Let clearness be the first consideration. It is best, at all events for beginners, not to aim so much at being brief, or forcible, as at being perfectly clear.
1. When using the Relative Pronoun, use “who” or “which” if the meaning is “and he” or “and it”, “for he” or “for it.” In other cases use “that” if euphony allows.
“I heard this from the inspector, who (and he) heard it from the guard that traveled with the train.”
“Fetch me (all) the books that lie on the table, and also the pamphlets, which (and these) you will find on the floor.”
“There was a house next door, which was a great nuisance,” means “…and this (the fact of its being next door) was a great nuisance;” whereas that would have meant “Next door was a house that (the house) was a great nuisance.”
“Who” and “which” introduce a new fact about the antecedent, whereas “that” introduces something without which the antecedent is incomplete or undefined. In the first example above, “inspector” is complete and “who” introduces a new fact about him; “guard” is incomplete, and requires “that traveled with the train” to complete the meaning.
The following are some of the cases where who and which are mostly used instead of that.
A. When the antecedent is defined, such as by a possessive case.
B. That sounds ill when separated from its verb and from its antecedents, and emphasized by isolation: “There are many persons that, though unscrupulous, are commonly good-tempered, and that, if not strongly incited by self-interest, are ready for the most part to think of the interest of their neighbors.”
C. If the antecedent is qualified by that, the relative must not be that. Besides other considerations, the repetition is disagreeable. Addison ridicules such language as “That remark that I made yesterday is not that that I said that I regretted that I had made.”
D. That cannot be preceded by a preposition, and hence throws the preposition to the end. “This is the rule that I adhere to.” With some prepositions, the construction is harsh and objectionable.
“This is the mark that I jumped beyond.”
“Such were the prejudices that he rose above.”
The reason is that some of these disyllabic prepositions are used as adverbs, and when separated from their nouns, give one the impression that they are used as adverbs.
E. After pronominal adjectives used for personal pronouns, modern English prefers who.
F. After that used as a conjunction there is sometimes a dislike to use that as a relative.
2. Do not use “and which” for “which.”
“I gave him a very interesting book for a present, and which cost me five dollars.”
In short sentences the absurdity is evident, but in long sentences it is less evident, and very common.
“A petition was presented for rescinding that portion of the by-laws which permits application of public money to support private schools over which taxpayers have no control, this being a violation of the principle of civil liberty, and which we believe would provoke a determined and conscientious resistance.”
Here which grammatically refers to “portion” or “schools” but it seems intended to refer to “violation.” Omit “and,” or repeat “a violation” before “which,” or turn the sentence otherwise.
“A petition was presented for rescinding that portion of the by-laws which permits application of public money to support private schools over which taxpayers have no control, this being a violation of the principle of civil liberty; a violation we believe would provoke a determined and conscientious resistance.”
3. Avoid Verbal Nouns where Verbs can be used.
The disadvantage of the use of Verbal Nouns is , unless they are immediately preceded by prepositions, they are sometimes liable to be confounded with participles.
4. Emphatic words must stand in emphatic positions; for the most part, at the beginning or the end of the sentence. Unemphatic words must, as a rule, be kept from the end.
The place for an adverb, as a rule, should be between the subject and verb: “He quickly left the room;” but if quickly is to be emphatic, it must come at the beginning or end, as in “I told him to leave the room and he left quickly.”
Adjectives, in clauses beginning with “if” and “though,” often come at the beginning for emphasis: “Insolent though he was, he was silenced at last.”
5. An interrogation sometimes gives emphasis.
6. The Subject, if unusually emphatic, should often be transferred from the beginning of the sentence.
The beginning of the sentence is an emphatic position, though mostly not so emphatic as the end. Therefore the principal subject of a sentence, being emphatic, and being wanted early in the sentence to tell us what the sentence is about, comes as a rule, at or near the beginning: “Thomas built this house.”
Since the beginning is the usual lace for the subject, if we ant to emphasize “Thomas” unusually, we must remove “Thomas” from the beginning: “This house was built by Thomas.” or “It was Thomas that built this house.”
Where the same subject stands first in several consecutive sentences, it rises in emphasis, and need not be removed from the beginning, even though unusual emphasis is required:
“The captain was the life and soul of the expedition. He first pointed out the possibility of advancing; he warned them of the approaching scarcity of provisions; he showed how they might replenish their exhausted stock.”
7. The Object is sometimes placed before the Verb for emphasis.
This inversion sometimes creates ambiguity in poetry: “The son the father slew” and should be sparingly used in prose.
8. Words should be as near as possible to the words with which they are grammatically connected.
9. Adverbs should be placed next to the words they are intended to qualify.
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.” or “He has quickly left the room.” but when emphatic, after the verb: “He left, or has left, the room quickly.” 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 book on the floor.” Does quickly here modify left or dropping? The remedy is, to give the adverb its unemphatic place, “He quickly left the room…” or else to avoid the participle: “He quickly dropped the book and left the room.”
10. The strict rule is that “only” should be placed before the word it affects.
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.
(1) He only beat three. He did no more than beat, did not kill, three.
(2) He beat only three. He beat no more than three.
(3) He beat three only. He beat three, and that was all he did. (Here only modifies the whole of the sentence and depreciates the action.)
The best authors sometimes transpose the word. “He only lived.” as stated implies “He did not die or make any great sacrifice” but “He only lived but till he was a man.” (Macbeth) means “He lived only till he was a man.” Compare also, “Who only hath immortality.”
Only at the beginning of a statement = but. “I don’t like to importune you, only I know you’ll forgive me.” Before an imperative it diminishes the favor asked: “Only listen to me.” This use of only is mostly confined to letters.
Very often, only at the beginning of a sentence is used for alone: “Only ten came…” or “Only Cæsar approved.” Alone is less ambiguous. The ambiguity of only is illustrated by the following: “Usually I don’t mind when a few friends come to visit. Only five came yesterday.” which might mean, “I don’t mind a few; only I don’t like so many as five.” or “I don’t mind a few friends; no more than five came yesterday.” In conversation, ambiguity is prevented by emphasis; but in writing, only might cause confusion. Write “Yesterday only five came,” if you mean “no more than five.”
How To Write Clearly - Part 1
Source: ABBOTT, EDWIN A., M.A., HOW TO WRITE CLEARLY - RULES AND EXERCISES ON ENGLISH COMPOSITION.
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