so arranged as to bring the meaning out clearly, but so, also, as to enable the sentence to fit properly into its particular niche in the paragraph.

The general rule for coherence in the sentence is that those parts which are most closely related in thought should be most closely related in position. This presupposes that the various sentence elements all have their proper shape, and that the question is simply one of obtaining the right order or arrangement of the parts. In the following examples, there is incoherence resulting from placing some part of the sentence in a wrong position, but it can easily be remedied by a rearrangement:

He was only good when he was happy. (Should read, good only.)

I lived under the dread of being discharged for five months. (Should read, I lived five months under, etc.)

Haman is accused of threatening the Jews by Esther in the presence of the king, and is ordered to be hanged. (Should read, Haman is accused by Esther in the presence, etc.)

Almost every year the question as to whether the colleges should dispense with professional football coaches comes up. (Should read, Almost every year the question comes up as to, etc.)

The widely prevalent idea that a farmer can hardly become wealthy who devotes his time entirely to the pursuit of agriculture, is an erroneous one. (Should read, The . . idea that a farmer who devotes his time. to . . . agriculture can hardly become wealthy, is an erroneous one.)

He was probably a boy about sixteen years of age. (Should read, He was a boy probably about sixteen years of age.)

Incoherence often results, however, from some fault in the construction of the sentence, and in this case it can be remedied only by remodeling the sentence. Typical causes of such incoherence are:

(1) The employment of a loose or dangling modifier:

While making excavations there not long ago, between fifteen and twenty marble images were uncovered. (Should read, While they were making, etc., or, While making excavations... they uncovered, etc.)

Accustomed to regular living, our Bohemian mode of living disturbed him greatly. (Should read, As he was accustomed, etc., or Accustomed he was greatly dis

turbed by our Bohemian, etc.)

Being a freshman, it was expected that I should join the other members of the class in retaliating on the sopho(Should read, Being a freshman, I was expected to

mores.

join, etc.)

After reading the book through, one's first impression is confirmed. (Should read, After one has read, etc.)

and

He has to work ten hours a day, thus having no time for recreation. (Should read, He has to work . thus has, etc.)

(2) Faulty coördination or subordination of clauses:

The first to answer our advertisement was a stronglooking Swedish girl who could not speak a word of English, and we knew we could not get along with her. (Should read, The first . . . was a Swedish girl, but as she could not speak a word of English, we knew, etc.)

...

...

He has sent me a civil enough letter, but implying that he is prepared to go the length of taking legal action in

the matter. (Should read, He has sent me a civil enough letter, but hints, etc., or, The letter he has sent me is civil enough, but it implies, etc.)

At his friend's house, he met a number of people gathered together, apparently, for the purpose of having a good time, and who welcomed him with open arms. (Should read, At his friend's house, he met a number of people who had come together, etc.)

(3) The failure to make sentence elements that are similar in meaning or function, similar also in form:

She shows us the gentle nature which he possessed, but that he could be driven into terrible passions. (Should read, She shows us that he possessed a gentle nature, but that, etc.)

I intended to devote my energies, first to straightening out the tangle in my finances, and then to the building up of a good business. (Should read, I intended to devote my energies, first to the straightening out of, etc., or, I intended to devote my energies, first to straightening out and then to building up, etc.)

By this foundation is meant not only the knowledge gained, but it also includes the training in methods of study which one acquires through taking regular work. (The words "it" and "includes" should be omitted, since they change the construction of "training," which should have the same construction as "knowledge.")

(4) Faulty comparisons:

He was the man of all others in the world I had most longed to see. (Should read, He of all men was the man, etc., or, of all men in the world, he was the man, etc.)

His work is as good, if not better than, the average. (Should read, His work is as good as the average, if not better.)

No course of action could be better suited to our purposes, or so well calculated to strengthen our position, than that. (Should read, No course of action could be better suited to our purposes, or better calculated, etc.)

(5) Improper abbreviations or omissions:

We had such fun as only the light-hearted can. (Supply "have" after "can.")

When he hears that you are going, he will too. (Supply "go" after "will.")

They had neither respect nor confidence in his opinion. (Supply "for" after "respect.")

Incoherence in the sentence not infrequently results, also, from the failure to punctuate the sentence properly. As a general rule, the parts of a sentence should be so constructed and so placed that the proper understanding of their relation to each other will not be dependent wholly on the presence or absence of punctuation marks, but it is not always possible to manage this easily. Besides, punctuation marks are always a legitimate, and sometimes a necessary, means of indicating the relationship between sentence elements. It behooves a writer, therefore, to look carefully to his punctuation. In the following sentence, for instance, the absence of a punctuation mark after "do may mislead the reader, at least for the moment, as to the relation subsisting between the clause introduced by "for" and that which precedes it:

That is not an easy thing to do for those who conform to the law soon find themselves confronted by rapidly diminishing profits.

The beginner has already been reminded that the sentence, like the paragraph, is but a part of a larger whole, and that therefore its form will, to a certain extent, be determined by its position or function in that whole. Hence the writer must aim to construct sentences not only good in themselves, but capable of fitting into their proper places in the paragraph. A given sentence is almost always bound up with a number of other sentences which add, in a way, something to its meaning, and which often, indeed, prescribe its very form.

To illustrate, take the following short passage:

One by one the hunters came dropping in; yet such is the activity of the Rocky Mountain sheep that although sixty or seventy men were out in pursuit, not more than half a dozen animals were killed. Of these only one was a fullgrown male. He had a pair of horns, the dimensions of which were almost beyond belief.1

The second sentence here obviously cannot be fully understood without the first; nor can the meaning of the third be grasped in its completeness without a reference to those which go before. In fact, in structure as well as in meaning, the second sentence looks both ways. The opening words "Of these " refer directly to the last clause of the preceding sentence, and the last words " a full-grown male " form a point of departure, so to speak, for the succeeding sentence.

1 From Parkman's Oregon Trail.