279. I. Jeopardize. This word is improperly used for the verb jeopard, the suffix ize being incorrectly added. A similar error has been made in the formation of experimentalize, which also is a counterfeit. (410.)

2. Leniency.-There is properly no such word as this. It has been ignorantly used in place of lenity.

3. Practitioneer.-From the verb practice, we may and do have the noun practicer (or practiser), but there is no excuse for such a pretender as practitioneer.

4. Presidential.-As well might we say parential, governmential, as presidential. Adjectives in ial are formed from nouns in ce; as, official, commercial, etc.; but the regular way of forming adjectives from nouns ending in ent is to add simply al; as, parental, governmental, incidental, and hence, presidental. "The proper form would be presidental."-Century Dictionary.

5. Preventative. The correct form is preventive.

6. Proven.-Prove is a "regular" verb, and hence its past and perfect participle forms are made by adding d; but proven is as base a coin as loven would be; as, for example, "Ephraim has proven that he has loven Susanna all the time."

7. Resurrect, Resurrected. The use of this word as a transitive verb should be avoided by all who love purity of speech. It is a sacrilegious distortion of the idea of resurrection. Resurrection is a noun meaning 'rising again' -rising from the dead. There is no such verb as resurrect, and to make one by backward process from the noun resurrection is of a piece with donate from donation, and intercess from intercession. This trio of intruders should keep company with one another in banishment.

8. Stand-point.-Compounds made by the union of a noun with a noun, or a participle with a noun, are "self-defining;" that is, their meaning may be expressed by reversing the order of the parts and placing of or for between them. Thus, house-top, 'top of house;' bread-knife, 'knife for bread;' sewingmachine, 'machine for sewing;' landing-place, 'place of, or for, landing.' But how about stand-point? 'Point of, or for, stand' does not make sense. Standing-point is a point of, or for, standing;' but this is not what is meant by standpoint. The phrase point of view is the correct expression. Those who will insist on one word for convenience' sake might use view-point. (656.)

9. Underhanded.-" He did it in an underhanded way." There being no verb or noun underhand, how can we have the participially formed adjective, underhanded? [See 682 and 693.] Underhand is a good adjective, formed by prefixing under to the noun hand.

CLEARNESS AND FORCE.

280. Objects of Speech.-In using language, whether by tongue or pen, we should have two objects in view:

1. Speaking to express our thoughts;

2. Speaking to impress our thoughts.

In other words, our speech should be: 1. Clear, easily understood; 2. Forcible,—impressive. If we have thoughts that are worth expressing, they should be expressed in language that has these two qualities, clearness and force. Of the two, clearness is the more important, since language cannot be forcible unless it is first clear in meaning. The opposite of clearness is obscurity, Obscure language is always weak,-the opposite of forcible.

Ambiguity is another thing that is opposed to clearness. An ambiguous sentence is one whose meaning is uncertain, because it may be construed to mean either of two things.

281. Causes of Obscurity.-The principal causes of obscurity are: 1. Misplaced words, phrases and clauses; 2. Ambiguous use of pronouns; 3. Unnecessary words; 4. Long sentences; 5. Misuse of words; 6. Incorrect punctuation.

282. Misplaced Words. When a word is so placed that its meaning may be taken in either of two ways, its position is faulty. A general rule is that words should be placed so that their meaning cannot be mistaken.

In Latin and other inflected languages—the German, French, etc.,—the form of the word indicates its use in the sentence, and a change in the position or order of the words does not affect the meaning. But in English, which has almost no words whose forms indicate their use, we must depend upon the position of a word in a sentence. A single misplaced word may change the meaning of the entire sentence or make it ambiguous,—uncertain in meaning. In Latin, the form of words is everything; in English, the order of words is the principal thing. The Latin sentence is constructed on true grammatical principles; the English sentence, on logical principles.

283. Adverbs.-The words most likely to cause obscurity by be ing misplaced are adverbs. Of these, only, not only, alone, always, too, nearly, merely, mostly, and chiefly are the most troublesome. Probably no word in common use is so difficult to handle as only. As a rule, an adverb should stand next the word it modifies, usually just before it.

Tell what idea is conveyed by the italicized word in each of the following sentences; then change the position of the adverb so as to express the meaning intended, as shown by the co-ordinate construction:

I. I saw him only; I did not speak to him.

2.

I have escaped alone; no one else escaped.

3. I merely spoke of figures; I did not speak of letters.

4. The natives chiefly live on rice; they eat scarcely anything else.

5. We only tried the last one; we did not try the others.

6. He not only makes shoes, but boots also.

7. All men are not to be trusted, for some are dishonest.

8. They will, too, not merely interest children, but grown-up persons.

9. Thales was not only famous for his knowledge of nature, but for his moral wisdom.

10. By greatness, I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, but the largeness of a whole view.-Addison.

II. The result is not pleasant to us only because it fulfills our predictions, but because any other would have been productive of mischief.-Spectator. Quintilian's Rule: "Care should be taken, not that the hearer may understand, but that he must understand, whether he will or not."

(a) Change the position of the italicized words in the following sentences, and tell how the meaning is affected by the change. See how many different meanings can be conveyed by the same word in different positions.

I. I am almost ready to believe that they are all dunces.

2.

I then understood why you did not go.

3. He stopped asking questions abruptly and left the room.

4. I have wondered often how it was done.

5. Only yesterday we received an order for fifty of this kind.

6. The heavens are open to the faithful only at intervals.

7. These will raise a man above any disappointments, and, by leading him only to feed his heart upon expectations which are likely to be realized, will do very much towards making him rejoice evermore.-Fox.

284. Adjectives.-Change the position of the italicized words in the following, and tell how the meaning is affected by the change. If necessary, introduce a preposition to improve the expression:

I. It was a black man's hat. 2. Fine lady's handkerchiefs for sale. 3. Ele. gant children's suits at low prices. 4. He found a gold gentleman's watch. 5. We sell ready-made gentlemen's overcoats very cheap. 6. A large stock of plush ladies' card cases just received. 7. Copper-toed children's shoes wear best. 8. Steel boy's skates for Christmas presents.

Remark: Descriptive words misplaced in this way do not often obscure the meaning, as in the first sentence above, but they weaken the expression by making it ludicrous.

(a) Comparative adjectives, such as larger, better, clearer, and contrasting adjectives, such as different and other, are often unnecessarily separated from their correlative words.

Examples: Yours is a different view of the matter from mine.

His was a clearer statement of the case than any I had heard.

While in such cases the meaning is, no doubt, clear enough, the sentences are smoother and more forcible if written thus: Your view of the matter is different from mine.

His statement of the case was clearer than any I had heard.

Improve the following sentences in the same way:

I. This is a larger tract of land than I had supposed.

2.

We could take no other course with him than the one we took.

3. They can accomplish more by working together than separately.

4. These are similar letters to the one I received from him.

5. This is a different course of proceeding from what we expected.

6. That is a much better statement of the case than yours.

7. The majority of persons are better educated in these days than people were then.

285. Position of Phrases and Clauses.-As with words, so with phrases and clauses. They should be so placed that their meaning cannot be misunderstood.

Under this head may be considered two classes of errors: 1. What are known as "squinting constructions;" 2. Incongru. ous arrangement of phrases and clauses.

286. Squinting Constructions.-This is one of the worst forms of obscurity, and one of the most difficult to avoid. It consists in throwing a word, phrase, or clause into a sentence so that it seems to look both ways; that is, it may be taken as belonging either to what goes before or to what follows.

Example: When I hear a person use a queer expression, or pronounce a name in reading differently from his neighbors, etc.-Dean Alford.

In this sentence, the phrase "in reading" looks two ways. It may be taken as meaning "pronounce a name in reading," or "in reading differently from his neighbors." A better arrangement is, "When I hear a person use a queer expression, or, in reading, pronounce a name differently from," etc.

Point out the "squinting" construction in each of the following sentences; then re-construct the sentence so as to clear it of the ambiguity:

1. And thus the son the fervent sire addressed.

2.

It shames man not to feel man's human fear.

3. Tell him, if he is in the parlor, I do not care to see him.

4. The Romans understood liberty, at least, as well as we.

5. I said he is dishonest, it is true, and I am sorry for it.

6. Are these designs of which any man who was born in Britain, in any circumstances, ought to be ashamed?

7. The poor little child, after searching from one end of the market to the other, for a penny, at last, bought an apple.

8. Though some of the European rulers may be females, when spoken of altogether, they may be correctly classified under the denomination "kings.” 9. The minister who grows less by his elevation, like a statue on a mighty pedestal, will always have his jealousy strong about him.—Bolingbroke.

10. Though our brother is upon the rack, as long as we ourselves are at ease, our senses will never inform us of what he suffers.-Smith.

II.

This work in its full extent, being now afflicted with an asthma, and finding the power of life gradually declining, he had no longer courage to undertake.-Johnson.

12.

Since it is necessary that there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and selling, and dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted or connived at, or hath no law to punish it, the honest dealer is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage.-Swift.

287. Incongruous Arrangement.-Phrases are often carelessly placed in such a way that while they do not obscure the meaning,