Business English Part 71

7. Having settled the plan of attack, the rest was simple.

8. The manager warned him not to make the mistake again and adding that mistakes are costly.

9. To keep flannels from shrinking, wash in the following way, and you will find it very satisfactory.

10. To open a fruit jar run a knife under the edge and it comes off easily.

11. I didn't even finish half the questions.

12. Electric lights are economical, clean, and give more light than gas.

13. You should buy your suit now, both for the sake of economy and style.

14. If in doubt as to the best word, a book of synonyms should be consulted.

15. The comma fault is where, two princ.i.p.al clauses are run together without a coordinate conjunction.

Rewrite the following so that it will be correct, concise, and clear:

The Europeans were anxious for trade with the East, for they were dependent upon them for spices and luxuries. The three routes were through the Mediterranean Sea, over the Suez Peninsula, down the Red Sea, and across to India. Another was through the Mediterranean and then through Arabia. The other was from the Mediterranean and then through the Black Sea and then by land to India. It became necessary to seek a new route because the Turks held Constantinople, and all vessels had to pa.s.s through the Mediterranean, and the Turks held this by pirates. The first explorers were working under the leadership of the King of Portugal, and they solved the problem by going around Africa and then to the Indies, but this was too long, and so explorers tried other ways, and the result was the discovery of America.

CHAPTER XIV

THE PARAGRAPH

The sentences developing each of the divisions of a composition make one _paragraph_. A paragraph, therefore, is the treatment of one of the natural divisions of a subject. The length depends on the topic to be treated. Two cautions may be given:

1. Do not write paragraphs containing only one sentence. Such paragraphs do not represent divisions of the subject. They are simply statements which have not been expanded as they deserve, or they are sentences that should be placed with the preceding or succeeding sentences in order to make a good paragraph. Some business men in their letters and advertis.e.m.e.nts use the one-sentence paragraph too frequently to concentrate the attention of the reader. A writer divides his composition into paragraphs in order to aid the reader to follow the thoughts he is presenting. When the reader sees the indentation that indicates a new paragraph, he thinks that the writer has said all that he intends to say on the topic in hand and now intends to open a new topic. It is confusing to find that the new paragraph is simply another sentence on the same topic as the preceding paragraph. Notice the jerky effect of the following extract from a letter:

We are sending you a copy of our latest catalogue, which gives ill.u.s.trations and prices of all our stock.

The ill.u.s.trations are all made from actual photographs and are faithful in representing the shoe described.

Bear Brand Shoes are shipped in special fiber cases, thus lessening freight bills and eliminating the annoyance of shortage claims because they cannot be opened without immediate detection.

Errors of any kind should be reported without delay.

Imperfect or damaged goods must be returned for our inspection; otherwise no allowance will be made.

2. Do not go to the other extreme, writing paragraphs of great length.

Much depends, of course, on the matter to be treated, but, as a rule, in a student's theme a paragraph should be not longer than one page. If one of the divisions of your subject is necessarily long, subdivide it, allowing a paragraph to treat each of the subdivisions.

Whether it is to be long or short, a paragraph must treat but one topic; from the first sentence to the last, it should be the development of one idea. Moreover, this topic must be revealed to the reader in no unmistakable way. Sometimes the subject is so simple that the topic may easily be gathered from the details given, but usually it is well to have one sentence that in a brief or general way states the topic. This is called the _topic sentence_. It may be at or near the beginning; in this case the rest of the paragraph defines or ill.u.s.trates what it states. It may, however, be found at almost any point in the paragraph, not infrequently acting as a sentence of conclusion, summing up the details that have been presented.

A paragraph that begins with a topic sentence sometimes ends with a sentence of conclusion. The first sentence states the topic, the following sentences explain or ill.u.s.trate it, and the last sentence summarizes or otherwise indicates that the topic has been completed.

This form has been called the _hammock_ paragraph, because it has a solid "post" at each end with a ma.s.s of details "swinging" between. It is a good form to use in writing paragraphs on given subjects, when each paragraph is to stand alone, complete in itself, not forming part of a longer composition. The practice of writing such paragraphs induces clear, forceful thinking.

=Exercise 208=

Study the following paragraphs for--

1. Topic sentence, if there is one.

2. Development of the topic.

3. Sentence of conclusion, if there is one.

1

The problem in many large firms is how to develop office efficiency to the highest possible degree. In this respect the monthly examination scheme has been found a great success. The examination consists of a list of questions about merchandise and business procedure. The questions are given out on the last Sat.u.r.day of the month, and the answers are returned for criticism on the following Wednesday. The employees are told that they may consult as many authorities as they wish, but each man must write his own paper. A poor percentage in three of these tests usually means dismissal. Thus the inefficient are dropped, and the ambitious who have studied are recognized. The vice-president of one concern that uses this system says that it is a strong reminder to his men that they must make themselves worthy of the organization. Besides maintaining an even standard of efficiency, the plan has resulted in developing a number of valuable executives, whose latent powers were brought out by the rigidness of the tests.

2

Every month the department head in one big eastern concern, watch in hand, times a large force of typists individually, testing how rapidly they can write a letter of 200 words from their shorthand notes.

Rapidity, punctuation, spelling, and neatness are carefully recorded. This plan has had a desirable influence in bringing stenographers up to grade in their daily work, because a good examination mark is reduced one-half by careless daily work, and a poor examination mark correspondingly raised by excellent daily work. When both examination average and daily average are excellent, the stenographer's salary is increased; when both are below good, the stenographer is dismissed. In this way the standard of stenographic work is kept high.

3

In his effort to succeed many a young business man overlooks the detail of business courtesy. He does not realize the value that a buyer places upon that commodity. The more experienced man, however, knows that courtesy does more to hold a buyer than do bargain sales. In our large cities merchants have incurred great expense to fit up rest rooms where customers may spend an idle hour, write letters on stationery that is provided, and read the latest magazines. In the rural districts, where such luxuries are often impossible, the merchant provides chairs for his customers and a place for stationing their teams.

The country merchant, however, can often accomplish his object more quickly than the city dealer by spending an hour gossiping with his customers. He recognizes the fact that buyers are flattered when the proprietor himself takes the time to say a few words to them. He knows just as well as his city compet.i.tor does, that if a buyer feels at home in his store, sales are practically guaranteed.

4

The rural landscape of Norway, on the long easterly slope that leads up to the watershed among the mountains on the western coast, is not unlike that of Vermont or New Hampshire. The railway from Christiania to the Randsfjord carried us through a hilly country of scattered farms and villages. Wood played a prominent part in the scenery. There were dark stretches of forest on the hilltops and in the valleys; rivers filled with floating logs; sawmills beside the waterfalls; wooden farmhouses painted white; and rail-fences around the fields. The people seemed st.u.r.dy, prosperous, independent. They had the familiar habit of coming down to the station to see the train arrive and depart. We might have fancied ourselves on a journey through the Connecticut valley if it had not been for the soft sing-song of the Norwegian speech and the uniform politeness of the railway officials.

--Van d.y.k.e: _Fisherman's Luck._

5

The plan of the _Spectator_ must be allowed to be both original and eminently happy. Every valuable essay in the series may be read with pleasure separately; yet the five or six hundred essays form a whole, and a whole which has the interest of a novel. It must be remembered, too, that at that time no novel, giving a lively and powerful picture of the common life and manners of England, had appeared. Richardson was working as a compositor. Fielding was robbing birds'

nests. Smollett was not yet born. The narrative, therefore, which connects together the Spectator's essays gave to our ancestors their first taste of an exquisite and untried pleasure. That narrative was, indeed, constructed with no art or labor. The events were such events as occur every day. Sir Roger comes up to town to see Eugenio, as the worthy baronet always calls Prince Eugene, goes with the Spectator on the water to Spring Gardens, walks among the tombs in the Abbey, and is frightened by the Mohawks, but conquers his apprehension so far as to go to the theater when the "Distressed Mother" is acted. The Spectator pays a visit in the summer to Coverley Hall, is charmed with the old house, the old butler, and the old chaplain, eats a jack caught by Will Wimble, rides to the a.s.sizes, and hears a point of law discussed by Tom Touchy. At last a letter from the honest butler brings to the club the news that Sir Roger is dead.

Will Honeycomb marries and reforms at sixty. The club breaks up, and the Spectator resigns his functions.

Such events can hardly be said to form a plot; yet they are related with such truth, such grace, such wit, such humor, such pathos, such knowledge of the human heart, such knowledge of the ways of the world that they charm us on the hundredth perusal. We have not the least doubt that if Addison had written a novel on an extensive plan, it would have been superior to any that we possess. As it is, he is ent.i.tled to be considered not only as the greatest of the English essayists, but as the forerunner of the great English novelists.

--Macaulay: _Essay on Addison._

=Exercise 209=

Prepare a paragraph developing each of the following topic sentences:

1. The kitchen was a cheerful place. (Tell all the details that will explain the word _cheerful_.)

2. In the kitchen the preparations for the feast went on merrily. (Give the details that will help one get the picture.)

3. Examinations are helpful to the student. (In what ways are they helpful? If possible, use examples to ill.u.s.trate the point.)