Business English Part 11

6. Without doubt you will be interested in the booklet which we enclose.

7. The machine which is standing there has just been repaired.

8. The wheel that holds the type may be changed in an instant by the operator.

9. Whenever he wishes, the operator may write in different sizes of type on the same sheet of paper.

10. Many of our styles have been copied exactly from the best designs that have recently been displayed in the Parisian exhibits.

11. Why are the department stores acquiring motor wagons?

12. One reason is the economy of the motor wagon.

13. Economy does not entirely explain the keenness which department stores are displaying in acquiring motor wagons.

14. In such establishments the quick delivery of merchandise is a necessity.

15. The best means of transportation must be employed, or a loss of trade will follow.

16. Any one can cite examples that prove that faults in delivery cause a loss of trade.

17. Machine service develops fewer errors than horse service (develops).

18. The area which department stores serve is being greatly increased from year to year, and not even the establishment of the parcel post has avoided the necessity for sending package merchandise too far distant for conveyance by horses.

19. Electric machines usually make the house-to-house package deliveries, and gasoline trucks, besides hauling furniture, transfer large loads from the store or warehouse to the distributing stations.

20. In one store each transfer truck is loaded twice daily with fifty trunks containing parcels.

=Exercise 60--Sentence Errors=

=S. 1.= THE BABY BLUNDER.--In writing, one of the most elementary forms of correctness is shown in the proper division into sentences. The ability instinctively to end a sentence at the right place is called the "sentence sense." Students who do not possess it or who have not learned the difference between sentences, subordinate clauses, and phrases frequently make the mistake of setting off too much or too little for one sentence. For example, they run two sentences together as one; as,

_Wrong_: Motor wagons are economical, department stores of all large cities are acquiring them.

The sentence, as written above, contains one form of the sentence error--one of the worst possible mistakes in writing. It is sometimes called the _comma fault_ or the _baby blunder_. For brevity we shall call it _S 1_ (sentence error number one). _Motor wagons are economical_ is a princ.i.p.al clause. _Department stores of all large cities are acquiring them_ is also a princ.i.p.al clause. Two such clauses may not stand in the same sentence separated only by a comma. To correct, divide into two sentences; as,

_Right_: Motor wagons are economical. Department stores of all large cities are acquiring them.

Sometimes the thought in the two princ.i.p.al clauses is closely connected.

In that case they may be put into the same sentence, provided they are properly connected or separated. Use a comma _plus_ a coordinate conjunction (as _and_, _or_, _but_) to connect them, or a semicolon (;) to separate them.

Be particularly careful of the conjunctive adverbs _so_, _then_, _therefore_, _thus_, _also_, _still_, _otherwise_, _however_, _hence_, _consequently_, _moreover_, _nevertheless_. When they are used to join the princ.i.p.al clauses of a compound sentence, a comma is not sufficient punctuation between the clauses. A semicolon or a comma and a coordinate conjunction must be used.

_Wrong_: He had been a good customer, so they were sorry to lose his trade.

_Right_: He had been a good customer; so they were sorry to lose his trade.

_Right_: He had been a good customer, and so they were sorry to lose his trade.

=S. 2.=--The first form of the sentence error (_S 1_) is made by using too much for one sentence. The second form (_S 2_) is made by using too little. It consists in writing a subordinate clause or a phrase as a sentence; as,

1. _Wrong_: I told her I would attend to the matter at my earliest convenience. _Probably on my way from work in the evening._

2. _Wrong_: His doctor advised him to go to Arizona. _Which he decided to do._

=Exercise 61=

Each sentence should express one complete thought. Some of the following are really two sentences (_S 1_), and some are only parts of sentences (_S 2_). Correct each, naming the mistake.

1. You will find the booklet interesting it is also instructive.

2. Up to last January he was a salesman for Colgate & Co. since then he has opened a business of his own.

3. I didn't know you had come, when did you arrive?

4. Did any one take the newspaper, I left it here only a moment ago.

5. I shall take my vacation in September have you had yours?

6. I must go now good-bye I'll see you on Sat.u.r.day.

7. The opening sentence held the man's attention, he read it again and again.

8. I'll have to run to catch the train, otherwise I shall be late for work.

9. The advertis.e.m.e.nt is attractive, still it has not paid well.

10. We wished to reduce office drudgery therefore we installed adding and addressing machines.

11. These problems all require a knowledge of square root for example, take the fourth.

12. Do you expect to come home for Christmas or shall you stay in New York I don't remember now which you said.

13. First I read a statement that recommended the bonds then I read an article that condemned them without question the result was that I didn't know what to do.

14. One-half of the statements are here, the others are in the safe.

15. If your name is not correct on this envelope, please notify us we wish to insure your receiving our bulletin regularly.

16. The supply of fruit was greater than the demand, that is why fruit was cheap.

17. Flies are dangerous. Especially in a sick room from which they carry germs to others.

18. In the country the trees were loaded with fruit, their branches had to be propped so that they would not break.

19. When he was twenty-three years of age, Richard T.