Here the Relative does not introduce an additional fact, but an essential part of the subject, which is not complete without the Relative clause. In this case the Relative cannot be avoided by using the demonstrative and a conjunction.

(c.) The Negative often causes ambiguity when it is not clear what part of the sentence is modified by not. "The remedy for drunkenness is not-to-be-ascetic, or is-not to-be-ascetic." I shall not help-you-because-you-are-my-friend (but because you are in the right)," or "I shall-not-help-you, becauseyou-are-my-enemy."

The following instance, though not itself ambiguous, suggests the ambiguities that may arise in this way:

"They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat."-Isaiah lxv. 22. (A. V.)

(d.) Any is often ambiguously used. When not modified by a negative, it means "any you like," i.e., "every;" but "not any," instead of meaning "not every," means "not a single one." Hence, where the negative is carelessly placed, any becomes ambiguous, because we cannot tell whether it means every or one, e.g.,

"No person shall derive any benefit from this rule who has not been engaged for at least five years to a house of business employing not less than a hundred clerks at any time."

This ought to mean "employing at no time less than a hundred;" but any in such cases is often confused with some. Again, in "I cannot believe anything that you say," and "I cannot believe anything that you choose to say," anything means in the first case "a single thing," in the second case 66 everything."

It is quite impossible to determine, without fuller context, the meaning of the word any in such a sentence as :

"I am not bound to receive any messenger whom you may send."

(e.) But sometimes causes obscurity, and since it may mean, according to the context, except, or on the other hand, or only, must be very carefully handled.

(a) "As for the falsehood of your brother, I feel no doubt; but what you say is true."

"As for the falsehood of your brother, I feel no doubt but what you say is true.”

(8) "I expected twelve; but (either only or contrary to my expectation) ten came.”

The following is perfectly clear, but shows the possibility of ambiguity:

(7) There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark

But he's an arrant knave.

Hamlet.

(f.) Adverbs, when misplaced, or even inverted for emphasis, may easily cause obscurity. Sometimes without being positively wrongly placed, they cause confusion when they come at the end of a clause, and are followed by a new clause beginning with a participle:

"He left the room very slowly repeating his determination not to obey."

"He charged me with peculation falsely asserting that I had not sent in my accounts.”

(g) Participles are often used with nothing to show what noun they qualify. This produces great obscurity in poetry. Thus, in the passage quoted above from Milton:

Adam, first of men,

To first of women, Eve, thus moving speech

Turned him.

But such ambiguity is also common in the most ordinary prose.

(a) "I did not hear what you said coming so suddenly into the noisy room."

(3) "I saw an old schoolfellow yesterday when I was in London walking down Regent Street, carpet-bag in hand."

(7) I must be forgiven if this stranger has not received allowance from me, placed in these trying circumstances, and surrounded by everything that can perplex and distract.”

(h.) A congestion of infinitives causes ambiguity, when it is not clear whether an infinitive is parallel to or depending on a previous infinitive. This ambiguity may occur even in a very short sentence:

"Do you intend to send your son to help me to work or to play?"

(1) "Do you intend (to send your son, or to help me, or to work, or to play?)"

(2) ". . . to send your son (that he may help me or that he may work or that he may play ?)"

66

(3) ... to send your son to help me (that I may work or that I may play ?)"

74. The Antidote for Obscurity is a careful observation of such natural obscurities of the English language as have been enumerated above, and watchfulness in avoiding them. The causes of error are very few, but they recur again and again; and if they are once carefully noted and avoided, a very few simple rules will be sufficient to prevent a great many mistakes. For example, a careful use of the relative and personal pronouns will remove a great many common obscurities.

Conversational license sometimes encourages us to take liberties in writing which produce obscurity: against this

we must be on our guard. As there are few inflections in English, the function of a word in a sentence is determined partly by the position of the word, partly by emphasis and modulation of the voice. The four words "When will you ride?" admit of four somewhat different meanings, according as the emphasis is laid on one or other of the words. There is a danger that when we write we may write too much as we speak, forgetting that a reader cannot be expected to put the precise emphasis which we should put. The emphasis is perhaps necessary to explain the exact meaning, and in such cases what was clear when spoken, becomes obscure when written. Almost all the ambiguous sentences noted in the last paragraph would be free from obscurity if they were spoken. It follows that more care must be bestowed upon the arrangement of words in writing than in conversation.

A few further remarks on the best way to write or speak a long sentence intelligibly, will be conveniently given under the head of the rhetorical period.

75. The Rhetorical Period is based upon the necessity for (a) clearness and (b) impressiveness which is felt by those who have to persuade a large assembly. The parentheses and rambling anarchy of conversation are out of place here for rhetoric must be pointed and incisive. The continuous pursuit of some thread of subtle thought, the quiet soliloquizing or sudden outburst of lyrical poetry, are also out of place,-either too subtle, or too quiet, or too difficult to follow for a large audience of average persons. Excitement must be sometimes produced, but the way for it must be carefully prepared. There must be no surprises and perplexities to the audience, nothing to prevent them

from being carried uninterruptedly and insensibly along with the speaker. No speaker would begin a long speech by

or,

or,

O that this too, too solid flesh would melt!

Ruia seize thee, ruthless king!

Hence, loathed Melancholy.

Accordingly, a long rhetorical sentence is often preceded by a kind of introductory epitome of what is going to be said. Many examples of this might be extracted from Burke. The two following, which are consecutive in the original, will suffice:

"But now all is to be changed. All the pleasing illusions which made power gentle, and obedience liberal, which harmonized the different shades of life, and which, by a bland assimilation, incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and soften private society, are to be dissolved by this new conquering empire of light and reason. All the decent drapery of life is to be rudely torn off. All the superadded ideas furnished from the wardrobe of a moral imagination, which the heart owns and the understanding ratifies as necessary to cover the defects of our naked shivering nature, and to raise it to dignity in our own estimation, are to be exploded as a ridiculous, absurd, and antiquated fashion."-Burke.

The repetition of the connecting words, the conjunctions, relative pronouns, auxiliary verbs, and prepositions in a long sentence is very conducive to clearness, often also to impressiveness, as in the following example :

"My lords, you have here also the lights of our religion; you have the bishops of England. My lords, you have that true image of the primitive church in its ancient form, in its ancient ordinances, purified from the superstitions and the vices which a