Business English Part 63

E. When the subordinate element that comes at or near the close of the sentence gives an _additional_ idea, following the more or less complete idea in the rest of the sentence, it should be set off by a comma; as,

A signature clerk will easily recognize any alteration in a signature, _although thousands of checks pa.s.s through his hands daily_.

He gave a statement of the affairs of the company, _explaining that he wished to make a loan_.

=Rule 10.--A terminal adverbial clause or participial phrase giving an additional idea should be set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.=

Punctuate the following:

1. Popular-priced goods are the safest for a retail stock however you consider the subject.

2. A sheriff seldom finds large quant.i.ties of popular-priced goods on hand when he comes to take possession of any retail store although he usually finds expensive articles.

3. They bring higher prices relatively than the heavier things even when they are disposed of under forced sale.

4. The catalogue houses have little fear for five-and-ten-cent stores because sixty-eight per cent of their business is in big goods such as furniture vehicles sewing-machines clothing and relatively expensive things. They do not wish to increase the sale of popular-priced articles although their catalogue may be full of them because it costs them more to pack one hammer or trowel than the profits can stand.

5. Steel conditions remain about as they have been for several weeks excepting that the price of rails has been advancing for the last few days.

6. Steel men are of the opinion that to increase prices too rapidly would spoil a good market because most of the mills are so filled up with orders that they would not be able to take advantage of increased quotations for some time to come.

7. The steel business for the last three months has been very encouraging as it shows that railroads are dropping their policy of waiting until the last minute to buy. It will probably mean more normal operation of mills instead of spasmodic workings as has been the case for the last few years.

8. Boraxated soap chips will benefit your tableware and your hands making dishwashing a pleasure instead of a task.

9. The man who works to the limit of his physical powers is as foolish as the manufacturer who immediately invests all his profits in his business neglecting to have a reserve fund for unexpected demands.

10. A wide-awake manager tries plan after plan testing and re-testing them until he can apply them to his company's needs.

Write four sentences ill.u.s.trating Rule 10.

=Exercise 188=

Punctuate the following letters, supplying a heading and an introduction for each:

1

Dear Madam:

We wish to acknowledge your letter of recent date a.s.suring you that we thank you for the opportunity you have given us of opening a monthly charge account in your name. We shall spare no effort to make every transaction as satisfactory as possible hoping thus to merit a liberal share of your patronage.

Our bills are rendered on the first of each month being payable between that date and the fifteenth.

Yours very truly,

2

Dear Mr. Warner:

In reply to your inquiry I am sending the following information a.s.suring you that I am glad to be of service to you.

The Lancaster Company has apparently abandoned its plan of erecting a new building this year difficulties having arisen it is said in their securing a suitable location. About two years ago the firm purchased a site on the corner of Harrison and Second streets but they sold it again last year taking advantage of a decided rise in real estate values. It is understood we believe that the company will build in the near future even now having two or three possible sites under consideration.

Sincerely yours,

3

Dear Sir:

We offer you the benefits and privileges of our Special Charge Account whereby purchases may be paid for in weekly or monthly installments. You will find this a most convenient arrangement because it permits you to have a charge account without the usual hardship of payment at a fixed time. Moreover a Special Charge Account costs you nothing since our prices are the same whether you pay cash or have purchases charged. Please fill out the enclosed application blank mailing it to us to-day.

You will no doubt enjoy reading the enclosed booklet as it gives much interesting information on fashion tendencies. The ill.u.s.trations too are unusually attractive although they hardly do justice to the beautiful garments that we sell.

Yours truly,

=Exercise 189=

Study the punctuation in the following selections from _The Wall Street Journal_; then write them from dictation:

1

TROUBLE IN INTRODUCING STEEL

"Strange as it now seems," said one of Carnegie's "young men," now the vice-president of a large and prosperous corporation in New York, "in the early days of the steel industry we had the greatest difficulty in the world in weaning the old manufacturers away from the use of wrought iron, though they admitted the superiority of steel. They would look at it, test it, and agree that it seemed to possess all the desirable qualities claimed for it, but it was more or less untried by time, and they preferred to stick to the old wrought iron, with which they were familiar.

"I remember one old chap with whom I had wrestled long, but in vain, coming into my office and picking up a long, soft steel rivet, which had been bent double and hammered flat.

"'How many did you break in making this?' he asked, picking it up and examining it curiously.

"'That's the first one we hammered over, and, what is more to the point, we can do it with all steel of that type,' I replied.

"The polite incredulity in his face stirred my professional pride, and I said, 'If I let you go to the mills, pick out a dozen of those rivets just as they come from the rolls, and hammer them with your own hands, will you use that steel hereafter, if it comes up to the test?'

"He said he would, and the rest was easy, for it is much easier not to break than to break that kind of steel. Before long the old man came back with perspiration dripping from the end of his nose but with the light of conviction shining in his eye. The firm had a new customer."

2

CONSERVATION

Leslie M. Shaw, former Secretary of the Treasury, was in New York, attending a meeting of a board of which he is a member. Something was said about the present-day discussion of money power, and Shaw said that it reminded him of a speech he had made in Seattle in the campaign of 1896.

"I was speaking to a filled hall and had almost finished," said Shaw, "when a long-whiskered man arose about the middle of the hall and held up his hand, saying he wanted to ask a question.

"'Go ahead,' I said.

"'How, then, Mr. Speaker, do you explain the unequal distribution of wealth?' was his question.