b. Avoid the frequent use of the parenthesis in the sentence.
Bad: This is a city (it is called a city, though it has but twelve hundred people) that has no school-house.
2. Avoid all slipshod construction of sentences.
a. Avoid adding a clause to an apparently complete thought.
| Bad: That is not an easy problem, I think. |
| Good: That, I think, is not an easy problem. |
| Good: I do not think that is an easy problem. |
| Bad: He could not be elected mayor again under any circumstances, at least so I am told. |
| Good: He could not, I am told, be elected mayor again under any circumstances. |
| Good: I am told that he could not under any circumstances be elected mayor again. |
b. Avoid long straggling sentences.
Poor: The students often gathered to watch the practice of the team, but, just before the last game, the management excluded almost all, and only a few who had influence were allowed to enter, and this favoritism caused much hard feeling and disgust, so that the students were reluctant to support the team, and lost most of their interest, a fact which had a bad effect on the athletics of the institution.
3. Unite into one sentence short sentences and clauses that are closely and logically connected with one another.
| Bad: That it is a good school is not without proof. Its diploma admits to all colleges. |
| Good: That it is a good school is not without proof, for its diploma admits to all colleges. |
| Good: That its diploma admits to all colleges is proof that it is a good school. |