3. Where it is suitable, arrange words and clauses so as to produce a climax; i. e., have the most important come last.

Bad: Human beings, dogs, cats, horses, all living things were destroyed.
Good: Cats, dogs, horses, human beings, all living things were destroyed.

4. Avoid all words which add nothing to the thought.

Bad: He is universally praised by all people.
Good: He is universally praised.
Bad: The darkness was absolutely impenetrable, and not a thing could be seen.
Good: The darkness was absolutely impenetrable.
Bad: Mr. Smith bids me say that he regrets that a slight indisposition in health precludes his granting himself the pleasure of accepting your invitation to come to your house to dine.
Good: Mr. Smith bids me say that he regrets that sickness prevents his accepting your invitation to dine.

Exercise 69

Reconstruct all of the following sentences that violate the principles of emphasis:

  1. Children, women, and men were slain without pity.
  2. I'll prove his guilt by means of marked money, if I can.
  3. Most of the students have done good work, although some have not.
  4. Will you please start up the machine.
  5. Where ignorance leads to a condition of blissful happiness, it would be folly to seek a condition of great wisdom.
  6. A man having foolishly tried to board a moving train yesterday, was killed by being run over.
  7. As a maker of violins he has never had an equal before nor since.
  8. All his friends were collected together.
  9. The field was so wet that we could not play on it, except occasionally.
  10. Few were superior to him as a sculptor.
  11. Railway companies, trolley companies, cable companies, and even hack lines were affected by the change.
  12. Books were his constant companions, and he was with them always.
  13. That great, gaunt mass of stones, rock, and earth, which falls upon your vision at the edge of the horizon of your view, is known by the appellation of Maxon Mountain.
  14. The noise of trains is heard ceaselessly from morning till night, without stopping at all.
  15. He tried to do right so far as we know.
  16. That knowledge is the important thing to gain beyond all else.

94. Euphony. Euphony demands that the sentence be of pleasing sound.