How to Write Clearly | Page 9

are ye?" "Some he imprisoned, others he put to death."
Even where there is no antithesis the inversion is not uncommon:
"Military courage, the boast of the sottish German, of the frivolous and
prating Frenchman, of the romantic and arrogant Spaniard, he neither
possesses nor values."
This inversion sometimes creates ambiguity in poetry, e.g. "The son the
father slew," and must be sparingly used in prose.

Sometimes the position of a word may be considered appropriate by
some, and inappropriate by others, according to different interpretations
of the sentence. Take as an example, "Early in the morning the nobles
and gentlemen who attended on the king assembled in the great hall of
the castle; and here they began to talk of what a dreadful storm it had
been the night before. But Macbeth could scarcely understand what
they said, for he was thinking of something worse." The last sentence
has been amended by Professor Bain into "What they said, Macbeth
could scarcely understand." But there appears to be an antithesis
between the guiltless nobles who can think about the weather, and the
guilty Macbeth who cannot. Hence, "what they said" ought not, and
"Macbeth" ought, to be emphasized: and therefore "Macbeth" ought to
be retained at the beginning of the sentence.
The same author alters, "The praise of judgment Virgil has justly
contested with him, but his invention remains yet unrivalled," into
"Virgil has justly contested with him the praise of judgment, but no one
has yet rivalled his invention"--an alteration which does not seem to
emphasize sufficiently the antithesis between what had been 'contested,'
on the one hand, and what remained as yet 'unrivalled' on the other.
More judiciously Professor Bain alters, "He that tells a lie is not
sensible how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent
twenty more to maintain one," into "for, to maintain one, he must
invent twenty more," putting the emphatic words in their emphatic
place, at the end.
*18. Where several words are emphatic, make it clear which is the most
emphatic.* Thus, in "The state was made, under the pretence of serving
it, in reality the prize of their contention to each of these opposite
parties," it is unpleasantly doubtful whether the writer means (1) state
or (2) parties to be emphatic.
If (1), "As for the state, these two parties, under the pretence of serving
it, converted it into a prize for their contention." If (2), write, "Though
served in profession, the state was in reality converted into a prize for
their contention by these two parties." In (1) parties is subordinated, in
(2) state.

Sometimes the addition of some intensifying word serves to emphasize.
Thus, instead of "To effect this they used all devices," we can write "To
effect this they used every conceivable device." So, if we want to
emphasize fidelity in "The business will task your skill and fidelity,"
we can write "Not only your skill but also your fidelity." This, however,
sometimes leads to exaggerations. See (2).
Sometimes antithesis gives emphasis, as in "You do not know this, but
you shall know it." Where antithesis cannot be used, the emphasis must
be expressed by turning the sentence, as "I will make you know it," or
by some addition, as "You shall hereafter know it."
*19. Words should be as near as possible to the words with which they
are grammatically connected.* See Paragraphs 20 to 29. For exceptions
see 30.
*20. Adverbs should be placed next to the words they are intended to
affect.* When unemphatic, adverbs come between the subject and the
verb, or, if the tense is compound, between the parts of the compound
tense: "He quickly left the room;" "He has quickly left the room;" but,
when emphatic, after the verb: "He left, or has left, the room
quickly."[10] When such a sentence as the latter is followed by a
present participle, there arises ambiguity. "I told him to go slowly, but
he left the room quickly, dropping the purse on the floor." Does quickly
here modify left or dropping? The remedy[11] is, to give the adverb its
unemphatic place, "He quickly left the room, dropping &c.," or else to
avoid the participle, thus: "He quickly dropped the purse and left the
room," or "He dropped the purse and quickly left the room."
*21. "Only" requires careful use. The strict[12] rule is, that "only"
should be placed before the word affected by it.*
The following is ambiguous:
"The heavens are not open to the faithful only at intervals."
The best rule is to avoid placing "only" between two emphatic words,
and to avoid using "only" where "alone" can be used instead.

In strictness perhaps the three following sentences:
(1) He only beat three,
(2) He beat only three,
(3) He beat three