The Project Gutenberg eBook of Business English, by Rose Buhlig

The author of this book and the writer of this preface have never met. Their respective fields of labor are a thousand miles apart. Yet such is the force of ideas that many of their thoughts and sympathies are common.

Business English! The very name is an anomaly. From a literary point of view there is no such thing. English is English whether it be used to express the creations of our imagination, our aesthetic appreciations, or our daily wants. There is no magical combination of words, phrases, and sentences that is peculiar and distinctive to business transactions. Business English as used in these pages means effective communication, both oral and written. The author's aim throughout has been to teach the art of using words in such a way as to make people think and act. To do this she has applied the principles of literary composition to the highly complex and ever increasing problems of our business life. She realizes that business is vital, and that the problems of commerce are not to be met and handled with dead forms and stereotyped expressions of legal blanks.

To use our language effectively it is necessary to have an understanding of its elements. Thus the author has very wisely devoted much space to word-study and English grammar. This is a field commonly neglected in books on the subject. The people engaged in business are, on the whole, woefully weak in the grammar of our language. It is believed that the treatment herein will be a great aid in correcting this deficiency. If we have ideas, we must express them in words, and our words should be so chosen and arranged as not to offend, but to please and interest. This result can be secured by a systematic study of Part I.[iv]

Part II deals with oral and written composition. Here the author has arranged her subjects in such a way as to give the whole a cumulative effect. The method throughout is inductive, and sufficient examples are always given to warrant the conclusions drawn. Most textbooks on Business English neglect the subject of oral English. This book regards the spoken word as important as the written word.

If there be any one feature in this textbook more to be commended than another, it is the exposition in Part III. The situations arising in many different kinds of business are here analyzed. The author believes that the way to become a good business correspondent is, first, to learn what the situation demands and, second, to practice meeting the demands. We must know before we write. Given a knowledge of the subject, we must have much practice in expressing ourselves in such a way as to make our composition effective. The author meets this need by supplying many and varied exercises for practice. These exercises are live, practical, and up-to-date. The problems to be solved are real, not imaginary. Thus the power to be gained in meeting these situations and solving these problems will prove a real asset to those who contemplate a business career. It is confidently hoped that both teachers and pupils will find in this work material which will help them to prepare themselves to meet the many problems and demands of our growing commercial needs.

BUSINESS ENGLISH

PART I—WORD STUDY AND GRAMMAR

CHAPTER I

Business English is the expression of our commercial life in English. It is not synonymous with letter writing. To be sure, business letters are important, but they form only a part of one of the two large divisions into which the subject naturally falls.

First, there is oral expression, important because so many of our business transactions are conducted personally. Thousands of salesmen daily move from place to place over the entire country, earning their salaries by talking convincingly of the goods that they have to sell. A still greater number of clerks, salesmen, managers, and officials orally transact business in our shops, stores, offices, and banks. Complaints are adjusted; difficulties are disentangled; and affairs of magnitude are consummated in personal interviews, the matter under discussion often being thought too important to be entrusted to correspondence. In every business oral English is essential.

Second, there is written expression. This takes account of the writing of advertisements, circulars, booklets, and prospectuses, as well as of letters. And in the preparation of these oral English is fundamental. It precedes and practically includes the written expression. For example, we say colloquially that a good advertisement "talks." We mean that the writer has so fully realized the buyer's point of view that the words of the advertisement seem to speak directly to the reader, arousing his interest or perhaps answering[2] his objection. Oral English is fundamental, too, in the writing of letters, for most letters are dictated and not written. The correspondent dictates them to his stenographer or to a recording machine in the same tone, probably, that he would use if the customer were sitting before him.

But in taking this point of view, we should not minimize the importance of written business English. In a way, it is more difficult to write well than it is to talk well. In talking we are not troubled with the problems of correct spelling, proper punctuation, and good paragraphing. We may even repeat somewhat, if only we are persuasive. But in writing we are confronted with the necessity of putting the best thoughts into the clearest, most concise language, at the same time obeying all the rules of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The business man must be sure of these details in order to know that his letters and advertising matter are correct. The stenographer, especially, must be thoroughly familiar with them, so that she may correctly transcribe what has been dictated.

Business English is much the same as any other English. It consists in expression by means of words, sentences, and paragraphs. Moreover, they are much the same kind of words, sentences, and paragraphs that appear in any book that is written in what is commonly called the literary style. In a business letter the words are largely those of every day use, and but few are technical. It is the manner in which the words are put together, the idea back of the sentence, that makes the only difference.

We shall begin the study of business English with a study of words, for in all expression, whether oral or written, a knowledge of words, of their meaning and suggestive power, is fundamental. On the choice of words depends not only the correctness but also the effectiveness of expression—the courtesy of a letter, the appeal of an advertisement, the persuasiveness of a salesman's talk. A mastery of words cannot[3] be gained at once. Every time one speaks, he must consider what words will best convey his idea. In this chapter only the barest beginning of such study can be made. The exercises show the value of the subject.

The study of words is interesting because words themselves are interesting. Sometimes the interest consists in the story of the derivation. As an example, consider the word italic. Many words in this book are written in italic to draw attention to them. Literally the word means "relating to Italy or its people." It is now applied to a kind of type in which the letters slope toward the right. The type was called italic because it was dedicated to the states of Italy by the inventor, Manutius, about the year 1500. An unabridged dictionary will tell all about the word.

The word salary tells a curious story. It is derived from a Latin word, salarium, meaning "salt money." It was the name of the money that was given to the Roman soldiers for salt, which was a part of their pay. Finally, instead of signifying only the salt money, it came to mean the total pay.

Practically all of this information a good dictionary gives. In other words, a dictionary is a story book containing not one, but hundreds of thousands of stories. Whenever possible it tells what language a word came from, how it got its different meanings, and how those meanings have changed in the course of time. For it is natural that words should change just as styles change, names of ancient things being lost and names for new things being made. As the objects themselves have gone out of use, their names have also gone. When a word has gone entirely out of use, it is marked obsolete in the dictionary. On the other hand, new inventions must be named. Thus new words are constantly being added to the language and the dictionary because they are needed.

There is a large class of words that we shall not have[4] time to consider. They are called technical. Every profession, business, or trade has its distinctive words. The technical words that a printer would use are entirely different from those which a dentist, a bookkeeper, or a lawyer would use. You will learn the technical terms of your business most thoroughly after you enter it and see the use for such terms.

None of the words, therefore, that you will be asked to search out in the dictionary are, strictly speaking, technical. It is evident that it will do you no good to search out the words in the dictionary, unless you learn them—unless you use them correctly in speaking and writing. There is pleasure in thus employing new material, as everybody knows. Use your eyes and ears. When you hear a new word, or read one, focus the mind upon it for a moment until you can retain a mental picture of its spelling and of its pronunciation. Then as soon as possible look it up in the dictionary to fix its spelling, pronunciation, and definition. Do this regularly, and you will have reason to be proud of your vocabulary.

An excellent way to increase the number of words that you know is to read the right kind of books. The careful study of the words used in the speeches and addresses of noted men is good practice. The conditions that called forth the speech were probably important, and the speech itself interesting, or it would not be preserved. When a man has an interesting or important message to give, he usually gives it in clear, exact, simple language. Therefore the vocabulary that he uses is worth copying. As for stories, there is a kind that furnishes a wealth of material that modern authors are constantly using or referring to, and this is found in stories of the Bible, stories of Greek and Northern gods and goddesses, stories of the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Æneid, stories of chivalry—all old stories. Every one should know them well, because they are the basis of many allusions in which a single word oftentimes[5] suggests a whole story. The meaning of the word herculean, for instance, is missed if you do not know the story of Hercules and know that he was famous for his strength.

Atlas is an interesting word. Originally it was the name of a Greek god, who carried the world on his shoulders. Then it is supposed that in the sixteenth century the famous geographer Mercator prefixed his collection of maps with the picture of Atlas supporting the world. Thus a collection of maps in a volume came to be called an atlas. Consult an unabridged dictionary for the origin of each of the following:

The days of the week and the months of the year are interesting in their derivation. Monday, for example, represents the day sacred to the Moon as a deity. Explain the origin of each of the following:

Bring to class a list of words which, because they are the names of modern inventions, have come into the language in modern time.

How many words can you name which might be called the technical terms of school life, words which always carry with them a suggestion of the school room? Bring in a list of twenty such words.

How many words can you name which are used only in the business world? Bring in a list of twenty such words.

How many words can you name which apply particularly to money and the payment or non-payment of money? Bring in a list of twenty or more such words.

CHAPTER II

We are judged by our speech. If we clip syllables, run words together, or pronounce them incorrectly, we shall merit the criticism of being careless or even ignorant. Yet clear enunciation and correct pronunciation are sometimes difficult. We learn most words by hearing others say them, and, if we do not hear the true values given to the different syllables, we shall find it hard to distinguish the correct from the incorrect forms. Children whose parents speak a foreign language usually have to watch their speech with especial care; Germans, for example, find difficulty in saying th and Irish people in saying oi as in oil. The exercises in this chapter are given for the purpose of correcting such habits. The words in the exercises should be pronounced repeatedly, until the correct forms are instinctive.

Train the ear to hear the difference between sounds, as in just and in jest. Don't slide over the final consonant in such words as going and reading. Watch words containing wh. The dictionary tells us that where was originally written hwar, the h coming before the w; and we still pronounce it so, although we write the w before the h. The word whether is of the same kind. The dictionary tells us that it was first spelled hweder. Such words should be carefully noted and their pronunciation practiced.

Then there is the habit of slurring syllables. We may understand what is meant by the expression "C'm' on" or "Waja say?", but most of us would prefer not to be included in the class of people who use either. Correct speech cannot be mastered without an effort.[8]

In the following exercises watch every vowel and every consonant so that you may give each one its full value.

Although an a is always written a, it is not always given the same quality or length of sound. When we discover a new word, it is important that we know exactly the quality to give each of the vowels in it. For this purpose diacritical marks have been invented. They are illustrated in the following list from Webster's International Dictionary.

Of the twenty-six letters in the alphabet, how many are vowels? Name them. What are the other letters called?

Compare the ă in hat and the ā in hate. Which has more nearly the sound of a in the alphabet? This is called the natural or long sound of the vowel. The other is called the short sound.

Explain the difference in pronunciation between Pete, pet, ripe, rip, hope, hop, cube, cub.

Find other monosyllables ending in e and containing a long vowel that becomes short if the e is dropped.

Monosyllables ending in silent e usually contain a long vowel sound, which becomes short when the final e is dropped.

Pronounce the vowel o in the following very carefully. Don't give the sound feller or fella when you mean fellow.

The vowel u needs particular attention. When it is long, it is sounded naturally, as it is in the alphabet. Do not say redooce for reduce.

Using diacritical marks indicate the value of the vowels in the following. Try marking them without first consulting a dictionary. After you have marked them, compare your markings with those used in a dictionary.

Pronounce carefully, noting that in each word at least one consonant is silent, and sometimes a vowel as well. Draw an oblique line through the silent letter or letters in each.

Pronounce the following, paying particular attention to the vowels. Distinguish between the meanings of the words in each group.

Enunciate the consonant sounds carefully in the following. Distinguish between the meanings of the words in each group.

Pronounce the following, making sure that each syllable is correct. Guard against slurring the words in the last column.

Be especially careful of the sounds th and wh. Add no syllable to a word and omit none. Consult a dictionary for any word below about which you are not certain:

A homonym is a word having the same sound as another but differing from it in meaning. Use each of the following in a sentence to show its meaning.

Choose a word and notice that every vowel sound in it makes a syllable. Therefore, you never have two vowels in one syllable unless the two are pronounced as one sound.

In pronouncing notice carefully to which syllable a consonant belongs; as in dif-fer-ent, beau-ti-fy, dai-sy.

Divide the following words into syllables. If you cannot decide with which syllable a consonant belongs, consult a dictionary.

If a syllable, especially an accented syllable, ends in a vowel, what is usually the length of the vowel?[16]

If the syllable ends in a consonant, what is usually the length of the vowel of the syllable?

When a consonant is doubled, the division is usually made between the two letters; as,

Do not divide a syllable of one letter from the rest of the word. The division ever-y is wrong.

Divide the following words into syllables, using the suggestions given in the preceding exercise:

In the following words the meaning changes with the accent. Use each word in a sentence to show its meaning.

Bring to class a list of words that you have heard mispronounced in your classes. Be sure that you can pronounce them correctly.

The following words are frequently mispronounced. Divide them into syllables, mark the accent, and pronounce carefully.

CHAPTER III

The usual way of forming the plural of English nouns is illustrated by the words in column (b) above. What is it?

If you add s to the singular form dress, could you distinguish the pronunciation of the plural from the pronunciation of the singular? Does this suggest a reason for adding es to form the plural?

How many syllables must you use to pronounce the plural of fox? Does this suggest another reason for adding es to form the plural?

Every word that ends in a sibilant or hissing sound (ch, s, sh, ss, x, z) forms its plural like fox. Give several illustrations.

Rule 1.—Nouns regularly form the plural by adding s, but those ending in a sibilant must addes.

Name five words belonging to group (a) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?

Name other words belonging to the group (b) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?[19]

Rule 2.—Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant (and nouns ending in quy) form the plural by changing y to i and adding es.

The older English words ending in o form the plural by adding es, as in potatoes; those more recently taken into the language form the plural by adding s, as in quartos.

With the exception of the words given above, nouns ending in an f sound form the plural in the regular way; as,

Consult a dictionary for the difference in meaning between the two plurals of each word.

Rule 3.—Compound nouns usually add the sign of the plural to the fundamental part of the word.

Rule 4.—Letters and figures form the plural by adding the apostrophe (') and s; as,

The same rule applies to the plural of words which ordinarily have no plural; as,

Some nouns derived from foreign languages retain their original plural. The following are in common use.

Some words admit of two plurals, one the foreign plural, and one the regular English plural; as,

Consult a dictionary to see whether there is any difference of meaning between the two plurals of these words.

Rap is a monosyllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel. The final consonant in such words is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel is added.

In reap the final consonant is not doubled because it is preceded by two vowels.[22]

The final consonant in track is not doubled because track ends with two consonants.

Pine drops the silent e because the tendency in English is to drop endings that are not needed for pronunciation before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

Exercise 36 applies also to words of more than one syllable accented on the last syllable, if they retain the accent on the same syllable after the suffix is added. Thus we have

Rule 5.—Monosyllables or words accented on the last syllable, ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

Form participles from the following words that are accented on the last syllable:[23]

Words in which the accent changes do not double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel; as,

Explain why the final consonant is not doubled in each of the following words:

Rule 6.—In forming the present participle of verbs ending in y, retain the y before adding ing; as,

In forming the perfect participle, if in the present tense the y is preceded by a consonant, the y is changed to i and ed added; if the y is preceded by a vowel, the y is retained; as,

Rule 7.—In words containing a long e sound spelled either ie or ei, ei follows c; ie follows one of the other consonants; as,

The following couplet may help in remembering when to write ie and when to write ei:

If c is pronounced like s, it is called soft and is marked ç. The mark used to indicate the soft c is called the cedilla.

What sound does g have before each of the vowels, as in game, gone, gymnasium, Gunther, gentle?

Words ending in silent e, according to Rule 5, drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Exceptions occur when the e is needed to preserve the soft sound of c and g. Tell why e is dropped in encouraging and retained in courageous.

In words containing dg, as in judge and lodge, the d gives the g the soft sound, and there is no need to retain the e before adding a suffix, as in judgment.

Rule 9.—Words ending in silent e usually drop the e before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel, unless the e is needed to preserve the pronunciation; as after soft c and g, when the suffix begins with a or o.

The fact that c has two different sounds causes a slight peculiarity in words ending in c. Final c has the sound of k. When words end in c, the letter k is usually added before a suffix beginning with either e, i, or y, to show that c is not pronounced like s; as,

It follows by inference from Rule 9 that words ending in silent e retain the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant; as,[26]

Bring to class a list of twenty words that retain the final e before a suffix beginning with a consonant.

Write abbreviations for the months of the year. Are there any that should not be abbreviated?

CHAPTER IV

To learn English words thoroughly we must spend some thought on the way in which they are made up, on the language from which they have been derived, and on the changes in meaning made by adding prefixes and suffixes. Three important influences in building the English have been the Anglo-Saxon, the Greek, and the Latin languages. The simplest words in the language are Anglo-Saxon. The following exercises illustrate how words have been multiplied by Anglo-Saxon prefixes and suffixes.

Name as many words as you can that make use of each of the following prefixes. Give only such as are recognizable English words without the prefix.

Using the following Teutonic suffixes, form English words. Be careful that the root taken alone is an English word.

Below is given a list of common Greek roots with the English meaning of each. Form words using one or more of the roots for each word, and define the words you make. For instance, give the meaning of telephone, telegraph, and monarch.

What words belonging to your vocabulary end in the following suffixes? Choose only such as have an English word for the root.

Analyze the following words, telling prefix, root, suffix, part of speech, and meaning:

When the prefixes ad, con, and in are used to form English words, the final consonant of each is often changed to the initial consonant of the root to which it is joined.

Ad assumes the forms ab, ac, af, ag, al, an, ap, ar, as, at, assimilating the d with the first letter of the word to which it is prefixed; as,

Con assumes the forms col, cor, com, by assimilation; it takes the form com before p; and it drops the n before a vowel; as,

In assumes the forms il, im, ir, by assimilation and takes the form of im before p.

The suffixes able and ible are sometimes troublesome because it is difficult to know which ending to write. As a rule, if the new word was made from another English word, the ending is able, as blamable. The words ending in ible are derived from the Latin, and, as a rule, the ending cannot easily be separated from the root and still leave the latter an English word. Examples are:

The suffixes ant and ent must also be carefully noted. No rule can be given for using one rather than the other. Whenever in doubt, consult a dictionary. Note the following:

The endings eous and ious, where e and i are often confused, are illustrated in the following:

What other words can you form from the following? Explain what prefixes or suffixes you use in each case and what part of speech you form.

There are many words the meanings of which are easily confused. The spelling and the definitions of such must be mastered. Analysis in this exercise and in the one following does not require separation into prefix, root, and suffix, but it necessitates a careful study of the words, first, to note the difference in spelling; second, to consult a dictionary, if necessary, for the difference in meaning.

As above, define each word carefully and use it in a sentence to illustrate its meaning.

CHAPTER V

In the preceding chapters we have seen words as they are used singly. We studied their pronunciation and the way in which they were formed to express a definite meaning. In this chapter we shall begin a review of grammar, a study of words not according to their pronunciation or their definition, but according to their use as they are arranged with other words to express complete ideas. The simplest group into which words are thus arranged is the sentence, consisting of two important parts, the subject and the predicate. The subject is the part about which something is told, and the predicate is the part that tells about the subject; as,

There are several different kinds of sentences, named according to the meaning which they express. They are as follows:

Sentences are classified, also, according to their structure or form. If a sentence has one subject and one predicate, it is a simple sentence. If it is made up of two independent parts, it is a compound sentence. If it has one independent part and one or more dependent parts, each of which contains a subject and a predicate of its own, the sentence is complex. The independent part of the sentence is called a principal clause, and the dependent part is called a subordinate clause. A phrase is also a dependent part of a sentence, but it differs from a subordinate clause in that it contains no subject or predicate. Both phrases and subordinate clauses are used as parts of speech, as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Thus we have the following definitions:

A complex sentence contains one principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

A phrase is a group of related words used as a part of speech. (See Exercises 68 and 69.)

A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate. A subordinate clause is used as a part of speech. It usually has an introductory word to distinguish it from a principal clause. (See Exercise 71.)

Write two of each of the following kinds of sentences: a. Declarative, b. Interrogative, c. Imperative, d. Exclamatory.

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 principal clause. Department stores of all large cities are acquiring them is also a principal clause. Two such clauses may not stand[45] 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 principal 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 coördinate 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 principal clauses of a compound sentence, a comma is not sufficient punctuation between the clauses. A semicolon or a comma and a coördinate conjunction must be used.

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.

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.[46]

There are eight different kinds of words called parts of speech, which are used to make sentences. They are as follows:[49]

Thus a noun names something. A word that stands for a noun is a pronoun. Sometimes a different part of speech is used like a noun, and for the time being it becomes a noun. The verb is a very important part of speech, since without it there can be no sentence. The verb makes an assertion, asks a question, or gives a command. Adjectives are words that belong to or describe nouns or pronouns. Adverbs go with or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Prepositions and conjunctions connect. Prepositions join their objects to other words in the sentence; conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses. An interjection, such as the exclamation oh, is used without having grammatical relation to any other word in the sentence. A preposition always takes an object, the preposition and its object making a phrase. Grouping this information, we have:

A word is not always the same part of speech. We may say, "Did you starch the clothes?" in which case starch is[50] a verb. A grocer may say, "The starch in these packages is always clean." In this sentence starch is a noun. The part of speech depends entirely on the way the word is used.

In the following, name the part of speech of each word in italic. Judge by the way the word is used in the sentence.

Each of the following may be used as different parts of speech. Write sentences illustrating as many uses as possible for each word.

Tell which of the words in italic are adjectives and which are adverbs. Remember that an adjective goes with a noun or pronoun; an adverb with another adverb, an adjective, or a verb, and usually answers the question how? when? where? why? how much? or how long?

Change the following adjectives to adverbs. In each case use both parts of speech in sentences.[52]

Tell which of the Words in italic are prepositions and which are adverbs. Remember that a preposition begins a phrase. It must be followed by an object.

Write sentences using above, across, down, up, underneath both as adverbs and as prepositions.

What part of speech is each of the italicized phrases below? Remember that an adjective modifies a noun; an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.

The phrase introduced by a preposition is the most common. A list of prepositions follows. They should be learned.

Name all the prepositional phrases in Exercise 179, explaining whether they are adjective or adverbial.

A subordinate clause, like a phrase, is a group of words used as a part of speech, the chief difference being that a clause must have a subject and a predicate. Clauses are introduced

Write three sentences illustrating adjective clauses, three illustrating adverbial clauses, and three illustrating noun clauses.

Write sentences using each of the following words to introduce a phrase, and to introduce a clause.

Remember that just as a preposition must be followed by an object to form a phrase, a conjunction must be followed by a subject to form a clause.

Name the complete subject in the following. Then name the simple subject, explaining by what elements—words, phrases, or clauses—it is modified.

Name the complete predicate. Then name the simple predicate, explaining by what elements the verb is modified.

CHAPTER VI

A common noun is the name given to an object to denote the class to which it belongs; as, book, man.

A proper noun is the name given to a particular object to distinguish it from others of the same class; as, Mary, Republicans, England. Proper nouns should always be capitalized.

A collective noun is a name which in the singular denotes a collection. It is usually plural in idea but singular in use; as, congregation, crowd.

An abstract noun is the name denoting a quality of an object; as, power, purity, strength.

A verbal noun is the name of an action. As its name suggests, it is made from a verb; as, Sweeping is good exercise.

In the following sentences supply necessary capital letters. Explain why the same word in one expression needs a capital and in another does not.

Explain to which class each noun in the foregoing sentences belongs. Be particularly careful to distinguish between common and proper nouns.

The personal pronoun is used in place of the name of a person or thing. The pronoun of the first person indicates the speaker, the pronoun of the second person indicates the person spoken to, and the pronoun of the third person indicates the person spoken of. They are declined as follows:

In modern usage you is used for both the singular and the plural, but the verb that goes with you is always plural.

2. Reflexive pronouns, referring back to the subject and at the same time being in the objective case; as,

The relative pronoun is so called because it relates or refers to another word, called its antecedent, to which it joins the clause that it introduces. The relative pronouns are who, which, what, that; and the compound relatives are whoever, whosoever, whichever, whichsoever, whatever, whatsoever.

That, what, whichever, whichsoever, whatever, and whatsoever are not declined. They have the same form in the nominative and objective cases, and are not used in the possessive case.

What is peculiar in that it never has an antecedent expressed, but itself stands for both antecedent and relative. It is called the double relative. Compare the following:

That is called the restrictive relative, because it limits or restricts its antecedent to the meaning expressed in the[60] clause introduced by that. A restrictive clause is one, therefore, that is needed to make the meaning of the sentence clear. Compare the following:

Notice that a restrictive, or necessary, clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

Interrogative pronouns are used in asking questions. They are who, which, what. Who refers to persons; which refers to persons or things, and is used to distinguish one object from another; what refers to things. They are declined as follows:

The interrogative pronouns which and what are frequently used as adjectives. In this case they are called pronominal adjectives. Compare:

The demonstrative pronouns are this and that with their plurals these and those. They are always used to point out, or demonstrate, the noun to which they refer. This and these are used for objects near at hand, or recently named; that and those are used for objects far away, or not recently named.[61]

Indefinite pronouns refer to objects or persons, but do not define or limit them. The indefinite pronouns are each, every, either, neither, one, none, other, another, few, all, many, several, some, each other, one another, and the compounds any one, some one, every one, something, nothing. Indefinite pronouns are frequently used as adjectives. Each, every, either, one, another, any one, some one, every one, whether they are used as pronouns or as adjectives, are singular in number. If another pronoun is used to refer to one of them, it must be in the singular number.

In the following sentences, explain which pronouns represent the person speaking, which represent the person spoken to, and which represent the person spoken of. Tell which pronouns ask questions; which are used as adjectives; which are used to connect subordinate clauses to the word for which they stand. If the antecedent is expressed, point it out.

In the following sentences he, his, they, their, them, it, or its should be inserted. Give the reason for your choice.

Some of the following are right, and some are wrong. Correct those that are wrong, explaining why they are wrong.

In the following exercise, tell which of the italicized pronouns introduce restrictive, and which introduce non-restrictive clauses:

Case is that modification of a noun or a pronoun which denotes its relation to other words in the sentence. There are three cases: the nominative, the objective, and the possessive. Although nouns are used in all three cases, no change of form occurs except in the possessive case.[65]

1. The principal use of the nominative case is as subject of the sentence; as,

2. Sometimes a noun or pronoun is used to complete the meaning of such verbs as be, become, seem, appear, taste, feel. Such a noun is in the nominative case, and is called a predicate nominative, or a subjective complement; as,

3. A noun in apposition with another noun in the nominative case is also in the nominative case; as,

4. Sometimes a noun or a pronoun is used in direct address or in an exclamation, without having any grammatical relation to the rest of the sentence. It is then said to be nominative independent; as,

5. Sometimes a noun or pronoun is used with a participle to express an adverbial relation. Such a noun is in the nominative case, and is called nominative absolute, because it has no grammatical relation to any other part of the sentence; as,

Write a sentence containing a noun and one containing a pronoun in each of the following uses of the nominative case:

3. Indirect object of such verbs as ask, give, teach, showing the person for whom or to whom the action is done; as,

4. A noun as second object after verbs of making, choosing, calling, electing; as,

Write a sentence containing a noun and one containing a pronoun in each of the following uses of the objective case:[67]

To form the possessive case of nouns add an apostrophe and s to all singular nouns, and to all plural nouns that do not end in s; if a plural noun ends in s add only an apostrophe; as, child's, children's, boys'.

Thus, an of phrase may be used instead of the possessive case. In speaking of an inanimate object one should use it instead of the apostrophe and s; as, the top of the mountain. However, we use such expressions as last year's prices.

When, as in the name of a firm, two or more nouns are taken together with the idea of common possession, the sign of the possessive is added to the last noun only. If separate possession is implied, the sign of the possessive is added to each noun; as,

Write sentences expressing relation between the words in the following pairs. Use one of them in the possessive case or use an of phrase, whichever seems better.

Bring to class five incorrect possessive phrases taken from advertisements. Explain and correct the mistakes.

Each of the following sentences is incorrect because the sign of the possessive case has been omitted. Insert the apostrophe or the apostrophe and s, wherever either is needed.

Some of the following sentences are right, and some are wrong. Correct those that are wrong, explaining why they are wrong.

Read the following sentences, using one of the forms in italic. Be able to give a reason for your choice.

One of the worst constructions found in business letters of today is the use of same as a pronoun. The word may be an adjective or a noun but never a pronoun.[73]

CHAPTER VII

As a rule, adverbs present more difficulty than do adjectives. Careless pupils frequently use an adjective when an adverb is necessary; as,

Until the habit of correct usage is formed, every sentence must be watched. When a word modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, another adverb must be used, and an adjective may not correctly be substituted. As a rule, adverbs express the following ideas:

It must be remembered, however, that verbs of the senses—taste, feel, look, smell, sound, and the like—are sometimes almost equal in meaning to the verb be. In[76] that case, they are followed by adjectives and not by adverbs; as,

Name the adjectives in the following selection, explaining with what noun each belongs.

Explain the proper position of the italicized adverbs in the following sentences. Remember that an adverb must stand as closely as possible to the word that it modifies, but remember also that an infinitive, although made up of two parts, is one word and should not be split by an adverb.

Adjectives are compared so as to express different degrees of quality. There are three degrees of comparison, the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. When the object modified or described by the adjective is not compared with another, the first or positive degree is used. When two objects are compared, the second or comparative degree is used to denote more or less of the quality expressed by the adjective. When several objects are compared, the superlative degree of the adjective is used to express the highest or the lowest possible degree of the adjective.

The usual method of comparing an adjective is to add er to the positive to form the comparative, and est to form the superlative. Frequently, however, especially for an adjective of two or more syllables, the comparative is formed by prefixing more or less to the positive, and the superlative by prefixing most or least. Besides the adjectives in these two classes there are some which do not follow any regular method and must, therefore, be watched a little more closely.

Some adjectives and adverbs cannot be compared because the positive degree in itself expresses a complete or absolute meaning; as,

Compare those of the following adjectives that may be compared. Explain why some do not admit of comparison.

In the following exercise, select the correct one of the two italicized forms. Remember that the comparative degree is used in comparing two objects, the superlative in comparing three or more.

Fewer refers to a smaller number by counting, less refers to a smaller quantity by measuring. Insert the correct word:

Most refers to quantity or number; almost means not quite. Insert the correct word:

Real is an adjective meaning actual; very is an adverb of degree. Insert the correct word:

CHAPTER VIII

A verb is transitive when it needs an object to complete its meaning; that is, when the action passes over (Latin, transire, to pass over) from the subject or doer to the object or receiver; as,

Some intransitive verbs require a predicate noun or pronoun in the nominative case, or an adjective, to complete their meaning. They are the verbs be, become, appear, seem, feel, taste, look, smell; as,

Tell whether each verb in the following sentences is transitive or intransitive and whether it is followed by a noun or a pronoun in the nominative or the objective case or by a complementary adjective.

Voice is that property of the verb that shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon. If the subject acts, the verb is in the active voice. If the subject is acted upon, the verb is in the passive voice. Every sentence containing a transitive verb must have the following parts:

When the sentence is in the order shown above, the subject is the agent, and the verb expresses the action of the agent. When the sentence is written in this order, the verb is said to be in the active voice.

However, without changing the meaning of the sentence, we may change the order of the ideas; thus,

The receiver of the action has become the subject, and the agent has become part of the predicate, being expressed in the phrase by the runaway horse. When the sentence is[85] expressed in this order, the subject receiving or "suffering" the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice. Only transitive verbs, therefore, may be changed to the passive voice.

In the sentences that you have written, is the active form of the verb or the passive form better? Which is more direct in its wording? Which, then, is the better form to use regularly?

The number of the verb is decided by the number of the subject. If the subject is a singular noun, or a pronoun that stands for a singular noun, it requires a singular verb; if the subject is plural, it requires a plural verb. As a rule, there is no difference between the singular and the plural forms of the verb except in the form for the third person singular; as,

But as the third person of the verb is the one most often used, it must be carefully noted.

The following subjects of verbs are singular and require a singular verb to accompany them:

2. A group of words which, like a collective noun, is plural in form but singular in meaning; as,

3. A singular noun modified by every, each, one, no, many a; or the pronouns each, everybody, either, neither, and none when it means not one; as,

4. Singular [1] nouns or pronouns joined by or, either—or, neither—nor; as,

1. A collective noun denoting plurality; that is, referring to the individuals that compose the group; as,

2. A compound subject joined by and, when the objects joined are different; as,

In the following sentences, decide which of the italicized forms is correct. Give the reason for your choice.

In the last sentence above substitute one of the following for every one, using the correct form of the verb with each:

The tense of the verb indicates the time of the action. There are three primary tenses, indicating action in the present, the past, and the future. Each of these tenses has also a perfect tense, which, represents the action as being perfect or complete in the present, the past, and the future.

The present tense is the simplest form. It denotes that the action takes place now; as,

The future tense denotes that the action will take place at some future time. It is formed by using shall or will with the simplest form of the verb; as,

The three perfect tenses are formed by using the verb have with the perfect participle of the verb.

The present perfect tense denotes that the action is complete at the present time. It is formed by the present tense of have and the perfect participle of the verb; as,

The past perfect denotes that the action was completed in past time. It is formed by using the past tense of have and the perfect participle of the verb; as,

The future perfect tense denotes that the action will be completed at some future time. It is formed by the future of have and the perfect participle of the verb; as,

Giving all forms singular and plural, first, second, and third persons of each tense constitutes the conjugation of a verb. Giving one person in each tense constitutes the synopsis of the conjugation.

The following is a synopsis of all the tenses of the active voice in the first person singular number of the verb write[91]:

The auxiliary verbs used to form the future tenses are shall and will. The two must be carefully distinguished because they denote different ideas, according to the person with which they are used. The rule is, to express simple future time, use shall in the first person, will in the second and third persons.

On the other hand, instead of letting things take their natural course as they do in the simple future, you may force them to take place. You may, for example, be determined to walk, or determined to make some one else walk. In that case the use is reversed; as,

This form is used whenever the speaker has authority to bring about the action indicated by the verb.

In questions of the first person always use shall. In questions of the second and third persons use the same form that you expect in the answer; as,

In the following sentences insert shall or will, giving the reason for your choice:

Should and would are the past tenses of shall and will and, in general, express the same ideas as do shall and will, except that should sometimes means ought; as,

The use of should and would in indirect statements and questions is sometimes puzzling. First of all, decide whether shall or will would be used in the direct form of the sentence.[94] If the direct form uses shall, use should in the indirect; if the direct uses will, use would in the indirect; as,

Change the italicized verbs to past tense, future, present perfect, past perfect, future perfect. Wherever necessary, add sufficient to make the meaning of the tense clear; as,

The present tense is used to indicate general truths—things true in past time and still true. Omit the incorrect form in the following sentences:

No one can be certain of using the correct form of a verb unless he knows the principal parts. Some verbs are regular;[96] that is, they form their past tense and their perfect participle by adding ed to the present tense; as,

Some verbs, however, are very irregular, having a different form for each of the principal parts. A list of such verbs follows:

Some verbs, though irregularly formed, have the past tense and perfect participle alike. A list of such verbs follows:

Choose the correct form of the italicized words below, and give the reason for your choice.

Lie is intransitive; lay is transitive. Lie signifies to rest; lay, to place. Insert the correct form in the following:

Sit is intransitive and signifies to rest. Set is transitive and means to place. Insert the correct form:

Accept means to receive. Except as a verb means to exclude; as a preposition it means with the exception of. Insert the correct form in the following:

Affect means to influence. It is always a verb. Effect as a verb means to bring to pass; as a noun it means result. Insert the correct form in the following sentences:

Lose is a verb, while loose is usually an adjective. The two should be carefully distinguished. Insert the correct form:

The verb be is used to form the progressive tenses of the active voice (See Exercise 102) and the simple tenses of the passive voice; as,

If we add the progressive form wherever it may be used, we have the following synopsis of the indicative mood:

Supply the verb forms indicated. Use the active unless the passive is definitely called for.

Infinitives are verb forms that are used as nouns, as adjectives, or as adverbs. Participles are verb forms that are used as adjectives. Thus at the same time each acts as two parts of speech. As verbs both have the meaning of the verbs from which they are made; both have tense and voice; both may be modified by adverbial expressions; and, if they are made from transitive verbs, both may take objects.

The participle frequently introduces a phrase. Usually the phrase is used like an adjective; occasionally it is used like a noun (sometimes called the gerund phrase).[110]

The infinitive is distinguished by the word to, either expressed or understood. The tenses and voices of the infinitive are as follows:

Grouping all the facts that we have thus far learned about phrases, and expressing them in diagram form, we have the following:

The prepositional and infinitive phrases may have all three uses; the participial phrase has two—adjective and noun (gerund).

Phrases are important because, like clauses, they help us to vary the form of our sentences. They help us, above all, to avoid the childish so habit. Thus, instead of They wished to make the ice smooth so they flooded the pond, we may use, for example:

Mode is the form of the verb that indicates the manner of expressing the thought. The modes, or moods, that every one should be able to distinguish are the indicative and the subjunctive. If the verb indicates a fact, we say it is in the indicative mode; if it expresses a supposition, a doubt, a statement contrary to fact, or a wish, we say it is in the subjunctive mode.

In form the indicative and the subjunctive differ in the present and the past tenses of the verb to be, as follows:

Other verbs in the subjunctive mode do not end in s in the third person singular number, but use the same form as the other persons in the singular number; as, if he go, if she walk.

If, though, although, or lest usually introduce the subjunctive form.[113]

In modern English, the use of the subjunctive is becoming rare except in the past and past perfect tenses in statements contrary to fact, and in wishes, which are really statements contrary to fact; as,

There are some careful writers who still use the present subjunctive to show a possibility; as,

In the following sentences, which form is better? May any of the sentences use either form?

Insert was or were in each of the following sentences, in each case giving a reason for your choice. Remember that the indicative was is used to denote a statement of fact in the past time, and the subjunctive were (singular and plural) is used to denote a possibility, something that is[114] supposed to be true, or a statement entirely contrary to fact, as in a wish.

CHAPTER IX

It is important in the study of prepositions to observe that there are certain words that are followed by certain prepositions. To change the preposition is to convey a different meaning from the one that the speaker intended, or to convey no meaning at all. A partial list of such words with their appropriate prepositions follows:

Each of the incorrect sentences given below contains an unnecessary preposition. When the meaning of "Where are you going?" is entirely clear, there is nothing gained by saying "Where are you going to?" Omit such superfluous prepositions.

The object of a preposition is always in the objective case. Some people have great difficulty in recognizing that in such expressions as for you and me, the pronoun me is as much the object of the preposition for as the pronoun you. Both[120] words must be in the objective case. It is incorrect to say for you and I.

Than and as are not prepositions but conjunctions. They are used to introduce subordinate clauses. Usually the clause is incomplete, but the omitted part is easily understood from the preceding clause and must be supplied to show the case of the noun or the pronoun that is expressed; as,

There are certain conjunctions, called correlatives, that are used in pairs. They are

In the illustrations given above, notice that the correlatives always join two similar or coördinate expressions. It is important that they be placed each immediately before one of the two coördinate expressions.

Recast the following sentences, placing the correlative conjunctions before coördinate expressions:

These conjunctions are correctly used in speaking of two things only. Care must be taken to use or with either and nor with neither. In comparing three or more things use any of them, none of them, or no.

Except and without are prepositions, and are used, therefore, to introduce phrases; unless is a conjunction, and is used to introduce a clause.

In the following sentences insert the correct form, giving a reason for your choice:

Like is followed by a noun or pronoun in the objective case. As is a conjunction and introduces a clause, and is therefore followed by a verb. Like is not a conjunction and therefore may not be substituted for as or as if.

To is a preposition; too is an adverb, and means excessively or also; two is a numeral adjective. Insert the correct form in each of the following sentences:[126]

PART II—COMPOSITION: ORAL AND WRITTEN

CHAPTER X

Retell a story that you know or one that the instructor has read to you. See if you can tell the whole story in fairly long sentences without using a single and. You will be allowed to use three and's. As soon as you say the third, you must take your seat. Let the class keep count.

The story may be an anecdote, a fable, or any other short incident that can easily be told in one or two minutes. You probably have read many such or have heard your father and your mother tell them. A joke that can be told in two or three sentences will not be long enough.

The excessive use of and spoils the telling of many stories. It is a mistake to think that the gap between the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next appears as great to the listener as it does to us as we are deliberating what to say next. To avoid the gap we bridge the two sentences with and. Its use in this way is hardly ever necessary if we think out a sentence to the end before we begin to speak it. When we have finished the thought, we should finish the sentence without trying to bind it artificially to the next one. The sentences will be bound together if the thought of one grows out of the thought of the preceding one.

If the unfolding of the idea does not seem sufficient to tie the parts, there are better expressions to use than and. There are short expressions like in this way, likewise, moreover, thus, therefore, besides, as might be expected, and too. Another[128] way to avoid and is to change the form of the sentence: (1) better than the form, "I opened the window and saw," is, "Opening the window, I saw;" (2) better than "I am going to the store and buy some sugar," is, "I am going to the store to buy some sugar;" (3) better than "There was a boy and his name was John," is, "There was a boy whose name was John;" (4) better than "I reached home and found that my cousin had arrived," is, "When I reached home, I found that my cousin had arrived." In place of and, therefore, we may use (1) participles, (2) infinitives, (3) relative pronouns, and (4) subordinate conjunctions.

Above all, avoid and everything, as in, "I washed the dishes and swept the floor and everything." To try thus to complete an idea that is already complete shows childishness.

Very likely in telling the story as suggested above you found yourself frequently using the word so to connect two sentences. Perhaps, too, you used why to begin sentences.

Now tell one of your own experiences, being careful not to use and, so, or why. Introduce as much conversation as possible. What, if any, is the advantage of telling a story in the first person? Why is it good to introduce conversation?

Far too many boys and girls pay but little regard to the matter of choosing the word that will give the exact[129] meaning that they wish to convey. In order to lend force to their words they have formed the habit of speaking in superlatives; like the girl who said, "We had a perfectly grand time, but I'm so beastly tired now that I'm nearly dead," and yet she showed no evidence of suffering.

Isn't it a pity that our beautiful English language should be so degraded in common usage that it loses all its force and meaning? Instead of convincing people that she really was tired, the girl quoted above made herself ridiculous by her exaggeration. Yet isn't the quotation a fair example of the speech of many boys and girls? Surely everything about us is not either grand or beastly. The habit thus formed is difficult to break, but it must be broken if we wish to speak our language correctly.

Make a list of the slang phrases that you have acquired. For each one substitute a good English expression.

The reason we must watch our oral English closely is that it is in our conversation that our habits of speech are formed. The expressions we use then we unconsciously employ when we are writing or talking to the class. If we are accustomed to use considerable slang when we speak, we shall have difficulty in eliminating it from our writing or in finding a good word to express the idea for which we usually use slang. As a rule, slang and extravagant expressions of all kinds are used to serve such a variety of meanings that the use of them tends to limit the vocabulary to these expressions. Consider slang something undesirable and stop using it.

Look up the words in each of the following groups. You will notice that there is a resemblance of meaning between all the words of each group, but that there is also a shade of difference in meaning that distinguishes each word from its[130] companions. Discover that shade of difference. Use each word in a sentence.

Carelessness in speaking frequently results in wordiness, since the speaker in an effort to be clear or forceful repeats the idea two or three times. Such speech is tiresome. In each of the following sentences there are too many words to express the idea. See how many you can omit and yet preserve the meaning. Sometimes the sentence needs revision.

One of the most profitable exercises to cultivate clear thinking and consequent clear expression is the making of speeches, usually spoken of as oral themes. In this exercise a pupil stands before the class to talk upon a subject[132] about which he has thought, but upon which he has written nothing. He has two objects in view. First, he must choose those facts that will make his subject clear and interesting to his audience. Second, he must deliver them well; that is, he must stand in a good position before the class, use good grammar, no slang, and enunciate so that every one in the room can understand him. If his speech is to be longer than one paragraph, he should have an outline prepared, in which each division is clearly indicated, as well as the important details within each division.

In making a speech, the best way is to start with a clear statement of the subject. Suppose you take (9) below. You might begin, "I am going to talk of a street car transfer. First, I shall tell you how it looks; and second, how it is used. Then first, a street car transfer—(describe it fully). In the second place, it is used—(give details)." After you have explained fully, to show that you have said all you intend to say, finish with a sentence of conclusion. Therefore, consequently, for these reasons, thus we may see, are instances of words which may be used to begin a sentence of conclusion.

Use each of the following questions as the subject for a speech. Answer each question clearly and completely. Use illustrations to show exactly what you mean.

In your neighborhood you have frequently noticed a lawn and a garden that are very poorly kept, the garden needing weeding and the lawn both weeding and mowing. Imagine that you go to the owner to make him a proposition. You know the man slightly, and you have heard that he has a quick temper. Know exactly what work you will offer to do and how often you will do it. Be careful of your first sentences. Let them be especially courteous, so that you may not offend the gentleman by suggesting that he does not take care of his property. Tell him frankly that you would like to earn some money.

In this exercise the class will represent the owner. Moreover, they will watch carefully so that they may point out to the speaker wherein his speech was not quite courteous or not quite clear.

From one of the newspapers cut an advertisement of a position for which you think you can apply. Bring the[134] advertisement with you and convince the class that you are fitted for the position.

In this exercise you must be exact. Choose an advertisement for a kind of work about which you know something. If you have ever had any experience that would fit you for the position, do not fail to tell of it, since experience counts for much in the employer's estimate of an applicant.

Let the class judge whether the speaker has been convincing and whether he has shown the properly courteous attitude toward an employer. Let them ask themselves such questions as: Is he alert in his manner? Does he make one feel that he is capable? Does he stand and talk as if he has confidence in himself? Is he too meek? Does he seem over-confident? Let each be able to offer suggestions for improvement.

Imagine that you are an agent. Choose an article that is especially useful to housekeepers. Try to sell it to the class, or choose an individual member to whom you wish to sell it. Bring a sample with you for the purpose of demonstrating its usefulness.

As in the preceding exercise the speaker must strive to be convincing. He must know all there is to be known about the article that he is demonstrating. If it is at all possible, he should have used it in order that he may explain exactly how it is operated and why it is better than a similar article that the housekeeper probably is at present using.

You wish to start a business and need a certain amount of money. Try to convince the instructor or a selected pupil that you need it.

Be sure that you are able to tell definitely the kind of business for which you wish the money, where you will start the[135] business, why you think that this particular location is good, when you will be able to return the money, and what security you can give.

Don't make the mistake of choosing something too big for a boy or a girl to carry through. Perhaps the following will be suggestive:

Prepare a short speech on each of the following. Wherever possible make your statements clear and forceful by using illustrations or examples.

How can one measure the success of men or women? Is it by the money they make? the land they acquire? the fame they win? the good they do? By what means have they won success? Was it through favorable circumstances? strength of character? favoritism? physical strength? mental energy? daring? doing what they thought was right in spite of opposition? or simply doing nothing and waiting for success to come?

Study the life and character of one or more of the following. Have they gained what you consider success? What qualities[137] of character do you recognize in them? Would you care to be like any of them?

Make a list of the habits that you recognize in their life and in the way they worked.

A very great asset in business is the ability to see the truth or the falsity of a statement, and to advance proofs for or against it. This ability we shall try to acquire through the practice of debating; that is, through the making of speeches in which students take opposite sides of the same subject, trying by the presentation of facts and illustrations to prove that the side which they represent is the correct one. The statement that is thus argued is called a proposition.

Debating is excellent practice because it teaches not only clear-cut reasoning, but also forceful expression. If a debater fails to make any of his several arguments convincing, if he introduces irrelevant matter, or, though he has prepared strong proofs, if he expresses them in incorrect English, the result will be poor. In working out a debate, therefore, observe the following carefully:

The conclusions that you reach in your arguments must be based upon statements that are true. In the following, some of the statements are false, and therefore the conclusions based upon them are false. Point out wherein the falsity consists. In others of the following, irrelevant matter has been introduced. Point it out, explaining why it is irrelevant.

Find three reasons for each of the following propositions. State them concisely, reserving the strongest for the last.

Expand one of the reasons that you advanced for one of the propositions given below. Using your statement as the opening sentence, develop it into a paragraph by explanations and illustrations.

Let three or four pupils write upon the blackboard three arguments in support of the same one of the following propositions. Then let the class choose from all the arguments given those three or four that they think are best, giving in each case reasons for their choice.

One or two weeks in advance let the class choose three members for each side of one of the following propositions. On the day of the debate let the rest of the class act as judges to decide which side has presented the most convincing arguments in the best English.[141]

Choose two or four members of the class to develop each side of the following debate. Wherever possible, definite figures should be used.

CHAPTER XI

In Chapter X definite subjects were assigned for talks. Getting a subject for yourself sometimes seems difficult; you are likely to think that there is no topic upon which you can say more than a few sentences. Isn't it true that when you are talking to your friends you seldom are at a loss for something to say? Of course, what your companion says often suggests an idea on which you give your opinion. You speak about things that interest you, and the words come fairly easily. Why not apply the same principle to more formal composition, whether oral or written? Unless a subject interests you, do not use it. But be careful that you do not reject it as uninteresting until you have thought about it carefully, considering it from all sides. Often one subject will suggest another akin to it, but more interesting to you because you know more about it. For this reason choose very simple subjects, and become thoroughly familiar with them by thinking or reading about them, before you attempt to explain them.

Sometimes, again, you will find that the subject you have chosen is not good because it is not definite enough. You hardly know where or how to begin to explain it, because it suggests no definite ideas. Perhaps, for instance, you have decided to write on the automobile and can think of nothing to say until you remember that you once saw an automobile race about which you can tell several interesting details; or you have seen an automobile accident and can write on the topic A Runaway Electric. If[147] you can speak or write on a topic taken from your own observation, your composition will probably be good. You know the facts, you have an interest in the subject, and you will very likely say something of interest to others. Subjects taken from school life or neighborhood happenings, especially such things as you yourself have seen, are excellent. Perhaps on your way to school you noticed that several old houses are being torn down. You remember that you heard that a candy factory is to be erected. At once several suggestions for themes will come to you; as, Why the Factory is Being Erected in this Neighborhood, How Neighborhoods Change in a Large City, The Work the Wrecking Company Carries on. Perhaps your father owns property in the neighborhood, and you could write on How Real Estate Values have Changed in this Neighborhood.

Next to your own experience, the best source from which to draw subjects is your reading. This may be divided into (1) books, (2) magazines and newspapers. Recall one of the books that you read in the grammar grades, perhaps The Courtship of Miles Standish. Drawing your material from this source, you can write A Picture of Early Plymouth Days, or a sketch of Miles Standish's character, using the title Practice What You Preach. But to try to tell the whole story to any one in two or three minutes would result in failure, for it would be a subject entirely too big to treat in so short a time. All the interesting details would have to be omitted, and, if the details are omitted, the story loses its vitality.

It is the newspaper or the magazine, however, that offers us the most available source of subjects. Practically all that we know of the modern world and of the wonderful progress being made in invention and discovery, as well as of the accidents and disasters that take place, we have learned first from the newspaper and have verified later by the articles in magazines. Every issue of a newspaper or[148] of a magazine contains suggestions for many subjects. Such magazines as The World's Work, System, The Outlook, The Technical World, and other magazines that deal with technical subjects in a popular way are excellent for this work.

A third important source of subjects is the studies that you are now pursuing. Every new study affords a new point of view, which should suggest many topics for oral and written themes. Sometimes a good subject is the comparison of two of your studies by which you try to show, perhaps, how the one depends on the other.

The subject, of course, is but the beginning of the composition. Developing the subject is fully as important as having a subject to develop. The ability to develop a subject clearly is very important in the business world. A business man sells his goods either by talking or by writing; by the salesman or by the letter and the advertisement. Unless the salesman talks in a convincing way, he probably will sell few goods. He must know not only what to say, but how to say it.

First, you must see your subject in its entirety, as one thing. Ask yourself, "Just what does my title mean?" and if you have not as yet selected a title, study your subject from all sides until you can see how to narrow it to certain definite dimensions. Now you have set a sort of fence around your subject. Nothing outside must enter, but nothing inside must escape. The length of the composition you are to write usually helps you decide on the limits of your subject. If you are writing a book on Africa, you might include all that the title suggests to you of exploration, colonization, civilization, and Christianization. But if you are writing a very short theme—not over three pages—it is evident that the subject must be narrowed. Would The Transvaal be good? The Jungles of Africa?[149] Roosevelt in Africa? African Mission Stations? When I think of Africa I think of Stanley?

Which of the following subjects would be good for short compositions, either oral or written? The oral theme should occupy two or three minutes, the written perhaps three pages. What is the objection to a one word subject?

After you have selected your subject, decide into what divisions it naturally falls. If it is of the proper length, it probably will divide itself into two or three divisions. Each of these will constitute one-half or one-third of your composition, and within each division illustrations, reasons, and explanatory details will appear. Arrange the divisions in the order in which they naturally come, according to their relative time of happening or according to their relative importance, reserving the most important for the last.

Sometimes this sort of division is difficult to make, because a subject can frequently be treated from different points of view, the point of view deciding the divisions. Sometimes you will find that you have made a number of small divisions, in each of which you can say only one or two sentences. This will at once suggest that you have not found the main parts of the subject, but have made unimportant divisions.[150] Again, it may seem that you cannot divide your subject into satisfactory parts. In that case, you probably do not know enough about it. Think about it again, and, if you find that you really cannot divide it, choose another.

Choose one of the following subjects. Is the title definite and clear? If it is not, change it so that it will be. For example, Photography (5) is not a definite title. No one could attempt to explain the entire subject of photography in a few minutes. A better title for a theme would be one of the following: How to Develop a Negative; How to Intensify [or reduce] a Negative; Our Camera Club; The Photography Exhibit at the Art Museum; Kinematography; Flash Light Pictures without Smoke or Odor; The Conditions Necessary for a Good Snap Shot Picture; The Advantages of Using a Developing Machine; How My Camera Helped Pay for My Vacation. Can you suggest still others?

After having selected your title, decide into what divisions the subject naturally falls. For example, let us take (2) below. A Ball Game is not a definite title. Instead, let us choose Last Saturday's Football Game. As stated above, a subject may be treated from different points of view, the point of view deciding the divisions. Thus, in treating Last Saturday's Football Game, we may divide:

Still other divisions may be made if we consider the subject from the point of view of the teams or the players themselves. Can you suggest any such divisions?

In the same way choose one of the subjects given below. Change it, if necessary. Then write out the topic of each division in as few words as possible.

If your theme consists of more than one division, before you begin to speak or write you should prepare a definite working plan or outline. It should include enough to suggest the first sentence of each division and the more important details within each. The outline will help you in speaking or writing to arrange the topics so that they will follow one another clearly. If you have an outline, there will be much less danger of including details which do not belong to the subject and of omitting details which should appear.

One more suggestion is in place here. In writing an outline, be careful that you express similar subdivisions of a topic by similar grammatical elements. For example, in the first outline above, (a) under I is a phrase; (b) under I should be a similar phrase. It would be incorrectly worded Winter or What the winter problem is. What is the advantage of such similarity?

Using the divisions you made for one of the subjects under Exercise 155, develop an outline for a theme.[153]

Choose one of the following subjects; restrict it or expand it, if necessary; select a proper title; write an outline; and then write or deliver your composition, following your outline closely. Notice that the shorter your title the more it includes, and therefore the longer your composition must be to deal adequately with the subject.

Recall one of the books that you have read recently. Name two subjects that it suggests to you and that you can talk about. Write a careful outline for each of them, and be prepared to speak on one.

Name a subject taken from one of your studies, history for example. Let it be definite enough so that you can tell all the details that you know about it in a speech lasting two or three minutes. Use examples and illustrations to make the subject interesting and clear. Prepare an outline.

Reproduce an article that you have read in a current magazine. Be careful that you make the material your own before attempting to retell it. Do not under any circumstances try to memorize the article. Understand fully what it says, make an outline of the facts that you wish to reproduce, and then give them as if they were your own ideas. At the beginning of your speech tell the name and date of the magazine from which you are taking the facts.

As has been said, most of us get our ideas of what is taking place in the world from the articles that we read in current newspapers and magazines. We cannot always form our opinion from what one newspaper on one day says of a particular event. We must read what it says on successive days and, if possible, consult other newspapers on the same subject, for it is well known that not all newspapers are non-partisan. If one in the city is known to be so, that is the paper to read for the material for this exercise. Then, if we can read what one of the magazines says on the same[155] subject, our knowledge will probably be more definite and more nearly true.

Let the class be divided into different sections, representing different kinds of news; for example, national, local, foreign, and business news. Under national news, you can perhaps find articles on national politics, legislative measures being discussed at Washington, rumors of war, immigration; under local news, anything pertaining to the city or the state in which you live; under foreign news, anything of interest to any of the other countries of the world; under business news, the prices of food products, strikes, panics, and their effect on business conditions. These are but suggestions. Such topics change so rapidly that nothing more definite can here be given.

When you have been assigned to one of these divisions, prepare a talk on a topic that you understand thoroughly. Begin your talk with a clear statement of your subject, as explained in Exercise 140; amplify it by details or illustrations; and end with a sentence of conclusion, forecasting the future of your topic or restating what you have proved.

For a week follow the same current event as recorded in the newspaper, taking notes as you read. Then choose from all your material only those facts that belong strictly to one topic. Write an outline, setting forth the facts in logical order. Deliver the speech, following your outline closely.

Let the class choose four or six members one week in advance, who are to prepare a debate on a topic of current interest. Let the other members of the class act as judges or volunteer on either side, as the instructor may see fit. Such debates should occur as often as possible.[156]

About once a month devote a day to the production of a class paper. Let the class choose a name. During the first year let the items be developed into paragraphs. Longer compositions should be reserved for the second year.

Criticise the following outlines. Each topic is supposed to represent a division in thought.

CHAPTER XII

When we speak, we make our meaning clear by the expression that we put into our words and sentences. Some sentences we say all in one breath and with not much change in emphasis from one word to the next. We may be pretty sure that such a sentence is short and simple, with all its elements arranged in their natural order. In this respect compare the sentences given below.

In the usual order of the sentence the subject comes first. Sometimes for emphasis a participial phrase or an adverbial clause precedes the subject. Such inversion is always indicated; as,

Sometimes a word or phrase is thrust into the sentence to give clearness or force; as,

We cannot become good speakers until we learn to subordinate in tone those groups of words that are subordinate in idea, and to bring out clearly those groups which, for one reason or another, are emphatic. The same thing is true in music. We cannot become good musicians until we learn phrasing; that is, until we learn to group the notes to form distinct musical ideas. But when we write our thoughts, we cannot indicate the tone in which the words are spoken. We must show in some other way which groups of words belong together, which are important, and which are subordinate in idea. For this purpose punctuation marks have been invented. When we write, we unconsciously speak the thoughts to ourselves; we hear the divisions between the parts of ideas; and, if we understand punctuation, we indicate the divisions.

1. Why in writing and printing do we separate one word from the next? In ancient writing this was not done.

4. The word to keep in mind in punctuation is separate. If two words belong together in idea, the two making one idea, allow them to stand unseparated. If they give two ideas, separate them by a mark of punctuation. What is the difference in thought in the two sentences that follow?

3. To show the plural of letters, figures, and words that usually have no plural; as,

5. The first word of every group of words paragraphed separately in an itemized list, as in an order for merchandise.

7. The words Bible and Scripture, the books of the Bible, all names applied to the Deity, and all personal pronouns referring to Him.

8. All proper nouns, proper adjectives, and words that are considered proper nouns; as,

To indicate the end of a sentence or other expression that shows strong feeling; as,

Frequently, all that shows exactly how the writer wished his thought to be understood is the punctuation. The same words may express different ideas according to the mark of punctuation that follows them. Read the following to show the meaning that the writer wished to convey by each. Explain the circumstances under which each might have been spoken.[163]

1. When a speaker's words are quoted exactly, they should be enclosed in quotation marks. This is called a direct quotation.

Notice that the word said is followed by a comma, and that the quotation begins with a capital letter.

2. If the quotation itself is a question, although it forms part of a declarative sentence, it requires an interrogation mark before the quotation mark; as,

4. When the words of explanation follow the quoted words, the punctuation is as follows:

(a) When the quotation is a declarative sentence, put a comma after the quotation and begin the words of explanation with a small letter; as,

(b) When the quotation is a question, conclude it with an interrogation mark, and begin the words of explanation with a small letter; as,

(c) When the quotation is an exclamation, conclude it with an exclamation mark, and begin the words of explanation with a small letter; as,

5. When the author's words of explanation interrupt the speaker's words, the punctuation is as follows:

(a) When the interrupted parts are not naturally separated by any punctuation mark, the comma is used as follows:

(b) Whatever mark of punctuation would naturally appear between the interrupted parts must be used; as,

4. Division into sentences is made within a quotation just as elsewhere. When the thought ends, the sentence must end. The different sentences, however, must not be divided by quotation marks; as,

5. When a quotation is very long, consisting of several paragraphs, quotation marks should be placed at the beginning of the quotation, at the beginning of each succeeding[165] paragraph, and at the end of the quotation—not at the end of each paragraph.

6. When a quotation occurs within a quotation, the one within is distinguished by single marks; as,

7. Any words quoted from a book or article, or any words quoted with a special significance, such as slang, should be enclosed in quotation marks; as,

8. A formal question, statement, or resolution for a debate is not enclosed in quotation marks; as,

Punctuate the following, dividing into sentences wherever the sense demands division:

In the preceding exercise we saw different forms of direct quotations, or direct discourse. In each case, the speaker's words were quoted exactly. When the substance of the thought is given in slightly different form, we have an indirect quotation, or indirect discourse, in which no quotation marks are used. An indirect quotation is usually a subordinate clause depending on a word of thinking, saying, telling, or the like. Indirect statements are usually introduced by that, and indirect questions by when, where, why, whether, if, who, which, what, and the like. When a sentence is changed from direct to indirect discourse, the person and usually the tense of the direct quotation are changed; as,

In the following change the italicized parts to direct quotations. Do not change the paragraphing.

In conversation the words of each speaker, together with the author's words of explanation, form one paragraph. Whenever the speaker changes, the paragraph changes; as,

However, when one speaker talks at length, what he says is formed into paragraphs according to the divisions into which it falls. (See Chapter XIV.)

When a short quotation is simply part of a paragraph, it is punctuated as follows:

Rule 1.—The comma is used to separate a direct quotation from the words of explanation.

Write the following from dictation; then compare your version with the original:[171]

This kind of succession is called a series. Each new member gives a new idea, the comma being used to help the reader to separate one from the next with ease. Notice that the comma is used between the last two members before the coördinate conjunction as well as between the other members.[172]

Write five sentences illustrating series of words; five illustrating series of phrases; and five illustrating series of clauses.

The selections given above illustrate the compound sentence. Notice the thought expressed in these sentences. There is usually an idea of balance or contrast, and the two halves of the sentence express the two halves of the idea. The two members are usually distinct enough to require a comma before the conjunction. If the conjunction is omitted, a semicolon must separate the two members, as in the second selection above.

When an adverbial clause or a participial adjective phrase is put at the beginning of a sentence to secure emphasis,[176] it is called an initial clause or participial phrase. A comma separates it from the independent clause to help the reader to see where the subordinate idea ends and where the main idea begins. Rewrite the following from dictation, noticing the punctuation of initial elements:

Rule 4.—An initial clause or participial phrase must be set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

The comma is used to separate the month from the year, the city from the county or state, the company from the place in which it is operated, or the like; as,

This use of the comma indicates that words have been omitted, the sentence above really meaning,

There are a number of expressions—words, phrases, and clauses—which are inserted into the sentence for clearness or emphasis. They add a bit of explanation but are not absolutely necessary. In other words, they might be omitted, and the sentence would still be clear. These may be of various kinds but are all similar in use. They should be set off by commas so that the reader will easily see that they are subordinate to the main idea of the sentence.

A. The appositive is a word or a group of words inserted lo explain the noun that it follows. (See Exercise 80.)

Rule 6.—The comma is used to separate an appositive from the rest of the sentence.

Write five sentences illustrating the use of the comma to set off an appositive.

B. Words, phrases, or clauses that separate the subject from the predicate verb, the verb from its object, or the like.

In the natural order of the sentence the verb immediately follows the subject and the object follows the verb. When, for the purpose of explanation, something is inserted between the two, it should be set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. Words that are thus inserted are called appositive or parenthetical expressions and are illustrated in the following:

C. Independent elements are words, phrases, or clauses that have no direct grammatical relation with any other word in the sentence. They are really a kind of parenthetical expression, but have less connection with the sentence than those given under B.

The following is an argument against the trusts. The italicized expressions are independent elements. What different kinds do you discover?

Rule 8.—Independent elements are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

Similar to the appositive is the explanatory relative clause. Like an appositive, it is inserted into the sentence for the purpose of explanation and is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Because of this similarity, it is sometimes called an appositive relative clause.

Great care must be taken in punctuation to distinguish a clause that may be omitted from the sentence without destroying the meaning from one that may not be omitted. The appositive clause may be omitted. A restrictive clause, because it restricts the meaning of the word it modifies, may not be omitted. Because it is needed for the sake of clearness, it is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. To distinguish an appositive clause from a restrictive clause, the former is called a non-restrictive clause.

In (1) the relative clause gives an additional idea. In (2) it limits or restricts the meaning of the concern. The non-restrictive clause is shown in (1), the restrictive clause in (2).

Phrases as well as clauses may be restrictive. In the following sentences decide whether the italicized expressions are restrictive or non-restrictive. State whether they are phrases or clauses. Do any of the sentences need commas?

Rule 9.—A non-restrictive clause should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

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,

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 letters, supplying a heading and an introduction for each:

Study the punctuation in the following selections from The Wall Street Journal; then write them from dictation:

The semicolon is used between the propositions of a compound sentence when no coördinate conjunction is used. (See Exercise 176, 2.)

Especial care must be taken not to confuse coördinate conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. The following are conjunctive adverbs: then, therefore, consequently, moreover, however, so, also, besides, thus, still, otherwise, accordingly. When they are used to join principal clauses, they should be preceded by a coördinate conjunction or a semicolon; as,

When there is a series of phrases or clauses, each of which is long and contains commas within itself, the sentence[193] becomes clearer if the members of the series are separated by semicolons instead of by commas; as,

The colon is always used to indicate that something of importance follows, usually an enumeration or a list of some kind, or a quotation of several sentences or paragraphs; as,

The colon is used after thus, as follows, the following, or similar expressions; as,

The colon is not used after namely, as, that is, for example, for instance, and the like. Such expressions are preceded by the semicolon and followed by the comma.

The dash is used to set off parenthetical expressions that have very little connection with the rest of the sentence; as,

The dash is used before a word that summarizes the preceding part of the sentence; as,

Parenthesis marks are used to enclose explanatory expressions that are not an essential part of the sentence; as,

Wrong.—Do not use parenthesis marks to cancel a word or a passage. A line should be drawn through a word that is wrong.

Bring to class five sentences that illustrate the correct use of parenthesis marks.

The hyphen is used when a word has been divided. It is always used at the end of the line and never at the beginning.

When several short words are taken together to form one word, they are hyphenated; as,[197]

As a rule, when two words taken together are each accented, they must be written with the hyphen. When only one is accented, no hyphen is used; as,

As a rule, nouns which are compounded of a participle and a noun use the hyphen; as,

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

CHAPTER XIII

Business men like to talk of brevity. They tell you that a talk or a letter must be brief. What they really mean is that the talk or the letter must be concise; that it must state the business clearly in the fewest possible words. Don't omit any essential fact when you write, but don't repeat. If you can express an idea in ten words, don't use twenty. In a later exercise we shall meet the sentence, The size of the crops is always important, and it is especially so to the farmer, and this is because he has to live by the crops. The writer of that sentence was very careless. He had a good idea and thought that, if he kept repeating it, he would make it stronger. Just the reverse is true. The sentence may be expressed in a very few words: The size of the crop is vitally important to the farmer.

If you wish to secure conciseness of expression, be especially careful to avoid joining or completing thoughts by these expressions: and, so, why, that is why, this is the reason, and everything.

In this chapter we shall consider some of the larger faults that should be avoided in sentences.

What is likely to happen when two thoughts are joined by and? What, then, is the danger in using the compound sentence?[200]

The compound sentence is good to use to express certain ideas, especially contrast; as,

The sentences which most clearly and easily give us one thought are the simple and the complex sentences.

The following is wordy. Rewrite it, condensing as much as possible. Use simple and complex sentences rather than compound, expressing in each only one thought.

Sentences containing compound predicates may be made more direct in thought if one of the verbs is changed to a participle or an infinitive, because the predicate will then express only one action; as,

Change the following sentences so that one action is denoted by the predicate of each:

Sometimes short sentences are bad because two or three of them are needed to express one complete thought. If that is the case, they should be combined, the most important detail being put into the principal clause, and the other details into modifiers, as in the preceding exercise.

Below, the first and second sentences together make one thought, which is expressed in the third.

Combine the sentences of each group below into a single sentence, either simple or complex, omitting as many words as possible but no ideas:

As in the preceding exercise, rewrite the following, omitting as many words as possible, but no ideas. Use shorter, simpler expressions wherever possible.

Sometimes a sentence is not clear because it contains a participle which does not modify anything in the sentence. A participle is part verb and part adjective. As a verb, it expresses the idea of the verb from which it is derived. As an adjective, it must modify a noun or a pronoun. The important point is that this noun or pronoun must be expressed in the sentence and not lie in the mind of the writer, as it does in the following:

Here the writer means, We saw that the country, etc., but he says that the country rode from Saugatuck to Holland.

Again, an expression may be used which is really an incomplete clause. Do not use such a clause, unless the understood subject is the same as the subject expressed in the independent proposition.

Sometimes the meaning of a sentence is not clear because the pronouns have uncertain antecedents.

2. Sometimes the sentence must be entirely recast and a direct quotation used before the pronouns can be made clear; as,

3. Sometimes the pronoun refers to a word that has not been expressed or to an idea. In that case, the antecedent must be supplied; as,

Sometimes a sentence is not clear because a modifier does not stand close to the word it modifies.

Change the order of words in the following sentences, placing each modifier as closely as possible to the word which it modifies. Some of the sentences are incorrect because they contain split infinitives. (See Exercise 92.)

Sometimes a sentence is not clear because a word has been omitted that is necessary to the sense; as,

Sometimes the meaning of the sentence is obscure because there has been a shift in construction. Do not change subject, person, tense, or any grammatical form without a good reason. Remember that and is a coördinate conjunction. If there is an adjective before and, there must be an adjective[212] after it. If a clause precedes, a clause must follow. In other words, and joins two members of exactly the same structure. And may not join one word and a phrase, nor may it join a prepositional and a participial phrase. Both members must be alike. In the following extract, parallel constructions are used correctly. Be able to tell what kinds of elements are used and how they are parallel.

CHAPTER XIV

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 advertisements 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:

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 illustrates 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 illustrate 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 mass 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.[217]

Paragraph the following so that the paragraphs will represent the divisions in thought. If there are any topic sentences, underline them.

Paragraphs may be developed in different ways. For example, if you were going to write on the process of making a layer cake, you would explain in detail the different ingredients in the mixture, the proportion of each, and the steps in the process before the product could be sold as a layer cake.

Develop the following into paragraphs; in each case be able to show what method or methods you have employed:

We may as well confess at the beginning that smooth connection between sentences and paragraphs is a hard thing to learn. Primarily, it depends on clear thinking. In Exercise 135 we saw that the idea of one sentence must grow out of the idea of the preceding one. It is the same with paragraphs. The thought must develop gradually from one to the next. Each paragraph, we know, represents a unit within the larger unit of the composition; each represents a division of thought. Not infrequently the thought of one division differs considerably from the thought of the next. The tying together of such units is sometimes hard. It may be done in one of the following ways:

1. By repeating at the beginning of the new paragraph or sentence part of the preceding paragraph or sentence.

3. By using connecting links, sometimes called transition[225] words because they indicate the transition from one division to the next. Besides those mentioned in Exercise 135, we may use a numeral connection, as, in the first place, in the second place; or an expression much like a numeral, as, furthermore, in the next place; or an expression showing that an adverse idea is to be presented, as, on the other hand, however, in spite of this, nevertheless. But whatever you do, choose the right link, especially if you use such a one as possibly, probably, perhaps, certainly, surely. Use the one that expresses your idea exactly. Have none rather than the wrong one.

In the following the first and second paragraphs are connected according to (1) above; the second and third are connected according to (3) above.

In the following paragraphs taken from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Philosophy of Nomenclature, point out all the transition words that join (1) sentence to sentence, and (2) paragraph to paragraph:

Turn back to Exercise 210, 1. How are the different paragraphs that you have made connected?

CHAPTER XV

Not long ago the head of one of the biggest mail order firms in this country said: "Business needs the boys and the girls. Do not let them think they can be but cogs in the great system of wheels. More to-day than at any previous time the world needs men and women who can speak and write themselves into English. Four hundred million dollars is wasted every year in unprofitable advertising alone, and as much more in bad handling of good prospects and loss of customers through inefficient letters. We look to the future generation to conserve a part of this enormous loss. If a single page advertisement in a single issue costs $7500, what you say on that page is important. Look into any current magazine, and you will be tremendously impressed with the importance of English in this branch alone, not to mention its importance in letter writing."

There is no greater power in business to-day than the ability to use convincing English in correspondence and in advertising. Any one who can write good letters, letters that the reader feels he must answer, has success ahead of him, because the market of a good letter is practically unrestricted. Wherever a letter can penetrate, it may create desire for an article and make sales.

But what is a good letter? Nothing more than a bit of good English. Can you write clear, direct, crisp, yet fluent English? Then you can write good letters—but not till then.

In modern business the letter has become the advertiser, the salesman, the collector, and the adjuster of claims. An advertisement must be attractive; it must arouse the interest[230] of the one who sees it. A salesman must understand human nature; he must forestall objections by showing the customer how he will gain by buying. The collector and the adjuster of claims must be courteous and at the same time shrewd. If a letter is to meet all of these requirements it cannot be dashed off at a moment's notice. It must be thought out in detail and written carefully to include all that should be expressed. This means, especially in a sales letter:

1. An unusually worded opening that puts the writer's affairs in the background and the reader's gain in the foreground. Begin with you, not we. The reader is interested in himself, his own progress, his own troubles, and not in the possessions of the writer, except as the writer can show that those possessions affect him.

Above all, if a letter is to be good, it must not be too short. In the pursuit of brevity too many pupils in business English make the mistake of writing altogether too little to get the reader's attention; and if his attention is not aroused, the letter fails. The letter should be long enough to suggest interest in the welfare of the reader and enthusiasm for the subject under discussion.

Enthusiasm in business involves knowledge both of your project and of your customer. You cannot attempt to write a letter of any kind unless you know the facts that require it. Perhaps it is a complaint that you must try to settle. Without a knowledge of the facts, of the truth or the untruth of the claim, how can you write the letter? Sometimes it requires both time and study to gather the necessary details, but they must be gathered.[231]

When you have your details and begin writing, be sincere. You must be so absolutely in earnest that the reader will at once feel and begin to share your enthusiasm.

Knowledge of the person to whom you are writing is fully as important as knowledge of your subject. You must get his point of view, understand his character, and appeal to the qualities that you recognize in it, to the desires or ambitions, that it shows. To a certain extent all of us are alike. There are certain fundamental interests that we all possess; these may safely be appealed to at almost all times. But our employment, our habits of life, our ways of thinking make us different. The same argument, probably, will not always bring satisfactory replies from a manufacturer, a farmer, a judge, a minister or priest, a carpenter, and a woman. Some people like to receive a long letter that goes carefully into detail; others will not take the time to read such a letter. Each customer must be studied. This is so difficult a matter that no one can expect to learn it all at once.

Finally, from the first word to the last be courteous. No matter how righteous your indignation, be courteous. You cannot afford to lose your temper. Courtesy does not imply flattery nor a lack of truth. Your letter can be strong and yet polite in tone. Lose your temper, and your letter will probably fail. Keep your temper, show thoughtfulness for the reader's interest, and your letter will more likely fulfill its purpose.

Before we look at some actual letters to judge of their effectiveness, we must learn the conventional form of a letter, the parts which many years of use have shown to be necessary. There are six parts to a formal or business letter:[232]

Each part ends with a period except the salutation, which ends with a colon, and the courteous close, which ends with a comma. The various groups of words within the heading and the introduction are separated by commas.

In the following, notice the spacing. If the heading is short, it is put on one line; as,

The superscription on the envelope is arranged and punctuated like the introduction in the letter, except that the punctuation may be omitted from the end of lines.

There is a growing tendency to "block" the different parts of a letter; that is, to begin each item of each part directly below the first, with no indentation.

There is also a tendency to use no abbreviations (except for titles like Mr.), the name of the month and of the state and the word street, avenue, or building being spelled out.

Supplying the name of the firm and the business engaged in, write letter heads using the items given in Exercise 216. For example:

In making letter heads, imagine you are a printer. Arrange the items so that they may show to the best advantage. Let your lines of printing or writing be of different lengths. Add any details that you wish, such as trade-mark designs or the names of officers.

Give your full address, even if you are certain that the one to whom you are writing knows it.

The person addressed must always be given a title. If you address one man, use Mr.; if a firm, use Messrs.; if a woman, Miss or Mrs. If a man has a title like Professor or Doctor, it should be used, and Mr., of course, omitted.

Hon. (Honorable) is used for a person who holds, or who has held, a public office. It is a very formal title.

Esq.(Esquire) is a legal form used by some correspondents in addressing any man. It is an English usage. It always follows the name, and, if it is used, Mr. is omitted. In this country Mr. is preferable.

In writing to a man in his official capacity, the following form is correct when there is no street number or when the title is short. Notice that Mr. is omitted.[236]

Notice that in the last example, the city and the state are put on the same line as the street in order to make the three lines of about the same length. Four lines might have been used.

If you address a woman, married or single, the salutation in business letters is Dear Madam; as,

The courteous close corresponds in tone to the salutation. If the salutation is Dear Sir, Gentlemen, or Dear Madam, the courteous close should be one of the following:

If the salutation is Sir, the courteous close should be Respectfully yours or Yours respectfully.

If the body of the letter and the courteous close do not agree in tone, the effect is often ridiculous. Suppose, for instance, that the courteous close of (2) under Exercise 220 were Yours respectfully. What would be the effect?

If an unmarried woman is signing a business letter, she should avoid confusion by prefixing (Miss) to her name.

A married woman should sign her own name, as, Alice Pierce; she should indicate her title, as Mrs. John F. Pierce, either below the other or at one side.

If a letter is signed by the name of a firm, the signature of the one who dictated the letter is usually added; as,

Business letter paper is about eight by ten inches. In folding a letter sheet, (1) turn the lower edge up to about one-eighth of an inch from the top; press the fold firmly, keeping the edges even; (2) turn the paper so that the folded edge is at your left hand; (3) fold from you a little less than one-third the width of the sheet; (4) fold the upper edge down toward you so that it projects a trifle beyond the folded edge. Without turning it over, pick it up and insert it in the envelope, putting in first the edge that was folded last.

If an order includes a number of separate items, it is usually written on a separate sheet of paper. Firms often supply blanks for this purpose. If the order is short, it forms part of the letter. In any case, each item is placed on a separate line, so that the items may be checked as the order is filled. In the following, notice the arrangement and the punctuation:

Undue familiarity or an evidence of loss of temper will at once frustrate the object of a letter. A dignified letter never shows either. Just what constitutes a dignified letter is hard to define but fairly easy to feel. This much is certain: it must be simple in structure, direct in its wording, and so sincere in feeling that no one will doubt its truth. Any extravagance of language, therefore, has no place in a dignified letter.

It is too bad that, to a number of people, the term business letter conveys the idea of a colorless, stilted composition full of trite and almost meaningless business formulas. No one[242] reads such a letter unless he has to, and surely that is not the kind one should practice writing. Below are given a few of the expressions that should be avoided.

I. Sometimes a writer tries to impress a reader with the volume of business he is doing by showing haste in his correspondence; as, in

Why use such an expression at all? Avoid hoping, trusting, awaiting, or any other artificial closing.

II. Sometimes a writer makes an effort to be extremely courteous, but fails because he uses hackneyed wording; as,

This is one of the worst of the distinctly business blunders. Same is never a pronoun. Write to a man as you talk to him and you will not use same in this way. (See Exercise 88.)

IV. Sometimes in order to get attention a writer will use a liberal sprinkling of dashes and capitals, probably in imitation of advertising copy. Better than such artificial means is the attraction of a well worded letter.

Criticise the following letters, pointing out all the expressions that should be improved. Rewrite the letters.

The object of the sales letter is to make the reader buy. How can you do it? To begin with, get his point of view—that of the user. Then imagine that he is present and talk to him on paper. Get his interest with your opening sentence. Explain what you have to sell. Show him that he needs it. Whet his desire to possess it, and, finally, make it easy and imperative for him to order today.

The opening paragraph is all-important. It may make or mar a letter. If it is stilted or lacks directness, if it hasn't the personal, natural tone that makes the reader feel you are talking to him, or if it is stereotyped in its wording, the letter will probably go to the waste-basket.

Contrast the two letters that follow. Both were written to accompany a catalogue. Notice that the first begins and ends in a stereotyped way; has too few details to arouse interest; asks for an order but has no inducement to give one now; and, throughout, lacks the personal, convincing tone that makes the second a good selling letter. Notice that the second begins with you, not with we, and keeps the same you attitude to the end.

Turn back to the five essentials of a letter given on page 230. See if you can differentiate the five in the second letter.[245]

The letter given above is personal and yet dignified. Usually that is the best style to use, and the one that we wish to practice writing. Sometimes, however, results can best be obtained by using the colloquial or even jocular tone illustrated in the following letter sent to a retailer in Ottumwa, Iowa:

This style is commonly called "snappy." It has its advantage, but should be used only rarely. Above all, if you do use it, avoid the dash. Notice how the dash spoils the following:[247]

To use the dash in this way seems to imply that you do not understand punctuation or sentence structure. If the paragraph is rewritten, removing the dashes and dividing into sentences, we get a much stronger appeal. The dash makes for weakness rather than for strength because it suggests hysterics.

A very good way to open a sales letter is to get the attention by a bit of narration containing direct quotations, as shown in the following:

Imagine that you are manager of a wholesale dry goods house. You have received an order from P. H. Powley, 23 Water street, Franklin, Mich. As you do not know Mr. Powley, write him, stating in as courteous a way as possible that, since this is his first order, he must either furnish references or send a remittance. Make your letter direct and personal. Include some good selling talk.

The exercise above illustrates the method that might be adopted in case of a small order. If Mr. Powley had sent a large order, the wholesale house would no doubt consult a financial agency to discover his financial condition; his rating, it is called. If his name were not found in the book of the agency, the wholesale house would require Mr. Powley to send a correct account of his financial standing; that is, a list of his assets and liabilities. If he refused, they would not do business with him. Why? The principal financial agencies are Bradstreet and Dun. Besides these, there are many mercantile agencies. They give any information that is required concerning a business man. All such information is confidential.

It is better not to make threats in a collection letter except as a last resort, and then the threat should be carried out. It is advisable in a first letter of the kind to take for granted[254] that a customer is honest and that the failure to pay is an oversight. If some inducement for further purchases is included in the letter in the form of good selling talk, a remittance will probably be sent, and perhaps another order as well.

If the customer, however, takes no notice of the first letter, a second, making the request for payment more urgent, may follow. The tone of the second letter and subsequent letters will depend on the value that you put on the customer's trade. Finally, if he ignores all of these letters, dally no longer. Say that if payment is not made by a certain date, you will draw on him at sight. If he does not honor the draft, put the matter in the hands of your attorney.

Study the following letters. Select from them those that you think would make a good series:

Letter (2) above is written primarily to get a check for the over-due account and incidentally to get another order. Suppose that the customer sends an order and no money. You do not wish to extend further credit until the old balance is paid. Write a tactful letter, saying that you will hold back the order until you receive a check to pay the over-due account.

1. What is the advantage of the policy shown in the following suggestion from System?

2. State the advantage in the policy of a large clothing concern which follows the sale of every suit or overcoat[259] with a letter to the customer, asking him whether the purchase is proving satisfactory.

A letter of application usually has three parts. In writing such a letter, first, tell where you saw the advertisement and apply for the position; second, tell your qualifications and give your references; third, end the letter appropriately, possibly asking for an interview.[260]

This is a difficult kind of letter to write. Not only should it be neat in appearance and clearly written, but it should also be so carefully worded that it will show enough of the writer's individuality to distinguish it from a form. Be neither hesitant nor bold, but tell your qualifications in a simple, straightforward way.

Study the following letters. Are they convincing? Do they show the personality of the writers, or are they mere forms?

The McClaine Construction Co., of Spokane, Wash., send in a bid for $25,000, guaranteeing to use Atlas Portland cement, crushed rock for the coarse aggregate, and torpedo sand for the fine aggregate, the concrete to be reinforced with the Kahn system of reinforcement as set forth in the specifications. The company specify, further, that they shall be paid extra for excavation, on the scale of 25¢ a yard for earth, 75¢ a yard for loose rock and hard pan, and $1.00 a yard for solid rock. Write the letter that they send.[264]

It frequently happens in business that you receive a number of letters requiring practically the same answer. In such cases, the best plan is to have one letter that is as good a letter of its kind as you can write. Use that as an answer to all those to which it can be made to apply. You may have to add a bit of information or change a word here and there, but, practically, you are using the same form for all the letters. When you have mastered the form, the answering of letters of this class will be a simple matter. The letter accompanying a catalogue may easily be a form. (See the second letter in Exercise 223.)

The danger, however, is that the use of form letters tends to make work mechanical. When letters are different, they must receive different replies. A form letter should never be used just because it is easy to use when it does not really apply.

Mandel Bros., Chicago, Ill., announce their annual sale of silk remnants. Make this a good advertisement that will reach several classes of customers. Have in it as one item white wash silk of heavy quality, 36 inches wide, at 47 cents a yard.

There is a class of letters that usually originates in the advertising department of a firm. They are not sent out to answer inquiries, but to solicit new customers and to keep old ones. Such letters are printed in large numbers in imitation of typewriting, and the introduction and the salutation are afterward carefully filled in on the typewriter.[265] The intention, of course, is to make the recipient feel that he has received a personal letter. Firms are generally careful to fill in the signature in pen and ink. These are called circular letters. (See the last letter in Exercise 223.)

These letters are very important and each year more numerous. Frequently a series of them is written, each one expanding one argument in a series of arguments. If all the letters are read, one after the other, you have a complete list of reasons why you should buy the particular article which the letters advertise. These letters are sent out regularly, so that the effect of one may not quite wear off before the next arrives. It is frequently the case that not until the third or fourth letter is sent out does any reply come. Such letters should be definitely planned in order to present arguments that are true and attractive. They must be simply and clearly written. They are called follow-up letters.

The following series of follow-up letters was intended to be sent to women who keep no maids. The series was planned to contain five letters. Write two more, using different appeals from those in the letters here given.

You have bought a big tract of land in Alabama. You wish to sell a part uncleared, to set out a part in pecan trees, and to devote a part to truck farms. Write three letters to the same man, making each one stronger than the one before. Keep in mind the five essentials of a good letter. (See page 230.)

A druggist was obliged to move from his corner store four doors east on a side street. He decided to advertise by sending a series of follow-up letters embodying the following ideas:

A furniture house selling goods on monthly payments decides to advertise by sending a series of follow-up letters, using the following reasons why you should buy, one in each letter:

Write a series of letters to sell an electric washing machine, using the following items:

PART III—BUSINESS PRACTICE

CHAPTER XVI

The following chapters will furnish exercises in composition, both oral and written, based upon the various phases of business. They are intended to show the application of the principles underlying manufacturing, buying, and selling. Of course, we cannot expect to go into great detail in any one of the divisions. That must be reserved for future study, perhaps reserved until the time that you enter a particular business. We must remember that our first consideration is the study of English, the problem of clear-cut expression. Underlying clear-cut expression is clear-cut thinking. It cannot be repeated too often that without a definite thought there can be no definite wording of the thought. To say, "I know, but I don't know how to tell it," shows a lazy brain. Learn to exercise your thinking powers so that you can force them to stay upon a subject until you have thought it out carefully and can express it. All of the oral exercises in the following chapters require careful preparation. This does not mean that they should be written out before the recitation, but it does mean that they must be carefully thought out. The preparation need not take a particular form. The main thing is that you know exactly the points that you wish to make before you begin to speak. If the exercise calls for a paragraph, have clearly in mind the plan by which you expect to expand your thought. Perhaps you expect to begin with, or to lead up to, a topic sentence. Remember that this may be done in several ways. Choose[271] whichever plan seems best. If the exercise does not call for a particular form, such as a paragraph or a debate, you are left free to develop your thought in the way that you think fits your subject best and to the length which you think it demands.

There are many different kinds of businesses. We shall not attempt to consider any except the most common and fundamental. Some, like farming or mining, consist in bringing forth certain products from the ground. Such products are called raw materials, of which an example is wheat. Some raw materials are sold and used unchanged, but most of them go through the process of manufacture in order to be directly usable. The miller is an example of a manufacturer, because from wheat he makes flour. In this chapter we shall study the principles underlying manufacture.

The exercises do not by any means exhaust the subject. Each one is to be considered as a nucleus about which others are to be grouped. If you live in a manufacturing district, other subjects will easily suggest themselves. If you have studied Industrial History or Commercial Geography, you probably have in mind a number of topics for discussion. If you know but little about raw materials, read some of the books suggested in Exercise 257. At all events let your work be definite. Whatever statements you make be able to substantiate by an illustration of something that you have seen or heard or read.

Almost all the things we eat, wear, and use every day are manufactured articles. Each one of them requires its own particular process in the making, involving the necessity in most cases of complex and expensive machinery, of expert workmen, and of still more expert management. Take, for example, the shoes we wear, in the manufacture of which an amazing number of complicated machines and of expert[272] workmen is necessary. According to the United States Department of Labor, men's rough shoes go through eighty-four distinct processes performed by skilled workmen and automatic machines. No less amazing is the amount of work turned out by these machines. It has been estimated that the McKay machine, which attaches the soles to the uppers, sews up in about one hour and a half one hundred pairs, an amount which it would take ninety-eight hours, or about eleven whole working days, to sew by hand.

Each manufacturing business has peculiarities, machinery, methods, and even a language of its own; sometimes men must spend years in the study of the technicalities of certain manufacturing businesses before they become expert in them. It is evident that we cannot take up any one of them here except in so far as the principles of one apply to all, and these can be set down only very briefly.

The first essential to successful manufacturing is correct buying. In fact, in some businesses this is so essential that the buyer gets a larger salary than the manager himself. We can see the reason for this when we consider that a good buyer must understand not only the materials that he buys, but also the manufacturing processes, so that, knowing the process through which the raw materials will go in his particular business, he will buy those materials that will make the most profitable manufactured articles.

The next essential, and in most cases the most important one from the manufacturing standpoint, is a management capable of producing the best product at the least cost. The managers decide what shall be produced and how; they hire the workmen and decide what each shall do; they decide what shall be done by hand and what by machinery; and they choose the machines. Sometimes they go even so far as to determine exactly the method in which each task shall be done, and whenever they see that it would be advantageous to install a machine, they do so. Pursuing this policy, a[273] Chicago yeast concern not long ago put in three machines for wrapping the small yeast cakes, eliminating the services of 140 girls and cutting the cost of wrapping to three-fifths of what it had been. In the steel business the early success of Andrew Carnegie and the famous Bill Jones was largely due to the fact that on several occasions they did not hesitate to break up half a million dollars' worth of machinery and replace it with newer and more efficient kinds.

The third essential to manufacturing success is aggressive marketing of the product. From the standpoint of money success this is probably the most important consideration; so important is it, in fact, that it will be more fully discussed in the chapter following.

In each of the following emphasize the labor involved, not the machinery used; prepare outlines:

The following are suggestions for theme subjects on manufacture. Develop one or more as the teacher directs.

Imagine that you are Stanley M. Benner, 171 South St., Buffalo, N. Y., proprietor of a factory making men's shirts and collars.[276]

4. The advantages of the profit-sharing plan, both for employer and for employee.

If you have access to a public library, you can probably obtain some of the following books. They are all simple and interesting, and any of them will suggest several topics for talks.

CHAPTER XVII

Correct buying and the most efficient methods of manufacture play a large part in the successful carrying on of a business, but the most important consideration is the successful marketing or distributing of the product after it has been manufactured or bought. Very few products are so superior in quality that they sell themselves purely on merit. Competition in business to-day is so keen that, in order to find a market for his product, a merchant must create a demand for it. Thus at its very foundation, distribution is merely a process of creating a demand and then filling that demand. For instance, the retail merchant is concerned with bringing the customers to his store rather than to his competitor's across the street. The wholesale merchant is concerned with having the retailers handle his goods rather than those of another firm. The mail order merchant is concerned with getting the farmer's business before some other dealer gets it. The salesman is concerned with writing the order before a rival from another house writes it.

In the first place, the merchant must handle those things that his customers consider necessary or desirable. Overcoats cannot be sold in August, ashsifters on the equator, nor electric fans in Iceland. Different peoples, different times, and different conditions create different demands, and it is the merchant's business to study those demands and to fill them. In the second place, he must leave no stone unturned in endeavoring to make his product more desirable than that of his competitors. This may mean extensive advertising campaigns, expensive displays, outlay for costly[283] catalogues and booklets, the expenditure of money for inducements to bring customers, or the hiring of expert salesmen. In fact, thousands of plans are carried out every year in this endeavor to increase trade.

The getting of new and additional business, however, is only one of the important considerations that the merchant must always have in mind. He must also keep what business he already has by maintaining the standard of his goods and by giving his customers satisfactory service. One of the first essentials in this question of service is promptness and exactness of delivery. In this the merchant must depend very largely on the transportation companies, and therefore a brief study of these facilities will be especially in place at this point.

Transportation is an essential item in the problem of distribution. If you wished to drink a cup of coffee and found that none could be had except in Brazil, you would begin to realize how much the steamship company and the railroad company have done in transporting and hauling it where you might buy it. The same is true of our oranges from California and Florida, our apples from Washington and Oregon, and our grain from the Middle States. In fact, in the case of many products the most important item is not growing them, but bringing them to market, since the transportation charges are often much greater than the actual cost of producing. Thousands of barrels of apples rot on the ground every year because their quality does not warrant the high transportation charges, the lack of transportation rendering them useless. In a smaller measure, the delivery wagons in our cities and towns are essential to us because they save us the trouble of carrying our purchases about. Thus, the element of transportation enters into our lives every day, saving us inconvenience, bringing to us necessities[284] that we demand and luxuries that we like, and, at the same time, increasing the price of commodities.

Common carriers, as transportation companies are called, are of two general classes:

Steamship companies operate three general kinds of lines: (1) lines consisting of the largest and fastest steamers which carry only passengers, mail, and valuable parcels; (2) lines using slower steamers which carry both passengers and freight; and (3) lines employing vessels—steamers, sailing vessels, and barges—which carry only freight. The cost of hauling cargoes by water is in every case less per mile than that of carrying the same quantity of goods on land. It costs, for example, over four times as much to carry a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York by rail as it does to carry it across the Atlantic. It is for this very reason that the traffic on our navigable rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi, and on the Great Lakes is so heavy. Whenever a cargo can be shipped as well by water as by rail and there is no hurry for delivery, it is shipped by water. However, because so much of our freight must be rushed from place to place, the railroads get the bulk of the inland traffic.

The services of the railroad company embrace the hauling of freight, the carrying of passengers, and the transporting of express and of mail. The hauling of freight is the most important item in the railroad business, about three-quarters of the total income being derived from this source. Each year over one billion tons of freight are turned over by shippers to the railroads, who use almost two and one-half[285] million freight cars to carry it. About one-half of this tonnage is minerals, mainly ore and coal; about one-seventh consists of manufactured articles; and one-twelfth of agricultural products. Commodities are grouped into from ten to fourteen classes, on each one of which the freight rate is different from that of the others. By freight rate is meant the cost of shipping a certain unit, usually 100 pounds or a ton, from one place to another; it is dependent on the distance. There are certain bulky commodities like coal, livestock, lumber, grain, and cement, which are almost always handled in carload lots. They are not included in the freight classification, but have a special ex-class freight rate. Freight rates depend also on whether the goods are shipped by slow or local freight or by fast or through freight.

There are a hundred different kinds of papers used in carrying on the railroad freight business. Only four of the most important will be considered here. When a shipper turns over his goods to the railroad company at its freight depot, he gets from the agent a receipt for freight, which is merely a receipt for the goods he has turned over. In the ordinary course of business these receipts are exchanged at the company's office for a bill of lading in triplicate. The original and one copy are given to the shipper. The second copy is kept by the railroad. This bill of lading may be of two kinds, straight or order. If a straight bill of lading is given, the original is sent to the person to whom the goods are shipped, who is called the consignee, who on the presentation of the bill of lading is entitled to the goods after paying the charges. An order bill of lading is much like a check, in that it can be assigned to another person. Like the straight bill it states the name of the consignee or the person for whom the goods are intended and his address, but the consignee cannot get possession of the goods until he has paid for them. To collect payment, the shipper attaches to the order bill of lading a draft for[286] the amount of the goods and the freight, and through his bank and the bank of the consignee the amount is collected. The consignee then gets possession of the order bill of lading, which entitles him to possession of the goods. This is more fully explained on page 344. The railroad's most important paper is the way bill, which shows the conductor or the agent of the company just what articles are included in the shipment, so that it can be checked when unloaded. When the goods arrive at their destination, the consignee is notified and is sent a freight bill showing the freight charges. When he presents his bill of lading and pays the charges, the freight bill is receipted and the goods are his.

In quoting prices on goods, manufacturers and distributors usually designate whether they will pay the freight or whether it is to be paid by the consignee. In the latter case the price is quoted f. o. b. at the place from which the goods are shipped, which means freight on board at that point. That is to say, if a distributor located at Detroit quotes his automobiles f. o. b. Detroit, he means that he will see that the goods get into the railroad company's hands at Detroit, but that the consignee pays the freight from Detroit to the destination. The latter is the common practice in shipping.

In the following exercises we shall treat the subject of distribution under four heads:

I.—The Retail Merchant

You are opening a grocery store. Remember that your object is to sell the largest possible amount of goods. Develop each of the following suggestions:[287]

Choose four or six members of the class, one-half of whom are to argue in favor of the policy indicated in the plan outlined below and one-half of whom are to argue against it.

A certain grocer opened a store with the determination of doing a strictly cash business, and of making no deliveries unless the purchaser paid for the delivery. This was his plan as suggested by System:

II.—The Wholesale Merchant

III.—The Mail Order Merchant

1. Let one pupil be chosen to dictate to the class each of the letters outlined below. He is to use no notes. The class will represent stenographers.

Conduct a transaction of your own, using the above as a model, except in the method of payment.

Salesmanship is a branch of distribution about which many volumes have been written. We cannot consider it minutely from the personal view of the salesman, but can only touch upon it from the point of view of distribution. The salesman is merely a force in distribution like correspondence, circulars, and advertising. But the salesman has the advantage over these in that he is able to bring his personality to bear in the problem of getting business. It is by means of his personality that the salesman gets the attention and confidence of the customer,—a thing which is extremely hard to do in a letter, a circular, or an advertisement. Securing a buyer's confidence is very important, because no suspicious customer has ever yet bought anything.

In addition to a pleasing personality a good salesman must have a wide and thorough knowledge of his wares. If he does not know his goods, the sale drags; whereas, if he knows everything good there is to be known about them, his enthusiasm instills enthusiasm into the customer.

After bringing his knowledge and his enthusiasm into play, he must next call on his perseverance and his tact; perseverance to keep at the customer until he gets the order, and tact to know in each case just how to go about getting the order and just when to stop. Many salesmen talk too much; many more do not talk enough.[299]

In talking on any of the following subjects be sure you know just what you are going to say before you begin, and then say it clearly and convincingly. Don't say too much and don't say too little. Just exactly how much you should say no one can tell you. You must watch your audience. If they look puzzled, give more details; if they look bored, try shorter, more concise sentences, or bring your talk to a close. After you have explained all your points, sum them up briefly at the end. Remember that your talk must, first, attract attention; second, hold the interest; and third, create enthusiasm and desire to buy.

To supplement what facts you get from observation, study advertisements and catalogues to get material for (9) to (20) below:

The following paragraph was adapted from William C. Freeman's Advertising Talks.

CHAPTER XVIII

Advertising is one of the most vital forces in the problem of distribution. Every advertisement is a salesman and is written and sent out with the idea of doing the work of one. It may bring in actual orders or it may merely do "missionary work"; that is, it may introduce a certain article or product and educate the people to see its advantages so that when next they desire that particular sort of article, they will order the one that they have seen advertised.

Many an article that has had practically no sale has by means of an effective advertising campaign been brought to a point of wide distribution and ready sale. How many safety razors would the manufacturers sell if they had never advertised their product? Very few. But when day after day, everywhere a man looks—in street cars, newspapers, magazines, and on billboards—he sees staring at him a reason why he should use a safety razor, he soon comes to feel that he needs one. It is just the same as though the country were covered with salesmen who were constantly after every one to get him to see the advantage of the safety razor. The advertised articles may in themselves be no better than the unadvertised brands, but advertising has created a demand for the one over the other. The secret of selling success is creating a demand.

The importance of advertising is demonstrated by an experience which the city of Chicago had on Wednesday, March 2, 1911. On the afternoon before, a dispute arose between two newspapers and their printers, ending in a temporary strike of the printers. As a result, all papers[309] published on March 2 contained only four pages each, in contrast to the usual twenty-four, because they contained not a single advertisement. Fortunately, the strike lasted only one day, as the local printers were at once reprimanded by the International Typographical Union. But the losses that newspapers and retail business men suffered on this one day convinced them of the power of advertising. Street cars, downtown streets, and department stores were almost empty. To be sure, billboards still proclaimed their wares, but, as soon as newspaper advertising ceased, the great mass of shopping stopped.

Fundamentally, the same principles apply to the advertisement as apply to the sales letter (See page 230). First of all, you must look at your goods from the standpoint of[311] the user; see his gain in buying rather than your profit in selling. Your products, then, will probably fall into one of the following general classes:

A paying advertisement appeals to a large class of people or, better still, to several classes. For a moment let us analyze a few of the appeals to which almost every one responds; let us consider the reasons back of our purchases. Why do we buy one article and not another? We buy it first, perhaps, because we need it or think we need it; second, because we think it will taste good or be comfortable or good-looking or because it will afford us amusement; third, because we think it is better, though possibly more expensive, than any other brand on the market, and our pride or our desire to emulate responds to it; fourth, because we think it is good for our health or our safety; and, fifth, because we shall save money or make money thereby. Summing up, we may say that the motives to which appeals may safely be made are:

Clip from magazines and bring to class good advertisements that appeal to the motives named above. Try to find those advertisements that make an appeal to only one motive in one advertisement.

The following catch phrases have been taken from advertisements in various places. Tell (1) whether their appeal is general; (2) whether they induce one to buy; and (3) if they do, which of the motives given above have been used by the advertiser. Frequently more than one motive is used in one advertisement.

Bring to class two advertisements containing catch phrases that you think are good. To which of the motives given above does each appeal?[313]

Bring in two advertisements of articles that have suggestive names. What is the value of a suggestive name?

First, it should be short. Professor Walter Dill Scott determined by experiments that the average person can ordinarily attend to only about four visual objects at the same time—four letters, four words, four simple pictures, or four geometrical figures. As the headline of an advertisement is intended to be taken in at one glance, it should, therefore, be not longer than four words—preferably less, provided the interest of the phrase is the same. Short words, too, can be taken in more readily than long words.

Second, the best headline is a command. People instinctively obey a command, unless it is so worded that they rebel against the manner of expression.

Third, a good headline is suggestive. It touches upon the things that the reader is thinking about. It shows that the article that is offered for sale has a close connection with the interests that absorb the reader's mind. It is a direct answer to his thoughts, feelings, hopes, or worries.

The following headlines were taken from the advertisements in one issue of a magazine. Judge of their effectiveness, using the three principles given above as a basis for your decision:

Some advertisers choose headlines merely for the purpose of attracting attention, forgetting that the headline should suggest what the following illustration and text explain. A few years ago a well-known automobile company ran an advertisement with the headline $1000 Worth of Folly. The headline was followed by a picture of the automobile. The advertisement was intended to convey the idea that, as this car might be bought for $3000, any one paying $4000 for an automobile was foolishly squandering $1000. As a matter of fact, the only suggestion that the reader got from the advertisement was that any one who paid $1000 for the illustrated car would be a fool.

Still-life advertisements are not interesting. The picture of a furnace, or a typewriter, or a house attracts less attention than the same objects with human beings represented moving in the picture.

Bring to class two advertisements of the same kind of article, in one of which a still-life illustration is used and in the other of which human beings are used to center the attention upon the article that is offered for sale.[315]

Bring to class (1) an advertisement that is not good because it contains too much—lacks a center upon which the attention naturally focuses; and (2) an advertisement that is good because it has a definitely defined center of attraction.

Bring to class an advertisement in which the principle of balance is used to advantage, two illustrations, one on each side of the text, being used to convey one impression.

In writing the following, try to embody the principles that have been brought out in previous exercises:

The following paragraph is taken from Professor Scott's Theory of Advertising. What is the subject of the paragraph? Is there a topic sentence? By what plan is the paragraph developed?

The following appeared in the center of a page otherwise blank. On the opposite page appeared the advertisement of a well-known article.

CHAPTER XIX

Lands, buildings, and houses are called real property or real estate, and the business pertaining to them, the real estate business. Every one of us has more or less to do with this business. If we do not own property, we pay rent. Rent is the money paid for the use of a piece of land, or a building, or part of a building, and is usually paid at certain stated intervals of time—monthly, for example. The owner of the building is called the landlord; the one who rents, the tenant. Sometimes there is no condition as to how long a tenant shall remain in one place and pay rent, but, as a rule, the landlord requires the tenant to sign a lease. This is a contract between the landlord and the tenant, stating that in consideration of the landlord's furnishing the tenant a place in which to live with certain conveniences—such as heat, hot water, and other services—the tenant agrees to pay rent for a certain length of time, usually a year or more. If the tenant moves out before his lease expires and refuses to pay the rent, he breaks the contract and, as is usually the case when a contract is broken, a lawsuit may follow. In large cities where land is in some places very valuable, owners may not care to sell the property on which others wish to build, but lease it to the builders for a certain term of years, usually ninety-nine years.

Suppose you no longer wish to pay rent, but to own the house in which you live. If you buy a piece of property from John Smith and pay him your money for it, you wish to be assured that after a few months John Smith will not[322] come to you and claim the property as his. To protect you John Smith gives you a deed to the property. A deed is a contract between the buyer and the seller of the property. It states that, in consideration of the buyer's paying a certain stipulated sum of money, the seller releases and conveys the property to the buyer. This deed shows that you now own the property. At the same time you should receive a clear title to the property; that is, you wish to be sure that no one else has a claim on the property. If John Smith guarantees that the title is clear, he gives you a warranty deed for the property, in which he will "warrant and defend the same against all lawful claims whatsoever." If, however, he simply turns over the property to you as it stands, he gives you a quitclaim deed, in which he relinquishes or quits all his interest in it. If you have no debts on the property, you own it in fee simple.

Very often in buying property, the purchaser pays only a part of the purchase price himself, paying for the balance by borrowing the necessary amount from a third party. For example, if the house you bought from John Smith cost $6,000 and you had only $4,000, you would be forced to borrow the other $2,000 to pay John Smith. You would then go to your bank or to some person who had money to invest and would borrow the required amount, and to guarantee that you would pay the money back, you would give a mortgage on the property. A mortgage is a contract which states that, in consideration of one party's giving the second party a certain sum of money, the second party agrees to pay interest on that money at a stipulated rate, and at the end of a certain length of time agrees to pay the money back; and that, in case the second party does not pay back the amount at the end of the time, the first party is empowered to take possession of the property, to sell it, and to get the amount due him. This last procedure is called foreclosing the mortgage. It is a common practice to[323] mortgage property; almost all the property in a city is mortgaged.

Some men and firms make a special business of transferring property, buying and selling it for others, making leases, and collecting rents. They are called real estate agents, and for their services get a commission, which is a certain percentage of the purchase or the selling price and a certain percentage of the amount of rent collected. This percentage varies according to whether the amount of money involved is large or small, the percentage being larger when small sums of money are involved than when large sums are involved.

1. You own a large tract of land in the South, West, or Southwest. Choose your own locality. Prepare a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of this particular spot in a series of paragraphs: (1) scenery, (2) climate and healthfulness,[326] (3) crops, (4) profits from the crops, (5) price of labor, (6) chances for pleasure, e.g., hunting, fishing, etc., (7) transportation facilities, (8) price of the land. Use a firm name and address.

What advantage would there be in including such a letter as (2) in the booklet spoken of in (1)?

3. To prove the possibilities of the land spoken of in (1), you intend to start a model farm. Advertise for a farmer. Your plan is to give him 60 acres to develop for himself, in return for which he shall demonstrate the possibilities of the land.

4. Write a letter applying for the position. You must have farming experience, some money, a knowledge of crops, and a good deal of enthusiasm.

5. Write an advertisement of your land for a big newspaper. Exploit its most striking features, especially the price. Study such advertisements before you write yours.

6. Reproduce a letter you received in answer to (5), asking for more information concerning the lands.

7. Write the reply to (6). Say you are enclosing the[327] booklet spoken of in (1); tell of the model farm being established (3); and induce the inquirer to become a purchaser.

8. Prepare a series of three follow-up letters to be sent out to prospective purchasers who write as in (6) but who do not answer your letter in (7). Make each letter set forth one of the following advantages of buying a piece of your land: (1) The profits from the crops are large; (2) The conditions are ideal—mention climate, water, neighbors, transportation; (3) It is a good investment, since the land will certainly rise in value—tell of other land in the neighborhood that has risen in value within the last year. Arrange the letters in the order that you think will be most effective.

An exposition of the subject of insurance is hardly in place here, especially as every one, to a certain extent at least, is acquainted with the fundamental reasons why insurance is purchased. The questions below should be used as a rudimentary review that will prepare for the letters that follow[328].

CHAPTER XX

Imagine that you are a druggist in a small town. Suppose that a woman comes in to buy two ounces of camphor and in exchange gives you three eggs. In a few moments, perhaps, a man enters to buy a safety razor and brings with him wheat enough to pay the bill. Another, again, wishes to trade a turkey for a fountain pen. You can readily see the inconvenience to which you would be put in such exchange of actual commodities; yet this was the method used in primitive times, a method called barter.

To overcome the inconvenience of barter, as civilization advanced, it became necessary to establish a common medium of exchange, which could be accepted for anything one had to sell and with which one could buy anything he wished. This is what we call money. To meet the requirements, money must not be bulky, must be durable, and must not readily change in value. In civilized countries gold and silver are the bases of exchange.

But gold and silver are heavy and inconvenient to carry about in large, or for that matter in small, quantities, and for convenience the following kinds of paper money have been established:

1. Gold Certificates are issued with the government's guarantee that there is gold deposited in the Treasury equal to the amount of the face of the bill. At any time the one holding such a bill may demand of the Treasury that he receive gold for it.

2. Silver Certificates are similar to gold certificates, except that silver is deposited in the Treasury instead of gold.[333]

3. United States Treasury Notes are promissory notes of the government to pay the sum indicated. They are not payable on demand.

4. National Bank Notes are promissory notes issued by the national banks and are payable on demand of the bearer. Before a national bank may issue such notes, it must own United States government bonds of at least the amount for which it issues notes. These bonds are held by the Treasurer of the United States as security that the bank will pay its notes. According to the Owen Glass Bill, passed in December of 1913, national bank notes may at the option of the banks be gradually withdrawn from circulation.

Credit is a promise to pay at some future time for a thing which you receive now. Its use is probably as old as the practice of exchange and quite as important. The simplest and most extensive form of credit is "book" credit, such as you get at the grocer's or butcher's or at the department store. To explain a little more complex kind of credit: Suppose you owe Smith one hundred dollars. At the same time Smith owes Jones one hundred dollars. Because you owe Smith, he may give Jones an order to collect the money from you. With this order Jones may pay his lawyer, let us say. Perhaps the lawyer has bought a bill of goods from you. He pays you with the same order. You destroy the "note," and thus four actual transactions have been taken care of without the use of any money. The business institution which deals especially with credits is the bank.

A bank which fulfills every banking function must have these three departments: (1) the commercial department, (2) the savings department, (3) the trust department. Some institutions specialize in one department more than in either[334] of the others, and thus, taking the name from their principal function, banks are known as follows: (i) commercial banks or banks of deposit, (2) savings banks, (3) trust companies.

Banks of deposit or commercial banks are business men's banks. Their two principal functions are (1) receiving money for safe-keeping on deposit, and (2) loaning money to business men at interest. The deposit function is based on confidence and credit. The business man takes his money to the bank not only because it is convenient for him to do so, but also because he has confidence that the money will be more carefully protected than if he kept it in his own possession. In depositing his money in the bank, the business man uses a deposit slip such as the one illustrated here. The teller puts down the amount in the bank book of the depositor, who is credited with that amount on the bank's books. He is entitled to draw just that much actual cash or that much credit in the form of checks. (See page 339.) Most firms do not deposit a sum of money and then promptly draw it out again in the form of checks to pay current liabilities, but maintain a fairly steady balance in the bank. On large average monthly balances most banks allow interest, varying from one per cent on balances[335] of one thousand dollars to three per cent on balances of ten thousand dollars or more.

Because a large bank has many depositors, the aggregate of all the balances makes a considerable sum of money. Bankers have learned by experience just what proportion of their deposits they can depend on to remain steadily on deposit as a balance, and thus they know what proportion of their deposits it is safe to use for the purpose of discount. The simplest case of the discount function is the discount of a promissory note. In the note shown in the illustration after ninety days John H. Blodgett will receive from Lucius Thomas five hundred dollars with interest. But perhaps Blodgett cannot wait ninety days for his money. In this case, he takes the note to his banker, who will pay him the five hundred dollars less a certain percentage or discount, which is the bank's profit on the transaction. The bank then collects the note when it becomes due.

Instead of cashing a note held by one of its customers, the bank may itself loan money at interest for a short period of thirty, sixty, or ninety days, taking the note of the business[336] man to whom the money is loaned. In most cases, however, unless the bank knows the business man well, a certain amount of collateral is demanded as an assurance that the borrower will pay the loan when it becomes due. The amount of collateral deposited with the bank is usually 10% to 25% in excess of the amount loaned, and it may take the form of stocks or bonds; mortgages on real estate; liens on stock, fixtures, or personal property; or warehouse receipts. When the amount borrowed is paid, the collateral is returned; if it is not paid within a reasonable time, the collateral is sold, and the amount loaned, with interest to date, is taken from the proceeds.

There are, of course, other functions of banks of deposit practised quite generally by all banks, and these will be explained later. The functions just described, however, distinguish banks of deposit in a general way from the other two classes.

A savings bank accepts from its depositors small amounts of money which are not subject to withdrawal by check, but on which it pays a low rate of interest. As a general rule, an account may be opened with one dollar; and when the initial deposit is made, the depositor is furnished with a pass book, similar to the bank book, in which further deposits, interest credits, and withdrawals are recorded. Interest is compounded every four or six months, and money must, as a general rule, remain on deposit until an interest payment date before the depositor receives any interest on it. The usual rate of interest is three per cent, although four is often paid. Frequently, before banks allow deposits to be withdrawn, they demand a certain number of days' notice, usually thirty. It is well to investigate the conditions under which the depositor places his money in the safe-keeping of the bank, because the withdrawal requirements are often[337] stringent. Because of the stability of this class of deposit, banks are always anxious to increase their savings accounts, as a large proportion of the funds may be used for loans.

A form of the savings bank established in the United States in 1911 is the postal savings bank, in which the post-office is made the depository for savings. The post-office in the town deposits its funds in the local national or state bank, which, as security for safe-keeping, must deposit with the Treasurer of the United States bonds at least equal in value to the amount of savings deposited in the bank. Postal savings banks are practically absolutely safe, because, if the bank which takes care of the funds should fail, the bonds may be sold, so that the savers will receive their money. From deposits made in the postal savings bank, the return to the depositor is only two per cent, whereas the return from deposits made in the bank's own savings department is three, three and a half, and sometimes four per cent.

This is called a trust because the money is entrusted for safe-keeping and investment to the bank, which is called the trustee. A bank may also become the trustee for property left at the death of a person, both when there is a will and when there is none. When there is no will and the bank takes charge of the affairs of the deceased, the bank is called the administrator; when there is a will, the executor. Another important function of the trust company is acting as receiver for a company which has failed; that is, adjusting the company's affairs in the way fairest both to the stockholders and to the company's creditors. The trust company often acts, also, as agent for its clients' property, performing the same duties as a real estate agent.

Banks as a class are distinguished one from the other according as they specialize in one or more of the functions described above. However, there are certain services that all banks perform and certain facilities that they all offer in connection with the payment of money from one person to another. These concern the forms of remittance.

If you have studied business arithmetic or bookkeeping, you very likely know the definite forms that are used. At all events, you know that currency should never go through the mails. The following is a brief review of the more important forms that may be used. Study the illustrations carefully, noticing particularly the similarity of form in all. Uniformity in such matters is desirable because it saves time as well as misunderstandings. The forms we shall consider are:

Check.—A check is a written order on a bank, signed by a depositor, directing the bank to pay a certain person a certain sum of money. When the bank pays the order, it deducts the amount from the depositor's account. The one who signs the check is called the drawer or maker; the person to whom or to whose order a check is made payable is called the payee; the bank on which a check is drawn is called the drawee.

Of course, before you could write a check for one hundred dollars, you must have deposited at least one hundred dollars in the bank on which the check is drawn. The bank supplies you with a check book, consisting of blank checks, each attached to a stub. When you write a check, you put the same information on the stub to be kept for reference. Then you tear off the check through the perforated line, using it to pay for whatever you may have purchased.

Certified Check.—Suppose, however, that you are writing this check to pay a debt to a stranger who lives in another[340] city. He may hesitate to accept it as money. That he may have no cause to doubt your ability to pay the check, you take it to your bank to have the cashier investigate your account. If he finds that you have sufficient funds, he writes or stamps Accepted or Certified on the check and signs his name. At the same time the amount of the check is deducted from your account. Such a check is accepted without question when the holder is properly identified.

Endorsement.—If A gives you his check for twenty-five dollars, you could not receive the money until you had endorsed the check; that is, put your name on the back, which is, in effect, giving a receipt for the money. You may do this in various ways. You may endorse:

Express Money Order.—An express money order is much like a check, except that it is drawn on an express company instead of on a bank and reads, for example: Continental Express Company agrees to transmit and pay to the order[341] of —— (the one to whom you are sending the money) —— (the amount). The order is signed by the treasurer of the company and countersigned by the agent who sells it. You can buy such an order at any express office. It may be endorsed like a check.

Postal Money Order.—The other form of money order, the postal, is an agreement signed by the postmaster of one city that the postmaster of another city will pay the amount of money named in the order to the person named in the order.

Bank Draft.—A bank draft is very much like a check, except that instead of two individuals dealing with each other two banks conduct the transaction, their places of business being in different cities or villages. A bank draft is sometimes called a bank check, because in the case of both a draft and a check one party draws upon another with whom the first has funds deposited. As a general rule, banks and business houses require that remittances be sent to them by drafts drawn on New York or Chicago banks, as there is a charge called exchange made in the collection of checks drawn on local banks.

In the draft that follows, the State Bank of Utah, of which Henry T. McEwan is Assistant Cashier, makes out the draft. The bank which is ordered to pay the money is the[342] National Park Bank of New York. The money is to be paid to Henry L. Fowler. The State Bank of Utah is called the drawer; the National Park Bank of New York, on whom the draft is drawn, is the drawee; Henry L. Fowler is the payee.

The payment indicated above was probably made without actually sending the money from Salt Lake City to New York. It was done in this way:

Henry L. Fowler of Salt Lake City owes one hundred dollars to a man living in an Eastern city, let us say Charles Emery of Rochester, N. Y. Mr. Fowler goes to the State Bank of Utah in Salt Lake City and "buys a draft on New York," made payable to himself. The bank makes out the above, charging Mr. Fowler one hundred dollars plus a fraction of one per cent for its trouble. Mr. Fowler endorses it in full to Mr. Emery of Rochester and sends the draft to the latter. He has the draft made payable to himself so that the[343] endorsement will constitute a full record of the transaction. Mr. Emery takes the draft to his own bank in Rochester, endorses it in blank, and receives the one hundred dollars. Thus Mr. Fowler has paid out the money and Mr. Emery has received it.

The way the banks conduct the transaction is as follows: There are certain big money centers in the country; e.g., New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco. Important banks in other places have money on deposit in at least one bank in each of these centers. The banks which thus deal with one another are called correspondents. The National Park Bank is the correspondent of the State Bank of Utah. When Mr. Emery cashes the draft at his Rochester bank, the latter sends it to its New York correspondent, and at the same time charges the correspondent one hundred dollars. The correspondent presents the draft to the National Park Bank, which pays the money and charges the same amount to the State Bank of Utah. Explain how this settles the transaction.

Time Draft.—A time draft is much like a bank draft, in that two banks conduct the principal part of the transaction for two individuals, but no money is actually paid at the time the draft is drawn. The details of a transaction of this kind are explained on the following page.

Horace Prang of 1008 Elm Street, Columbus, Ohio, owes Loetzer & Co. five hundred dollars, due August 27, 1915. Loetzer & Co. make out the draft above and deposit it in the Bank of Buffalo. The latter sends the draft to its correspondent in Columbus, which presents the draft to Horace Prang. If he is willing to pay the note when it falls due, he writes across the face of it, "Accepted" adds the date, and signs his name. It is now returned to the Bank of Buffalo. The Bank of Buffalo will then discount the draft for Loetzer & Co.

Sight Draft.—A sight draft is much like a time draft, except that the amount is paid by the person on whom it is drawn as soon as it is presented, instead of after a stipulated length of time.

Suppose the Empire Elevator Co. of Buffalo has sold $420 worth of grain to the Smith Milling Co. of Springfield, Mass. When the grain is loaded on the cars, the railroad company gives the Empire Elevator Co. a bill of lading. Now, the Smith Milling Co. must possess this bill of lading before it can take the grain from the cars at Springfield. The Empire Elevator Co. deposits the bill of lading with the above draft in the Marine National Bank of Buffalo. This bank sends both to its correspondent in Springfield. The Springfield bank presents the draft to the Smith Milling Co., who may take[345] the grain from the cars on payment of the draft. In case of non-payment, both draft and bill of lading are returned to the Marine National Bank of Buffalo, and the Empire Elevator Co. must make arrangements for the return or the disposal of the grain.

Punctuate and paragraph the following letter, which explains one function of a trust company:

Before writing the following, re-read The Richards' Baby Stocking Fund, page 337.

CHAPTER XXI

The study that we have thus far made of the various kinds of businesses would be incomplete did we not briefly outline the different types of organization by which modern business is conducted. This will naturally lead us to a discussion of stocks and bonds, which are of great importance in every big business and of interest to individuals as means of investment. However, as the subjects are probably outside the experience of most students, we shall treat them as simply as possible, letting the chapter stand rather for the information it contains than for its application to the study of English expression.

Business to-day is carried on in three different ways; viz., by individuals, by partnerships, and by corporations. The grocer, the butcher, the baker, or any one man who carries on a business is an example of the first. If, however, the grocer and the butcher, or the grocer and the baker, combine their businesses for the good of both, they form a partnership. When the amount of capital necessary for carrying on the business becomes so large that the money of many people is needed, a corporation is formed. The amount of money which any one individual invests in the company is represented by a certain number of shares of the capital stock of the company, entitling him to his portion of the dividends, or interest on the money he has invested. These shares of the capital stock are transferable and can be bought and sold like an automobile or a house. Since there is no time limit as to how long a corporation may do business, a change in the ownership of part of the stock, or[354] the death of a stockholder, is not accompanied by the same result as in a partnership, where the death of one of the partners sometimes breaks up the business. Furthermore, in a partnership each one of the partners is personally liable for any debts made by any of the partners in behalf of the business, whereas the personal possessions of a stockholder in a corporation cannot be held as security for any debts incurred by the corporation. These are two of the more important advantages of corporate organization over partnership.

It has been estimated that if one were to count money, dollar by dollar, one dollar every second for eight hours six days a week, it would take him six weeks to count one million dollars, and over one hundred years to count a billion dollars. This may help us to appreciate the sums of money spoken of in the following: In 1914 the market value of the Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago was over $83,000,000. The valuation placed on the properties of the Chicago Railways Company in 1914 exceeded $79,000,000. The Union Pacific Railroad Company had invested in its properties in 1914 approximately $500,000,000. The capital obligations of the United States Steel Corporation in 1914 were over $1,500,000,000. There are hundreds of such organizations in our country, the investments in which run to and beyond $50,000,000 each. It must be plain that, except in a very few cases, these vast amounts of money do not represent the investment of one, or of a few, but of many persons. In uniting their capital, these persons decrease the cost of making or distributing the product and so increase their profits.

When a large company of this kind is organized, a certain amount of money is agreed upon to be the capital of the[355] company, and it is divided into small portions, ordinarily $100 each, called shares. The total of the shares is called the authorized capital stock. These shares are sold, the purchasers of the shares being called shareholders, or stockholders, of the company. The number of shares a person holds determines what part of the profits he is entitled to. For example, if a company is organized for 1000 shares of $100 each, or a capital stock of $100,000, and you owned 100 shares, you would be entitled to one-tenth of the divided profits of the company. Such profits of the company, divided proportionately among the stockholders, constitute the dividends.

Often the capital stock is of two kinds, preferred and common, as in the case of the Union Pacific R. R., which has $200,000,000 of authorized preferred stock and $296,178,700 of authorized common stock. As the names signify, preferred stock is ordinarily better than common stock, the dividends on preferred stock being paid before any dividends are paid on common stock and usually at a stated rate of interest; as, 4, 5, or 6 per cent. In the case of the Union Pacific, this rate is 4 per cent. If the company earns only enough profits to pay the dividends on the preferred stock, the common gets no dividends. On the other hand, if the profits are enormous, the common occasionally gets more than the preferred.

The par value of a stock is the face value of one share of stock, indicated on the face of the certificate. This may be $10 or $50 or $100, whatever the amount agreed upon for one share when the company is organized. The amount most commonly used as par is $100. The market value of the stock, however, need not be this amount, but may be greater or less, dependent on how successful the company is and what rate of dividends it pays. If a company's standing is very good and the dividends are high (over 6 per cent),[356] the stock will probably sell on the market above par. If the company's finances are in a doubtful condition and there are evidences that the company will pay small dividends, if any at all, the market price of the stock will fall below par. For example, in January, 1914, Union Pacific R. R. common stock sold for about $158 per share, because the finances of the company were in good condition and the company had paid 10 per cent dividends steadily each year since July 1, 1907. If, however, any occasion should arise to make the public doubt the payment of future dividends at the same rate, the stock would probably decline. To go to the other extreme, in the same month Wabash R. R. common stock sold as low as $8½ per share, although the par is $100. This was because for some years the company had paid no dividends and was then in the hands of receivers. To take a middle case in the same month and year, Erie R. R. first preferred stock sold at about $45 per share, notwithstanding the fact that since 1907 no dividends had been paid. The reason for this seemingly high price was that the company had for some time been reconstructing its property, had gradually increased its business, had earned a $9,000,000 surplus in 1913, and had a good outlook to a dividend in the near future.

These are not the only influences that affect the price of stocks. The old factor of supply and demand has a great influence on price. If, for example, a financier decides to buy a large "block" of some stock, the market will almost immediately be affected, and that stock will go up. One example will suffice. In 1901 E. H. Harriman set out to buy $155,000,000 worth of Northern Pacific stock in the open market to gain control of the Northern Pacific railroad. Of course, the market felt the demand, and the price of the stock rose from a little above par until it touched $1,000 a share before it started back to normal. When Mr. Harriman unloaded that same stock in 1906, because he failed[357] to gain control, the market went down so considerably that he lost $10,000,000 and almost caused a panic.

Often the stocks of a company sell below par because the stock is watered; that is, the company has issued more stock than there is value invested in the property. Many of our railroads, for example, were built on borrowed money—that is, from the proceeds of the sale of bonds—and, to make the bonds sell more readily, stocks were given away with them. This, of course, increased the capitalization greatly without increasing the value. The temptation in forming new companies, especially in mining schemes and wildcat ventures, is to water the stock heavily by voting a large block of stock gratis to the organizers. Before one invests in any of these companies, he should thoroughly investigate them. Sometimes companies water their stocks when their dividends have become very large and they wish to bring the rate down to that commonly paid. The Wells Fargo Express Company did this in 1910, presenting their stockholders with $16,000,000 worth of new stock without any new investment in the property.

Suppose that A owns a house with a store in it, and in the store he carries on a grocery business. Suppose that by enlarging his store and putting in a bigger stock of goods he can make more money. The improvements will cost $1,000, but he hasn't the money. He goes to B to ask B to lend him $1,000 for five years, offering B the house as security. B gives A the $1,000 and in return gets a certain amount of interest each year and A's mortgage note against the property. This means that, if at the end of five years A cannot pay the $1,000, B has the right to sell A's house and collect the money due him.

When a corporation borrows money to extend its properties, plants, or rights, the transaction is really the same,[358] although the form is somewhat different. Just as all the capital stock of a corporation is divided into shares owned by a number of people, so, when the corporation borrows money, the amount borrowed is divided into smaller parts of $500 or $1,000 each, called bonds, which the corporation sells through its bankers to people who have idle money to invest. Twice each year, as stated in the bond, the corporation pays interest on the borrowed money at the rate, probably, of 4, 4½, 5, or 6 per cent. After a definite number of years, as stated in the bond, the corporation is obliged to pay back the amount of money that it borrowed. This is called redeeming the bonds. To show that it intends to pay back the amount borrowed at the end of the time stated, or redeem the bonds when they become due, the corporation puts a mortgage on its real estate, buildings, machinery, and equipment. When the bonds become due—or mature, as it is called—if the corporation does not pay back the amount borrowed, the holders of the bonds may take possession of the company's real estate, buildings, machinery, and equipment on which the company has placed the mortgage and may sell them to recover the money they have loaned. Thus, while the stockholders of a corporation have no assurance that they will ever get their money back or will ever get any interest on it, the holders of carefully selected bonds are reasonably sure of getting a certain amount of interest each year and of getting their money back when the bonds mature. Shares of stock represent the investment made by the stockholders who own the company, whereas bonds represent the investment of those who loan money to the company. We can readily see, then, that the stockholders take the greater risk. For this reason it is expected that stocks should yield a higher profit than bonds, and this is usually the case.

The greater portion of the bonds that are issued by corporations run for long periods—twenty, forty, fifty, and[359] even one hundred years. At times when money rates are high, corporations that need funds are reluctant to pay a high rate for so many years, and so they issue short time bonds to run from two to five years, in the hope that at the end of the time money rates will be lower and more favorable to their issuing long time bonds. Many companies, especially industrial corporations and railroads, have issued obligations to pay, notes running from six months to five years. They are not usually secured by a mortgage on the property but are merely the company's promise to pay, the interest and the principal taking precedence over the dividends on the preferred and the common stocks.

Before a corporation can carry on its business, it must obtain a charter from one of the states of the United States, whose laws it must obey. The laws of some states are more lenient than those of others, allowing the corporations more privileges. New Jersey is thus lenient; consequently we find many large corporations—such as the United States Steel Corporation, the American Sugar Refining Company, and others—organized under the laws of New Jersey. After the charter is granted and the stock bought by the stockholders, the latter have a meeting, at which they elect a small number of men to be directors, who, as the name signifies, conduct the business of the company for the stockholders. They choose a president, one or more vice-presidents, a treasurer, a secretary, and any other officers necessary to carry on the business under the control of the directors. The term of office of the directors is usually so fixed that the term of a part of them expires each year, so that each year the stockholders have an annual meeting at which they elect new directors or re-elect the old ones whose term has expired.[360]

Corporations divide themselves into three large groups; viz., railroad companies, public utility corporations, and industrial corporations. Of these, the group composed of the largest and most powerful corporations is the railroad group.

Railroads have two general sources of income, the larger being the revenue received from operating trains, both freight and passenger; and the smaller being the return from investments in other companies, from real estate, and from the rental of lines, terminals, stations, and cars to other railroads. To carry on the second or smaller part of its business, the company needs an organization much like any other business, but to conduct the first part it requires a special organization. This divides itself into four departments, usually with a vice-president at the head of each: (1) the traffic department, (2) the operating department, (3) the finance and accounting department, and (4) the legal department.

It is the duty of the traffic department to get the business for the company and adjust all traffic claims. In short, it does everything to increase the business and the earnings. This department naturally divides into the freight traffic and passenger traffic departments, with a superintendent or manager at the head of each.

After the traffic department has solicited the business for the company, it is the duty of the operating department to render the services required by the traffic department. The work is done by four large divisions: (1) the engineering or construction department, whose duty it is to build the roads over which the company may operate; (2) the maintenance-of-way department, whose duty it is to see that the roadbed and rails are kept in good order and repair; (3) the equipment department, whose duty it is to see that the[361] company is supplied with proper locomotives and cars and to see that such equipment is kept in repair; and (4) the transportation department, which has to do with the operating of the trains.

The financial policy of a railroad is usually in charge of one of the vice-presidents, who must be a man of experience in financial matters and who acts with the approval of the directors. The accounting department is more important than may appear at first sight. Railroads are now under the supervision and regulation of the government, and one of the rights that the government has is to examine the books of the company at any time and to require all companies to submit a monthly report to the government.

The legal department of a railroad is especially important for two reasons: (1) In performing its services, the company has business dealings with a large number of persons, and in the adjustment of claims against the railroad, expert legal advice is constantly necessary. (2) The railroad, as stated above, is under the regulation and control of the state and the national governments, and the enforcement of this regulation makes the railroad a party to numerous proceedings in the courts and before the Interstate Commerce Commission. The large railroads operate in from ten to twenty states. It can thus easily be seen that the legal department has a great deal more to do than if the railroad operated under but one political power.

Public utility corporations supply services without which the people of to-day could not very well live. They are those supplying water, light, heat, power, telephones, local transportation, gas, etc. They may properly be called public necessity corporations. The nature of these businesses[362] practically gives them a monopoly in their locality; this is the reason that they have grown so enormously during the last thirty years. The Commonwealth Edison Company, which supplies a large part of Chicago with light and power, began in 1887 with a capital of $500,000 and in 1914 its capital obligations had a market value of over $83,000,000. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company began in 1885 with $12,000,000 of capital stock and in 1914 had practically $340,000,000. The other public service corporations have kept pace, according to the growth of the locality they serve. In the depression of 1907 this class of corporation kept steadily increasing the volume of its business when all others went back a step. Since these corporations are dependent on the local community for their business, if the community grows the company must grow, and usually faster than the community. For this reason the stocks and bonds of these companies are usually a good investment.

It is a common practice for municipalities to demand a share of the profits of the company, by way of a fixed sum, a certain percentage of the gross profits, or a share of the net profits. For example the city of Chicago receives, from the Commonwealth Edison Company each year 3 per cent of its gross receipts from the sale of current and 10 per cent of its gross receipts from the rental of conduit space, amounting in 1913 to more than $300,000, quite a considerable sum. The Chicago Railways Company and the Chicago City Railway Company, the two large street car companies of Chicago, after deductions for expenses and charges and 5 per cent on the amount invested are made from the gross income, pay to the city 55 per cent of the surplus earnings, keeping for themselves 45 per cent. Whenever these companies pay part of their earnings to the municipality, they are really under municipal supervision, and their books and accounts are open to examination[363] by the city at any time. These companies are called quasi-municipal corporations.

As the name indicates, industrial corporations are those that carry on our industries. They are by far the largest class of corporations and have among their number some very powerful companies, whose assets run up toward the billions. This class of corporations has not had the gradual, steady growth of the public utility corporations, but in the case of the most successful, the growth has been amazing. The Standard Oil Company for many years prior to its dissolution had paid dividends on its capital stock of about $100,000,000 at the rate of 40 per cent a year. The Steel Corporation is said to have produced a thousand millionaires and is still producing them. This class of corporations has not been so closely under the supervision of the federal and municipal authorities as the railroads and public utility corporations, and their financing has been carried on in a looser fashion than that of the other two classes. For this reason the securities of these corporations are not generally regarded as highly as those of the other two. However, the federal government has taken and is taking steps to regulate these corporations, and this will tend to bring them eventually to the standards of the railroad and public utility corporations.

INDEX

A, Italian, 9.

Abbreviation, objectionable, of the introduction of a letter, 242;
of the courteous close, 242.

Abbreviations, of states, 26-27;
of commercial terms, 27-28;
of titles in letters, 235;
objectionable in the body of the letter, 242.

Able and ible, 33.

Absolute use of the nominative case, 65.

Abstract noun, defined, 57.

Accent, indication of, 17;
words changing meaning with change of, 17.

Accept and except, 102.

Account, opening an, 250;
letters for opening an, 250 ff.

Accounting department of a railroad, work of the, 360-361.

Active voice of verbs, defined, 84;
conjugation of, 88 ff.

Ad, prefix, 32.

Adjective, the, defined, 49;
and the adverb, 75 ff.;
following verbs of the senses, 75;
clause, 54;
comparison of, 78.

Adjective endings, peculiar, 33 ff.

Adjective modifiers, 49.

Adjective pronouns, use of, 61.

Adjectives and adverbs, confused, 51;
incorrectly used, 81-82;
real and very, 81;
most and almost, 81.

Adjectives, punctuation of series of, 171 ff.

Adjectives to be distinguished, 80-81;
fewer and less, 80;
almost and most, 81.

Adverb modifiers, 49.

Adverb, the, defined, 49;
and the adjective, 75 ff.

Adverbial, clause, 54;
modifier, case of, 66.

Adverbs, conjunctive, 45;
and adjectives confused, 51;
and prepositions confused, 52;
ideas denoted by, 75;
modifying different parts of speech, 75;
correct position of, 77;
absolute use of, 79;
incorrectly used, 81-82.

Advertised articles, classes of, 311.

Advertisements, motives appealed to in, 311;
catch phrases used in, 312;
suggestive names used in, 313;
good and bad headlines for, 313;
of still-life, 314;
without a definite center, 315;
illustrating the principle of balance, 315;
exercises to write, 315 ff.;
paragraph topics dealing with, 317 ff.;
some examples of, 318 ff.

Advertising, 308 ff.;
importance of, 308;
different forms of, 309-310;
fundamentals of, 310-311;
outline for debate on, 141 ff.;
bibliography for, 320.

Affect and effect, 102-103.

Affirmative of debate on advertising, 141 ff.

After, as preposition and conjunction, 55.

Agent, 134, 299-300;
commission of, 323.

Agreement, grammatical, 71-72, 85 ff.

Amusement, motive appealed to in advertising, 311.

Analysis, word, 29 ff.

Ance and ence, 34.

And, in compound sentence, 45, 173 ff.;
in series, punctuation with, 171 ff.;
used in joining parallel expressions, 211 ff.;
for to, 119;
[370]excessive use of, 127-128.

Anglo-Saxon prefixes and suffixes, 29 ff.

Answering complaints, letters to be used in, 257 ff.

Ant and ent, 33.

Antecedents, uncertain, 207 ff.

Apostrophe, the, used to form the possessive case, 67, 69, 159;
used to indicate the omission of letters, 160;
to show plural of letters and figures, 160.

Appeals made in advertisements, 311-312.

Application, letters of, 259 ff.

Appositives, case of, 65, 66;
punctuation with, 179-180.

Article, incorrect omission of in business letters, 242.

As, case following, 121;
a conjunction, 124;
followed by an understood verb, 124;
punctuation with, 195.

As—as, used in expressions stating equality, 125.

As follows, punctuation with, 195.

Atlas, story of the derivation of, 5.

Authorized capital stock, 355.

Baby blunder, 44.

Balance, principle of, used in advertisements, 315.

Bank draft, 341-343.

Banking:
inconvenience of barter, 332;
kinds of paper money, 332-333;
credit, 333;
discount, 335;
collateral, 335;
promissory note, 336;
forms of remittance, 338 ff.;
letters pertaining to, 345 ff.;
topics for investigation and discussion, 349-350;
bibliography for, 350;
dictation exercises on, 350 ff.

Banks, departments of, 333;
of deposit, 334 ff.;
savings, 334, 336 ff.;
trust companies, 334, 337 ff.

Be, conjugation, indicative, 104;
subjunctive, 112;
used to form progressive tenses, 88 ff., 105;
used to form passive voice, 105 ff.

Before, used as preposition and conjunction, 55.

Beg to state, 243.

Bibliography, on manufacture, 280;
on distribution, 304-305;
on advertising, 320;
on banking, 350.

Bill of lading, 285;
straight or order, 285.

Blunder, baby, 44.

Body of the letter, 232.

Bonds, 357 ff.;
redemption of, 358;
maturity of, 358;
long period, 358;
short time, 358.

Breve, 9.

Brevity in business letters, mistaken for conciseness, 199.

Business letters, 229 ff.;
essentials of, 230;
the form of, 231;
the arrangement of, 232;
cautions in writing, 235 ff.;
directions for folding, 238;
to order goods, 239;
the tone of, 240;
mistaken ideas in writing, 241 ff.;
to make sales, 244;
to accompany a catalogue, 245 ff.;
to open an account, 250;
to make collections, 253 ff.;
to answer complaints, 257 ff.;
applying for positions, 259 ff.;
form, 264;
circular and follow-up, 264 ff.

Business news, to suggest topics for talks, 155.

Business thinking, importance of, 2.

c and g, pronunciation of, 24.

Can and may, 102.

Capital stock, explained, 353;
preferred, 355;
common, 355;
par and market values of, 355 ff.

Capitals, use of, 160 ff.

Caret, the, 9.

Carriers, common, 284.

Case, defined, 64;
nominative, 64 ff.;
objective, 64, 66;
possessive, 64, 67;
exercise in, 70 ff.;
following prepositions, 66, 119.

Cause and effect, paragraphs developed by, 223.

Caution, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Cautions in writing business letters, 235 ff.

Cede, ceed, sede, 34.

Certificate, the gold, 332;
the silver, 332.

Certified check, the, 339-340.

Check, the, 338 ff.;
personal, 339;
certified, 339-340.

Choosing subjects, suggestions for, 146 ff.
[371]
Cion, sion, tion, 34.

Cious, tious, 33.

Circular letters, 264 ff.

Class paper, suggestions for a, 156.

Classes of advertisements, 311.

Clause, the, defined, 42;
principal, 42;
subordinate, 42;
incorrectly used as a sentence, 45;
introductory words for, 54;
adjective, 54;
adverb, 54;
noun, 54;
modifiers, 54;
introduced by than or as, 121;
initial, punctuation of, 176;
restrictive and non-restrictive, 59-60;
punctuation of relative, 185 ff.;
coming at the end of the sentence, punctuation of, 188-189;
incomplete, 205-206;
misplaced, 209 ff.

Clauses, punctuation of series of, 171 ff.

Clear title to property, explained, 322.

Clearing house, daily routine of, 350-351.

Clearness of the sentence, mistakes that prevent:
dangling expressions, 205 ff.;
pronouns with uncertain antecedents, 207 ff.;
misplaced modifiers, 209-210;
omission of necessary words, 210-211;
shift of construction, 211 ff.

Close, courteous, of business letters, 232, 237.

Coherence between sentences, 127-128; 224 ff.;
between paragraphs, 224 ff.

Collateral, 335-336.

Collection letters, 253 ff.

Collective noun, defined, 57.

Colon, use of the, 194.

Colonization, 307.

Combination of short sentences to secure unity, 202 ff.

Comfort, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Comma fault, the, 44 ff.

Comma, use of the, in direct quotations, 163 ff.;
in series, 171 ff.;
in compound sentences, 45, 173 ff.;
to set off initial clauses or participial phrases, 175 ff.;
to separate the month from the year, etc., 178;
to indicate the omission of words, 178;
to set off appositives, 179 ff.;
to set off parenthetical expressions, 180 ff.;
to set off independent elements, 182 ff.;
to set off non-restrictive clauses, 185 ff.;
to set off modifiers coming at the end of the sentence, 188 ff.

Command used in good headlines of advertisements, 313.

Commercial department of a bank, 333.

Commercial terms, abbreviations of, 27-28.

Commission, agent's, 323.

Common carriers, 284.

Common noun, defined, 57.

Common stock, 355.

Companies, kinds of, 273.

Company, the steamship, 284;
the railroad, 284 ff.
(See Corporation, 353 ff.)

Comparative degree, of adjectives, 78;
of adverbs, 79.

Comparison and contrast, paragraphs developed by, 223.

Comparison, of adjectives, 78;
of adverbs, 79;
negative, 125.

Complaint, letters answering, 257 ff.

Complement, subjective, 65.

Complex sentence, defined, 42.

Composition, oral and written, 127 ff.

Compound nouns, plural of, 20.

Compound relatives, 59.

Compound sentence, defined, 42;
punctuation of, 45, 173 ff.

Con, prefix, 32.

Conciseness of expression, 199.

Condensation to secure clearness, 200.

Conjugation, of write, active voice, 88 ff.;
of be, 104 ff.;
of follow, passive voice, 105 ff.

Conjunction, and the preposition, 116 ff.

Conjunctions.
Coördinate, 45;
punctuation with, 45, 173 ff.;
distinguished from conjunctive adverbs, 45.
Subordinate, list of, 54;
than and as, 121.
Correlative, 122.

Conjunctive adverbs, 45;
distinguished from coördinate conjunctions, 45;
punctuation with, 45.
[372]
Connection, smooth, 127-128, 224 ff.;
methods of securing, 224 ff.

Conservation, 191-192.

Consignee, 285.

Consonant, final, doubling of, 22;
silent, words containing, 11.

Construction, letters dealing with contract for, 263;
shift of, 211.

Contract, letters dealing with, for painting iron-work, 262;
for the delivery of property, 263;
for construction, 263.

Contraction, apostrophe used with, 160.

Coördinate conjunctions, 45;
punctuation with, 45, 173 ff.

Coördinate expressions, 122 ff.

Copulative verbs, defined, 83.

Corporate organization, 359.

Corporation, the, 353 ff.;
finances of, 354;
capital stock of, 354 ff.;
dividends of, 355;
stockholders of, 355;
bonds of, 357 ff.;
organization of, 359;
directors of, 359;
railroad, 360-361;
public utility, 361-362;
industrial, 363;
topics for investigation and discussion on, 365;
dictation exercises on, 365 ff.

Correlatives, defined, 122;
correct position of with coördinate expressions, 122-123;
either—or and neither—nor, 123.

Cost of living, paragraph on, 173.

Cotton seed, paragraph on, 176.

Cotton in the Soudan, paragraph, 181.

Could and might, 102.

Courteous close, in business letters, 232, 237.

Courtesy in business letters, 231, 240.

Credit, 333.

Credit letters, 250 ff.

Currency, bill, 333;
legislation, 333, 349.

Current events, to suggest subjects for talks, 155.

Dangling expressions, 205 ff.

Dash, use of, 195 ff.;
too free use of in business letters, 243, 247.

Dead letter sale, 190.

Debate, outline for a, 141 ff.;
subjects for, 139 ff., 144;
on manufacture, suggestions for, 275;
on distribution, 290, 302.

Debating, 137 ff.;
proposition for, 137;
six rules for, 137 ff.;
false conclusions in, 138;
irrelevant matter in, 138.

Declarative sentence, defined, 41.

Declension of pronouns, personal, 58;
relative, 59;
interrogative, 60.

Deed, 322.

Degrees of comparison, 78-79.

Demonstrative pronouns, 60.

Departments, of banks, 333;
of railroads, 360.

Deposit, banks of, 334;
slip, 334.

Details, explanatory, necessary to secure interest, 147;
paragraphs developed by, 222.

Development of paragraphs, methods of, 222-223.

dg, words containing, 25.

Diacritical marks, 8, 10.

Diaeresis, 9.

Dialogue, paragraphing in, 168 ff.

Dictation exercises, for series, 171;
for compound sentences, 173-174;
for initial clauses or participial phrases, 176;
for parenthetical expressions, 180-181;
for independent elements, 182-183;
for non-restrictive relative clauses, 186;
for the semicolon, 193-194;
on manufacture, 280-281;
on distribution, 305 ff.;
on real estate, 329 ff.;
on banking, 350 ff.;
on corporations, 365 ff.

Direct discourse, 163 ff.;
use of comma in, 170.

Directors of corporations, 359.

Discount, 335.

Discourse, direct, 163 ff.;
indirect, 166 ff.

Discussion and investigation topics, on manufacture, 278-279;
on distribution, 304;
on real estate, 327;
on banking, 349-350;
on the corporation, 365.

Dishwasher, letters to sell a, 265 ff.

Distribution.
Transportation an essential element, 283 ff.;
the steamship company, 284;
[373]the railroad company, 284 ff.;
the retail merchant, 286 ff.;
the wholesale merchant, 291 ff.;
the mail order merchant, 295 ff.;
the salesman, 298 ff.;
suggestions for debates, 302;
subjects for paragraphs, 303 ff.;
topics for investigation and discussion, 304;
bibliography, 304 ff.;
dictation exercises, 305 ff.

Dividends, 355.

Dividing a subject into its natural divisions, 149 ff.

Dot, 9.

Double relative, 59.

Doubling final consonants, rule for, 22.

Draft, bank, 341 ff.;
time, 343-344;
sight, 344-345.

Dropping of final e, 22, 25.

Druggist, outline of advertising letters sent by, 268-269.

Durability, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

E, final, retained, 25.

Each, every, 62, 86 (3)

Economy, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Effect and affect, 102.

Efficiency, office, 217;
stenographic, 217.

ei or ie, 24.

Either—or, 123.

Electric washing machine, outline of letters to sell, 269.

Elements, independent, case of, 65;
punctuation of, 182.

Emphatic pronouns, 59.

Emulation, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

ence and ance, 34.

Endings, peculiar adjective, 33;
peculiar noun and verb, 34.

Endorsing a check, methods of, 340.

English, oral, 1, 127 ff.;
written, 1.
(See Punctuation, The Clear Sentence, Business Letters.)

ent, 33.

Enthusiasm in business, 230.

eous, 33.

Essentials, of a sales letter, 230;
in manufacture, 272-273;
of an advertisement, 310-311.

Every, number of, 86.

Examples and illustrations, paragraphs developed by, 222.

Examples of advertisements, 318 ff.

Except, a preposition, 124;
incorrectly used as a conjunction, 124.

Except and accept, 102.

Exclamation mark, use of, 162.

Exclamatory sentence, defined, 41.

Explanatory details, paragraphs developed by, 222.

Explanatory expressions, punctuation of, 179 ff.
Appositives, 179;
parenthetical expressions, 180;
independent elements, 182;
explanatory relative clauses, punctuation of, 185;
subordinate elements coming at the end of the sentence, 188.

Exports in cattle, paragraph on, 76.

Express money order, 340-341.

Expression, conciseness of, 199;
variety of, 111.

f, and fe, plurals of nouns ending in, 19.

False conclusions in debating, 137-138.

Farm lands, 325 ff.;
outline of letters to sell, 267-268;
letters pertaining to, 325 ff.;
topics for investigation and discussion on, 327;
dictation exercises on, 329 ff.

Farm reform, 329.

Farming specials, 330.

Favor, your esteemed, and similar expressions, to avoid, 243.

Fee simple, 322.

Fewer and less, 80.

Figures, plural of, 20, 160.

Final consonant, rule for doubling, 22.

Final e, dropped, 22, 25;
retained, 25-26.

Finance department of a railroad, 360-361.

Finances of a corporation, 354.

Fly, flow, flee, 101.

Folding a letter, directions for, 238.

Follow, conjugation of in the passive voice, 105 ff.;
synopsis of, passive, 106.

Following, the, punctuation after, 195.
[374]
Follow-up letter, the, 264 ff.

For, as preposition and conjunction, 55.

Foreclosing a mortgage, 322.

Foreign plurals, 21.

Foreign news, to suggest subjects for talks, 155.

For example, punctuation with, 195.

For instance, punctuation with, 195.

Form letter, the, 264.

Form of the business letter, 231.

Formation, of participles, 21 ff.;
of possessive case, 67;
of infinitives, 110.

Freight bill, 286.

Freight, receipt for, 285.

Furniture, outline of letters to sell, 269.

Future tense, 88 ff.;
progressive, 89;
perfect, 90.

G, pronunciation of, 24.

Gas mantles, paragraph on, 280-281.

Gold certificates, 332.

Good and bad headlines in advertisements, 313-314.

Government's Laundry, the, 173-174.

Greek roots, 30.

Had ought, 103.

"Hammock" paragraph, 216.

Have and of, 119.

Heading of the business letter, 232, 235.

Headlines of advertisements, good and bad, 313-314.

Health, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Herculean, 5.

Homonyms, 14-15.

How to advance, paragraph on, 177.

Hoping and similar expressions, to avoid, 242-243.

Hyphen, use of, 196.

Ible, 33.

Ideas, mistaken, in letter writing, 241 ff.

ie or ei, 24.

Illustrations and examples, paragraphs developed by, 222.

Imperative sentence, defined, 41.

In, prefix, 33.

Income of railroads, 360.

Incorrectly used, nouns and pronouns, 73-74;
adjectives and adverbs, 81-82;
verbs, 114-115;
prepositions, 118-119.

Indefinite it or they, 207 ff.

Indefinite pronouns, 61;
used as adjectives, 61.

Independent elements, case of, 65;
punctuation of, 182.

Indicative mode, defined, 112;
of be, 112.

Indirect discourse, 166 ff.

Indirect object, 66.

Industrial corporations, 363.

Industry, 273.

Infinitive, defined, 109;
tenses and voices of, 110;
split, 77, 209.

Initial clause or participial phrase, punctuation of, 176.

Insurance, 327 ff.;
letters pertaining to, 328 ff.

Insurance and real estate, 321 ff.

Interesting words, 1 ff.

Interjection, 49;
O, 161.

Interrogation mark, use of, 162;
position of with quotation marks, 163 ff.

Interrogative pronouns, declined, 60.

Interrogative sentence, 41.

Intransitive verb, 83.

Introduction of the letter, 232, 235-236.

Investigation and discussion, topics for, on manufacture, 278-279;
on distribution, 304;
on real estate, 327;
on banking, 349-350;
on the corporation, 365.

Investments, mining, 365-366.

Investors, 184, 185.

ious, 33.

Irregular plurals of nouns, 19.

Irregular verbs, principal parts of, 95 ff.

ise, ize, yze, 34.

It used indefinitely, 207 ff.

Italic, derivation of, 3.

Italian a, 9.

Its and it's, 160 ff.

k, insertion of, 25.

Kindly, abuse of, 243.
[375] Labor, 274.

Local news, to suggest subjects for talks, 155.

Land business, the, 325 ff.

Latin-American trade, the, 306.

Latin prefixes and suffixes, 31.

Lay and lie, 100-101.

Learn and teach, 101.

Lease, 321.

Least, used in the superlative degree, 78.

Legal department of a railroad, 360-361.

Length of good headlines in advertisements, 313.

Less and fewer, 80.

Letter beginnings, 240, 247, 248-249.

Letter, to investors, 47;
to accompany a style book, 172;
to sell a trip on the water, 183-184;
to sell a house coat, 221-222;
ordering goods, 239;
from A. Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby, 240-241;
to accompany a catalogue, 245 ff.;
to sell cheese, 246;
to sell hinged paper, 247-248;
to open an account, 250-251;
credit, 251-252;
requesting payment, 254 ff.;
answering a complaint, 257-258;
of application, 260-261;
follow-up, 265 ff.;
from a bank, soliciting a trust (to be punctuated), 348-349;
market, 366.

Letters, plurals of, 20.

Letters, business, in the manufacturing business, 276 ff.;
in the retail business, 287 ff.;
in the wholesale business, 292 ff.;
in the mail order business, 295 ff.;
to help the salesman, 301;
pertaining to banking, 345 ff.
(See Business letters, Letter.)

Lie and lay, 100-101.

Like, followed by the objective case, 124.

Loose and lose, 103.

Lose and loose, 103.

Luck and labor, paragraph on, 174.

Macron, the, 9.

Magazine advertising, 311 ff.

Mail order business, the, 295 ff..

Manufacture, 270 ff.;
essentials in, 272-273;
subjects for themes on, 275;
suggestions for debates on, 275;
letters in, 276 ff.;
topics for investigation and discussions on, 278 ff.;
bibliography for, 280;
dictation exercises in, 280 ff.

Market letter, 366.

Market value, 355 ff.

Marks, diacritical, 7;
question, 162;
quotation, 163 ff.

Materials, raw, 274.

Maturity of bonds, 358, 364.

May and can, 102.

Merchant, the retail, 286 ff.;
the wholesale, 291 ff.;
the mail order, 295 ff.

Methods of endorsing a check, 340.

Might and could, 102.

Mining investment, principles of, 365.

Misplaced modifiers, 209-210.

Mispronounced, words commonly, 13, 17.

Mistaken ideas in letter writing, 241 ff.

Mode, defined, 112;
indicative and subjunctive of be, 112;
subjunctive denoting possibility, 113.

Model letters. (See Letter.)

Modern business done by letter, 229 ff.

Modifiers, adjective and adverb, word, 49;
phrase, 52 ff.;
clause, 54-55;
used to secure unity, 202;
misplaced, 209-210.

Money, 332;
kinds of paper, 332 ff.;
its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Money order, express, 340-341;
postal, 341.

Monosyllables ending in silent e, 9.

Month from year, comma used to separate, 178.

More or less, used in the comparative degree, 78.

Mortgage, 322, 357 ff.;
foreclosing a, 322.

Most or least, used in the superlative degree, 78.

Motives to which advertisements appeal, 311.
[376] Namely, punctuation with, 195.

Names, suggestive, in advertising, 313.

National bank notes, 333.

National news, to suggest subjects for talks, 155.

Necessary words, omission of, 210-211.

Need, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Negative comparison, 125.

Negative, outline for a debate on advertising, 143 ff.

Neither—nor, 123.

News, to suggest topics for talks, 155.

Nominative absolute, 65.

Nominative case, 64 ff.;
as subject, 64;
as subjective complement (predicate nominative), 65;
as appositive, 65;
independent, 65;
absolute, 65.

Nor, 123.

Notes, 359;
promissory, 336.

Noun, defined, 49;
clause, 54;
and the pronoun, 57 ff.;
common, 57;
proper, 57;
collective, 57;
abstract, 57;
verbal, 57;
modified by every and similar words, 86;
collective, number of, 86.

Nouns, rules for plurals of, regular, 18;
ending in y, 19;
ending in o, 19;
ending in f and fe, 19;
irregular, 19-20;
compound, 20;
foreign, 21;
possessive case of, 67;
incorrectly used, 73-74;
joined by or, 86;
punctuation of series of, 171 ff.

Number of verb, 86.

O, capitalization of, 161.

o, plural of nouns ending in, 19.

Object, of a preposition, 55, 66;
of a transitive verb, 66;
indirect, 66;
second, 66.

Objective case, 64, 66;
as direct object of a transitive verb, 66;
as object of a preposition, 66, 119;
as indirect object, 66;
as second object, 66;
as appositive, 66;
as adverbial modifier, 66;
following like, 124.

Observation, subjects taken from, 146 ff.

Obsolete words, 3.

Of and have, 119.

Of phrase substituted for the possessive case, 67.

Oh, 161.

Omission, of letters, 160;
of necessary words, 210 ff.;
of subject in business letters, 242.

Opening an account, letters for, 240 ff.

Operating department of a railroad, 360.

Oral English, exercises in, 127 ff.

Oral expression, 127 ff.;
variety of, 111.

Oral reproduction, from magazines, 147;
from newspapers, 154 ff.

Oral exercises, in general, 127 ff.;
on manufacture, 273 ff.;
in the retail trade, 286;
in the wholesale trade, 290 ff.;
in the mail order business, 295;
in connection with the salesman, 299 ff.

Order bill of lading, 285.

Ordering goods, letter for, 239.

Order, express money, 340-341;
postal money, 341.

Organization, corporate, 359;
of a railroad, 360.

Outline, for a debate, 141 ff.;
how to make an, 151 ff.

Paper money, kinds of, 332 ff.

Paragraph, the, 215 ff.;
in dialogue, 168 ff.;
proper length of, 215-216;
topic sentence in, 216 ff.;
"hammock," 216;
how developed, 222-223.

Paragraphs on, Sacramento City, 48;
exports in cattle, 76;
cost of living, 173;
the government's laundry, 173-174;
luck and labor, 174;
sawdust, 174-175;
a new kind of wood, 175;
hogs as mortgage lifters, 175;
cotton seed, 176;
making paper, 176-177;
how to advance, 177;
bubonic plague, 177;
politics of a city, 181;
cotton in the Soudan, 181;
the "yellow" invasion, 182;
saving, 182, 184, 193;
investors, 184, 185;
Chicago's milk supply, 186;
the dead letter sale, 190;
industries, controlled, 193;
the secret blotter, 197;
[377]a mummy's doll, 198;
office efficiency, 217;
stenographic efficiency, 217;
business courtesy, 218;
the rural landscape of Norway, 218;
the Spectator, 218-219;
income, 225;
gas mantles, 280-281;
production of wool, 281;
casting metals, 281;
transportation, 305;
the Latin-American trade, 306;
the parcel post in Africa, 306;
the remedy for wrecks, 306-307;
colonization, 307;
farm reform, 329;
farming specials, 330;
selection of seed, 330-331;
the clearing house, 350-351;
washed money, 351-352;
an early monopoly, 365;
mining investments, 365-366.

Paragraphs, subjects for. See Subjects.

Parenthesis marks, use of, 196;
wrongly used to cancel expressions, 196.

Parenthetical expressions, punctuation of, 180 ff.

Participle, defined, 109;
tenses and voices of, 109;
the dangling, 205-206.

Participles, formation of, 21;
of verbs in y, 23.

Participial phrases, punctuation of, 176 ff.;
188 ff.

Parts of speech:
The noun and the pronoun, 49, 57 ff.;
the adjective and the adverb, 49, 75, ff.;
the verb, 49, 83 ff.;
the preposition and the conjunction, 49, 116 ff.;
the interjection, 49.

Parts, principal, of irregular verbs, 95 ff.

Par value, 355.

Passive voice, defined, 84;
conjugation of follow, in the, 105 ff.;
synopsis of follow in the, 106.

Past tense, 88;
progressive form of, 89;
emphatic form of, 89;
perfect, 90.

Payment, letters requesting, 253 ff.

Perfect tenses, 89 ff.

Period, use of, 162.

Personal pronouns declined, 58.

Personality essential in a salesman, 298.

Persons of the pronouns, 58.

Phrase modifiers, 52 ff.

Phrases, prepositional, 52 ff.;
adverbial, 52-53;
adjective, 52-53;
classification of, 110;
punctuation of series of, 171 ff.;
initial participial, punctuation of, 176;
incorrectly used as a sentence, 45, 242.

Plurals, of nouns, 18 ff.;
of letters and figures, 20, 160;
of foreign nouns, 21.

Positive degree, 78, 79.

Possessive case, 64, 67;
rules for forming, 67;
separate possession, in the, 67;
with verbal nouns, 67 ff.;
of phrase substituted for, 67;
use of the apostrophe in the, 159.

Possibility, use of the subjunctive mode to show, 113 ff.

Postal money order, 341.

Predicate, of the sentence, 41;
nominative, 65.

Preferred stock, 355.

Prefix, usually constituting a syllable, 16;
Anglo-Saxon, 29;
Latin, 31;
ad, con, and in, 32-33.

Present tense, 88;
progressive, 88;
emphatic, 88;
perfect, 89.

Preposition, defined, 49;
phrase introduced by, 52;
followed by the objective case, 66, 119;
and the conjunction, 116 ff.;
the wrong, 119;
necessary, 119.

Prepositional phrases, 52-53.

Prepositions, and adverbs confused, 52;
list of, 53;
used with certain verbs, 116-117;
incorrectly used, 118-119.

Pride, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Principal clauses, 42.

Principal parts of irregular verbs, 95 ff.

Progressive tenses, 88 ff.; 105.

Promissory note, 335.

Pronominal adjectives, 60.

Pronoun, defined, 49;
and the noun, 57 ff.;
incorrect use of same as a pronoun, 72-73.

Pronouns, 58 ff.;
personal, declined, 58;
emphatic, 59;
reflexive, 59;
list of relative, 54;
declension of relative, 59;
[378]compound relative, 59;
double relative, 59;
restrictive relative, 59 ff.;
interrogative declined, 60;
demonstrative, 60;
indefinite, 61;
adjective, 61;
possessive in form, not in use, 59 (note);
incorrectly used, 73 ff.;
joined by or, 86.

Pronunciation, 7 ff.;
slurring syllables in, 7;
of c and g, 24.

Proper noun, defined, 57;
capitalization of, 57, 161.

Proposition for debate, 137.

Public utility corporations, 361 ff.

Punctuation, 158 ff.;
apostrophe, 159 ff.;
capitals, 160 ff.;
period, 162;
interrogation mark, 162;
exclamation mark, 162;
quotation marks, 163 ff.;
comma, 170 ff.;
semicolon, 192 ff.;
colon, 194 ff.;
dash, 195 ff.;
parenthesis marks, 196;
hyphen, 196 ff.;
of series, 170 ff.;
of compound sentences, 45, 173 ff.;
of initial clause or participial phrase, 175 ff.;
of explanatory expressions, 179 ff.;
after as follows, etc., 195;
after namely, etc., 195.

Quality, its appeal in advertising, 311-312.

Questions for discussion on, manufacture, 273-274;
the retail merchant, 286-287;
the wholesale merchant, 291-292;
the mail order merchant, 295;
advertising, 309-310;
real estate, 323;
the corporation, 363-364.

Quitclaim deed, 322.

Quotation marks, use of, 163 ff.

Quotations, use of comma in, 170 ff.

Railroad, the, 360;
sources of income of, 360;
organization of, 360;
departments of, 360 ff.

Railroad company, the, 284, 360.

Raise and rise, 101.

Raw materials, 274.

Reading, subjects taken from, 147 ff.

Real and very, 81.

Real estate and insurance, 321.

Real estate business, 321 ff.
Rent, 321;
lease, 321;
warranty deed, 322;
quitclaim deed, 322;
clear title, 322;
fee simple, 322;
mortgage, 322;
foreclosing a mortgage, 322;
agent and commission, 323;
letters in, 324 ff.;
topics for investigation and discussion, 327.

Receipt for freight, 285.

Redemption of bonds, 358.

Reflexive pronouns, 59.

Reform, farm, 329.

Relative pronouns, list of, 54, 59;
declined, 59;
double, 59;
restrictive, 59 ff.;
compound, 59.

Relative value of different forms of advertising, 310.

Remedy for wrecks, 306-307.

Remittance, forms of, 338 ff.
Check, 339;
certified check, 339 ff.;
endorsement, methods of, 340;
express money order, 340;
postal money order, 341;
bank draft, 341 ff.;
time draft, 343 ff.;
sight draft, 344 ff.

Rent, 321.

Reproduction, oral, from magazines, 147 ff.;
from newspapers, 154 ff.

Requesting payment, letters, 253 ff.

Restricting the subject, 150.

Restrictive relative pronouns, 59 ff.

Retail merchant, the, 286 ff.

Richards' baby stocking fund, 337.

Rise and raise, 101.

Roots, Greek, 30.

Rules.
For spelling:
regular plurals in s and es, 18;
changing final y to i, 19;
nouns in o, 19;
nouns in f and fe, 19;
plural by change of vowel, 19;
by adding en, 19;
no change for the plural, 20;
two plurals, 20;
compound nouns, 20;
plurals of letters and figures, 20;
foreign plurals, 21;
doubling final consonant, 21-22;
retaining y before ing, 23;
ie or ei, 24;
soft c and g, 24;
dropping final silent e, 25;
retaining final e, 25-26.
For punctuation:
the apostrophe, to show the possessive case of nouns, 159;
to show omission of letters, 160;
to show plurals of letters, figures, and words not regularly nouns, 160;
capitals, 160 ff.;
the period, 162;
the interrogation mark, 162;
[379]the exclamation mark, 162;
quotation marks, 163 ff.;
comma in direct quotations, 170;
comma in series, 171 ff.;
comma in compound sentence, 173 ff.;
comma after initial clause or participial phrase, 175 ff.;
comma to separate month from year, etc., 178;
comma to show omission of words, 178;
comma to set off appositive, 179 ff.;
comma to set off parenthetical expressions, 180 ff.;
comma to set off independent elements, 182 ff.;
comma to set off non-restrictive relative clause, 185 ff.;
comma to set off subordinate element at the end of the sentence, 188 ff.;
the semicolon, 192 ff.;
the colon, 194 ff.;
the dash, 195 ff.;
parenthesis marks, 196;
the hyphen, 196.

S 1, comma fault, 44.

S 2, use of phrase or clause as sentence, 45.

Sacramento City, paragraph on, 48.

Salary, 3.

Sales letter, the, 244 ff.

Salesman, the, 298 ff.;
letters to help the, 301-302.

Salutation, the, of business letters, 232, 236-237.

Same, not a pronoun, 72-73;
distinctly business blunder, 243.

Saving, paragraphs on, 182, 184, 193.

Savings banks, 334, 336; postal, 337.

Savings department of bank, 332.

Saw and seen, 99-100.

Sawdust, paragraph on, 174.

Second object, 66.

Secretary's report, the, 115 (note).

Sede, cede, ceed, 34.

Selection of seed, 330-331.

Semicolon, uses of, 45, 174, 192 ff.

Sentence, the, and its elements, 41 ff.;
subject of, 41;
simple, 42;
complex, 42;
compound, 42;
compound, punctuation of, 45, 174;
predicate of, 41;
declarative, defined, 41;
interrogative, defined, 41;
imperative, defined, 41;
exclamatory, defined, 41;
simple, defined, 42;
compound, defined, 42;
complex, defined, 42;
errors, 44.

Separation, the keynote of punctuation, 159.

Series, punctuation of, 171 ff.

Set, and sit, 101.

Shall and will, 89, 92.

Shareholders, 355.

Shares, of capital stock, 355.

Shift in construction, 211 ff.

Short sentences, combination of, 202 ff.

Should and would, 93-94.

Sight draft, 344-345.

Signature, the, in business letters, 232, 237-238.

Silent consonant, words containing, 11.

Silent vowels, 11.

Silver certificates, 332.

Simple sentence, defined, 42.

Since, as preposition and conjunction, 55.

sion, tion, cion, 34.

Sit and set, 101.

Slang, 129.

Slurring of syllables, 7.

Smooth connection, 127-128, 224;
methods of securing, 224.

Snappy style, in letter writing, 246.

So—as, in negative comparisons, 125.

So habit, to avoid the, 111, 128.

Soudan, cotton in the, 181.

South Africa, parcel post in, 306.

Specials, railroad farming, 330.

Spectator, The, paragraph from Macaulay, 218-219.

Speech, parts of, 48 ff.

Speech, plan in making, 131 ff.;
outline for, 151 ff.

Spelling, rules, 18 ff.;
500 words for, 36 ff.

Split infinitive, 77, 209.

States, abbreviation of names of, 26-27.

Steamship company, the, 284.

Steel, trouble in introducing, 191.

Stenographic efficiency, 217.

Still-life advertisements, 314.

Stock, capital, common and preferred, 353, 355;
authorized capital, 355.

Stockholders, 355.

Stocks, of a corporation, 354 ff.
[380]
Straight bill of lading, 285.

Style, in letter writing, 244 ff.

Subject, as a whole, 148;
divisions of, 149 ff.;
making outline of, 151 ff.;
restricting the, 150, 153;
of the sentence, 41, 65;
simple, 55;
complete, 55;
of subordinate clause, 55;
compound, number of, 86;
incorrect omission of, in business letters, 242.

Subjective complement, 65.

Subjects, how to choose, 146 ff.;
for debates, 141, 144, 275, 290, 302;
for compositions on manufacture, 274, 275, 278-279;
on distribution, 299, 301, 303, 304;
on advertising, 317, 318;
suggested by personal experience, 147;
suggested by reading, 147, 154.

Subjunctive mode, defined, 112;
of be, 112;
used to denote possibility, 113.

Subordinate clauses, adjective, adverb, noun, 54;
subject of, 55.

Subordinate conjunctions, list of, 54.

Subordination, in the sentence, 201 ff.

Subscription, outline of letters to sell, 268.

Success, elements of, 135.

Successful men and women, 136.

Suffix, usually constituting a syllable, 16;
Anglo-Saxon, 29;
adjective, 30;
verb, 31;
noun, 31;
able and ible, 33;
ant and ent, 33.

Suggestions for debates, 139 ff., 144;
on manufacture, 275;
on distribution, 290, 302.

Suggestive names in advertisements, 313;
headlines, 313-314.

Superlative degree, of adjectives, 78;
of adverbs, 79.

Superlatives, to be avoided, 129.

Syllabication, 15.

Syllables, slurred, 7;
division of words into, 15 ff.

Synopsis of write, active voice, 91.

Teach and learn, 101.

Technical words, 4.

Tense, defined, 88;
of participle, 109;
of infinitive, 110.

Tenses, distinguished, 88 ff.
(See Present tense, Past tense, Perfect tenses.)

Than and as, case following, 121.

That, restrictive relative, 59 ff.

That is, punctuation with, 195.

The following, punctuation with, 195.

Themes, oral, 127 ff.
(See Oral themes.)

There, their, 126.

Thinking, business, 2.

Thus, punctuation with, 195.

Tilde, 9.

Time draft, 343-344.

Tion, sion, cion, 34.

Tious, troublesome ending, 33.

Title, clear, to property, 322.

Titles, 150;
of officials and of honor, 161;
of books and plays, 162.

To, too, two, distinguished, 125-126.

Tone, of the letter, 240.

Topic sentence, in the paragraph, 216 ff.

Topics for investigation and discussion, on manufacture, 278-279;
on distribution, 304;
on real estate, 327;
on banking, 349-350;
on the corporation, 365.

Trade, Latin-American, 306.

Traffic department of railroad, 359.

Transitive verb, followed by objective case, 66;
defined, 83.

Transportation, 283.

Troublesome verbs, 100 ff.;
lie and lay, 100 ff.;
sit, set, 101;
fly, flow, flee, 101;
rise, raise, 101;
teach, learn, 101;
may, can, 102;
might, could, 102;
accept, except, 102;
affect, effect, 102 ff.;
lose, loose, 103.

Trust companies, 334, 337.

Trust department of a bank, 332.

Uncertain antecedents, pronouns with, 207 ff.

United States treasury notes, 333.

Unity, in the sentence, 199;
in the paragraph, 216.

Unless, a conjunction, 124.

Until, as preposition and conjunction, 55.

Usefulness, its appeal in advertising, 311.
[381]
Utility corporations, public, 36 ff.

Value, par of stock, 355 ff.;
market, 355 ff.

Vanity, its appeal in advertising, 311.

Variety of expression, 111.

Verb, the, 83 ff.;
defined, 49;
transitive, 66, 83;
intransitive, 83;
copulative, 83;
active voice of, 84;
passive voice of, 84;
number of, 85;
person of, 85;
singular with certain words, 85 ff.;
plural with certain subjects, 86;
tense of, 88 ff.;
shall and will, 92;
should and would, 93;
conjugation of be, 104 ff.;
be used to make progressive tenses, 105;
be used to make passive voice, 105 ff.;
the participle, 109;
the infinitive, 110;
mode, 112 ff.;
conjugation of write, active voice, 88 ff.;
follow, passive voice, 105 ff.;
synopsis of write, active voice, 91;
synopsis of follow, passive voice, 106.

Verbal noun, defined, 57;
possessive case with, 67 ff.

Verbs, incorrectly used, 114;
participles of verbs in y, 23;
taking two objects, 66;
taking indirect and direct objects, 66;
principal parts of irregular, 95 ff.;
troublesome, 100 ff.;
lie, lay, distinguished, 100;
sit and set, distinguished, 101;
fly, flow, flee, distinguished, 101;
rise and raise, distinguished, 101;
teach and learn, distinguished, 101;
may and can, distinguished, 102;
might and could, distinguished, 102;
accept and except, distinguished, 102;
affect and effect, distinguished, 102;
lose and loose, distinguished, 103;
had ought, incorrectly used, 103;
certain prepositions used with, 116 ff.

Very and real, distinguished, 81

Voice, active and passive, defined, 84;
of the participle, 109;
of the infinitive, 110.

Vowels, pronunciation of, 9;
length of, in monosyllables ending in e, 9;
words containing silent, 11.

Warranty deed, 322.

Washed money, 351-352.

Washing machine, letters to sell, outline, 269.

Watered stock, 357.

Way-bill, railroad, 286.

Were, where, distinguished, 126.

What, double relative, 59.

Who, and which, used restrictively, 60.

Who and whom, 70 ff.

Whoever and whomever, 71.

Wholesale merchant, the, 291 ff.

Why, childish use of, 128.

Will and shall, 89, 92 ff.

Will you be so good as to, 243.

Wish, subjunctive to express, 113.

Without, a preposition, 124;
incorrectly used as conjunction, 124.

Word analysis, 29 ff.

Words, interesting, 1 ff.;
obsolete, 3;
technical, 4;
similarly pronounced 14, 15;
frequently mispronounced, 13, 17;
containing dg, 25;
ending in silent e, retain or drop e, 25;
analysis of, 32;
easily confused, list of, 35 ff.;
500 for spelling, 36 ff.;
used as different parts of speech, 51;
omission of, punctuation to show, 178.

Wordiness, 130 ff, 200-201.

Would and should, 93 ff.

Would say, to be avoided, 243.

Write, conjugation of, active voice, 88 ff.;
synopsis of, passive voice, 91.

Writing advertisements, exercises in, 315-316.

Written composition, 1, 127 ff.

Written expression, 1, 127 ff.

Y, nouns ending in, plural of, 19.

"Yellow" invasion, paragraph on the, 182.

You attitude, the, in letter writing, 244.

Yze, ize, ise, 34.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] If one of the words so joined is plural, the verb should be plural.

[2] See note on page 115

[3] Loan for lend, though common in the United States, is not in approved use except sometimes in financial language.—Webster's New International Dictionary.

[4] Supply heading and introduction (see page 232).

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rival	fortune	cereal	boycott
dollar	finance	china	derrick
bankrupt	milliner	java	mercury
cash	pullman	cashmere	colossal
mint	grocer	macadam	turbine

Sunday	Saturday	May	October
Tuesday	January	June	November
Wednesday	February	July	December
Thursday	March	August
Friday	April	September

cancel	bead	ambition	hospital
pecuniary	paper	influence	pavilion
cheat	book	virtue	mackintosh
speculation	bayonet	peevish	chapel
phaëton	tawdry	disaster	omnibus

curfew	tulip	turquoise	good-bye
pompadour	aster	amethyst	dismal
hyacinth	dunce	tantalize	titanic
dandelion	humor	umbrella	volcano
dahlia	villain	sandwich	tangle
begonia	echo	lunatic	babble

howl	sputter	rasping	munch
skim	prance	clatter	trickle
squeal	click	wheeze	shuffle
moan	thud	trudge	bulge
squeak	patter	chuckle	gobble
squawk	spatter	toddling	swish

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Business English, by Rose Buhlig

E-text prepared by
Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Emmy,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)

BUSINESS ENGLISH

A PRACTICE BOOK

PREFACE

CONTENTS

BUSINESS ENGLISH

PART I—WORD STUDY AND GRAMMAR

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

PART II—COMPOSITION: ORAL AND WRITTEN

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

PART III—BUSINESS PRACTICE

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

I.—The Retail Merchant

II.—The Wholesale Merchant

III.—The Mail Order Merchant

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

INDEX

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber's Note:

Part I—Word Study and Grammar
Chapter		Page
I	Interesting Words	1
II	Pronunciation	7
III	Spelling Rules	18
IV	Word Analysis	29
V	The Sentence and its Elements	41
VI	The Noun and the Pronoun	57
VII	The Adjective and the Adverb	75
VIII	The Verb	83
IX	The Preposition and the Conjunction	116
Part II—Composition: Oral and Written
X	Oral English	127
XI	Choosing Subjects	146
XII	Punctuation	158
XIII	The Clear Sentence	199
XIV	The Paragraph	215
XV	Business Letters	229
Part III—Composition: Business Practice
XVI	Manufacture	270
XVII	Distribution	282
XVIII	Advertising	308
XIX	Real Estate and Insurance	321
XX	Banking	332
XXI	The Corporation	353
Index		369

ā	as	in	āte, fāte, lāb´or
[+a]	"	"	sen´[+a]te, del´ic[+a]te, [+a]e´rial
â	"	"	câre, shâre, pâr´ent
ă	"	"	ăm, ădd, răn´dom
ä	"	"	ärm, fär, fä´ther
ȧ	"	"	ȧsk, grȧss, pȧss, dȧnce
a̠	"	"	fi´na̠l, in´fa̠nt, guid´ānce
a̤	"	"	a̤ll, a̤we, swa̤rm, ta̤lk
ē	"	"	ēve, mēte, serēne´
[+e]	"	"	[+e]vent´, d[+e]pend´, soci´[+e]ty
ĕ	"	"	ĕnd, mĕt, ĕxcuse´, ĕfface´
ẽ	"	"	fẽrn, hẽr, ẽr´mine, ev´ẽr
e	"	"	re´cent, de´cency, pru´dence
ī	"	"	īce, tīme, sīght, inspīre´
[+i]	"	"	[+i]dea´, tr[+i]bu´nal, b[+i]ol´ogy
ĭ	"	"	ĭll, pĭn, pĭt´y, admĭt´
ō	"	"	ōld, nōte, ō´ver, prōpose´
[+o]	"	"	[+o]bey´, t[+o]bac´co, sor´r[+o]w
ô	"	"	ôrb, lôrd, ôr´der, abhôr´
ŏ	"	"	ŏdd, nŏt, tŏr´rid, ŏccur´
ū	"	"	ūse, pūre, dū´ty, assūme´
[+u]	"	"	[+u]nite´, ac´t[+u]ate, ed[+u]ca´tion
ṳ	"	"	rṳde, rṳ´mor, intrṳde´
ụ	"	"	fụll, pụt, fụlfill´
ŭ	"	"	ŭp, tŭb, stŭd´y
û	"	"	ûrn, fûr, concûr´
y̆	"	"	pit´y̆, in´jury̆, divin´ity̆
o͞o	"	"	fo͞ol, fo͞od, mo͞on
o͝o	"	"	fo͝ot, wo͝ol, bo͝ok
ou	"	"	out, thou, devour´
oi	"	"	oil, noi´sy, avoid´

advȧnce	clȧss	lȧnce	plȧster
advȧntage	contrȧst	lȧst	pȧstor
ȧfter	enchȧnt	mȧsk	prȧnce
bȧsket	Frȧnce	mȧster	rȧfter
brȧnch	glȧnce	mȧstiff	shȧft
brȧss	glȧss	pȧss	surpȧss
chȧff	grȧss	pȧst	tȧsk

hälf	ideȧ	cälm	audācious
pȧth	cȧn't	āpricot	ȧghȧst
ȧsk	cătch	mȧdrăs	ălgebrȧ
fäther	v[+a]cātion	ăgile	forbăde
dȧnce	extrȧ	cȧst	trȧnce
lȧss	cȧsket	grȧnt	āviātion

fellow	swallow	theory	borrow
potato	follow	position	heroism
window	original	factory	donkey
pillow	evaporate	ivory	memory
chocolate	mosquito	licorice	oriental

reduce	picture	educate	figure
produce	stupid	judicial	duty
conducive	student	calculate	accumulate
endure	genuine	curiosity	Tuesday
duration	induce	regular	particular
singular	avenue	tune	institute
nutriment	constitution	culinary	January
revenue	introduce	opportunity	manufacture

pupil	different	diacritical	gigantic
alphabet	several	radiating	gymnasium
natural	letter	Wyoming	system
result	eraser	typical	merchant

through	chasten	sword	island
although	often	fasten	daughter
wrong	soften	calf	might
yacht	subtle	hasten	bouquet
gnaw	almond	naughty	honest
psalm	glisten	thumb	palm
whistle	salve	should	knack
salmon	chestnut	knowledge	castle
answer	folks	listen	thigh
knot	right	debt	honor

accept	bile	least	prevision
except	boil	lest	provision

affect	carol	eleven	poor
effect	coral	leaven	pure

addition	descent	neither	radish
edition	dissent	nether	reddish

assay	emerge	pasture	sentry
essay	immerge	pastor	century

baron	Francis	pillar	sit
barren	Frances	pillow	set

been	jest	point	wrench
bean	just	pint	rinse
	gist

acts	close	treaties	rows
ax	clothes	treatise	rouse

advice	crossed	princes	rues
advise	across	princess	ruse

alms	formerly	prince	either
elms	formally	prints	ether

bodice	grays	price	running
bodies	grace	prize	ruin

cease	lose	recent	walking
seize	loose	resent	walk in

chance	plaintive	sects	weather
chants	plaintiff	sex	whether

does	pair	news	worst
dose	payer	noose	worsted (yarn)
doze

salary	gentleman	supple	gymnasium
because	library	subtle	perspiration
ideal	wrestle	italic	clapboards
suite	vessel	insect	cupboard
thirty	friendship	orchid	archangel
tomato	judgment	hovel	candelabra
grimy	cowardice	several	extraordinary
patron	miserable	pumpkin	civilization
omelet	guarantee	accurate	horseshoe
hundred	gelatine	guardian	laboratory
coupon	glycerine	delinquent	tenacious
awkward	paraffine	secretary	measure
hurrah	portrait	audacious	February
pigeon	mercantile	conquer	cellar
history	juvenile	conquest	perfect
diamond	thousand	congress	grandmother
asylum	overalls	licorice	generally

when	length	diphthong	generally
where	strength	diphtheria	forget
while	height	anesthetic	recognize
wharf	width	betrothal	hungry
which	depth	theory	geography
wheel	there	theme	instead
wheeze	them	arithmetic	isolated
why	eleventh	bathe	writing
whiff	twelfth	lathe	kettle
whence	thought	believe	language
whet	throat	bronchitis	leisure
what	wreaths	government	volume
whale	paths	courteous	column
wheat	months	different	always
wheedle	mouths	engine	once
[14]whelp	myths	English	twice
whimper	breadths	surprise	arctic
whip	moths	deaf	Italian
whit	bath	children	picture
whither	earth	cruel	often

aloud	draft	fowl	principal
allowed	draught	foul	principle

ascent	faint	gate	peal
assent	feint	gait	peel

aught	canvas	great	quire
ought	canvass	grate	choir

bad	cereal	hew	seen
bade	serial	hue	scene

bale	cession	kernel	soul
bail	session	colonel	sole

berry	cite	leased	strait
bury	site	least	straight

boy	coarse	lesser	stair
buoy	course	lessor	stare

by	compliment	mite	sweet
buy	complement	might	suite

council	feign	miner	there
counsel	fain	minor	their

current	flour	need	wood
currant	flower	knead	would

aisle	clause	kill	sail
[15]isle	claws	kiln	sale
awl	climb	key	ring
all	clime	quay	wring
base	draught	lie	serge
bass	draft	lye	surge
blew	dew	medal	sole
blue	due	meddle	soul
bough	done	peer	shone
bow	dun	pier	shown
bread	dual	pore	steel
bred	duel	pour	steal
bear	flue	profit	stationary
bare	flew	prophet	stationery
bridal	freeze	quarts	wade
bridle	frieze	quartz	weighed
capital	guilt	rest	wave
capitol	gilt	wrest	waive
ceiling	heard	root	wrap
sealing	herd	route	rap

been	such	barrel	Did you?
gone	put	faucet	Don't you?
to	with	suburb	Go on.
for	tiny	hearth	Our education
aunt	and	nothing	You are
far	poem	office	You're not
our	catch	peril	We're coming
kept	toward	forbade	They're coming
says	donkey	spirit	What did you say?
rid	again	semi	Where are you going?
since	against	scared	Where have you been?
sleek	honest	saucy	I want to go.
creek	savage	turnip	I'm going to go.
where	swept	roof	To-morrow morning
boil	velvet	proof	Next month
hoist	direct	hydrant	Last Saturday

paper	grocer	rotate	mystery
tomato	erect	repeat	regular
vinegar	polish	general	arithmetic

pro-long	pre-fer	con-stant	de-fect	ad-mit
re-ceive	se-lect	dis-trust	e-merge	im-merse

labor-er	soft-ly	beauti-fy	selec-tion
mole-cule	revolution-ist	percent-age	fanat-ic

math-ematics	ex-change	paragraph-ing	abolish-ing
bow-ing	toil-ing	nation-al	gra-cious

accountant	dissatisfaction	manufacturer	reference
advertisement	economy	material	repeatedly
anecdote	employment	mechanical	salesman
annually	energetic	neighborhood	security
application	environment	occupation	separate
automobile	especially	opportunity	signature
beginning	establishment	organized	specification
collection	expenditure	permanent	stenography
comparison	factory	preparation	suburban
competent	furniture	president	superintend
confirmation	illustration	quotation	systematic
consequence	impression	realize	telephone
correspondence	improvement	receptacle	treasurer
counterfeit	judgment	recognition	unanimous
customer	machinist	recommend	unusual

expand	volume	defect	interesting
mischievous	usually	incomparable	theatre
exquisite	tedious	hospitable	generally
column	inquiry	impious

ob´ject	subject	contrast	desert
ob-ject´	insult	protest	extract
tor´ment	essay	conflict	compact
tor-ment´	transfer	compound	survey
minute (notice the vowel change)
refuse (notice the consonant change)

municipal	exquisite	champion	accurately
interesting	gondola	inquiry	Genoa
influence	finance	inexplicable	alias
illustrate	deficit	despicable	expert
inventory	pretense	mischievous	impious
alternate	dirigible	perfume	detail

(a)	dress, dresses	(b)	chair, chairs
	splash, splashes		wave, waves
	business, businesses		book, books
	church, churches		pencil, pencils
	fox, foxes		paper, papers

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Business English, by Rose Buhlig

E-text prepared by Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Emmy, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)

BUSINESS ENGLISH

A PRACTICE BOOK

PREFACE

CONTENTS

BUSINESS ENGLISH

PART I—WORD STUDY AND GRAMMAR

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

PART II—COMPOSITION: ORAL AND WRITTEN

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

PART III—BUSINESS PRACTICE

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

I.—The Retail Merchant

II.—The Wholesale Merchant

III.—The Mail Order Merchant

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

INDEX

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber's Note:

E-text prepared by
Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Emmy,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)

(a)	lady, ladies	(b)	valley, valleys
	ally, allies		alley, alleys
	soliloquy, soliloquies		journey, journeys

(a)
potato, potatoes	hero, heroes	mulatto, mulattoes
tomato, tomatoes	buffalo, buffaloes	cargo, cargoes
negro, negroes	echo, echoes	motto, mottoes


(b)
solo, solos	piano, pianos	memento, mementos
halo, halos	lasso, lassos	canto, cantos
zero, zeros	quarto, quartos	soprano, sopranos
	stilletto, stillettos

leaf, leaves	calf, calves	wife, wives
loaf, loaves	sheaf, sheaves	shelf, shelves
half, halves	wolf, wolves	elf, elves
life, lives	beef, beeves	wharf, wharves (or wharfs)
self, selves	knife, knives

hoof, hoofs	scarf, scarfs	beliefs, beliefs
chief, chiefs	reef, reefs	grief, griefs

Singular	Plural
brother	brothers	brethren
penny	pennies	pence
pea	peas	pease
die	dies	dice

Singular	Plural
brother-in-law	brothers-in-law
father-in-law	fathers-in-law
court-martial	courts-martial
commander-in-chief	commanders-in-chief
man-of-war	men-of-war
major general	major generals
goose quill	goose quills
bill of fare	bills of fare
spoonful	spoonfuls
cupful	cupfuls

Singular	Plural
beau	beaux	beaus
formula	formulae	formulas
vertex	vertices	vertexes
index	indices	indexes
cherub	cherubim	cherubs
seraph	seraphim	seraphs
bandit	banditti	bandits

chat	lap	suit	step
cheat	leap	sit	steep
rot	train	sop	trot
root	trim	soap	treat

knot	rob	flop
note	robe	elope
deal	swim	quit	(u is not here a vowel)
clap	strike	crawl	(w is here a vowel)
stop	oil	wax	(x equals cks)
peal	rush	bow	(w is here a vowel)

prefer	intervene	escape	expel
refer	reveal	acquire	contain
occur	repeal	secure	forbid
permit	pursue	conceal	incur
interfere	erase	arrange	forget
retain	control	acquit	repel