Revise. The oldest book in the university library, to the best knowledge of the librarians, was printed in 1511. The book was written by Johannes von Kaiserberg Geiler, a preacher of the reformation who was born about the middle of the fifteenth century. This old work is entitled Navicula Sive Speculum Fatuorum, which translated means, The Ship or Mirror of Fools. It is written in Latin and contains many curious and interesting wood cuts. The book is made up largely of sermons.
505. Begin successive sentences with different words.
Dreary. D is the minimum standard for a passing grade. D students compose approximately the lowest twenty-five per cent of every class. D work is that work which is not up to average, and yet is clearly above failure.
Pleasing. D is the minimum standard for a passing grade. Students who are marked D compose approximately the lowest twenty-five per cent of every class. The grade D means that a student’s work is not up to the average, and yet is clearly above failure.
Revise. The military carnival was the largest exhibition of its kind ever attempted at the college. The seats were all filled, and the crowd was kept at a high point of interest throughout the entire show. The whole program was arranged in such a manner that at no time was there a lull in the activities. The opening number was a concert by the military band. The physical training exercises which followed were of the type in which the regiment itself gives the commands and then executes them. The most spectacular feature of the program was the advance to attack.
506. Vary the length of successive sentences.
Monotonous. The new building being erected south of the engineering building will be occupied Monday for the first time. Partition siding has held up the work to some extent. Fifteen hundred feet of partition material is still to be laid. Painting is progressing steadily. The steam fitters’ work is nearly completed. Work done after Monday will be carried on by a night shift. Some work on the halls can be done during class hours. Workmen say that the building was erected in record breaking time. It has taken less than a month to complete the job.
Pleasing. The new building being erected south of the engineering building will be occupied Monday for the first time. Partition siding has held up the work to some extent, and fifteen hundred feet of partition material is still to be laid. Painting is progressing steadily, and the steam fitters’ work is nearly completed. Work done after Monday will be carried on by a night shift, although some work on the halls can be done during class hours. Workmen say that the building was erected in record breaking time. It has taken less than a month to complete the job.
Revise. The seven-hundred-word sentence used by the legislature, however, is merely an example of the prevalent tendency of people to disregard the elementary principles of composition and grammar. Everyone may have a faint recollection of having studied, at some remote period of his career, the important rules of “unity, mass, and coherence.” But in actual practice one too often falls into the habit of expressing thoughts in a rambling and unconnected flow of words, with the expressions embellished by slang and colloquial terms. Individuals use many words, but they usually say little, and the small germ of thought is often hard to find.
507. Turn a loose sentence into a periodic sentence.