
56. Q. Relating to what are further specific rules given, belonging to the grammar and rhetoric of speech? A. Verbs, nouns, pronouns, qualifying and descriptive words, connecting words and sentences.