How to Write Clearly | Page 5

that "I don't want butter
or honey" is regularly used for "I want neither butter nor honey." But
where there is the slightest danger of ambiguity, it is desirable to use
nor.
The same ambiguity attends "not ... and." "I do not see Thomas and
John" is commonly used for "I see neither Thomas nor John;" but it
might mean, "I do not see them both--I see only one of them."
*That.*--The different uses of "that" produce much ambiguity, e.g. "I
am so much surprised by this statement that I am desirous of resigning,
that I scarcely know what reply to make." Here it is impossible to tell,
till one has read past "resigning," whether the first "that" depends upon
"so" or "statement." Write: "The statement that I am desirous of
resigning surprises me so much that I scarcely know &c."
*4 a. Be careful in the use of ambiguous words, e.g. "certain."*
"Certain" is often used for "some," as in "Independently of his earnings,
he has a certain property," where the meaning might be "unfailing."
Under this head may be mentioned the double use of words, such as
"left" in the same form and sound, but different in meaning. Even
where there is no obscurity, the juxtaposition of the same word twice
used in two senses is inelegant, e.g. (Bain), "He turned to the left and
left the room."
I have known the following slovenly sentence misunderstood: "Our
object is that, with the aid of practice, we may sometime arrive at the
point where we think eloquence in its most praiseworthy form to lie."
"To lie" has been supposed to mean "to deceive."

*5. Be careful how you use "he," "it," "they," "these," &c.* (For
"which" see 8.) The ambiguity arising from the use of he applying to
different persons is well known.
"He told his friend that if he did not feel better in half an hour he
thought he had better return." See (6) for remedy.
Much ambiguity is also caused by excessive use of such phrases as in
this way, of this sort, &c.
"God, foreseeing the disorders of human nature, has given us certain
passions and affections which arise from, or whose objects are, these
disorders. Of this sort are fear, resentment, compassion."
Repeat the noun: "Among these passions and affections are fear &c."
Two distinct uses of it may be noted. It, when referring to something
that precedes, may be called "retrospective;" but when to something
that follows, "prospective." In "Avoid indiscriminate charity: it is a
crime," "it" is retrospective.[6] In "It is a crime to give
indiscriminately," "it" is prospective.
The prospective "it," if productive of ambiguity, can often be omitted
by using the infinitive as a subject: "To give indiscriminately is a
crime."
*6. Report a speech in the First, not the Third Person, where necessary
to avoid ambiguity.* Speeches in the third person afford a particular,
though very common case, of the general ambiguity mentioned in (5).
Instead of "He told his friend that if he did not feel better &c.," write
"He said to his friend, 'If, I (or you) don't feel better &c.'"
*6 a. Sometimes, where the writer cannot know the exact words, or
where the exact words are unimportant, or lengthy and uninteresting,
the Third Person is preferable.* Thus, where Essex is asking Sir Robert
Cecil that Francis Bacon may be appointed Attorney-General, the
dialogue is (as it almost always is in Lord Macaulay's writings) in the
First Person, except where it becomes tedious and uninteresting so as to

require condensation, and then it drops into the Third Person:
"Sir Robert had nothing to say but that he thought his own abilities
equal to the place which he hoped to obtain, and that his father's long
services deserved such a mark of gratitude from the Queen."
*6 b. Omission of "that" in a speech reported in the Third
Person.*--Even when a speech is reported in the third person, "that"
need not always be inserted before the dependent verb. Thus, instead of
"He said that he took it ill that his promises were not believed," we may
write, "'He took it ill,' he said, 'that &c.'" This gives a little more life,
and sometimes more clearness also.
*7. When you use a Participle, as "walking," implying "when," "while,"
"though," "that," make it clear by the context what is implied.*
"Republics, in the first instance, are never desired for their own sakes. I
do not think they will finally be desired at all, unaccompanied by
courtly graces and good breeding."
Here there is a little doubt whether the meaning is "since they are, or, if
they are, unaccompanied."
*That or when.*--"Men walking (that walk, or when they walk) on ice
sometimes fall."
It is better to use "men walking" to mean