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"He ordered two plates of iron brought to a white heat to be tied on to the thigh, threatening the reluctant surgeon to hang him if he did not apply this remedy." This also contains a single action, and therefore is in accordance with the most rigorous demands of unity.

"It was so severe that it not only burnt up the leg and the thigh, but the heat penetrated his whole body, so that it became necessary to expend a pipe of vinegar in moistening the bandages which were afterwards applied." Otherwise :—" So severe was the application, that not only were the leg and the thigh burnt up, but the heat penetrated his whole body, and, in moistening the bandages that were afterwards applied, they had to expend a pipe of vinegar." The sentence is an explanatory addition to the foregoing, and might have made one with it, but for the length and the prolixity of the resulting compound. It was also, perhaps, desirable not to accumulate the horrors of the transaction in one unbroken string.

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"All this torture Ojeda endured without being bound." The impressiveness of the fact stated justifies the separateness of this brief sentence.

"Would that this terrible energy and power of endurance had been given to a career more worthy of them !"—Appropriately closes the paragraph. The last few sentences digress from the main story, to recount the incidents personal to the chief; and, after such a digression, it is desirable to resume the narrative in a new paragraph.

It may now be seen with what limitations we are to receive the precept regarding the unity of the sentence. A narrator may often have to include in a sentence as many particulars as are contained in the following from Johnson's Life of Prior, which is adduced as a violation of unity :—

"He is supposed to have fallen, by his father's death, into the hands of his uncle, a vintner, near Charing Cross, who sent him for some time to Dr. Busby, at Westminster; but, not intending to give him any education beyond that of the school, took him, when he was well advanced in literature, to his own house; where the earl of Dorset, celebrated for patronage of genius, found him by chance, as Burnet relates, reading Horace, and was so well pleased

with his proficiency, that he undertook the care and cost of his academical education.'

In no kind of composition can the strict rule of unity be carried out. Even in science, where the crowding of separate facts seems most objectionable, the due subordination of whatever is subordinate is a higher necessity. A statement merely explanatory or qualifying, put into a sentence apart, acquires a dangerous prominence.

THE PARAGRAPH.

158. The division of discourse next higher than the sentence is the Paragraph: which is a collection of sentences with unity of purpose.

Like every division of discourse, a paragraph handles and exhausts a distinct topic; there is a greater break between the paragraphs than between the sentences.

159. There are certain principles that govern the structure of the paragraph, for all kinds of composition.

I. The first requisite of the paragraph is, that the bearing of each sentence upon what precedes shall be explicit and unmistakable.

Ambiguity of reference may arise within the sentence, but is still more likely to occur in a succession of sentences.

160. The employment of the proper Conjunctions is one condition of explicit reference.

Those

Conjunctions connect sentences as well as clauses. employed for that purpose are of the co-ordinating class. The others [subordinating) are used to connect a subordinate clause with a principal in the same sentence.

161. The subdivision of the Co-ordinating conjunctions, and of conjunctive adverbs and phrases, called Cumulative, frequently connect sentences. They add a new statement having the same bearing as what preceded.

Explicit Reference.

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The head and representative of the list is And. The others are—Also, yea, likewise, so, in like manner, first, secondly, &C., again, besides, then, too (following another word), further, moreover, furthermore, add to this (which). These are all quite The phrases, "Yet another," "Once more," for adding to a cumulation already very much extended, are familiar to the readers of Mr. Herbert Spencer.

common.

162. Certain of the Adversative conjunctions are used to indicate the mutual bearing of consecutive sentences.

Some of the members of this subdivision are termed Exclusive, because they indicate the exclusion of some circumstances that would otherwise be allowable. 66 "Else," "otherwise," are the chief examples; they occasionally introduce sentences, but owing to the intimacy of union that they express, their chief use is to unite clauses.

Those termed Alternative sometimes form a link between two sentences; for example, or and nor. When nor is used without neither preceding, it is commonly in the sense of and not: "Nor would he have been mistaken;" "And he would not have been mistaken."

We may have one sentence commencing with either and the next with or; and so with neither and nor. But, in general, these intimate a closeness of connection, such as requires the members to be kept within the same sentence.

The group of Adversative conjunctions represented by Bdt (called Arrestive) very often institute relations between consecutive sentences. They are- -But then, still, yet, only, nevertheless, however, at the same time, for all that. These may operate on a great scale, covering, not only the sentence, but the paragraph. An entire paragraph is not unfrequently devoted to arresting or preventing a seeming inference from one preceding, and is therefore appropriately opened by but, still, he.

163. Many of the conjunctions indicating effect or consequences, called Illative, often connect sentences,

being applicable in reasoning and argument. They are—Therefore, wherefore, hence, whence, consequently, accordingly, thus, so, then, so then.

An effect or consequence may be given in the sentence containing the cause or reason. It is equally common to employ a separate sentence; whence the foregoing are reckoned Paragraph conjunctions.

164. Besides the regular conjunctions, there are a variety of words and phrases serving for reference.

Thus the expressions for the very important ends of stating opposition or negation, involve a reference to what went before; —On the contrary, on the other hand, conversely, obversely. Of these, the only one properly signifying negation is the first; the others are frequently misused for that signification. "On the other hand" properly implies an alternative. "Conversely" is, in strict logic, transposing the terms of a proposition (Some Englishmen are wise; some wise men are Englishmen). "Obversely" denies the opposite of a proposition (All men are mortal, no men are immortal), which is to re-affirm it from the other side.

Nay is an old-fashioned word for introducing an opposite statement with some emphasis.

For returning after a digression, we employ the phrases— To return, to proceed, to resume.

In summing up, we have—In short, in a word, on the whole, to conclude, in conclusion, to sum up, to recapitulate.

Transition to a new line of remark is introduced by— Hitherto, formerly, so far, thus far.

165. The SUBORDINATING conjunctions (Because, if, that, in order that, provided, when, &c.) usually join a subordinate clause to a principal in the same sentence. Occasionally, however, a subordinate statement rises to such importance as to be placed in a sentence apart.

This happens with for, when introducing a reason; also with the phrase provided that, in Acts of Congress and Par

OMISSION OF THE CONJUNCTION.

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liament especially; and occasionally with the conjunctions of negative condition, unless, &c.

Scarcely any others of this class are found connecting sentences. We may be satisfied of this by observing the manner in which because, if, he., are used. These often begin a sentence, but to indicate subordination to a clause following.

Campbell remarks on the arbitrariness of usage in making for a paragraph conjunction, and refusing the same latitude to because.

166. In many instances, no connecting words are used between consecutive sentences.

Connectives generally—pronouns and conjunctions—having a tendency to load and encumber the composition, are dispensed with as far as possible. Their absence has a distinct meaning.

167. When a sentence either iterates or explains what goes before, a conjunction is unnecessary.

These are perhaps the cases where the connective is oftenest omitted. In like manner, a member of a sentence that iterates or explains generally stands without a conjunction. The nature of the reference, in these instances, is supposed to be shown by the context. When there is any doubt, specific phrases may be employed. Thus, for iteration we say :—In other words, It comes to the same thing, This is equal to saying, To vary the statement. For explanation :—The explanation is, We may account for the fact, &c.

The omission extends to obverse iteration likewise.

168. In cumulative statements, the omission of conjunctions extensively prevails.

When a number of particulars are given in succession— whether descriptive, narrative, or expository—they are presumed, in the absence of any contrary indication, to have a common bearing.

As the omission of connectives is not restricted to this case, the cumulative conjunctions must be inserted, should there be any danger that some other interpretation will be put upon

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