17. I know you better than Mary.
18. She went to the park but I didn't care to.
19. We didn't object to the scheme as much as you.
20. A conservatory is where there are all kinds of flowers.
Exercise 206—Shift in Construction
Sometimes the meaning of the sentence is obscure because there has been a shift in construction. Do not change subject, person, tense, or any grammatical form without a good reason. Remember that and is a coördinate conjunction. If there is an adjective before and, there must be an adjective after it. If a clause precedes, a clause must follow. In other words, and joins two members of exactly the same structure. And may not join one word and a phrase, nor may it join a prepositional and a participial phrase. Both members must be alike. In the following extract, parallel constructions are used correctly. Be able to tell what kinds of elements are used and how they are parallel.
To eat your cake and keep it too; to wear a gown with the air of originality and distinction, and keep a full purse; to have your house display taste and refinement, and be praised as an economical housewife; to dress your children daintily, and save money for their education—use ABC transfer patterns. By their aid you can make an inexpensive waist look like a French blouse, have table linen of unrivaled elegance, and dress your babies in the most approved style. These patterns cost,—some ten, some fifteen cents. They cover the entire field of dress,—waists, tunics, panels, infants' clothes, underwear, men's apparel, and neckwear; and of household articles,—towels, table-linen, and pillow tops.
Recast the following sentences, correcting the shift of construction in each:
1. In the large department stores every clerk is to report on her way to lunch and coming back.
2. When one hears a cry of "Fire," your first thought is to run.