A proper construction of sentences is of so great importance in every
species of composition, that we cannot be too strict or minute in our
attention to it.
Elegance of style requires us generally to _avoid_, many short or long
sentences in succession; a monotonous correspondence of one member to
another; and the commencing of a piece, section, or paragraph, with a
long sentence.
The qualities most essential to a perfect sentence, are _Unity_,
_Clearness_, _Strength_, and _Harmony_.
UNITY is an indispensable property of a correct sentence. A sentence
implies an arrangement of words in which only _one_ proposition is
expressed. It may, indeed, consist of parts; but these parts ought to be
so closely bound together, as to make on the mind the impression, not of
many objects, but of only one. In order to preserve this unity, the
following rules may be useful.
1. _In the course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little
as possible._ In every sentence there is some leading or governing word,
which, if possible, ought to be continued so from the beginning to the
end of it. The following sentence is not constructed according to this
rule: "After we came to anchor, they put me on shore, where I was
saluted by all my friends, who received me with the greatest kindness."
In this sentence, though the objects are sufficiently connected, yet, by
shifting so frequently the place and the person, the _vessel_, the
_shore_, _we_, _they_, _I_ and _who_, they appear in so disunited a
view, that the mind is led to wander for the sense. The sentence is
restored to its proper unity by constructing it thus: "Having come to
anchor, I was put on shore, where I was saluted by all my friends, who
received me with the greatest kindness."
2. _Never crowd into one sentence things which have so little connexion,
that they would bear to be divided into two or more sentences._ The
violation of this rule produces so unfavorable an effect, that it is
safer to err rather by too many short sentences, than by one that is
overloaded and confused.