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in actual use faults of different nature may be mixed together, or an error of one kind may involve an error of another. Many words here treated as too learned for the common reader may also be too formal and pompous for the subject, and often in addition to this fault may be inaccurate as well.

The following exercises not only contain violations of the rules just given but presuppose also, for correction, a knowledge of Rules 1 to 4.

1. Correct the following sentences, referring each amendment to the rules and giving reasons. In order to make good English it may sometimes be necessary slightly to modify the construction.

That unfortunate book of him, which was to have been his magnum opus, was so injured by the fire that it was obliged to be rewritten ab initio.

It is impossible to predicate how this matter will ultimately eventuate.

At what period do you generally retire?

He had never known the felicity of paternal affection.

( Indubitably benignity and commiseration shall pursue me all the diuturnity of my vitality; and I will eternalize my habitance in the metropolis of Nature,

They are determined to railroad their scheme through in spite of the opposition of their quondam associates.

That man must remove himself from the course of the engines. Bunhill Fields is the location of John Bunyan's interment. At the earliest practicable period I will transmit the balance of the manuscript.

The physician reported symptoms of incipient rubeola.

Our neighbor Mr. B. has recently erected a very elegant and imposing residence on Centre Street.

I hope you will keep me posted on the news while I am away. I have become so accustomed to the exercise that it does not fatigue me.

Do you observe that individual yonder? He is a citizen of our vicinity who is afflicted with temporary aberration of intellect.

The conspiracy of the laborers is a fait accompli, and as a result of their activity no less than twenty houses are now in ashes.

Many a weakness or evil in the adolescent mind is due to the neglect of parents.

On this question I must differ with my colleague in toto.

He has succeeded in effecting an almost reconciliation of Philip with his exasperated parent.

It is difficult to effect a complete emancipation from habits that have become inveterate.

Has the wood remained there a sufficient length of time to be seasoned?

It is desirable at the present time to render thanksgiving for the continuity of the favors of Deity to us.

Regarding the observation of holy days in ancient times I have already made some remarks.

Justification, my friends, is a forensic term, signifying the holding or considering of a person as righteous.

I put my hand on his chest, and became at once conscious of an extraordinary throbbing and commotion which was going on inside. "Why," I cried, "you have an aortic aneurism !"

Having carefully excogitated his plan of rejoinder, he proceeded with great deliberation to take up his opponent's strictures seriatim, and from the commencement to the conclusion his speech was a telling rebuke to the man's preposterous assumptions.

His diurnal occupations were not calculated, in themselves, to injure his health; but when to these was superadded an inveterate propensity to indulge in nocturnal revelries, no con

stitution would be sufficiently robust to encounter and overcome such a strain on its vitality.

2. Rewrite the following composition, preserving the grammatical structure and punctuation as far as good English will permit, but substituting simpler or more accurate words as suggested by the notes and references.

EACH and every a healthful (2) person of the rising generation b likes activity, and is [willing, glad, desirous, eager, ready? ] to do cleverd things. But we do not love (2) routine; at least we conceive (5) we do not. To be obligated (2) to perform (5) the same action (2) incessantly (6), or to be kept for a protracted period (5) at any one species (2) of occupation, however pleasant it may have been at the commencement (58), seems to us the acme (5) of irksome drudgery. That is one reason, I opine (5), why we are so fond of the recreatory avocations (5) that we set ourselves, and have such antipathy (5) to the tasks that our superiors (5h) impose upon (5) us: in recreation (5) we can proceed (5) as agrees with our preferences (5).

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To learn to

But when we come to think of it, we perceive (5) that even to effectuate (5) our games welli a sine qua non (7) is the very routine that we so [hate, dislike, abhor, detest? 1]. At the outset we are sure to be only awkward bunglers, and to spoil any sport in which we endeavor (5) to participate. necessity (6) acquire proficiency (5) very slowly. play a good game of ball, or to make good time1 on the racingtrack, or to do ourselves credit in a jump, takes extended (5) and [diligent, assiduous, laborious? 2] practice, work that would be extremely (1) irksome and would prove insufferably fatiguing (5) if we were compelled (6) to do it. The same motions (2) must be repeated again and again until they become second nature, so as to be performed (5) almost without taking thought.m This is routine; but it does not seem

like routine, because we are so interested in attaining the result that we do not realize the difficulty and monotony of the process."

Now suppose we could possess (5) the same esprit de corps (7, 2) in the occupation (5) that is assigned us (5) to do, accepting the hard means for the sake of the good end. Such enthusiasm (1) would assist (5) us over many tedious (5) places and take away a considerable proportion (5) of the drudgery. Nor would the task really be so difficult (5°). The very routine makes work easy, because by it we come more and more to do our work spontaneously (5). If we do not go through the necessary drill, or if we go through it slackly, the [work, labor, task] is infinitely (1, 6) more arduous (5) when the obligation to do it comes, and it cannot be accomplished so well. It is

an old saying that “lazy folks¶ take the most pains." They must; because, not having mastered the beginnings, they are obliged to do as bunglers what with proper training would be executed with facility (5).

Routine looks forbidding only because she is disguised; if we could observe (5) her in our necessary avocations (2, 5) as well as in our hours of relaxation (5) we should recognize her as one of our truest friends.

NOTES TO THE ABOVE. —a. “Each and every" is a much used provincialism (see Rule 9); only one of the words (which ?) is necessary here. — b. “The rising generation" is a stock expression (see Rule 13), of no significance here; say "boy or girl."—c. Select the word that expresses the right degree and kind of meaning. — d. "Clever" is the word to use here; to be distinguished from the provincial use. -e. "Long."-f. Would "task" or any shorter word than occupation be accurate here?—g. An idiom might here be used: "to begin with.” — h. "Others" makes a good antithesis to "ourselves" in the early part of the sentence. -i. Choose an idiom: "as we like.". j. "Depends more than anything else on."-k. Not easy to get a simpler word here.-1. "Make good time" is a manner of expression (technicalism) peculiar to sporting language, but quite admissible in literature. -m. "Taking thought" is an old-fashioned and good idiom.—n. The latter part of this sentence contains long words, but not inappropriate.—o. Choose a word that will make a simple and natural antithesis to "easy" in the next

sentence. —p. Would a simpler word be accurate here? — q. "Folks" is a provincialism, the proper term being "folk "; the word is not to be changed here, however, because it is quoted. -r. Routine is here personified; with what advantage?

3. Work out the following problems.

Change the following passage from the formal style in which it is written into language of your own more adapted to common people: "I write not to please or displease any description of persons; but I trust that what I have written according to the dictates of my mind will meet the approbation of those whose good opinion I am most solicitous to obtain. While others seize every opportunity unblushingly to avow and zealously to propagate opinions destructive of good order, it would ill become any individual of contrary sentiments to shrink from stating his convictions, when called upon as he seems to be by an occasion like that which has now offered itself."

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Describe the crisis of a game of foot-ball in language that a person unacquainted with the game will understand.

Write out in plain language (getting what help you can from the dictionary) your impression of what is meant by the following: the conservation and correlation of forces;) ostracism in ancient times; the aristocracy of genius; international copyright.

Find equivalent idioms for the following: rushed toward him; he retreated; accord advance to liberty; through the instrumentality of fire and sword; to remain immovable.

II. WHAT IS DUE TO STANDARD USAGE.

Words may be both accurate and easy to understand, and yet not be reputable words; that is, they may be unsuited to the dignity or the permanence of literary expression. Before we may admit them into literature we must be sure that they are in good standard use.

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