fishermen stood on the shore, and they gazed at the
wild sea. A storm had arisen, and they could not go
out in their boats.
=Exercise 201=
As in the preceding exercise, rewrite the following, omitting as many
words as possible, but no ideas. Use shorter, simpler expressions
wherever possible.
1
Uncle Sam now has an aerial navy, but it's a small
one, and foundations of it were recently laid. This
was done when contracts were signed for the delivery
of three aeroplanes and they are the first aeroplanes
that the United States bought. These aeroplanes are of
the latest development. They are all capable of rising
from land or water. They are able also to land on
water or on the deck of a ship, and they can carry at
least one passenger and are equipped with wireless
outfits. Two of them are Curtis machines and the third
is a Wright, and they ranged in price from $2,700 to
$5,500.
2
The United States produces more steel than any two
European countries, and it is continuing to produce
more. Moreover, it has the productive capacity to
produce more than any other three or four countries
put together. This capacity is being still further
increased. At the present time, there is one very
important steel company. It is very large, and seems
to wish to monopolize the entire iron and steel
industry. Even at this time it owns half the principal
plants that are now producing steel and iron, and
controls half the trade of the entire steel and iron
industry, and when such a thing happens, it is a
matter of international concern.
3
Condense the following into a single sentence, either simple or complex:
The iron and steel industry is very important, and it
includes a great deal. First, the ore has to be mined,
and then the work includes everything up to making the
finest wire for musical instruments. Or, to put it
another way, you can say from smelting the ore to
building a battle ship. This is a very interesting
occupation and, as said before, very important. There
is hardly anything more interesting or important
except agriculture.
=Exercise 202--Dangling Expressions=
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:
Riding from Saugatuck to Holland last year, the
country showed unmistakable signs of lack of rain.
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.
_Wrong_: When almost exhausted, the camp was reached.
_Right_: When almost exhausted, we reached the camp.
Recast the following sentences, correcting the dangling expressions: