The Century Handbook of Writing

by Garland Greever; Easley S. Jones

Exercise:

1. He was gazing at the landscape which he had painted with a smiling face.
2. She turned the steak with a fork which she was cooking for dinner every few minutes.
3. Dickens puts the various experiences he had in the form of a novel when he was a boy.
4. If the roads are made of dirt, the farmer has to wait, if the weather is rainy, till they dry.
5. We received practically very little or none at all experience in writing themes.

[Logical Sequence]

25. Place first in the sentence the idea which naturally comes first in thought or in the order of time.

• Faulty: We went to the station from the house after bidding all goodby.
• Right: We said goodby to all, and went from the house to the station.

Do not begin one idea, abandon it for a second, and then return to the first. Complete one idea at a time.

• Faulty: She looked up as he approached and smoothed her hair. [The writer begins a main clause, changes to a subordinate clause, and then attempts to add more to the main clause. Unfortunately the last two verbs appear to be coördinate.]
• Right: She looked up and smoothed her hair as he approached. [Or] As he approached she looked up, and smoothed her hair.

Ordinarily, let a second thought begin where the first leaves off.

• Faulty: An orange grove requires plenty of water. The young trees will die if they do not have plenty of water. [The order of ideas is: "Grove ... water. Trees ... water." Reverse the order of the second sentence.]
• Right: An orange grove requires plenty of water. For without water the young trees will die. [Now the order of ideas is: "Grove ... water. Water ... trees.">[

Exercise: