L. Length

The length of a composition should be determined by the importance of the subject and the character of the audience. Brevity is usually, though not always, the soul of wit. One rule is, however, universally applicable: "Stop a little before you reach your wit's end."

M. Manuscript

Each school should have a standard form for the preparation of manuscript. It is important that students in all classes observe the following points in this connection:

1. Use the standard paper of the school. 2. Use black ink and good pens.

3. Write legibly.

4. Write on only one side of the paper.

5. Watch your margins.

6. Number each page.

7. Write your name and the title of your theme on each page.

N. Number

The subject should agree with the verb in number and in person.

0. Order

I. Order is heaven's first law. Put your ideas in an order determined by a definite plan. There are several good arrangements:

1. The order of time. Arrange your items in the order in which they occurred.

2. The order of logic. Put the cause first and the resulț last.

3. The order of climax. Begin with the least and end wit] the most striking item.

4. The military order. Put first your second best and en with your best point.

II. Modifiers should stand close to the words they modify. Observe how the shifting of the word "only" shifts the meaning of these sentences:

1. Only John and I go to ball games in the summer. 2. John and I only go to ball games in the summer. 3. John and I go only to ball games in the summer. 4. John and I go to ball games only in the summer.

P. Punctuation

I. Learn by heart the following:

THEOREM: The Fundamental Law of Punctuation is that words, phrases, and clauses which are logically disjoined shall be set off by marks of punctuation.

COROLLARY I. From this fundamental law is derived the Law of Isolating Parenthetical Expressions. This provides that vocatives, explanatory expressions, and non-restrictive clauses shall be set off by commas.

COROLLARY II. The need of having large marks to distinguish large breaks in syntax from small results in the Law of Gradation, which requires that we shall use a period at the end of a sentence, and a semicolon at the end of a main clause in a compound sentence.

COROLLARY III. The fundamental law conversely requires that we shall not separate expressions that are closely united by the bonds of logic or grammar. Hence it follows that there must be no comma between a restrictive clause and its antecedent, between a subject and its verb, or between a verb and its object. There may, however, be two commas, when they are required by the law of isolating parenthetical expressions.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. When is it proper to use a semicolon in a simple sentence? In a complex sentence? In a compound sentence? See Corollary II.

2. When is it proper to use one comma between the subject and verb? Between the verb and object? Why? See Theorem.

3. When is it proper to use two commas between the

subject and verb? Between the verb and object? Why? See Theorem.

4. What is the rule for punctuating words in a series? Answer: Do it thus: "Tom, Dick, and Harry”; “England, France, and Germany." Remember, however, that a series means three or more items.

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5. What is the rule for punctuating two or more adjectives preceding one noun? Answer: "It is best never to use more than one adjective before one noun." Lowell's rule was: "Cut out the adjectives and adverbs. Let the nouns and verbs do the work." If you must use several adjectives the rule is this: 1. Adjectives of the same class are to be separated by commas; as A red, white, and blue flag." 2. Adjectives of different classes are not to be separated; as, “A fine bright moonlight night.” III. Some relative clauses are essential to the meaning of the sentences in which they stand; they cannot be removed without reducing them to nonsense. Examine the following sentences and tell which clauses can be removed and which cannot without destroying the meaning:

1. He who buys needs a hundred eyes, while he who sells has occasion for only one. - Italian Proverb.

2. All's well that ends well.

Shakespeare.

3. Here lies our sovereign lord, the King,

Whose word no man relies on;

He never says a foolish thing

And never does a wise one.

Earl of Rochester.

4. Here thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea.

Pope.

5. Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.

6. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Dryden.

Shakespeare.

7. It is unreasonable and unwholesome in all months tha have not an R in their name to eat an oyster.

Butler, Dyet's Dry Dinner. (1599.)

8. They were at their wits' end, which was no long journey
9. Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood.
Gray.

10. Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, Who wrote like an angel and talked like poor poll.

Garrick.

Observe: (1) that those clauses which cannot be removed narrow or restrict the number of objects to which their antecedents can refer, while those which can be removed simply add some information; (2) that these subtracting clauses are called restrictive and these adding clauses non-restrictive; (3) that restrictive clauses are closely and non-restrictive loosely connected with their antecedents; and (4) that, in consequence, the fundamental law of punctuation requires that restrictive clauses shall not be separated from their antecedents by commas, but that non-restrictive clauses shall be.

This rule is important. Unless you know it and can apply it, you cannot be sure of punctuating correctly any sentence that contains a relative clause.

EXERCISE: Find in this book five restrictive and five non-restrictive clauses.

Q. Quotations

If you quote, use quotation marks. Otherwise you are guilty of larceny. The following story illustrates the value of an apt quotation and at the same time shows how quotation marks should be used:

At a recent election the candidate was "heckled" by the local butcher. At last he grew tired of it, and hinted that the man was wasting time by asking silly questions.

The butcher, enraged, retorted:

"If I had you in my sausage-machine I'd make mincemeat of you."

The candidate turned to him, and asked gently:

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"Is thy servant a dog that thou shouldst do this thing?"" Tit-Bits.

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R. Repetition

I. The technical name for the unskillful repetition of words or ideas is tautology. Avoid it, lest you fall into pitfalls like the following:

1. "During the entire treatise fragments of humor are scattered throughout." Johnny Jones.

2. "Let observation, with extensive view,

Survey mankind from China to Peru." Samuel
Johnson.

II. Sometimes, however, words are purposely repeated to secure effect. This is called anaphora. Note these examples:

1. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. - Abraham Lincoln.

2. That it exists cannot be denied. That it is an evil cannot be denied. That it is a growing evil cannot be denied. Macaulay.

S. Spelling

I. The following words are fairly entitled to be called the hundred worst words. Probably they are more often misspelled by high-school pupils than are any other 100 words in the language: