Be particularly careful, moreover, to avoid the sentence which is so long as not to be easily understood, such as the following:—
I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly, and beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that a painter could imagine, consisting of a boy and two girls, the eldest not more than six, and lovely as seraphs, who were going the rounds of the house, singing at every chamber door, until my sudden appearance frightened them into mute bashfulness, so that they remained for a moment playing on their lips with their fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance from under their eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in triumph at their escape.
See how much this passage is improved when the long sentence is broken up into shorter sentences:—
I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly, and beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that a painter could imagine. It consisted of a boy and two girls, the eldest not more than six, and lovely as seraphs. They were going the rounds of the house, singing at every chamber door, but my sudden appearance frightened them into mute bashfulness. They remained for a moment playing on their lips with their fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance from under their eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in triumph at their escape.
Exercise 14.—I. Improve the following passage by combining some of the sentences, making larger complex or compound sentences:—
I explored an old cellar. I noticed a slight break in the wall. The neck of a bottle projected from it. I drew it from its resting place. It proved to be a quaint green glass bottle. It bore a label. The label read "Currant Wine, 1802." I smacked my lips.
I handed the bottle to my companion to open. He pulled the cork out with his teeth. We filled two tumblers. I thanked him. I raised the glass to my lips. I took a deep draught. Instantly I bounded to my feet. My bound would have done credit to an athlete. I made for the spring-house.
"Seems to me," remarked the old tenant of the house,—"seems to me that was horse liniment. I know the smell."
II. Improve the following passage by using a greater number of sentences:—
Once upon a time there were two princes who were twins and they lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in Hellas, where they had fruitful meadows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and great herds of horses and all that men could need to make them blest, and yet they were wretched, because they were jealous of each other, and from the moment they were born began to quarrel.