95. Sentence Connection. Different as may have been the practical application, Unity of the Sentence is much the same thing as Unity of the Paragraph (33). In each case we must depend largely upon our judgment, but in each case we easily recognize that any independent division of thought, expressed in some composite manner, should have certain characteristics. Sentence, paragraph, chapter, or essay, whole book or part of a book, each, so far as it is capable of being considered by itself, must have some individuality. So must it have some relation to the other individuals like itself,--and this brings us from the principle of Unity to the principle of Transition and Connection. As with the other subject, much of what we had to say of the paragraph may be applied here. There are of course special differences; for instance, connection at the end of a paragraph does not seem to have any exact analogue in the sentence. The general principle of the necessity and nature of connection is much the same.

Sentence connection is chiefly indicated at the beginning of the sentence. The chief forms are two:

1. Repetition of a word or idea.

2. Use of a demonstrative pronoun or of a conjunction or equivalent clause.

The first of these points hardly needs much comment from a theoretical standpoint; it is the same as the mode of paragraph-connection spoken of in p. 115. Practically, however, the matter is a little different, for it will be seen to depend not so much upon the insertion of any particular word or thought as on the arrangement of the words and thoughts which come naturally. For example, consider the following arrangements:

At Oxford Johnson resided during about three years. During about three years Johnson resided at Oxford. Johnson resided during about three years at Oxford. Johnson resided at Oxford during about three years.

Of these four sentences the last might be said to have the most natural order. But the first was used by Macaulay, for the reason that Oxford had been the subject last spoken of. Johnson could not well have served for connective, for Johnson is spoken of throughout the essay. During about three years would have been proper only after something which had brought in the idea of time spent at various places. So, by a manipulation of clauses so as to bring to the beginning a word or thought used before, we have here a well-connected sentence.'

It will not be difficult to arrange your sentences so as to follow the principle here indicated. Ask yourself with each sentence, What is the idea that we have already in mind, the idea from which this sentence goes forward? Then by putting that idea in the beginning you may manage an easy transition.

As to the second means, there is one point to be noted, namely, the proper place of the word this. This is a pronoun which serves generally to indicate some words expression, or idea that has gone before, and as such it is a very useful and common connective. Where it is so used, it would seem from the ideas we already have of connection that it should come well toward the beginning of the sentence. Such sentences as the following have to my mind a clumsy appearance:

"The Parliament, however, had its doubts of this." Matthew Arnold: Essays in Criticism, p. 43.

The same thing may be said of that:

"Surplusage! he will dread that, as the runner on his muscles."-Walter Pater: Appreciations, p. 16.

Doubtless the two demonstratives were put in just their positions for some reason; but as far as connection is con

1 It stands at the beginning of a paragraph, so that it serves also as paragraph connection.

cerned they are not eminently useful. My own feeling is of going on with the subject and being jerked back. If the demonstrative had been followed by some noun, the effect, in the first case at least, would be better. And had they come before the verb the flow of the sentence would have been easier.

Concerning the use of conjunctions or phrases which serve as such, there is not much to be said-they come to the pen naturally enough; the chief task here is of criticism rather than of construction. One must use the right connective, not use the same one too often, and so forth. It may be added that although some conjunctions must come at the beginning of the sentence or clause for which they are the connectives, others may come in other places. Thus and, for, but come at the beginning, while also, therefore, however usually come after a few words' to which they give a certain emphasis. You can illustrate the matter yourself: the effect is best noticed by reading aloud.

As in paragraph connection, we must remember that it is not always necessary to express connection formally. Our older writers, whose constructions were much looser than those of the best prose to-day, ran along easily with and, for, and but, much as one does in continued conversation. Nowadays the great masters of style seem to have largely dropped the practice of formal connection. Lewis on the Paragraph (p. 178) gives an interesting table showing something of the use of connective conjunctions by English authors. Ascham, Spenser, and Walton connect about half their sentences with conjunctions. In Gibbon,

1 Such is, I believe, the best present usage. Therefore may be found at the beginning of a sentence, especially in earlier prose; and there are plenty of modern examples of however in the same place, usually with a sort of adverbial meaning.

2 So far as the table goes, of course. It is based on 300 sentences from each author.

Johnson, Macaulay the proportion runs from with the first to with the last. Modern usage is not uniform, however; De Quincey and Coleridge are carefully connected, whereas in Emerson and Holmes the connection is much more rarely expressed.

96. Proportion. Next to Unity and Connection we must think of the Canon of Proportion in its relation to sentence structure. Proportion we already understand to be the indication by the manipulation of the form, of the comparative importance of different parts of the subjectmatter. Like the other Canons it has its relation to the sentence as to larger units of thought. Its main character we have already discussed; its relation to the sentence is largely the question of emphasis. How are we to obtain emphasis where we want it? If we are able always to place important words so as to be especially emphatic, we shall have done a good deal toward obtaining a good Proportion.

That the beginning and the end of a sentence are the emphatic places, so that it is well to put important words either at the beginning or at the end, is probably one of the best known of all devices of Rhetoric. I need not point out its advantages: it is clearer and more forcible; perhaps, also, it is simpler, for we are so accustomed to expecting that the beginning and the end will have the important words that the structure has also a certain Simplicity.

It is, however, to be noted that it seems to be generally understood by writers on the subject that "beginning" and "end" are not to be taken in an absolutely literal sense. If we have to use some forced expression to get the important words where we want them, we may be sure that all is not right. "At the beginning," says Minto,' "they may

1 Manual of English Prose Literature, p. 9.

be preceded by qualifying clauses, and at the end may be followed by unemphatic appendages that are not of a nature to distract attention." In a long sentence this principle will generally apply; the shorter the sentence the more necessary to attain the absolute beginning and end. Wendell' gives as an example of the importance of the end and the beginning of the sentence one written by himself. He had written first, "Be sure that your sentences end with words that deserve the distinction you give them." On revising he saw that the sentence completely violated the principle it expressed. He therefore changed it to, "End with words that deserve distinction," which makes an excellently succinct and illustrative rule. But here it is clear that it is the very beginning and the very end that are the important places; in a longer sentence Minto's remark would be applicable.

The general principle that the beginning and the end are the important places is a good one to follow, at least in a general way. It is well to notice one point, however: anything in which this principle is constantly regarded, anything in which every beginning and every end are emphatic, gets for itself a certain character which seems to me to be going out of favor nowadays. When it occurs along with a comparatively short sentence structure it is apt to give rather a discrete, detached, almost disjointed effect. And even with a longer sentence it is apt to have an effect somewhat monotonous. The invariable stress at the end of the sentence gives a sort of sentence rhythm which, in time, becomes rather tiresome. The constantly emphatic sentence-ending, never carried out entirely even by Macaulay, is now rather out of favor in connected writing, or perhaps only out of fashion.

There are a few minor points worth mentioning.

1 English Composition, p. 103.