The present treatment of the subject must be limited to a brief consideration of unity, coherence, and emphasis, which are the terms generally applied to good sentence structure. Like good diction, good sentence structure is the result of the ability to think clearly. This is well emphasized in the summary of a chapter on this subject in a college text on English Composition,' part of which is given below: Obviously, then, everything goes back to the starting point, which is the mind of the writer. In order to write unifiedly, coherently, and emphatically, in order to make your thought appear on paper as single, clear, and forcible, you must form the habit of accurate thinking. It is essential to the whole composition, to the paragraph, to the sentence. In the sentence, which is the smallest unit of thought, it is to be observed with special care. You must cultivate a sense of proportion, learn to estimate values, to recognize shades of meaning. Train your mind to perform these functions, and when you begin to write, the necessary work of construction has already been done. You have only to put down in black and white what has already been completely planned by the faculties of your brain.
7. Unity.—The authorities on grammar and rhet oric say that every sentence must be unified; that is, a sentence must express one complete thought, and all words, phrases, and clauses which are relevant to this central thought and necessary for its completeness, must be included, while all irrelevant ideas must be excluded. The relevancy of any part of a sen tence depends upon how closely it is connected with the central thought as well as upon how valuable it is in its relation to the completeness of the central thought.
The business correspondent frequently forgets these facts. There is too often a tendency, in dictat ing, to string together thoughts that are not closely related to the central idea. This is often due to the habit of using long sentences that contain too many "ands" and "buts"; and this habit, in turn, is due to ignorance or carelessness in regard to the numerous connectives that signify various kinds and degrees of relationship, as already set forth. The fault can really be traced to the lack of clear logical thinking— the failure to discriminate between fine shades ° of meaning. The following "sentence" furnishes an ex treme illustration: Your order was received on January 1st and we shipped the goods on January 5th and our records show that no other order came in before the 5th but we shall be glad to make sure that your January 1st order is the one we shipped and if not a duplicate shipment will go forward im mediately.
A revision of this sentence in accordance with the principle of unity gives us this sentence: On January 5th we shipped an order received from you on January 1st. Altho our records show that no other order came in before the 5th, we shall be glad to make sure that your January 1st order is the one we shipped. If not, a duplicate shipment will go forward immediately.
is equally important that closely related clauses and thoughts be included in one sentence. For ex ample, the following "sentences" might better be com bined into one unified sentence: The general supply is low. The market price is now some what higher. But we are still selling for immediate ship ment a limited quantity at the old price to a few of our old customers.
Applying the principle of unity we get this re sult : Altho the market price is now somewhat higher because the general supply is low, we are still selling for immediate ship ment a limited quantity at the old price to a few of our old customers.
In this complete thought there is a close causal re lationship which, altho implied in the three separate sentences given in the first example, is more clearly expressed when the three sentences are combined into one and the proper connectives are used.
8. Coherence.—Coherence is that rhetorical quality which a sentence possesses when the parts are ar ranaed in the order which gains the greatest possible amount of clearness. This quality is more tangible than unity. It may be gained by the application of rules. Perhaps the most general of these rules is this: All qualifying words, phrases, and clauses should be so placed that there will be no doubt as to what part of the sentence they are meant to qualify.
Pronouns and participles are the parts of speech which most frequently give trouble. It should be made perfectly clear to what word, or words, all pro nouns and participles refer. Here is an example of vagueness in this respect : Mr. Jones saw Mr. Smith before he made out his report.
In this case it is doubtful which man "he" and "his" refer to, unless the reader happens to know which man made out the report. In case "he" refers to Jones, the sentence could be improved by this ar rangement : Before he made out his report, Mr. Jones saw Mr. Smith.
Or another possible arrangement is this : Mr. Jones, before making out his report, saw Mr. Smith.
Lack of coherence is even better illustrated by a sentence like this : He is a good executive but only has ten thousand shares of common stock now, eliminating him from control of the business, as long as the other stockholders are combined against him, which is unfortunate for the business.