Bad: Textbooks are going out of use in the modern law schools, but some schools still use them.
Good: Textbooks are going out of use in the modern law schools, but in some they are still used.
Good: Though textbooks are going out of use in modern law schools, they are still used in some of them.
Bad: One should never try to avoid work in school, for you always increase your trouble by doing so.
Good: One should never try to avoid work in school, for one always increases his trouble by doing so.
Good: One usually only increases his troubles by trying to avoid work in school.

Exercise 68

Point out and correct any lack of coherence that exists in the following sentences:

  1. Chicken lice are troubling all the farmers in the state.
  2. The statute requires that one study three years, and that you pass an examination.
  3. He is home.
  4. Rich and poor, old and young, large and small, good and bad, were in the assemblage.
  5. He both presented me with a gold piece and an increase in salary.
  6. Tell the doctor, if he comes before seven, to call.
  7. When the dog came on the porch, feeling playful, I laid aside my paper.
  8. I only knew John.
  9. The cart was pulled by a man creaking under a heavy load.
  10. John told his father that his coat was too tight for him.
  11. I not only knew the president but also the whole board of directors.
  12. The boxes were full of broken glass with which we made fire.
  13. Mrs. Smith wants washing.
  14. A young woman died very suddenly last Sunday while I was away from home as a result of a druggist's mistake.
  15. He was hit in the discharge of his duty by a policeman.
  16. A dog has been found by Mrs. Jones with one black ear.
  17. In taking the census innumerable errors are made, thus making the result unreliable.
  18. It was a pleasure to see them work and their good nature.
  19. The boy went to the teacher and told him that his trouble was that he used the wrong book.
  20. John was not punished because of his ill health, and he was not entirely to blame for it.
  21. They said they saw them coming before they saw them.
  22. The officers arrested the men and they were then locked up.
  23. You made the same mistake that you now make last week.
  24. Wishing to make no mistake the boy was told by him to see the professor.
  25. It resulted opposite to that in which it was expected.
  26. They are required to report both on their way to work and coming home.
  27. Under his direction we were taught grammar and something of composition was taken up.
  28. Taking all precautions, a watchman is on duty every night.
  29. We tried to study, but didn't do any.
  30. I do not care either to see you or Henry.
  31. He has a number of kennels with many dogs scattered over the farm.
  32. Mrs. X. wants a picture of her children painted very badly.
  33. One of the drawbacks to the work is that time is very scarce, in this way limiting what can be done.
  34. The bicycle was easy to learn to ride, which I did.
  35. Rails are placed along the sides of the bridges, and horses are forbidden to trot over them.
  36. John told Henry that he thought he needed help.
  37. He has to stop for rest, and to avoid getting too far ahead.
  38. Board, room, clothes, laundry, and amusements, are higher there than here.
  39. Mathematics is not only necessary, but also languages.
  40. After having read the proof, it is rolled up, and you mail it back to the printer.
  41. The baskets were unpacked and the girls waited upon them.
  42. They knew all that was to be learned, including John.
  43. We could say that the greater part of us had both seen the Niagara Falls and Canada.
  44. Let him wear a loose shoe that has sore feet.
  45. Being out of work, and as I did not wish to loaf, I started to school.
  46. He tried to study unsuccessfully, and in the end failed.
  47. He built a house for his wife with seven windows.
  48. He sent her an invitation to go for a ride on the back of his business card.
  49. I saw five automobiles the other night sitting on our front door step.
  50. Mrs. Smith was killed last night while cooking in a dreadful manner.
  51. Post cards are both increasing in variety and beauty.
  52. He neither told John nor his father.
  53. Mary told her mother, if she were needed, she would be called.
  54. He bought a horse when ten years old.
  55. The child the parent often rebuked.
  56. Sitting on a chair the entire house could be watched.
  57. Coming along the road a peculiar noise was heard by us.
  58. Under the enforced sanitary laws people ceased to die gradually.
  59. I knew him as a physician when a boy.
  60. He came leading his dog on a bicycle.
  61. When wanted he sent me a letter.

93. Emphasis. Emphasis demands that the sentence be so arranged that the principal idea shall be brought into prominence and the minor details subordinated.

1. Avoid weak beginnings and weak endings in the sentence.

Bad: He was a student who did nothing right as a rule.
Good: He was a student, who, as a rule, did nothing right.

2. A change from the normal order often makes a great change in emphasis.

Normal: A lonely owl shrieked from a thick tree not far back of our camp.
Changed: From a thick tree not far back of our camp a lonely owl shrieked.